PS -7H-0.'+ 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION ON CHINA 
 
 AND THE CHINESE 
 
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 3 1924 023 135 944 
 
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Cornell University 
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 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023135944 
 
HOW TO DEAL 
 
 wiTi mim 
 
 ik LETTER TO DE B. RAND. KEIM, ESQ U HIE, 
 
 AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 GE\ERAL CHAS. W. LE GEIVDKE, 
 
 XT. S. COZ«STTI< A-T A.T^OS: 
 
 A.3VE03r 
 
 rrinted by RozAElo, Maucal & L'd. 
 
 . — »o^«!"^^^ — 
 
 MDCCCLXXI. 
 
HOW TO DEiL WITH CHINA, 
 
HOW TO DEAL 
 
 WITH CHJiA, 
 
 A LETTKIl TO DE B. EAND. KEIM, ESQlJTIiE, 
 AC£NT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEVERVL cms. W. LE GE\!>RE, 
 
 XT. S. 003MSXTL A.T .A.3VIO-V». 
 
 Printed by RozARio, Makcal & Co. 
 MDCCCLXXI. 
 
LSI 
 
 "HiH^^^O 
 
Tlie manuscript from which this j'^ip^r was printed was written in great haste and not as legibly as it- 
 might have been, and it was passed through the press by, and under the supervision of Macao - Portugese 
 and Chinese, persons comparatively ignorant of the Enghsh language; the consequence is that so many errors 
 have crept into the text that the author has abandoned the task of drawing up a table of errata, as hopeless; 
 
ROMYN HITC^TCOCfe 
 
 U. S. Consulate for Amoy and the Dependencies thereof. 
 
 Amoy, othJuiie, 1871. 
 
 To tlie Hon. First Assistant Secretary of State 
 Washington, D. 0. 
 
 SiK, 
 
 I have the honor to transmit, through you, a paper which I have 
 prepared for Mr. Keim, who came to inspect my consulate, in January 
 last. 
 
 In undertaking this task I have been guided by two conderations : 
 First, to give to the Country the benefit of the experience which I have 
 acquired, in its service, during a residence of five years in the East; 
 and, in the second place, to be of use to an officer specially recom- 
 mended by the President, in assisting him in making his report to 
 the Government more fully than he otherwise could have done with 
 the unavoidably imperfect information that he was enabled to gather 
 during his brief stay in China. 
 
 In the preparation of this paper I have availed myself of the ex- 
 perience which I have acquired during my repeated end piohacted 
 visits to Formosa. This Island represents China in miniature^ with n:ai)y 
 of its varieties of race", each speaking different dialects, with alj 
 its literary aspects, its administrative and military organization, its 
 
( If ) 
 
 wonderful agriculture and commerce, all of wliicli the observer 
 may embrace within a narrow sjiace, under the Imperial Eule, not 
 exceeding two hundred miles in length by twenty in breadth. There 
 I have studied the inland trade in its connection with the collection 
 of public revenue under a system peculiar to tha Chinese, in its 
 complex form3 and features; and in an nnlnterrapted intercourse with 
 the authorities and people tliere, I have been eaabled to obtain an 
 iisight into subjects which would have otherwise been closed to me; and 
 with what porsoaal observaiion had not forruishsd me, I have obtained 
 in commuaicatioas with m3u who had past the bost year^ of their live? 
 in public employ in this, country, anl by \vho-3e experieaco it haabooji my 
 good fortune to profit. 
 
 I have had only one hundred copies of this papar printed, fe%^ of 
 which I now bag to hand you for circulation a?, you miy think lit. I 
 have kept the remainder in tlie Consular Archives, save three copies 
 which I have sent, to the Consal General, to the Minister and the 
 Admiral. I shall wait the Department's permission before presenting any 
 of them to mj friends. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your obedient Servant. 
 
 CHAS. W- LE GE:>DEE. 
 
COfflTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A letter to the firsf Assistant Secretary of State 
 
 A letter to Mr. Keim^ Agent of the United States .... .... 1 
 
 I. The Literati and their influence in the Government of China 7 
 
 II. The Twenty-first of Jtme, and the Diplomacy in Peking 33 
 
 III. A Trip overland from Foochow to Amoy .... .... 53 
 
 IV. The Disturbances in the Amoy District, previous to the 
 
 Massacres of Tientsin, and how they were dealt with .... 69 
 T. A plan for the better transaction of foreign afiairs in the 
 interior of the Empire between the Consuls and the 
 
 Chinese.. 93 
 
 TI. Conclusions .... .... 125 
 
 Appendix .... .... .... .... .... .... 135 
 
«OMYN HITC- 
 
 ■OCK. 
 
 Suited states djonsulate fo»t J^mog and thii dcjjcndcncifs i\\emf 
 
 Amoy, 25th April, 1871. 
 De B. Eand. Keim, Esquire, 
 
 Agent of the United States, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Sib: 
 
 Ton ask me to give yon a series of memorandums upon various 
 questions of interest to us, and which I had opportunities to study during 
 my term of five years, in China. While, in touching subjects which have 
 been treated by men of great weight, I have somewhat hesitated in 
 offering my views, I have conceived myself entitled to write fully on 
 others a knowledge of which the unusually favorable position I had been 
 placed in had afforded me facilities to acquire which othei's had not 
 
 Doubtless yon have read a great deal upon the disturbances which 
 have occurred in China during the last two years and you have heard 
 much concerning the last massacre at Tient-sien; but, unless you look 
 for an explanation of this lamentable trajedy in records not generally 
 open to daily investigation, I doubt whether you will see in it anything 
 but what most of the people have, that is to say, a street disturbance 
 which hardly deserves notice, unless it is taken as exhibiting a state of 
 barbarism of the Chinese nation for which previous accounts had not 
 prepared us. It is tliose records wliicli I liave cndcuvourcd to throw open 
 
(3) __^ 
 
 Tiefore yon, in a concise form, in memorandnras first ancl second. The nrst 
 may be called tlie pTailosophy of tlie 21st of Jane and of the scenes of 
 •A'iolence'-wliicliliave preceded it at ijther points in the Empire, and which 
 'may yet prove to be but the prelude of more revolting ti'ansactions. Tlie 
 second is simply the history of the massacre of Tient-sien, and of the 
 manner it was dealt witli by the Charge. d'Affaires for France, as given 
 to me by a gentleman whom you have advantageously known during 
 your visit in the East, and who has been, as you are aware of, intimately 
 connected witli the negociations -that took place both in Tient-sien and 
 Peking," after the occurrence^ between Count Upchechouart and the 
 Tsung-lee-yamiin. 
 
 The pi-ea that has been. put forward to serve as an excuse for the 
 "Laisser faire" policy pursued, of late .years^ Avith the Chinese, that the 
 Imperial Government lacks the power to control the provincial Governors 
 •aind the latter, through the minor authorities, the populace in the 
 'interior of the Empire, is, in my opinion, to be accBpted, to say the least, 
 with extreme jeserve. I believe that, upon further enquiry, it will be 
 found that, so long as the people are not incited against foreigners, they 
 are most hospitable; and whenever the agents of . the Emperor, in the 
 Provinces, are guided by the maxims of profond M'^isdom which they 
 profess to respect and which are laid down in their books of riioral 
 philosophy, all under them are docile and submissive. With a view to 
 practically demonstrate this to you, I have brought you from Foochow 
 to Amoy, overtand, and' now I offer you the relation of our trip, as 
 written by a servant of the Chinese, that it may remain as a standing 
 evidence of our joint experience. This will be memorandum No. 3. 
 
 Memorandum No. 4 is interesting as showing the means by whicht 
 in 1869, my lamented colleague and friend, Mr. Gibson, British Consul a, 
 Taiwanfoo, Island of Formosa, compelled the authorities to make use of 
 the power they have over their people, in punishing them for acts of 
 •violence they had committed against foreign residents, and to which he 
 had good motives to believe, the local officers had incited them. Tliis 
 paper will exhibit more fully the advantages of a system of reprisals as 
 inaugurated by Mr. Gib.ion, when I say tliat, after his administration of 
 one year, the whole province of Folikien ha«i enjoyed a state of order 
 and peace for which the experience of former years had nol justified one 
 to look for. 
 
(;r> 
 
 "As ft is tlie E'inpire is no longer rulfed; its provinces are helcC 
 together solely by the force of cohesion and the desire of the people for- 
 peace and of their love for order and quiet. The state is drifting to and 
 fro, and the sole concern of many of those in power is to hold their places. 
 As Tong as this state of affairs will last, any attempt to repress the rebel- 
 lions simply by the sword wilK be found ineffectual: Crushed in one place^ 
 they will spring up, like a weed, in another ; because the causes of the re- 
 bellions are not to be found in the people, but in that nest of corruption at 
 Peking. To put down rebellions, the augean stables,, first, . must be 
 eleanse^J'(^) ^^^ how shall this be dona? An answer to this question. 
 I have endeavoured to give in memorandum No 5. "A plan for the 
 better transtaction of foreign affairs in the interior of the Empire by the 
 Chinese," and in the concluding remarks of this paper. 
 
 Tou win fee siM-piasei that I submit no suggestions- for the betterr 
 protection of missionaries both foreign and native. I do not under- 
 value missionary enterprise, but I firmly believe that our greatest concern, 
 should be to afford an efiicient protection to onr trade in the interior 
 of the Empire, not only as a sacred obligation contracted by the 
 country with such of our citizens who have invested their means ia, 
 the China trade under the faitb of the existing treaties, but afeo as 
 the most sure and practical means of advancing civilization in the 
 East, and in view ol this, a most desirable end, rather than Christiani- 
 ty should take the ;iead and that Commerce should move on the path 
 traced by the apostles of our faith, I advise tliat Christianity should fol- 
 low on the road open by Trade. 
 
 I have the honor to be,. 
 Sir, 
 Yours, respectfully 
 
 Chs.. W. le Gendee. 
 
 (1) Our interests in China, by Horatio N. Lay, C. B, late Inspector General of Chinese- 
 Customs at Peking, London, 18G4. 
 
MEMOKANTCCrM No. 1. 
 
 THE LITEEATI AND THEIR INFLUENCE 
 IN THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 
 
(?) 
 
 Memorandum No. 1. 
 THE LITERATI, 
 
 AND THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA. 
 
 " Avec le monde a commence une ofiierre qui doit finir 
 avcc le monde, et pas avant, cello de I'horame contre la 
 nature, de I'esprit contre la matiere, de la Liberte contre 
 la fatalite. L'histoire n'est pas autre chose que le recit de 
 cctte Intte." (J. Michelet. Introduction k Thistoire uni- 
 versalle, page 1). 
 
 The late massacres at Tientsin oifer but a new instance of the 
 madness of man when blinded by fanaticism and priestcraft. 
 
 Before the new era, inaugurated by Luther and Calvin, had fairly 
 commenced in Europe, Germany and Switzerland had their stakes, 
 (1404:-1553), France, Italy and Spain, their Inquisition (1478), their St. 
 Bartholomew (1572), the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); and 
 now it is China's turn, on the eve, let us hope, of a great transforma- 
 tion, to give us the sad spectacle of her mournful hecatombs. This 
 will become apparent by a reference to the religious principles of the 
 ruling classes in that great Empire. 
 
 Confucius writes: "Ty-kih is revealed in Y-kins:. (l) 
 according to '"What does Ty-kih mean? It moans the Chaos, when 
 ■ ' ^^' light and darkness wei'e not; the one not having been 
 
 separated from the other. There is no name for Ty-kih; therefore it 
 was called Ty-kih. From Ty-kih conies Liang-e (divine object, the 
 ereation), which itself is formed of Ty-yang (eternity, male, man, sun, 
 light &c.} and Ty-ying (inooii, niglit, female, everything whicli is un- 
 certain), (2) (Y-Jdng,bcok k)Ui. page 14: {8)J. Tij-Uh, Liang-e, Tj-ymig 
 
 (1) Ty, in Gliinese, means, the utmost point, greatest &c.; and Kih, extreme. 
 
 (2) Liang-e, cnmvi from Ltaiig. tvrn, an<l, E. \mvn-v of nature —Fa;^, in Ty-yang, 
 sijrnifics, sun, or the supi'rior of two things in contact; while Fi«, in Ty-yiii, means, 
 moon or the inferior of two tliin"- i i coulact. 
 
 (.3) Tlie fallowing is the Chinese £- PiJ ^ A g j^ J^; +1 ^ * ;§ g, 
 
 text ..f this quotattou of *j>. jy ^ .||, j^ jy ^^ jS ^ iSt 
 
 ±m'7)-m^m ^^± & m 
 
 n It '> ^ 4 ^:li ■! m M 'M 
 
{») 
 
 and Ty-ying, are the abstract ideas upon which the system of thoughts 
 of the Chinese, so to speak, is based; and the radicals of their system 
 of writing are their corresponding symbols. 
 
 These Symbols are for Ty-kih, a circle, ( I , for Liang-e, a circle 
 
 divided in two parts, one black and the other white, with a dot on the 
 
 right corner, representing the moon rising in the heavens, ^^J ■ The 
 
 upper part of the latter figure represents Ty-yang, and the lower one 
 Ty-ybrg. 
 
 The first radical is made of the circumference of the circle unrolled; 
 it. is a single and continuous line, thus, ^^^^— and it conveys the idea 
 of Heaven, of light, of what is eternal, infinite, innumerable, invariable, 
 afEruied, &e. The same line broken, interrupted; thus, — — , makes 
 
 the second radical, which represents darkness, finite things, earth, time, 
 contradiction, &c. &c. 
 
 Now from the combination of both lines, as from the combination 
 of the heavens and the earth, of darkness and -of light, all the other 
 signs are derived, of which the most prominent are those that designate 
 
 the waters without limits, . "T , the winds, J^ ■ , ether, fire, ^^3 the 
 
 the mountains, — — , thunder, pi— &c. In this manner, the heavens 
 
 and the earth, the infinite and the finite, represented by strokes, are 
 ths A, B, c of the Cliinese written language. According to tradition it 
 was given to man by Foh-he, who himself received it from God. 
 
 Tlie Chinese revealer Foh-he {^ ^, (I) was born from a virgin who 
 I'.o icsived him while walking solitarily on the foot-steps of an old man. 
 " Foh -he's, mother was living near a small river, at a place called Hu)a,-su, 
 ^te ^, situated in th? liieu (district) called Lan Tl-en, ^ H M in the 
 ])rovInce of Shen-si" 3^ M (2). Slie saw the ghost of a man passing 
 by, and she walked o:i liis foot steps; slie felt a sensation in her breast* 
 
 (1) F„h-he, ^M, i^"''"" nanifd Pou-he,'^^. The Chinese i^oA, fft, means, 
 inclosed m ( ,/.e Empire) and he. Supreme ruler: The Supreme ruler of the 
 Empire -Confv.v'^i^ smvs in hi^ commentary of Y-King.—'^ Foh-ke, had every thine 
 u-iiim hwitel/r \ -Ivin^ cominent;iry b)' (joufucius, book 5, pa^e IS. 
 
 (■i) Tlit' region wi,.--! cf Uie jcllow river. 
 
('.♦) 
 
 a rainbow, as a lialo of glory, encircled her head ; she was pregnant ; 
 and Foh-he was born from her in the district of Ohing-ki, j^ ^. The 
 two principles were concentrated in Foh-he, and he had within himself, 
 the goodness of all creation (1). 
 
 Foh-he went to the low lands, on the banks of the "Wha-seu river ; 
 there he fonnd, attached to the slime, a monstrous animal. Some say a 
 turtle, some say a dragon hoi-se (2) on whose scales, of the color of the 
 heavens, were mysterious figures written, bearing the stamp of eternal 
 wisdom. The Ilaiitou (river picture) J^ ffl was revealed to him from 
 the waters (3). 
 
 (1) Beinj? so born (of heaven) like winds (that spread and W ^ j& jfi ;gl |w ' 
 move' rapidly) he had the; beneficient influence of the holy ^ "j^ W ^ ^ » 
 spirit and the brighuiess of the sun and of the moon — f^ "f ^ -jS: jJl "fft 
 therefore he became the first ruler (of Ghma,)-^Kang-kien- ® filf JIl |!fc|^ -ffl- ^ 
 jm, literaly signifies, Kang, ^ great principles, Kien, ^, g j^ ^ "g ^ — 
 mirror, and Pu, ^, supplement. The two last characters M 5X J9. ^ iB^ ^ 
 Kien, ^, and Pu, H, taken together, mean history. |j fi J S J « 
 
 (2) Although the Turtle is not referred to in the Y-King com- jt jj; ^ ^ 
 mentary by Confucius, there is no doubt that it was known ft» nC ^ ■M 
 before his time. (Y-King-ty-tche, 1st Book, 2nd page.) "^ J i |g 
 
 (3) The Dragon— Horse emerged from the waters, ^ ^ ^ ^f ^f ^ S 
 and, according to tradition, he had in him iB ^ ;Z -J4 ?L S S 
 the gpirit of Heaven and of Karth. He resem- -J^ J* || J^ ^ ^ :^ 
 bled a horse with the scales of a Dragon and -^ J^- E 115 H E A ^ 
 therefore, he was called a Dragon-Horse. He ^ip 1^ X ^ 2 Q Z. 
 was 8 feet 5 inches in height, of about the size *2 i^ ^ m ^ M 
 
 of a camel. He had wings so that he could Z K /V /f^ Hfe HI 
 move on the water, without danger. He came r^ ^ f^ ^ Ml Ui ' 
 
 in those days, there being a wise man (Poh-e) i K 7£ ]fij ^ ^ 
 capable to understand his teachings (Kang- Vit -f ^' ^ 'Hr 
 
 kien-pu-8th page, 1st Book.) 1-^ 7| Iji? :^^ 'Jj 
 
 vt. -M K4 m -c, ■ 
 
 ^^^IkiL^i 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 To those figures (1) Foli-he compavea the general features of the 
 universe; the great strokes formed in the heavens, from tlie lines of the 
 stars; on the earth, from the winding of the streams and the uneven ess 
 of mounts; and, from all this, he conceived the rudiments of writing. 
 
 Foh-he looked at the heavens and, below, he saw the earth. Then 
 he made the Pah-kwa, or the eight principles or sources (3). The Pah- 
 kwa is to man the source of all inspiration, the recipient of all know- 
 ledge (3). 
 
 This gigantic conception of writing formed in the image of the 
 creation, this miracle of an art which is akin to magic, is what has 
 infatuated the Chinese the most, and to a point that|they have neglected 
 enrerything else, as, very properly, remarked to me by admiral Litchenn 
 Miou, of Amoy. In one word, \ God who is revealed to the Indians 
 by the light, to the <Grreeks by the lyre, is disclosed to the Chinese by 
 the prodigy of writing. 
 
 j(l) Therefore he came and looked at the "heavens, at the earth and Jife ]5^ ^ 
 
 at the ten thousand thinors which existed between the heavens i^ ^ ^ 
 
 and the earth and to all these he compared the Pah-kwa. jta AW 5* 
 
 (JCang-kien-pu, 8th page, 1st book.) g g fw 
 
 f mi - 
 
 MM 
 
 mm 
 Am 
 
 M'M 
 
 ((2) Foh-e looked at the beavens and below, he /b ■bs' ±1 .±4, m t- /h um 
 saw the earth, and he caused men and g l!|> r"! ^ S aS ffi S 
 women to live as husband and wife ; after- ^ Tu Jit >£ ^ WT ^ w 
 wards he divided every thing into five classes: .^J^llSA^^fJ^ ^ 
 water, fire, wood, metal, CorgvUM^ud earth. WC^MJEmUM M 
 He made the natural laws for mans gui- s*' "K ^ X -An & i^ 
 dance; he found the Pah-kwa or the eight ^ A t 5" 4^ f^ ^ 
 principles or sources. He was the first to ^ FC /v fT Jb SD M 
 unite the people under one Tule ; anti all 
 ■were content. So they called him Foh-e. 
 ( — Kang.kieu — pu, Book \St, page 7.) 
 
 (3) In the Pah-kwa, all that is known and all that is unknown 
 may be looked for. It comprises good omens and bad omens ; 
 in it lie the records of the past and the secrets of the future. 
 It is the source ofall knowledge. (Y-King, commentory by con- 
 fucious — Book V. page 14.) 
 
 KIA ^ 
 
 ^# m 
 
 :^:£,+ m 
 
 m-^n s. 
 
 mm 
 
 ^ 
 
(11) 
 
 Traced under the eyes of the Master, those wonderful characters 
 are tlie types of an infinity of relations^ of true principles, discovered 
 
 TEE Pah-Kwa. Aisoonling to FoU-o (Y-King Ti-ohii^ Book I, Snl page.) 
 
 SSOUTH, 
 
 (Fig. 1.) 
 
 Tai, Earth (Land 
 & water) &c. 
 
 Li, Sun, &c. 
 
 Ctin, Thunder, 
 animal & vege- 
 table life &C.&C. 
 
 Kwan, the Earth, 
 inferior or ob- 
 sequious to 
 Heaven, hence 
 applied to the 
 moon, to wife, 
 &c. 
 
 ■•T-a 
 
 Kan— W. 
 
 Kien, Heaven, the 
 power of, agen- 
 cy of Heaven, 
 Father,Mother. 
 Emperor, Mi- 
 nister &c. 1. 
 Earth; 2, Man; 
 3. Heaven. 
 
 Sinen, wind, mild- 
 ness, &c. 
 
 Kan, water &c. 
 
 Kan, mou»taiD, 
 &c. 
 
 North. 
 
 Hantau, or tlie figures as seen on the back of the Dragon-Horse, according to- 
 
 Y-Kiug Chiu-i Tlog-kee,.Book II. fiage 53. 
 
 (Fig. 5.) 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
(12) 
 
 ' through investigation and meditation. For this revelation must inces- 
 
 Lah-Sheu, or the figures seen on the 'i'urtoise shells, according to 
 Y-King, Chiu-i Ting-kea. Book II. page. 53. 
 
 Foh-e'B fiist conception of the Pah-kwa, Chin-i Ting-kn Book n. page 62. (Y-klng.) 
 
 A -t: 7^ S K S - - 
 
 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 
 The 8 kwas or Figures. 
 
 jijj §, m M m m ^ n 
 
 Kwan Kan Kau Slueu Coin Li lai _ Kien 
 
 A 
 
 ':*: y? >l? 
 
 m m m 
 
 Great Darkness. Small Light. Small Dai-knesa. Great Light. 
 
 
 m 
 
 (Fig. 3.) 
 
 (Fig. 4.) 
 
 Darkness. 
 
 Ligut. 
 J 
 
 Liang-e. 
 
 m 
 
 Ty-Kih. 
 
(13) 
 
 sahtly remain present to the thoiights of the wise and be their text. 
 ■Each character is a symbol, a proverb that shows forth its deepest sig- 
 
 The diafrram of the record from the Lo River, with the nine claasifioations a3 given 
 in the book of Show. Section 71 of the Shoo-king. 
 
 (Fig. 5.) 
 
 S~" 
 
 k t >^^ ^ «| 
 
 TTu 
 
 -4-'^ 
 
 
 
 Tufi 
 
 >h 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 ^)Nil 
 
 
 Ohlnt 
 
 ^y' 
 
 
 w 
 
 CD 
 
 * *-^«u8*^ 
 
 KM 
 
 0— o — o-o 
 
 # 4 4 
 
 *^ 
 
 ■Wu > — . Hang 
 
 ^7 
 
(M) 
 
 nification to those that study it with religions care; and these types, 
 
 In connection with the diagrams, it is said that Hearen conferred on Yu (B. C. 1,121) 
 the divine turtoise, bearing a book out of the river; on its back were various numbers 
 up to 9. Yu arranged them, and completed the nine species. The Y-king says that the 
 Yellow river produced the delimation of the Hautou, and the Lo river the treatise or the 
 characters as given in the Pah-kwa. As Section VI of the book of show is rather short and 
 yet gives a complete commentary of the diagram from the record of- the Lo river, I copy 
 here the excellent translation which the late Mr, W. H. Medhurst, sen. has made of it. 
 
 Section VI. The great plan. — On the 13th year (B. C. 1,121,) the king went to 
 enquire of Kg-tsze; When the king seriously addressed him, saying, Oh you KS-tsze ! 
 Heaven has secretly settled the lower peoplu, aiding and according with that in which they 
 rest : but I do not know the arrangement ox those invariable principles. 
 
 K6-tsze as seriously replied, saying, I have beard that, in old time, Kwan tried to stop' 
 the overwhelming waters, and improperly interfered with the five elements ; the Supreme 
 Ruler was moved with indgination, and withheld from him the great plan, with the nine 
 classifications : thus the invariable principles were destroyed, and Kwan was driven to death.. 
 Yii then rose as his successor, and Heaven gave to Yii the great plan and the nine classi- 
 fications, so that the invariable principles were arranged. 
 
 The first of these was, the five elements ; the second in order was, a respectful use of 
 the five senses ; the third was, an economical attention to the eight regulations ; the fourth 
 was, a harmonious use of the five arrangers ; the fifth was, an established performance of 
 the princely perfections ; the sixth was, a well-regulated carrying out of the three virtues ; 
 the seventh was, an intelligent attention to the examination of doubts ; the eighth was, a 
 considerate use of the general verifications ; the ninth was, an earnest tending towards the 
 five blessings, and an awe-struck avoiding of the six extreme visitations. 
 
 In the first place, there were the five elements ; the first (of which) was called water, 
 the second was fire, the third was wood, the fourth was metal, and the fifth was earth. 
 Water is described as dripping down, and fire as blazing up ; wood is sometimes crooked 
 and sometimes straight; metal is now yielding and then hard ; while (the properties of) 
 earth are displayed in sowing and reaping. That which drips down becomes brackish (as 
 the sea,) that which blazes up becomes bitter (as soot,) that which is occasionally crooked 
 and straight becomes sour, (asxertain vegetables,) that which is at times yielding and hard 
 becomes acid, (as the taste of some metals,) and that which is sown and reaped becomes 
 Bweet (as corn). (For the Symbol, see No. 1, Fig. 5). 
 
 In the second place, there were the five senses, the first of which was called shape; the 
 second termed speech, the third denominated sight, the fourth was called hearing, and the 
 fifth was entitled thinking. * Shape may be referred to respect, speech may be classed 
 under compliance, sight may be ranked with clearness, hearing may be arranged under 
 perception, and thought allied to intelligence. Respect produces veneration, compliance is- 
 the foundation of government, clearness leads to knowledge, perceptionto device, and in- 
 telligence to perfect wisdom. (For the Symbol, see No. 2, Fig. 5). 
 
 In the third place, there were the eight regulators ; the first of which was called the 
 provider of food, the second was termed the gatherer of property, f the third was de- 
 nominated the presenter of offerings, the fourSi was entitled the superintendent of public 
 works, the fifth was called the minister of instruction, the sixth was considered as the 
 criminal judge, the seventh was made (the receiver) of guests, and the eight was promoted 
 to be general of the army. (For the Symbol,'Bee No. 3, Fig. 5). 
 
 • When men are first lorn their external form is completed, after coming into the world 
 their voice is heard ; after awhile (hey can see) subsequent to this they hear ; and in 
 the course of time they begin to think. 
 
 ■)■ Food is that which people have most urgent need of, property is that on which men 
 mainly depend, hence they are put in the first and second place. 
 
(15) 
 
 taken together, form tlie representation of all the facts, in the physical 
 
 III the fourth place, there were the five arranprers ; the first of which was oalled the 
 circuit of the seiisons. the second was culled the moon, the third was denominated the sun, 
 the fourth w:!*; termed the stars, and the fifth was referred to the astronomical calculations. 
 (For tlie Symbol, see No. 4, Fi";. u). 
 
 In the fifth place, there were the princely perfections Let the prince establish the 
 point of perfection, and aecumiilatinij the five kinds of blessinjjs, let hun diffusively confer 
 them on the common people ; then the common people, on account of his perfections, will 
 afford him perfect protection. \ (For the Symbol, see No. 3, Fig. 5). 
 
 Wlienever the common people avoid cabals, and the officers keep from forming fac- 
 tions, it i? solely because the prince has attained perfection. 
 
 When there are any among the common people who display contrivance, activity, and 
 determination, lot your Majesty bear them in mind. TVTien any are not yet joined to 
 perfect goodness, and still not invigled in crime, * let the prince then take them in hand ; 
 wliile on those who wear a placid countenance, and profess to be enamoured with virtue, 
 do you then confer emolument. Thus these people will attain to the perfection of the 
 prince. 
 
 Do not oppress the poor and solitary, nor dread th3 high and honourable, j" 
 
 When officers display capacity and activity, promote their views, and the country will 
 be prosperous. All the magistrates being well paid, insist on their doing good ; if you 
 cannot render them comfortable in their own families, these men will soon be involved in 
 crimes ; \ and when they are averse to virtue, although you confer on them emolument, 
 you will only render yourself an accomplice in their villainies. ' 
 
 In order to prevent partiality and injustice, let (the people) follow the royal rectitude; 
 in order to avoid excessive attachments, let them obey the royal doctrines ; in order 
 to exclude extreme antipathies, let them pursue the royal way. When they are 
 without partialities and cabals, the royal doctrines will be enlarged and extended ; when 
 party spirit and prejudices cease, the royal way will be easy and unobstructed ; when there 
 are no rebellions nor corruptions, the royal course will be straight and even ; (thus the 
 people) will be brought together to perfection, and will revert to extreme goodness. 
 
 lie proceeded to observe, that the wide -spread inculcation of the princely perfections, 
 is none other than the invariable principle, and the riglit kind of instruction • it is also the 
 instruction sanctioned by the Supreme. 
 
 t This meanx that the prince ought to carry out to the utmost the duties of the human 
 relations. Thus in regard to the relation subsisting between parents and children he. 
 should be extremely affectionate, and thin all the parents and children would take him 
 for a pattern. I^hus al.io with regard to the conjugal and fraternal relations, let the 
 prince first set a perfect pattern, and the whole empire will imitate him. In this way 
 the suitability of rational principles being invariaby carried out in every word and 
 action, whitJiout u hair's breadth of excess or defect the point of perfection will be 
 established. Now perfection is the foundation of happiness, and happiness is the 
 certain result of perfection ; wherever perjecliun is established happiness will certainly 
 accumulate. But the prince does not accumulate happiness merely to benefit his own 
 person ; he aims likewise to disseminate that happiness abroad among the people, 
 so that every one may be affected and transformed by his example ; this is what is 
 called diffusing blessings abroad among the people. The people seeing this will 
 defend their prince to the utmost, and not dare to desert him. 
 
 * These are men of mediocrity ; if encouraged, they will practise virtue, but if neglected, 
 they will .sink into vice ; hence the prince should take them in hand. 
 
 f This means, that should the meanest of the people practise virtue, they ought to be 
 encouraged; and ij the great and noble do wrong, they must be reproved. 
 
 X When sulii'-ies arc not re:jahirly paid, and the necessaries of life not afforded, then men 
 cannot be comfortable <tt hjine, and will soon take improper means to supply their wants. 
 
(10) 
 
 and spiritual order, the knowledge of wliich is requir ed for one's guid - 
 
 WheiiL'ver the common people carry out these wide-'ipread instructions, they teach 
 them and practise them, in order to apjiroximate to the splendour of the Son of Heaven j 
 ■while they say, the Emperor is the people's parent, and thus he becomes the ruler of all 
 sublunary thinprs. 
 
 In the sixth place, there are the three virtues, the first of which is called _ evenhanded 
 justice, the second is denominated strict rule, and the third is tern^ed a mild course of 
 government. In peaceful and tranquil times, be strictly just. When the people are 
 obstinate and iinyieldinir, rule them by severity ; when they are harmonious and compliant, 
 govern them with' mildness; when they are deeply sunk in barbarity, rule them with rigour; 
 and when they are elevated in the scale of civilization, let your adm'inistration be lenient. 
 
 Only the sovereign should confer emoluments, and he only inflict punishments, while 
 to the prince -alone belongs the |iroperty of the state ; the subject has nothing to do with 
 conferring rewards, inflicting punishments, or administering the wealth of the nation. 
 
 When subjects confer emoluments, inflict punishments, or interfere with the disposal 
 of the public property, than injury will accrue to their families, and ruin to their country. 
 When men in offije are corrupt, unjust, and selfish, the people will err and transgresis. 
 (For I he Symbol, see No. 7, Fig. 5). 
 
 In the seventh place. th:re was the examination of doiibts. (When doubts occur) 
 select and appoint proper men to superintend the tortoise and reeds, and let them divine 
 and prognosticate thereby. 
 
 (The divinations) are called, moisture, fair weather, obscurity, interrupted sucesssion, 
 and mixture. 
 
 (The prognostics) are termed chastity, and penitence. 
 
 Thev are altogether seven, of which the divin.xtions are five, and the prognostics two ; 
 (all of which are useful) in tracing out the errors of businese. 
 
 Having ai>pointed the proper offijers to attend to divinations and prognostics, let 
 three men carry on the auguries, and follow any two of them in their opinions. 
 
 Should you have any -great doubts, appeal to your own judgment, and consult your 
 nobles, as well as your people, while you attend at the same time to the divinations and 
 prognostics. Should you assent, and the tortoise and reeds be favourable, your nobles and 
 people all coinciding in the same views, this is what is called a grand concord ; in such 
 cases, your person will be secure, and your desceiidants will be happy. Should your own 
 views be favourable to a project, and the tortoise and reeds assent, while the nobles and 
 people object, it would be nevertheless favourable. Should your nobles, with the tortoise 
 and reeds coincide, while you and the common people are averse to a measure, it may still 
 be felicitous. When your people, the tortoise, and reeds all give a favourable .inswer, but 
 you and your nobles scru])Ie about an undertakino;, you may yet consider it advantageous. 
 Should yoii and the tortoise assent, while the reeds, the nobles, and the people demur, then 
 internal operations might be felicitous, but e.\tcrnal undertakinjjs prejudicial. * But when 
 the tortoise and reeds both opp.we tha view-^ of uxeu, to rem.iiti still would be advisable, and 
 all active operations should be avoided. (For the Symbol, see No. 7, Fig. 5). 
 
 In the eighth place, there are the general verifications, namely, rain, fair weather, heat, 
 cold, and wind ; all which should accord with the proper seasons. When these five come 
 fully prepared, each iu its proper order, all kinds of vegetabl-cs will be exuberant. 
 
 When either of these are in excess, it is bad; when they are deficient, it is also bad. 
 
 There are the favourable verifications ; for instance, respect is followed by reasonable 
 showers ; good government, by opp rtune fair weather ; intelligence, by a diie degree of 
 heat; counsel, by a proper modicum of cold ; and perfection, by periodical winds? The 
 unfavourable verifications are those ; dissoluteness, which is followed by incessant showers ■ 
 error, by uninterrupted clear weather: indolence, by excessive heat; ha.ste, by extreme 
 cohl ; and stupidity, by perpetual tempests. 
 
 " lulernal operations nj'cr to saci ijiviiii^, and external ones to tear. 
 
A PLAN OF THE NINE-FOLDPATH OF THE MOON, 
 AS DEAWW BY THE CHINESE. 
 
 (Fig. 6.) 
 1 
 
 4# 
 
 TRANSLATION OF CHARACTERS AS 
 SEEN IN FIGURE 6. 
 
 No. 1.— South, Red. 
 
 2. — South west, Red. 
 
 3.— West, White. 
 
 4. — North-west, White. 
 
 5.— North, Black. 
 
 6. — North-east, Blacli. 
 
 7. — East, Green. 
 
 8. — South-east, Green. 
 
 9. — Beginning of Spring: also goin^ 
 
 into the division of light placed 
 
 in contrast with the division of 
 
 darkness which is inferior to it, 
 
 as the moon is to the sun. 
 
 ■Pull spring, going into the divi- 
 
 si(ni of light ^c, &c., as in No. 9. 
 
 Beginning of Summer, &c., tVc. 
 
 as in No. 9. 
 
 Full Summer &c., &c., as in No. 1 
 
 Beoinning of Autumn &c., &<•„ 
 
 as in No. 9. 
 
 Full Autumn, &c., &c,, as in No 
 
 10. 
 
 Beginning of Winter Ac, &c., :>s 
 
 in No. 9. 
 
 Full Winter &c., &c., as hi No 
 
 10. 
 -Yellow. 
 
 - do. 
 
 ■ do. 
 
 ■ do. 
 
 - do. 
 
 - do. 
 
 ■ do. 
 
 - do. 
 
 -Going into the division of dark- 
 ness, placed in contrast with the 
 division of the light, which is 
 superior to it, as the sun is to 
 the moon. 
 
 •To 32, &c., &c., as in No. 25. 
 South, Red. 
 South-west, Red. 
 West, White. 
 Nurth-wtst, White. 
 North, Black. 
 ■j\ortli-east, Black. 
 East, Green. 
 South-east, Green. 
 
 10 
 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 13. 
 
 14.— 
 
 15.— 
 
 16.— 
 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 
 26.- 
 33. 
 34.- 
 34.- 
 36.- 
 37.- 
 38.- 
 39.- 
 40.- 
 
ance in life. "They are the science of that which is manifest and of 
 
 We should say, let the ruler examine himself with regard to the year, the nobles with 
 respect to the month, f and the inferior migistrates with reference to the day. 
 
 Whin the year's, mouths, and days, do not fail in their seasons, the various kinds of 
 grain will ripen, tjovernment will be intelligent, clever people will be promoted, and families 
 will be peaceful and settled. 
 
 When the days, months, and years, fail in their seasons, the various, kinds of grain 
 win n!)t coma to p.'rfaation, government will hi dirk and devoid of intelligence, clever 
 people will remain in obscurity, and families will not be tranquil. 
 
 The common people are like the stars ; J certain stars bring wind, while others produce , 
 ra'n ; * the course of the sun and moon points out the winter and summer solstice, f and 
 the moon's travelling among the fixed stars indicates the approach of wind and rain. 
 
 In the ninth place, there are the five kinds of happine.s3, one of which is called longevity, 
 the second riches, the third tranquillity, the fourth the love of virtue, and the fifth a dis- 
 covery of the proper termination of life. (For the symbol. See No. 9, Fig. 5). 
 
 The six extremities aref first an untimely aj-c^ "irly death, secondly, sickness, thirdly, 
 sorrow, fourthly, poverty, fifthly, hardihood in sin. and sixthly, indulgence in iniquity. 
 
 ^ A king's success or failure in virtue would afiaut the year, a noble's the month, and an; 
 inferior offcer's the day, each one according to his rank and station. 
 
 \ That is the common people depend on their superiors, just like the stars are attached 
 to the body of the heavens. 
 
 * The Constellation^ Ke (the hand of Sagittarius) brings' wind, and the constellation 
 ■^ Peih (Hyades) brings rian. 
 
 f The sun has a middle path, but the moon follows a nine -fold course; the middle path 
 of the SU71, is the ecliptic. On the north the moon in its course travnh to the eastern 
 part of ^ Tsing (the head of Oemini,) where it reaches its limit towards the (north) • 
 pole: on the south it goes to ^ Neto (the head of Cupriconius,) where it is farthest 
 removed from the north pole; on. the east it .ravels to the constellation f^ Kdo, (Spicx 
 Virginus :) and on the west to ^ Leu, (the heiid of Ariel. ) both eqni-distant from the 
 poles. The nine courses of the mnnn are S Jg the black path, on the north of the 
 ecliptic, where it comes out twice; '5P 'Mr t^'" red path, (the equinoctial) on the south 
 of the ecliptic, where it comes out twice ; H 3S the white path to the west of the ecliptic, 
 where it comes out twice ; ^ 'M, the azure path, to the east if the ecliptic, where it 
 comes out twice; which, together with "^ j^ the ecliptic itself, make nine courses. 
 When the sun is at the extreme south, ^ ^ at the tropic of Capricorn, it forms the 
 Winter Solstice ; when at the extreme north, ^ 9r "t the tropic of Cancer, it forms 
 the Summer Solstice Travelling between the south and north, easterly to J^ ^'ii'gp, 
 and westerly tn '^. Aries, it forms the Vf.rnal and Autumnal equinoxes. The moon, 
 from the jfc ^ commencement of spring (See No. 9, figure G) ( Feb man/ 5). to.'^ ^ 
 the Vernal Equinox, {See No. 10, figure 6) follows the azure pnlh;from jxi ^ the com- 
 mencement of autumn, (See No. li, figure 6) (Aug. 0.) to the ^X ^J" .iutuinmd Equinox, 
 (See No. 14, figure 6) it follows the white path; from jji ^ the -commence'vient of 
 winter (See No. 15, figure 6) (Nov. fi^ to the ^ 3! ^Vinicr Suhtice, (See No. Ifi, 
 figure 6) it follows the black path; and from (he j/1 5 commencement of summer 
 (May 7.) to the 5 S Summer Solitice, (See No. 1 \, figure (i J il fallows the azure path 
 equinotial.) Hence it is said, that the courses of the sun and moon produce T-i,iter, 
 and summer. When the moon goes to the north-cast, eniem the ron.fletl:itinv ^ Ke, 
 
(IS) 
 
 that wliicli is not manifest; the source of alt doctrine, of all writing, 
 the origin of all knowledge." Confucius was fifty when he first under- 
 etood tlie sPah-kwa, then only, also, so lie tells us, he commenced to be 
 wise. (1) 
 
 A certain characSter which is formed of the sign of Heaven and of that 
 of water (the sea in motion^ is the image of a courageous man who unmov- 
 ■ed by the blows of fate, rests on the ruins of his home and affections. The 
 conjunction ©f the two lines that figure the unison of earth and water, 
 •conveys the idea of sound politics based on that true friendship which 
 «hould exist between two great Empires ; but the space left between the 
 nine of the heavens and that of water or earth, ^^, is a hint to the 
 legislator for a well understood distinction of classes, such as should be 
 anaintained in a well organized community (2). The sign of fire, placed at 
 
 (Sagittarius) there is much wind; when it traveb to the south-west, and enters the 
 
 tconsteEation § PeHJl (Hyades) (hen there is much rain ; hence it is said, that the 
 
 m.oon in its journey among the stars produces wind and rain. 
 
 \_N. B. From the above representation of the sun's place at the four quarters afthe year, 
 
 it would appear, that the calculation must have been made when, the equinoxes were 30 degrees 
 
 distant from the point where they now are, or about 2000 years ago. The nine-fold course 
 
 of the moon appears to rejkr to the inclination of the lunar orbit, and to the ascending and 
 
 ^descending nodes, where they cut the ecliptic. A plan of the ninefold path of the otoom, as 
 
 drawn by the Chinese, will be found attached. (See fig. 6^. 
 
 <1) (Sz-sh^ ist part, 4th Book, 5th pape.) " My (Confu- ^ /p M ^ ^ 1^ 
 
 cius) wish has been that I would live a few yeai-s ifii ■pT =* A. S. PI A 
 
 after the acre of «fty to study and understand Y-king a. T' 5. Mb ^ j ? 
 
 and thus find myself fairly established on the road ^ ^^ Jft 5^ Pj /ill -t 
 
 to wisdom." By this Confucius (this is a remark «fc ^ iii ^ J[U ^ ^^ 
 
 made by the commentator) meant that Y-king ia a |]jj ^ St ^^^ 
 
 very deep book almost universal in its relations, that ar ft •!•» ^ ^ nn 
 
 it must be studied with care, and that no one could iS^ .iit; ^ 5» $ * 
 
 expect to be able to master it after a rapid perusal. "T* IS ^Z j!a 5. W 
 
 (2) ~ I Heaven. 
 
 p~ [ Water, or Heaven above Water or tht Earth, 
 
 is the character Lee and signifies foot standing 
 on Earth. It is the symbol of the division of 
 men into high and low classes. When one is 
 walking, he Ends that the heavens are above (his 
 head), and the waters (or the earth) beneath; 
 and this is a natural order of things which can not 
 be changed. Hence the division of men (livin" 
 in a state of society ) in classes. (Cban-i-ting- 
 Jtoo, 2nd Book, 4th page.) 
 
 ^' 5c rT Hff _ 
 
 n 
 
 ±^fJ-= 
 
 M. % 
 
 ym^ — 
 
 tt 
 
 
 1* 
 
 # ^ M 
 
 
 SiD± 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^mm 
 
 M 
 
 M'J±4n 
 
 — 
 
 SiT^Ji 
 
 + 
 
 Wpfi 
 
 n 
 
 '^^T- 
 
 H 
 
^ 
 
 {!it«-ffllS«:^:/Lll 
 
 m ftiZ^ffmrner-J^ 
 
 '^ 
 
 ^iiammi%i.^n 
 
 M 
 
 :km^miA.mf^ 
 
 % 
 
 *-itit:£W J^:iJig 
 
 ^ 
 
 £ir»^?-*t«r: 
 
 ^ 
 
 ilift^v-H-^-^w^ 
 
 4 
 
 mtknm-^iku 
 
 
 m^mm.m^±-\' 
 
 
 p!:k<kTW:Mi^^ 
 
 
 ^\s.^Mm^m 
 
 (Iff) 
 
 the highest point in the heavens, expresses a law of nature and, at the 
 Bame time, it is offered as a model to princes and men high in the scale of- 
 Bociety, who should fill the whole universe with the splendor of their virtue 
 (1). In one character, the delicate disposition of the strolce is the image 
 of modesty (2). Inxleed the discovery of all usefiil arts is owing to a 
 protracted comteinplation of the sacred characters and constant efforts to 
 imitate them. The secrets of weaving- cloth, of stitdiing nets have their 
 origin in the character Lee, ^= (3). 
 
 (1) =5 j ^ Jl Fire above. 
 
 ~-^ ] ^ ~P Heaven below, a fire high in the 
 
 heavens (is a hint for a great minister) who has 
 many duties to perform. Is there a disturbanee, 
 a revolt, it is bis taslc to quell them. Whatever 
 is too bitter, or too hot or even too sweet, he 
 luust make right, lie has to clear up what is ob- 
 scure or intricate ; to give weight to that which 
 
 is too light A minister of state iii like a big 
 
 cart, it must be properfy loaded before it can be 
 
 put on the way all his acts must be to the 
 
 benefit of the King. (Chau-i-ting-koo, 2nd Book, 
 page 55.) 
 
 (2) 1 give a few quotations of Y-king in which other aU' ^ ^ I*E lA ^ 3= -^ W 
 Symbols are given for imitation by all men, as, IlT Sit — ^ ==^ a 
 in Catholic books, the cross is ofiered to be- "Ui ^"3E St* Im ^ 
 lievers as a source of inspiration. — "The moun- ^ ^ ^ pj 
 tains are in the Earth: it is- the Kun S^ (In -J ^ LU .3M 
 imitation of it) learned, wise and good men search ^ ^ ^ jLt 
 into all things that they may gradually improve. J^ |j5 §■ SS - 
 They are as correct as a scale, (and yet) they Q iMi -? 
 
 place themselves on a level with the shepherd;" — ^"' 
 
 That is to say, mountains proceed from the earth 
 
 ■where they had been lying hidden. In imitation, 
 
 of theiii great men keep in the shade and theic- 
 
 ways are humble ; but, « hen apportunity offers, 
 
 they rise to tlie highest point of perfection. 
 
 (Chau— i-ting-koo. Book 9tli page 6.) 
 
 (3) The secret of making knots with J^ -[T ^ ^ ^ » *| ^ m 
 cords (nets) to fish with, and traps to h «b ^ JA ^ /t »* "^ = g, 
 
 the character Lee ^ (Chau ..tmg- ^ -^ ^^ ^^^ y j^ i g. 
 
 koo. Book 3, page 104.) The char- ^ fA ik Stt JB -^ ^ 
 
 acter Lee is composed of the double ^ ^ jl X S ^ 
 
 sign of fire placed one after the other x 25 JSt'S^ ^ ^ 
 
 thus,EEl|flTfirebelow,EEgilT 5 if i S ^ 
 
 fire above. (Chou-ting-koo, Book 3 ^ » ^ ?^ » '<& 
 
 pageJ04) ^ ° • ^ Jlfc^4 W ^ 
 
 The art of counting also come.i from ^ •(& |U i^ iQ, ^ 
 
 these ,mysteri ins symbols. We are ^ M '^ JW @ 
 
 aware that the numbers used in the ^ 1$ -^ fS ^^ 
 
 binary system of numeration require -f^ ^ ^ S 
 
 bui two figures, and L, to represent -t 7t TO W. 
 
(20) 
 
 Not only the science of the present, but that of the fntiire is concealed' 
 ■within the forms of the sacred character.-. The prophet of the Wha-seu river 
 is a necromancer who reads the future destiny of the world in the lines of 
 its mysterious features, in the fibres of the sacred plants, in the footsteps of 
 the birds of heaven piinted on the slime of the ssa shore. Everything, 
 under the heavens and above earth, the seas, the lakes, the clouds, the 
 mountains are, for him, as the book of fate, which has been skilfully wi-itten 
 and opened for his information by aii almighty artist. " 
 
 The Rulins '^'^^ result of this strange conception of truth is easily 
 Power in CM- perceived. Since the shape of a character has been settled 
 by Heaven himself, each line, each stroke has in itself an 
 aiithority which cannot be disputed. Add a character, a radical to the 
 Dictionary, there is a resolution in the faith and in the Empire. Writing is 
 sacred. "Whoever shall be so impious as to throw on the floor a sheet written 
 on, shall be punished soon or late, by Heaven, with the loss of Ms eye- 
 sight. Although a waste, it should have been religiously burned. The 
 souls of the dead survive in their writings, and wise men, in the evening, 
 consign to paper the "resume of their good actions, and they commit the 
 same to the flames, so that Heaven may be more surely informed. While 
 dying, the martyrs write with their blood, the ghosts, the spirits above 
 
 all the numbers ; in this system, a figure placed to the left of an other, repre- 
 sents a unity two times stronger. In this way numbers whirb we designate ordinaril- 
 ly by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, G, 7, 8, 9, 10 &c.. would be designated by 1, 10, U, 100, 101, 
 110, 111, 1000, JOOi, 1010, &c. The illustrious Leibnitz while engaged in com- 
 paring the system of numeration of the Chinese as given by the 64 He.vagrams of 
 Foh-he, or the 8 trigrams of the Pah-kwa combined in pairs, to other systems of 
 European origin, found that these symbols are nothing but the 64 first numbers of 
 the system which has 2 for basis, but interverted. For if we represent the unity 
 by ^—^-^^— and the nought b;^ — ^^ , and if we agree to write the units 
 of the various orders not from right to left, but from b(3ow up, as the noughts, 
 ' " placed to- the left of a number, do not change its value, we find that the Chinese 
 
 symbols superposed iu 64 horizontal lines, as hereunder given, can be interpreted in 
 the following way : 
 
 Chinese symbols. Translation in binary system. Value in the decimal system. 
 '§3 ' ' 000,000 
 
 000,001 
 000,010 
 000,01 1 
 
 000,100 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 
 and so on. 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 ■write, without intermittenee, tlie clirouicles of the planets. On his throneT 
 
 The table of the sixty-four symbols, as found in Y-kinjr, is hereunder uiv;in. 
 Under these symbols is tlieir translation in the binary system, as we wouUlwrite 
 it, and to the right of these, is tlieir value in known figures. 
 
 
 IIUU 011000 lOOUJ 000010 001001. OllHO 
 
 oioiii omul louoi oooiu" 001101 J;*;*'"" 
 
 110111 llOUO 001 llf 000100 IIOOIO Oooioi 
 
 ^^^^ »^M^ ^ »^MB "^"^^^^3 ™ ' ' m B^^^^HM^ ^^m ASMS 
 
 IlUOl 110110 1^7^ 000011 010101 °''''*'° 
 
 OliOOl ^"'"'^ llOCOl 100000 100010 ""1" 
 
 
 
 •^^^ 000000 — — 100001 010000 .2!!!!1 
 
 ■— ■"" luoio Trr~~" 
 
 111001 _. 101110 
 
 lUoio TT.-r 01,100 111103 i""i"o 
 
 010010 _^'^"" "ooToiT 101000 001000 J°'^"" 
 
 60 
 
 
 111100 ^""^^ ^Tm7 010100 110000 fioon 
 
 110101 .100110 ^^^^ 011,11 -^^^ 101010 
 
 "loooii 100101 010001 onoio 
 
( ^-^ ) 
 
 the Emperor writes commentaries on the sacred books. Among the people 
 tlie first rank has been assigned to those who the best understand the 
 mysterious Symbols; and here is, at once, a whole nation of learned people 
 who, according to their respective examinations, are distributed in sections 
 of Illiterates, Bachelors, Licentiates, Doctors, &c. in the same manner other 
 people are divided in Proletaries, Plebeians, Patricians, &c. ITence also 
 one of the rewardspromised by Heaven to virtuous men, that their descen- 
 dants shall obtain the grade of Doctor to the third generation. 
 
 Those who have gradiwded form the class well known in China under 
 the name of Literati. Living among themselves, without any apparent 
 sign of power, they govern the Empire with a rod of iron. The paint of 
 their pen is sliarpetr than the edge of a sword, is a common saying among 
 the lower classes of Chinese. The Keun Ke-Chli, or supreme council of the 
 Empire, sitting at Pekin, is recruited from among them. Constantly engaged 
 in the study of the sacred books, this council is intended to advise the 
 Emperoi', not only on all the great state questions, but also on mattere of 
 minor interest ; and its decisions are binding under the penalty of death. 
 " The various ceremonies to be observed in mariage, funerals and mourn- 
 ing, hospitalities, religious worsliip, the conduct of hostilities, the shape 
 of houses, the measure of capacity, of length, weight, are fixed by it, 
 it 4^ ^t to innovate in them is capital oifcnce" (1). 
 
 Confucius, the. commentator par excellence, is the chief and the 
 model of the Literati. He is their spiritual ancestor, and they have de- 
 dicated many temples to him. His descendants compose the only nobility 
 that is hereditary in the Empire. Around him are grouped an infinity of 
 minor celebrities whose deeds reflect in proportion on their posterity. 
 Confucius has his altars, they have theirs. So, at a certain day, the whole 
 nation assembles in honor of the Ancestors. All, high and low, prostrate 
 themselves before their images or before their names, written on paper or 
 
 Leibnitz, meditating further over these symbols, the commentary of which by 
 Confucius infortunately he had not been able to read, saw in their radicals exactly 
 ■what, we have seen, they are understood to be by the Chinese, the imao-e of the 
 universe taken from nought by the will of God ; and he argued that, as all the 
 numbers in the binary system are derived from nought and one, so is the world 
 which canie from Nothing and of God. He became so infatuated with this idea 
 that he advised Father Bouvet, missionary in China, to develop it before the Son of 
 Heaven to. cimvert him to Christianity. (See " Arithmctique par Leon Lalanne 
 ancicn dleve de I'Ecolepolytechnique, Engenieur dcs Fonts et Ghanssees etc naw 
 7, Paris 1840.) ■ ' *^^ 
 
 (1) See the canon of Shun, par. 8, and the doctrine of the mean. Ch. XXVIII. 
 
(23) 
 
 on tablets, with the same ceremonial they observe, the same respect they shou) 
 token nieeliitg, under certain circunstances, any of those placed above them: 
 their father or their mother, the public officers of the Eiriperor or the Em- 
 peror himself. For those in power have been placed in their station by 
 the will of Heaven. " Heaven protects the people in giving them teachers 
 and princes. * «. .j^ Whatever the Emperor does, he does it for and by 
 the will of Heaven. B.it the Einp3ror could not do everything by himself; 
 therefore he partakes his power with otliers, and anything that Is done by 
 those in power is done by the command of Heaven" (1). 
 
 During these holy days they burn candles and perfumed sticks ; a pig 
 IS killed and composes the main dish of this great communion. Are these 
 practices idolatrous? Are they purely civil? Have they been instituted 
 to keep, among the people, the memory of those who once were great and 
 have been an honor to the state? Are these names written on paper con- 
 sidered simply as a symbol of what is good and great? Do the Chinese 
 honor it by exterior acts as our soldiers wlijn they salute their flag by 
 dropping their sword before it? Are ancestors acknowledged as Gods? 
 Or are they invoked by the Chinese as the Saints are by the Italians, the 
 French, the Ii'ish, the South- Americans? Although I firmly believe that 
 the latter supposition is the correct one, I shall not undertake to settle the 
 point by argument. I will only say that, idolatrous or not, the custom is 
 so dear to the Chinese that they seldom give it up even after they have 
 enbraced Christianity (2). It is in the present what is has been in the past, 
 ■what it will be in the future, the stumbling block, the most serious obsta- 
 cle to the propagation of our faith among them. 
 
 " Why, said the literati of Fohkien" in their proclamations against 
 foreigners, posted near Amoy, in 1868; why do you not rise to resist 
 the dogs whom you should know, have no regards for tlieir ancestors 
 and their rulers; and, therefore, differ not from the most degraded 
 brutes? Oh! you, the natives of China, listen to the teaching of the 
 wise, discover the right from the wrong, and abstain from what is ab- 
 ject. A great man has said: ^'Battle against innovations." .,(. ^ ^ 
 
 (1) Chow-king. 
 
 (2) I Iiail a onok who wa« reorulavly attendinjr phiirch at the American Chapel at Amoy. 
 YL-t he wouKl worship his ancestorij tablets as another servant uf mine enabled 
 me to asuer'.ain. .J 
 
(24) 
 
 Then the author, having advised the people not to lease or sell their 
 houses to be used as chapels by American missionaries, winds up by not- 
 ifying them that, should they let their houses for that purpose, " the 
 Literati will not fail to inform"— note well: "to inform— the civil officers 
 that it " is their duty to administer the most severe punishment, without 
 mercy, on the offender " (1). 
 
 In an other proclamation I read: "The object of this is to remove a 
 
 great danger. The temple of my Ancestor Hong-Tou has long been 
 
 standing ^ ^ ^ * and Hong-Tou's merits and renown for good morals and 
 
 wisdom has spread over the seas, and it has reached Tsung-chang (a 
 
 celebrated place of worship in the neighborhood of Anioy), as even the 
 
 children of this place well know. How then can the vagabond Lim-Pye 
 
 dare to bring any christian barbarian among us to erect a chapel ^ ^^^ ^ ^ 
 
 and thereby do damage to iny ancestor's temple. All who descend fi'om 
 
 Hong-Tou must oppose this and the indignation of the people, raised in 
 
 their support, shall have no bounds. As for me I will reward with twenty 
 
 Taels, in Spanish Dollars, any one, of my clan, who will succeed in taking 
 
 ^im-Pye and beat the life put of him. Report this ! 7th year, 10th month. 
 
 __ „ ,.• Having risen to such a high statiis among their own 
 
 The Ruling f . . 
 
 classes oppose people, it was natural that the Literati should prove 
 
 ariea in self de- jealous of any influence tlireatening to overthrow au 
 fence. order of things the fall of which must be the signal of their 
 
 ruin. They have but very little to apprehend from within. The Chinese 
 are so attached to their traditions, to their customs, that they fairly beleive 
 their own exiitenca as a people and their rites are inseparable. This 
 explains why they resisted the in any revolutions which have t^en place 
 in their Empire. In this they give us a spectacle unique under the sun: 
 twenty-two reigning families, twenty-two dynasties, twenty-two revolutions, 
 the last a most violent one, which has been marked with floods of blood, 
 have succeeded to each other with the most singular rapidity, without 
 apparent variations in condition of the people, in their way of living, 
 
 (1) Tim house was rented t(> our missionaries, soon after the is:«iiincr of that proclama- 
 tion, and I had the author of the proclamatiim arrested after the visit which 
 Admiral Rohan made me in lb6!i. and he was condemned to rcceire two hundred 
 blows of the bamboo, before Dr. Talmage and forty Chinese convert*. The officer 
 -who passed the sentence actually asked me to write him in the most stroncr 
 (i-rms, tliMt he niiorht find, in the terms of my Despatch, a justification with 
 his lUperior for what he had done. 
 
in their customs. Abroad it is different, and the experience of India, 
 now lying at their side, almost dead as a nation, so much has it been 
 transformed under the powerful rule of England, has taught them a 
 terrible lesson. 
 
 The Literati fear the foreign merchant but little, for his object, 
 wealtli, is clear; and after he gets it, he generally leaves the coiintry, 
 and it is not likely that he will give further trouble. But in the Mission- 
 aries, who pretend to be the exclusive possessors of truth, who openly show 
 the greatest contempt for the morals of Confucius and anything which 
 is not foreign, they see the pioneers of a civilization from which they 
 must have everything to fear. For if it were substituted for that of which 
 they are the support, the power vested in their hands must pass to others. 
 Therefore they do all they can to oppose them. Incapable of openly 
 using force, in the face of the treaties, they have recourse to craft, and, 
 in their ocult ways, there is nothing which they do not ressort to. 
 
 The first point in view was to keep the Missionaries from getting into 
 the confidence of the ignorant classes. To this effect they have made 
 them an object of terror to all. They represent them as being addicted 
 to the most diabolical practices. They say that they kidnap and stupefy 
 victims, that they murder children to obtain their blood, their eyes, out 
 of which to manufacture diamond, the matrix of gold, the source of our 
 merchant's wealth (1). 
 
 During the troubles at Tang-chow these, insinuations, strange to 
 say, found an official expression. A certain Prefect Shiin having asked 
 for instructions from the chief Magistrate of the District, the latter 
 sent the following reply: "the Missionaries must not return for several 
 months. I will refer their case to the Tsung-Lee-Yamun (Board of 
 
 (1) For a remarkably truthful representation of the animus of the rulino; (literary) 
 classes of China towards foreio^ners, I would refer to a book tlie traiislation of 
 ■which has been published in Shanghai, last year ; " Death blow to cobhupt 
 
 DoCTKINBS, AND PLAIN STATEMENT OF FACTS, PUBLISHED BY THE GENTRY AND 
 
 THE PEOPLE." Montaigne, the great french philogophrr of the 16th century, has 
 written: " Les hommes sont portout et toujours les memes; men are everywl ere and 
 always the same. The worrectness of this assertion m.iy bi; ()rnved by a reference 
 to what has taken place in Paris, in lo72, a few weeks before the St Bartliolomcw 
 The priests anxious to incite the populace against the Protestants, resorted to the 
 same machinations. Unable to find any true ground of complaint ri^ainst them they 
 accused them of the most atrocious practices. Michelct say : Hintoire the France 
 au 16"». Steele — Ouerres de religion, page 394 — " Le bruit courait q\i"ils voiaient 
 les enfants pour les tuer et en fournir le sang k 1» Heine mere pt au Uue d'Anjou, 
 "a qui les medccins ordonnaient, pour Tcpuisemcnt, des bains do sang humaiii." 
 
(26) _^ 
 
 Foreign Aflfairs in Pekin) and when the Yamun, after consultation with the 
 foreign Ministers, informs me that it has come to the conclusion that the 
 Missionaries really do not abstract brains and eyes, I will myself issue a 
 proclamation to that affect to the gentry and to the people at Tang-chow, 
 after which the Missionaries may return ^ ^ ^ ^ '(1). 
 
 CUristiani- Confucius has skilfully adapted the most reckless impulse 
 .ty in China. of the human heart to the geometrical formulas of Foh-E's 
 ]-evelation; a circumstance which, I fear, has too long escaped the attention 
 ■of the Missionaries. I am far from advocating tactics which have 
 found, in the estimation of those who were most interested to defend 
 them, an eloquent disavowal, the tactics of deceit and wrong inaugurat- 
 ed by the Jesuits in the last century, and carried on yet by their suc- 
 cessors of the present day. " Pudet ehristum possum et cmcifixum predicare." 
 has been said of them by Pope Innocent X. But I firmly believe that, 
 had the preachers of the gospel shown more tact in discussing the subject 
 •of religious reform with the Chinese, they would have been more 
 successful. It is plain that, in the estimation of the Chinese, anything 
 that it is not in the Kings, is heretic and subversive of public morals 
 and welfare. In China every branch in the social organisation has its 
 language. The merchants have their own; the diplomats write in 
 ■a style and use terms which are most unintelligible to the merchant 
 or the soldiers ; and the philosopher, in turn, does not express his ideas 
 •like any of them- and this is so true that one may meet a Chinese and tell 
 him that one intends studying Chinese, the first question which the pro- 
 fessor asks is which branch of the general language one wishes to learn? 
 that of the men in office, of the philosophers or of those engaged in trade? 
 Therefore unless the whole Chinese language is changed, to discuss upon 
 any subjects of morals or of religion, the style of the sacred books, or of 
 the Kings must be used. This important point the Missionaries have dis- 
 regarded, and their translations of the Bible, not being in the style of 
 Kings, is generally considered as a very poor specimen of Chinese 
 literature, a circumstance which prevents its being read extensively. Again 
 the Literati contend that truth is eternal, and whenever it is found in the 
 
 (1) His Excellency Tsang to Sun, Perfect of Tang-chow. An extract nnnt^H in 
 Prefect Sun's letter to Consul Medhnrst, September 6, 1868-CbrnaS 2- 
 H^ Ma5^r° ^ '^ ""'' °* Parliament by command of 
 
(27 y 
 
 Kings or in the Bible or the New TestavMnt, it is God's word and should 
 command respect. Now it is well known among those familiar witln 
 Chinese literature that there are but few of our Christian maxims which- 
 are not to be found in the Kings. Yet the preachers of the gospel have 
 persisted in disregarding the limited relationship which exists between 
 the morals of Christ and those of Confucius, and they have long contended 
 with the Literati for the honor of having an exclusive conception of 
 Divinity; and it is but lately that they have come to the conclusion ti> 
 use, in their translation of the Bible, the character which, in the Kings,' 
 and the only one, I believe, in the Chinese language, conveys the idea of~ 
 God (1). This childish controversy which they have kept going on, 
 on the subject of the characters Iliien-tchu, 5c i> Grod, Lord of heaven, 
 has lasted over two hundred years. It is certain that it caused great 
 offense to the proud Chinese who could not help seeing in the persistence 
 of the Missionaries but an inclination to disparage them in the eyes of 
 their own people, and, more than anything else, it has contributed in 
 giving rise to their feeling of hatred towards the religion of Christ (2). 
 
 Another cause of drawback for the missions lies in-' the divisions exist- 
 ing in their midst. Had they made common cause in teaching the text of 
 the gospel and, as professional men, as physicians, tea-ohers in machematies 
 and useful arts or trades, modestly, (.■arefully, taking their time, moved" 
 t jward the interior of the Empire, I believe that, by this time, they would 
 have left their mark in the East. And, indeed, what would have hind-^ 
 ered their march? Their presence would have been a blessing to the peo- 
 jile; and as to the question of religion in itself the Literati care very little 
 about it. In fact they are rather favorably inclined towards all religions- 
 which they consider as inoffensive superstitions and as almost indispensa- 
 ble substitutes for the doctrine of Confucius, wliich, in their pride, they 
 believe to be quite beyongthe reach of the ignorant multitude. Indeed 
 with a view to conciliate the good wishes of the lower classes, 4hey affect 
 to publicly acknowledge them by making it a duty for the civil officers of 
 the highest rank, to visit, at intervals, the places of worship which are 
 most in favor, and especially those which belong to persuations most apt, 
 in their estimation, to aid them in the Government of the people. 
 
 nv i* Supreme Ruler, or Emperor above. 
 
 (2) This subject <vas drsc.isserf at full length by me with. Lee Tajen, ttovemor of 
 Formosa, in Dtccmber 18(59. 
 
( 2-^ ) 
 
 Frangois Xavier, tlie great precursor of missionary enterprise in tha 
 East, well understood this. He almost declined discussing the doctrine of 
 Christ; but he showed what it was capable of inspiring the rain who 
 firmly believed in it. With a spirit of heroism free from any admixture 
 of human thoughts, and too worthy of imitation, hs oiineicod his noble 
 task. Alone, without guides, almost ignorant of the languages and of the 
 places he visited, he follewjd at random the coast of Milabar. In India, 
 BO full of wonders, he saw only those who live far away from the towns ; 
 he spent his days with the lower people, the exiles, the pirias, the little 
 children. At sunset he would take his little bell and w.ilk from hut to 
 hut saying, " Good people, let us pray the L->rd in Heaven 1 " 
 
 In this manner he tra-jed an uniuterrupied roal for future comers as 
 far as the Cormoran's cape. He planted the cross over an immense tract 
 of land and the populations through which he passed, considering him to be 
 God'^s envoy, revered and believed him. He had not to invite them; 
 they crowded on his steps. They craved to embrace the faith of one so 
 great of goodness and charity. Fran9Dis Xavier has been, on earth, a good 
 image of Christ, and his sanctity was everywhere his safe guard. 
 
 So long as the propagators of the faith, following in this holy 
 man's steps, circumscribed their action to' the conversion of the souls and 
 the education of the people, they were respected and in favor. Witness 
 Ricci, who, from 1532, spent tvVenty-eight years at Peking, living in a 
 house that the Emperor Ching-Tsong, ^ ^, had given to him. Adam 
 Shall, of Cologne, in the year 1653, who superseded, as president of the 
 college of mathematics, in Peking, the Persian astronomers, Grimaldi, 
 .Carreri, all of whom received many favors by the hands of the Emperoi'S. 
 But, doubtless, when, jealous one of the other, they commenced to quarrel 
 -among themselves, to intrigue one against the other in the palace, or, in 
 general, they favored the supremacy of the Pope of Rome over the Son of 
 Heaven, a great change took place. The Chinese lost faith in men Avho 
 had failed to prove that they were true to their highest ideal. Christian- 
 ity had been announced to them as a religion of peace and it had brought 
 to them discord. It had been represented as being the communion of the 
 humble, and the pride of Rome had shown itself in the most offensive 
 - manner to the ruling Emperor. Those who professed to be the charitable 
 par excellence, had invited their own counti-y to do the Chinese violence and 
 take revenge of them. 
 
( i^ ) 
 
 Housed with indignation at so much hypocrysy, at the risk of losing 
 the services which the Missionaries had rendered, and which they valued 
 so much, (1) the Supreme Council of the Empire decided that the people 
 should be brought to their senses and protected against the influence of a 
 doctrine which, under the veil of charity and peace, had brought confusion 
 and trouble in the Empire. In his explanation in ten thousand characters 
 (Van-Tzeu-Lun), touching sixteen articles of morals which are publicly 
 taiight to the people, twice a month, the Emperor having enumerated the 
 most objectionable sects, said: — " The roligion ot Europe which honors 
 Thien-Tchu (2) is also one of those whose principles are not to be found 
 in the Kings and are not derived from them (3). The Missionaries are 
 acquainted with the science of Mathematics and, therefore, they have- 
 been made use of in the Empire. This every one must know." 
 
 Such was the decision of this great Emperor, and, sad as it is, and 
 the declaration to the contrary contraned in the treaties notwithstanding, 
 it is to be feared that his successors believe yet in its wisdom, and that, 
 for a long time to come, however powerful the intervention of the foreign 
 powers in favor of Missionary enterprise may be, the crown of the martyrs 
 will be the only reward which christian truth has to oQ'er to its defenders. 
 
 Taiwax-foo, Island of Formosa, January, 1870. 
 
 (1) Among other things they made ilie maps of the Empire. Their altaa is in 
 my hands. 
 
 (•i) [The Lord of Heaven] two characters invented by the Missionaries and by 
 which they have long translated tha word " Grod." 
 
 (3) ^ $S The Yh-king " book of changes," and wliich, I have -so often quoted above, 
 IS regarded with almost universal reverence by the Chinese, both on account of 
 its antiquity, and also the unfathonable wisdom whidi is supposed to lie concealed 
 under its mysterious Symbols. As I have already said, the authorship of the 
 Symbols ($K Kwa), which forms the nucleus of the work, is with great con- 
 fidence attributed to Foh-he or Paou-he. These consisted originally, as we have 
 seen, of 8 trigrams, but were subsequently, by combining them in pairs, augmented 
 to the 64 hexagrams. The work is said to ha\e escaped destruction at the time 
 of the burning of books, B. C. 2"20, in consequence of its application to purposes 
 of divination ; books of that class havnig being excepted. Traditions relates, 
 however, that the three last sections by Confucius were lost about that time, 
 and were afterwards found by a girl at tlie Yellow River. A long list of 
 scholars are recorded as having distinguished themselves as expimnders of the 
 Yh-king, some by oral instructions and other by their writings. (See Wotes on Chinese 
 &c., by A. Wylie, Shanghai and London, 1S67, pages 1 and 2). 
 I have never seen any translation of I'h-king into any Phiropean languages but 
 Mr. Wylie states that there is one in Latin. Yli-king, antiquissimus, Sinaium 
 Liber quern ex latina interpretstione P. Kegis aliorum que ex Soc. Jesu 
 P. P. edidit Julius Mohl. 1834, Stutagartiae et Tubiiigae, 2 vol. ■ 
 
MiEiif oi?.^:NrDT::rM n^o. a. 
 
 THE TWENTY PIEST OF JUNE AND THE 
 DIPLOMACY IN PEKING. 
 
(a3) 
 
 Memorandum No 2. 
 
 THE TWENTY FIRST OF JUNE AND THE 
 DIPLOMACY IN PEKING. 
 
 Homo sum : humani nihil a me alienum pulo. 
 Tere/n-cjt, • 
 
 On may passage to Shanghai, in December last, J naturally made 
 many inquiries concerning the massacres of the 21 of June. Surprised 
 to hear so many contradictory reports of the affair, I made up my mind 
 to call upon a gentleman whose love for truth, for truth's sake, I well 
 knew, and whose devotion to the cause of China I had had many 
 opportunities to witness, and who was better situated than almost any 
 one I knew of, to furnish a correct statement of the affair. I was not 
 deceived in my expectations ; and, indeed, the disclosures of my friend 
 were so startling that I had no rest till he gave me a written memorandum 
 of our interview, which I agreed to arrange for communication to my 
 Government, while he promised to send a paper, on the same subject, 
 to the press. 
 
 The plot. My friend said. — For the last three or four years past it 
 has been reported, each year, that, on the 21 of June (1), there would 
 be a general messacre of foreigners, and of this, not oae of the Ministers 
 residing at Peking, must have been ignorant. Our Deplomats have 
 equally been aware of the views expressed, nearly fifteen or eighteen 
 months ago, by Tseng-Kwo-fan •^ g j§ and Le Hung-chang, in answer 
 to an Imperial edict submitting to their judgment certain question?, 
 and that these two high dignitaries agreed in saying that, although 
 nothing could be more desirable than to resist foreign demands, the nation 
 was not ready to fight, and that, therefore, it would be advisable to 
 
 wait. The question of war being thus set a side by tlie united advice 
 
 of the chiefs of the army, the extreme party decided to seek from a 
 Popular uprising the execution of its programme. In consequence detailed 
 instructions were sent to all the parts of the Empire, and the signal was to 
 
 (I) The day had been fixed, it i;^ said, by their fortune ttllers. 
 
(3*) 
 
 come from Nanking. It was General Cheng K"wo-jom ^ P 3^, who, 
 on his return from Sze-chuen^ P3 JIIi at the end of last April, was intrusted 
 with the task of inciting the people. In this he failed owing to the prudence 
 and energy of Vice Eoy Ma, ,B| ^ |^, who ordered the principal chiefs of 
 the movement to be seized and put to deatl (1). Cheng Kwo-joui ^ g 
 3^, defeated on this score, hastened to Tientsin, where he arrived during 
 the first days of June, and lost no time in preparing, by means of stormy 
 public meetings, for the melancholy tragedy of the 21st of June, (2). 
 
 Tientsin, like all the other towns in the interior, was covered with 
 placards, caUing the people to arms against the kidnappers of children 
 and reproducing, in the .•most violent language, the old stories of the 
 worst times, viz : that the sisters of charity were in the habit of taking 
 iout the eyes and hearts of the children wherewith to make a hateful 
 medecine. At the present moment, I simply narrate the facts as they 
 took place ; the Count de Eochechouart, in a memorandum sent to the 
 Tsung-Lee Tamen, and published by the newspapers, a few months ago, 
 established, with .great force of logic, the culpability of tliese great 
 criminals, and I need not add a word to what he said in that occasion. 
 Therefore I come to the 21st of June : — 
 
 (1) Mr. Consul Medhust had called the attention of Mr. Wade to the occurrence 
 saying: "That it was quite within the corapas? of possibility that the act had been 
 •committed in revenge for the active and determined measure.s which Ma adopted 
 against the military students of Gan-king-fu with a view to compel them to 
 produce the two ring leaders in the attack upon the Missionary establishments 
 ofthat city." The assasination of prominent members of the Provincial 
 authorities is entirely foreign to the temper and spirit of Chinese people, and 
 almost unprecedented in the modern history of China. It is almost evidence of 
 the excitement which must have existed at the time. Mr. Medhust fully un- 
 derstood the significance of the act, for he wrote to Mr. Wade: "If this hypothesis 
 he correct, the incident -must have a deep significance in the eyes of the Chinese 
 at the present conjuncture of affairs. The mere fact that so high and influential an 
 officer as the Vice-Roy of the Two Kiang Provinces can be thus sacrified on account 
 of his leaning towards foreigners will certainly create an agitation in the minds ' 
 of all classes. It will have the effect of causing the well-disposed towards us to 
 lose heart, while it will embolden those amongst the officials and Literati who do 
 favour foreign relations to persist in their efforts to incent.e the mass of the 
 population against us. In any event the consequences as regards any Mission- 
 aries, French or British, who may at present be residing at Nanking and in the 
 neighbouring districts are likely to be anything but agreeable." 
 
 <2) See Mr. Rochechouart's despatches in which he states that, in his journey from 
 the central provinces to Tientsin, Cheng Kwo-joui's route may be traced by a 
 succession of outrages on Foreigners which followed on his wake. See also Mr. 
 Wade's despatches to his Government on the subject of Cheng Kow-joui's 
 connection with the massacre. 
 
Tlie 21st of O^ tlie morning of that day, numerous groups had 
 ^^^^- assembled before the Consulate of France; vociferations 
 
 were heard, stones were thrown from all sides, the shops were closed in 
 the city, and the gong called all the citizens to arms to burn the Consul- 
 ate of France and the church, and to massacre foreigners. Mr. Fonta- 
 nier, the French Consul, from this moment, realized the extent of the 
 danger. He knew full well that he could not, in any event, expect help 
 from those who had organized the movement; but he had known Chung- 
 ^ow % ^, for many years. The perfect urbanity with which this ofScer 
 had always treated all foreigners, the marks of sympathy which he had 
 always sliown, towards them, had left in his mind the conviction that 
 this high dignitary would interpose in the trouble. It is then that ha 
 wrote his letter to the Charge d'Affaires of France, dated several hours 
 before his death, and, if my information is correct, in it, he expressed 
 the convictidn that Chung-How would disperse the mob, and that 
 order would be entirely restored in lihe afternoon (1). But he was fated 
 to learn, two hours later, tliat not only Chung-How would not come, in 
 person, to the Consulate, but that he would not even send a single 
 soldier to protect him, and that he would, remain concealed from the 
 sight of all in his Tamin during: the whole time that the butchery should 
 last. 
 
 Before going on with this recital,, I must remark that I do not 
 hesitate to say that Chung-How has not been,, for a moment, in compli- 
 city with the Prefect and the Sub-Prefect ; but I am equally convinced 
 that, if he had done his duty, his heart would not have failed at the 
 most critical moment. If he had gone officially to the Consulate, as he 
 should have done, the massacre would have been prevented. I cannet 
 better compare hi& conduct thamto that of a Commander of a war vessel, 
 who, while on shore, being informed, that a mutiny had broken out on 
 board and that the sailors are murdering their officers,, will not go on 
 board for fear of being murdered also. Such an officer would be brought 
 before a court martial, and, the least that could happen to him, would be 
 to be degraded as unworthy of holding any future command (2). Therefore 
 I deeply regret to see that Chung-How, sheltered by the bill of indemnity 
 which the French Minister has spontaneously accorded to him, has- 
 
 (1) Sop the Consul's Despatch which has been published in England., 
 
 (2) This- is Chinese law. 
 
( :l« ) ^ 
 
 received, as a premium of encouragement, a nonination as Ambassador. 
 The letter of 'poor Fontanier, in ray opinion, establishes but one fact, 
 viz: that he understood very little the Chinese, and that he had misplaced 
 his confidence; but, far from furnishing an argument in favor of this 
 dignitary, as the French Charge d' Affaires thinks it does, to me it prove* 
 his guilt. 
 
 It has been said by Chung-How that Mr. Fontanier had twice fired 
 with his revolver at him, in his Tamen, and that this attempt against his 
 life had been, in some way, the signal of the massacre. But besides the 
 fact that this allegation is contrary to good sence (because the only hope 
 that, then, remained to Mr. Fontanier was of the support of Chung-How, 
 and, this person being off the scene, there was simply death in the back- 
 ground), I shall here affirm that, in the course of an interview between 
 Chung-How and myself, a fact with which I have acquainted both 
 Messrs. Kochechouart and Wade, His Excellency acknowledged that the 
 French Consul did not fire at him, but he had been compelled to accuse 
 him of it in order to shield himself in his relations with the Emperor (1). 
 
 We are all aware that the inf ortunate Fontanier had a violent and 
 irascible disposition, upon which they found a report that, in the Tamen 
 of Chung-How, in a fit of ungovernable rage, he had smashed every 
 thing within his reach. In support of this assertion, they alleged the 
 testimony of his Chinese servant who had accompanied him that day to 
 the Superintendent of the three ports; but this same servant, being 
 questioned by others, has declared that he did not go into the Yamen, 
 but waited for his master at the door. How then could he have seen 
 what took place within ? I can understand and admit that Mr. Fonta- 
 nier, on going out of the Tamen, became almost frantic with rage, and 
 that he fired on the Sub-Prefect whom he saw applauding the deeds of 
 the mob. I feel deeply in my heart what must have passed in his, when 
 he saw that Chung-How abandoned him, and he had to confess to 
 himself that there vra? no more hope. It is said that, at this juncture, 
 
 (1) *,* « "The blow struck, he tells a story which must be received with great 
 caution, to wit, that Mr. Fontanier came armed to his Yamen, abused him, fired 
 a pistol, if not at him, in his i)rescnce, similarly assaulted the magistrate, and 
 was consequently killed by the people." 
 
 Mr. L.iy proves that in one iuiportant particular he has contradicted himself. 
 On the 22nd he affirmed that Air. Fontanier has been killed close to him, and 
 that he- had liis remains in his Yauun. On the i3rd Jlr. Fontanier's body was 
 recovered by ilr. Lay from the river. (Mr. Wade to his Government). 
 
His Excellency offered to our Consul to conceal him in his Yamen, 
 pledging himself to save his life. But our true representative, on that 
 day, remembered that he had left at the Consiilate the Interpreter of the 
 French Legation, Mr. Thomassin and his young wife ; moreover that the 
 Sisters of charity, the church, and, finally^ the Flag of France had been 
 entrusted to his honor; and, being unable to do anything for them, 
 where he was, he went to die with them. 
 
 At the time Mr. Fontanier was withdrawing, dispair in his heart;- 
 from the Yamen of Chung-How, that functionary did not even condes- 
 cend to escort him to the first interior court, and it was a few seconds 
 after that, while passing Jthe door of the exterior court, he received his 
 first wound, a thrust of a spear in the right side, and, in a moment, his 
 garments were covered with blood. The Count de Eochechouart is 
 well aware of this fact, which took place a few steps from the man who, 
 a little later, was to be sent as Ambassador to offer the apology of China 
 to and reasure the French Government as to the intention of the cabinet 
 of Peking. The six hundred troops armed and drilled by English and 
 French officers during the last few years, at the request of Chung-How, 
 were not sent by him to interfere for the re-establishment of order. It 
 is said they were at the Consiilate and at the house of the Sisters, giving 
 efficient aid to tlie murderers in their bloody work. The Sub-Prefect of 
 Tientsin was officially on the spot where he encouraged, to the utmost of 
 his power, those ferocious beasts set loose by himself and his superior,. 
 the Prefect ; finally the General Chen Kwo-joui, in full uniform, on horse- 
 back, in the midst of the people, was commander, de facto, of this alto- 
 gether new kind of expedition. All agree in saying that from eight ^to 
 ten thousand men took part directly or indirectly in this work of mons^ 
 trous iniquity. 
 
 No one will contradict these facts; I give them to you as absolute- 
 ly true; far, then, from attacking the conduct or character of one who is 
 no more, of Fontanier, let us lay this outrage at the door of those to 
 whom it belongs: the Imperial Government of China, and bow, with 
 respect, before this tomb all covered with blood. 
 
 You do not expect that I should begin again the recital of the horrors 
 of that day; that I should show you the victims cut to pieces and their 
 mangled remains thrown into the river; that I should describe to you 
 the tortures inflicted iipon the sisters of charity; that I should let you 
 
see the clenched hands which struck the children of the orphanage, and 
 the still warm pieces of flesh for~ which those ferocious beasts were 
 struggling in order that they might parade, carrying them about the 
 town on the end of their pikes. The spectacle of these remains, which 
 we have buried, with pious respect, on the site of the Consulate of 
 France, wiU always remain present to my memory. 
 
 The day of the funerals, the Charge d' Affaires of France and oi 
 England could hardly restrain their tears, and the French Admiral, in 
 indio-nant language, gave expression to what all felt at the bottom of 
 their hearts. Alone the Chinese remained indifferent. His Excellency 
 Tseng Kwo-fan was absent from the ceremony. He did not think it 
 needful for him. Imperial Commissiraier, who had been appointed to- 
 settle this outrage, to give us, by his presence, a justly expected token of 
 sympathy or consolation. The new Prefect and Sab-Prefecfc disappeared 
 before the beginning of the funeral. As to Chung.-How, he well played 
 his role of friend : he affected great grief and was present to the last. 
 President de Thou, the most cowardly man of France, well said, when he 
 quoted those words of Louis XI, in cannection with Charles IX, a few 
 days after the St. Bartholomew : " Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare," 
 
 Let us draw, now, a veil over this lamentable tragedy, as Count de 
 Eochschoaart justly called it, and let us pursue our investigation into 
 the conduct and the acts of the local authorities of Tientsin and of the 
 cabinet of Peking during the days that followed this horrible deed. 
 
 On the 23rd, the local authorities of Tientsin, fright- 
 Tlie acts of the i i i r o 
 
 looal authorities ened at what had taken place the day before, and 
 
 thP^OabineT of "wishing to justify their conduct before the Emperor, 
 Peking, after the should the pressure exerted by the foreign Ministers 
 render it necessary, proceeded to arrest from fifteen to 
 eighteen Chinese catholics, who were tortured, to make them confess 
 that the sisters of charity were in the habit O'f taking out the eyes and 
 hearts of children wherewith to make their diabolic medecine. Of these 
 fifteen or eighteen unfortunates, three are dead, and the others have been 
 returned to us covered with wounds and in a desperate condition. Mr. 
 de Eochechouart will not contradict this; for it is himself who having 
 with threats on his lips, required their liberation, established the fact. 
 The populace, so far as I know, had nothing to do with this iniquitous 
 
( 3ft ) 
 
 act, which is so intimately connected with the murder of the day before. 
 They have carefully omitted making it known to the public and to the 
 Governments; and indeed, I admire the singular facility with which 
 certain people pass over these occurrences, so that, without compromis- 
 sing themselves, they may persuade our Governments to believe on these 
 ridiculous terms of satisfaction which Chung-How, the involuntary yet 
 ' the real author of the tragedy of the 21st of June, is going to submit to 
 them. 
 
 At the first news of the massacre of Tientsin the members of the 
 Department of Foreign Affairs, justly alarmad at the consequences that 
 might follow, went, in a body, to the various Ministers to express the 
 sorrow which these -events had caused them, and to propose for the 
 signature of the Emperor, a decree appointing Tseng Kwo-fan Imperial 
 Commissioner to open an inquiry into these events (1). The decree 
 dwelt with complacency on the misdeeds of the Missionaries and of the 
 Christians, and attributed the massacre to the alleged pistol-shot of Mr. 
 Fontanier. Two days later General Chen Kwo-joui arrived at Peking, 
 where he was received in triumph, and where he resumed his luxurious 
 and dissipated mode of life, without even so much as being troubled by 
 questions. The Charge d' Affaires of France, it is true, clearly established 
 his guilt, andj in indignant despatches, demanded his execution ; but 
 they did not deign to examine into the matter, even for form's sake. 
 
 Tseng Kwo-fan, on the other side, slowly prepared to leave Pao- 
 ting-foo for Tientsin, where he arrived in the early days of July with a 
 few thousand men. But he was so sick that he was almost unable to fulfil 
 the mission which had been entrusted to him. The Count de Eoche- 
 chonart, invited by the Tsung-lee-yAmen to go to Tientsin in order to, 
 in concert with the Commissioner, arrest the guilty parties and settle 
 this horrible affair amicably and in conformity to the laws of justjce, 
 
 (1) After the St. Bartholemew in ]572, the authors of the massacre were those who 
 most reproved it. "Charles IX lui merae craignit I'cfFet de la tete de UoHgny 
 arrivant k Rome. II ordonna an gouverneur de Lyon de I'arreter au passn;ie. 
 
 Un lacobin breton, Masset, dans son histoire de son ordre, imagina affir- 
 
 rna qu'un "'saint homme, directcur de Catherine de Medicis et de Diane de 
 Poitiers, I'Eveque de Lisieux, Hennuyer, avait empeche le massacre dans cette 
 ville. Le .Tesuite Maimbourg a reproduit ce recit. Malheureusement les registres 
 de ia ville de Lisieux etabliasent le contraire. Ce fut le magistrat qui 
 enii)echa reffiision du sans, et nullement I'Kveque, alors absent, et d'aillenrs 
 ai-dcnt porsecutcur." (J. Michelet. La Ligne et Ilenrj IV, notes, pages 478 
 and 47!t'). 
 
(40) 
 
 lost not a minute in coming to confer with the colleague assigned to him; 
 Tout these conferences were not to last long. During the fifteen or twenty 
 days that Mr. de Eochechouart remained in Tientsin, he saw Tseng Kwo- 
 fan but twice; the first time when, on his arrival, he called upon the 
 Commissioner, and, the second time, when Tseng Kwo-fan returned his 
 call, at the English Consulate, then the Consulate of France. And, 
 during their solemn interviews, this comical remark was made, unique* 
 expression of the feelings and views of this Imperial Commissioner: 
 "The unfortunate affair of Tientsin has been caused by the ignorance of 
 the people, I am going to propose to have them educated by our Literati" 
 — the most hostile and vicious class in the whole Empire — " this will 
 take several years, say two or three, after which we need not fear a 
 renewal of such scenes (1)." But as to an inquiry, it was not mentioned; 
 as to arrests, not one was made. 
 
 "While this was going on, the true murderers of the 21 of June had 
 escaped, some to Shan-tung [Ij '^, others to Peking itself. Tseng Kwo-fan, 
 being too sick to acquit himself, with the desired promptness, of the 
 mission entrusted to him, one of the member of the Board of Foreign 
 Affairs was dispatched to Tientsin. But he also found himself in such a 
 weak state, when he arrived, that he had to postpone sine die the inquiry 
 which was to be made. 
 
 Mr. de Roche- ^'^ disgust Mr. de Eochechouart made up his mind 
 chouart returns to return to Peking, having secured previously, however, 
 that the victims of the 2l8t of June should be interred 
 in a Catholic cemetery. 
 
 We were then at the beginning of August, and more than six 
 weeks bad passed since the crime had been committed without any 
 one thinking of beginning the trial of the murderers. The Cabinet of 
 Peking, knowing well that all impressions are blunted with time, con- 
 formed to its traditional policy and was gaining time, (2) spending weeks 
 in endless communications. It would be a curious and interesting 
 
 (1) In two or three years it will be too late to pacify China. The chiefs of the 
 war party, feeling that they are ready, will demand the general expulsion of 
 the barbarians. '^ 
 
 (2) 
 
 1 he central Government was making preparations to resist by force any demands 
 that might be made by l-riince. Now they have Prussian steel o-«ns and French 
 niitrailleii e , m Foochow, American breach loaders, in Amoy, and they are dril- 
 ling every clay cvun u here. ' 
 
(il) 
 
 reading than that of the despatches exchanged between the Legations and 
 the Chinese Ministers, together with the narratives of their interviews; 
 All of them simply referred to the imprudence of Missionaries, to the 
 kidnapping of children, to the branding with infamy of the attempt of 
 Mr. Fontanier on the life of Chung-How, and to setting forth the tur- 
 bulent character of the people of Tientsin. 
 
 While this was going on, his Imperial Majesty wag 
 Edict of the addressing to all the Vice-Eoys and Governors of Pro- 
 Vice-aoys*° ^^ ^^^°®® *^® following confidential Edict. 
 
 '•The Emperor has ordered Tseng Kwo-f an, Vice-Eoy of 
 the Province of Chi-li, to proceed to Tientsin to settle the affair relating 
 to the troubles bet-nfeen the people of that , city and the Christians, and 
 this officer has, according to his instructions, begun an inquiry, of which 
 the results promise to be satisfactory. Meanwhile these circumstances 
 have suggested to the Emperor the following considerations ; the Chinese 
 Christians are to day the object of violent attacks on all sides, and foreign- 
 ers are profiting by it to impose on us, by means of their war vessels, 
 and, in the way of compensations, terms altogether extravagant. China 
 should not be the first to commence hostilities ; but quietly, she ought 
 to prepare to defend herself, and that without loss of tinie ; and if, through 
 the inconsiderate conduct of foreigners, disorders should occur at any 
 ports of the Empire, their rebellious demands are not to be submitted 
 to at any price whatever. It is not well to wait for rain before repairing 
 the roof; thus it is desirable, at present, to take an account of the means 
 of defence which the different coast provinces possess. To this effect the 
 Emperor instructs the Vice Koys and Governors of provinces (here 
 follow thirteen names) to proceed actively and without delay to the ins- 
 truction of troops and review of the organizations. They should heartily 
 devote themselves to this and bring all their res.sonrces to bear. They 
 should also beware of making any reports which do not express the exact 
 truth, to the end that China, being well prepared, need have nothing to 
 fear. Meanwhile the Emperor invites the high officials (just named) to 
 address him a detailed report of the actual state of the means of defence 
 in their respective territories. This decree is hastened by special courier 
 who is to travel six hundred li per day. Respect lliisl" 
 
( a ) 
 
 Now here is the reply made to the Emperor, a few weeta afterward, 
 My one of the Vice-Eoys, the one most enlightened and kindly disposed 
 towards foreigners. From this document you may imagine what those, 
 who are not exactly our friends, may have written. 
 
 "The decree of the Emperor, with reference to putting in a state of 
 defence the coasts of Fukien, Chekiang and Formosa, has come into the 
 hands of Ms humble subject, and he desires to submit, very respectfully, 
 to his sacred Majesty, several general considerations, and to make him 
 -acquainted with a few things in the Provinces under his jurisdiction. 
 
 "In the opinion of the humble Minister of your Majesty the troubles 
 •of Tientsin are only the consequence of griefs accumulating for years, 
 .and not an affair of a day or of a night (1) ; and, to begin with, it is only 
 too certain that the Missionaries, under pretext of coming to teach virtue 
 to our people, preach to them the most perverse and corrupt doctrines, 
 -and their converts are recruited from the least respectable part of the 
 population; they impudently violate our laws and our customs, under 
 cover of their names of Christians, and finally, they have forever arrayed 
 against them all that is honest in the Empire. As to accusing them of 
 kidnapping children, to take out their hearts and eyes, your subject ad- 
 mits that it is impossible, and that such reports are without foundation (2). 
 
 (1) How can any one sav, after this, thaf the Tientsin massacre was a simple" riot? It 
 is true, Prince Kuni; wrote to Mr. Rochechouart" "The Tientsin affair was but 
 a movement of the people excited for one day. It will not take long to dispose of 
 it and relations will be more friendly tlian ever." Lord Granville who probably 
 had not read the answer of the Vice-Roy to the Emperor, quoted above, wrote 
 Mr. Wade in the same sense, under date of the 6th of October he said: "It was a 
 
 .great satisfaction to Her iMajesty's Government to learn by your telegram just re- 
 eived, that in the three months that had elapsed between its date and the date of the 
 massacre nothing had ocoured calculated to show that that tragedy was likely to 
 be repeated in other parts of China, or to warrant the opinion, perhaps not 
 unnaturally entertained ou the spot in the first moments of alarm, that it indicated 
 a determination on the part of the Chinese authorities and people to exterminate 
 foreigners in general." But later Mr. Wade changed his mind and said: "The most 
 active of the rioters would of course be those who had something to gain by it, and 
 I think with Mr. Lay that the attitude of the community and the badness of the 
 ■weather had much to say in the immunity of the British settlement from molesta- 
 tion." 
 
 (2) Mr. Wade wrote after the massacre: "I feel bound to combat the impression, which 
 is that of many foreigners, that this discontent was sheerly the work of the authori- 
 ties or of the influential classes. The Chinese, as their law-books show, do believe 
 that by spells and drugs kidnappers can bewitch whom they will (vide Inclosure 
 3.3). The educated classes are, in all that belongs to physiological knowledge, as 
 ignorant and superstitions as the common people. I think it as likely as not" that 
 the Tientsin authorities did believe, as the piiople believed, that children were 
 being kidnapped, and that for the puiposcs alleged; nor would this conclusion be 
 
Finally your subject ought to- mention tlie violent measures taken, at 
 every step, by foreigners, and their pretensions to keep our population 
 under tlie menace of tlieir war vessels, as having contributed to increase^ 
 their hatred of the foreign element. In a woi'i all their wicked deeds- 
 and griefs together make up the actual situation. 
 
 France has more especially prepared, by lier political acts, what has 
 taken place to day (1). She will, therefore, certainly not allow to pass- 
 unnoticed the murder of her Consul, of her Missionaries, the destruction 
 of her temples and the tearing of her Flag. Consequently we ought to 
 expect to see her war vessels coming to back her foolish demands ^. 
 Therefore your Majesty was well inspired when he made us prepare to 
 repel the aggressors. The humble servant of your Majesty, understand- 
 ing very well the idea of the Emperor that the defence slwuld he secret, so 
 thai, at a given momeM, he can dispose of the fate of foreigners- as his Majesty- 
 pleases, has given the most precise and confidential orders to have the 
 troops armed, provisioned and drilled, and, in. concert with the Tartar- - 
 General, has taken all necessary steps for the defence of the Capital of 
 the Province." ^ ^^ * 4^ ^t .» Here follows, in long phraseology, the 
 names of the chiefs on whom they may depend, the steps which they 
 propose to take, and the present state of the ports of Foochow, Amoy 
 and Formosa, details which have very little interest for tlie subject which 
 occupies us. The preamble is more than sufficient to inform us how the 
 crime of Tientsin is regarded by the highest authorities of the Empire, 
 and the friendly feelings professed towards vis by the representatives who- 
 are most in confidence of the Governmsnt that sits at Peking. Tou will 
 not forget neither that the author of this representation to the throne is- 
 one of the Governors General who belonged to the peace party, and one 
 who has given us, at aU times, the least equivocal testimony of sympathy.. 
 
 shaken if it were shown that, as some declare, they took pains to extort a confession 
 from those who have \>ivn hroiyht before them as guilty of kichiapping. It is the 
 habit of tbeic Courts in half the serious cases they try, to strain the evidence to 
 secure a conviction."' ^ ____^ 
 
 (1) Lord Granville has ex-presspeP^Troost the sflme views; he said, ", « *; but they 
 cannot conceal from ttijjnisilvts that the calamity has boL-n the result of a system^ 
 which they have always deprecated as dangerous and impolitic and which they 
 have h>n>i- foreseen nii^iit lead to events such as they now deplore." My own. 
 opinion is that the imissacre liiis not been the result of the system, but that the systeiifc 
 has been a pretext for tlie outrage. 
 
 (o) This is terriblv illustrative of Chinese ways and should not| pass unnoticed by the- 
 iurei^n powers. 
 
(44) 
 
 While this was going on, an army of nearly 50,000 
 , ■^Vonderful men, with a large force of artillery, was concentrated in that 
 I y Che cabinet city, or within a radius of thirty miles, i his display oi 
 the" ma^saia^/ *°^'°® ^^^ intended, so it was said, to frighten the rioters; 
 but it does not appear that these troops understood their 
 role, for, up to the end of September, the merchants of Tientsin, con- 
 fined^ as it were^ to the British concession, could not do business in that 
 same city of Tientsin, without being exposed to daily insults. Yet Mr 
 ,De Eochechouart, animated with a sincere desire to settle this affair in 
 an honorable way for his country, in conformity with his programme, 
 according to which the murderers would hare been executed on the 
 ruins, of our consular and catholic establishments, was active in liia 
 negociations, and received, by the middle of September, the news of the 
 appointment of a new Imperial Commissioner and his arrival at Tientsin. 
 This one came to us from Shanghai; he was the Governor of the province 
 of Kiang-su, His Excellency Tsing ~y ^ |^. 
 
 When I recall my impressions and endeavor coolly to judge of thia 
 period, I am confounded at the tranquillity with which our Ministers had 
 assisted at all these scenes, and the unparalleled credulity with which 
 they listened to the fables which were dealt out to them day by day, and 
 the hopes which they were led to cherish. At all events, they saw, in the 
 arrival of the Governor of Kiang-su a living and sure proof that they 
 were nearing the end of their task. But this time, again, our diplomata 
 had not made due allowance for oriental duplicity. They had forgotten 
 the too well known and distinctive characteristics of the agents of the 
 power that now reigns at Peking. 
 
 His Excellency Ting showed due diligence in ordering arrests in all 
 quarters of the city of Tientsin; but the^persons arrested, having no 
 connection whatever with the 21st of June, were almost immediately 
 released on the payment of a heavy fine. In one word, this first phase 
 of the mission of Ting Foutai may be summed up thus: ''a forced tax 
 levied on the population of Tientsin in aid of the Imperial treasury in 
 distress." On the other hand, the moral effect of these measures on the 
 people may be well imagined, if we consider that these imposts were 
 demanded a§ means of satisfying the claims of the foreigners. 
 
 Chinese diplomacy was very able indeed at this junctiire; for it suc- 
 ceeded in persuading the French representative that they were engaged 
 
( i* ) 
 
 in arresting the assasins of our Consul, of our Sisters of charity and of 
 our citizens. It made the Chinese, -whom it was ruining, believe that it 
 was doing it to satisfy our demands and thereby avoiding more serious 
 complications ; the guilty authorities, that they should be neither tried 
 nor punished as accomplices in the crime ; finally, the Emperor, that it 
 was gaining for him the time necessary for His Excellency Li-Hung- 
 chang, ^ |i,| ^, whose nomination as Yice-Roy of Chi-li had been already 
 decided, to come with his Houan braves, troojjs armed and disciplined in 
 foreign style, and acustomed to fatigiies and fighting by six years of 
 constant warfare. 
 
 Long before the news of the nomination and of the arrival of Li- 
 Htmg-chang at Tientsin had transpired among the populace, it was com- 
 municated to jUj.-. de Kocliecliouait. But he refused to credit it, because 
 the Tsung-li-yamen had told him the contrary. When, two days later, it 
 became impossible to ignore so evident a fact, thoy caused it to be said 
 to our representative by his Interpreter ad interim that tlie Vice-Roy Li 
 was simply conjing to establish himself with his army on the frontier of 
 Chi-Ii, to protect this province against a possible invasion of Musulmans 
 (1). So simple an explanation satisfied everybody, appearing altogether 
 natural; but, throe days afler^ they took advantage of the death of Ma to 
 insert in the Peking Gazette the nomination of Li-Hung-chang to the 
 Vice-Eoyalty of Chi-li, and that of Tseng Kwo-fan to the Vice-Royalty of 
 Nankin. It became necessary, then, to explain this step, which tlie 
 cabinet of Peking found no difficulty in doing; they gave our Minister to 
 understand that they were very much dissatisfied with Tseng Kwo-fan, 
 in that he had acquitted himself very badly of the mission with which 
 he had been charged. That Li-Hung-chang would go and entirely change 
 the aspect of afi'airs, being a man of well known energy. Nothing can 
 give an idea of the satisfaction with which this communication was 
 received. The Minister was perfectly convinced that this time the affair 
 would be settled according to Jiis wishes on the arrival of Vice-Roy Li, 
 and that the fault of aU these delays was entirely due to the secret 
 hostility of Tseng Kwo-fan ; and he certainly would have taxed with folly, 
 
 (1) It may be well to say here that the JJusuImana were then in the Kanseu, i provuice 
 lying some seven hundred miles west from Tientsin, 
 
if not impertinence, wlioever would have refused to believe implicitily 
 this so natural explanation furnished, of its own accord, by the Cabinet 
 of Peking. 
 
 The arrival of Li-Hung-cliang at Tientsin did not at all Lave the effect 
 of hastening the departure of. Tseng Kwo-fan, who had acquitted himself 
 so poorly of liis duties. But a despatcli of Prince Kung to Mr. da 
 Eochechouart, dated 15tli October, a despatch which recited the redicul- 
 ous, not to say shameful, terms of reparation which were granted to us, 
 plainly informed this diplomatic Agent that the opinion of Tseng Kwo-fan 
 had prevailed in the counsels of the Emperor, and that the decrees given 
 were at his instance. 
 
 One would have thought that, after this new deception, our Ministei;' 
 would have drawn the conclusion that, in these Eastern countries, one: 
 must not be too credulous j far from that, he was satisfied with his work 
 was almost charmed with the despatch of the 15tli of October; and, in' 
 a word, he considered the matter as settled. 
 
 Yet, in the beginning of September, while the Ministers of France 
 and England, in spite of all the warnings given to them, failed to modify 
 their opinion, that, the affair of Tientsin is a local and accidental occur - 
 ranee, which it is important to pass over for the better preservation of 
 our future relations with China, an other Imperial Edict, secret and con- 
 fidential was circulated. In it the Count de Eochechouart was treated in 
 the most off hand manner, his demands being taxed with exaggeration and 
 folly; and it finally ended by stating that they had determined to resist 
 them at any price. This curious document has been transmitted for their 
 information, from Tientsin, to the Legations of France and England; 
 It has been circulated among the populace at Tientsin, that same 
 populaoe which was represented to us as being turbulent, and which the 
 Chinese Government was really anxious to bring ba,ck to better feelings 
 towards us ! At the same time, fans were distributed and publicly sold 
 in Tientsin, on which the massacre of Mr. Fontanier, of his chancellor 
 and of Mrs. Tliomassin was represented. In the middle of -the card was 
 the Sub-Prefect who was present at this bloody spectacle, a smile on his 
 lips, applauding the crowd. 
 
 Now what were the Chinese doing in the other parts of the Empire? 
 They were conforming strictly to the instructions of the Emperor, to the 
 instructions contained in the secret Edict which I have quoted above. 
 
(47 ) 
 
 They were buying everTwhere field pieces of tlie latest patern, mitrail- 
 leuses, needle guns, and, what will appear wonderful, is tliat we were all 
 Aiding them in making these purchases made under the eyes of the Lega- 
 tions, of the Consuls, who had all been notified, and not a protest came 
 from th«m, not a demand for explanation (1). 
 
 Saorificia ad Finally the gi-eat day of leparation came. Some twenty 
 porteuda, miserable beings, who had been fanaticized in advance, 
 
 sacrified themselves to their masters (2). Large sums of money were 
 paid to their families, public feasts Avere offered to them, and they were 
 led to the place of execution, as of old, the ancient sacrificers dragged to 
 the axe the pure victifQS devoted to appease the anger of the Gods, that 
 is, covered with flowers and sacred fillets. 
 
 Contrary to Chinese law, which requires the heads of felons to be 
 exposed to public gaze, for certain number of days, in wooden cages, the 
 heads of these patriot-martyfs, piously sewed to the necks from which 
 they had been detached, to satisfy old prejudices and ancient traditions, 
 were, with the bodies to wliich they belonged, buried in ground selected 
 beforehand. The people of Tientsin were so impressed by their heroic 
 abnegation tliat they lately asked to be allowed to erect a monument in 
 their honor. On the other side the cabinet of Peking was honorably 
 handing over to Mr. de Kbohechouart wliat it had agreed to pay viz: 
 for the lifei of our Consul, 30,000 taels, — for that of his chancellor, 
 20,000; for Mr. and Mrs. Thomassin, 150,000 &c. &c., Sum total, 250,000 
 Tails. The life of each one had been valued in a liberal manner. 
 
 As to our consular and catholic establishments, the Charge d'Affaires 
 of France had himself presented his bills for them ; and it is but just to 
 say that the sum was paid without discussion. May be it is not without 
 intarest to mention that these indemnities must be paid by the adminis- 
 
 (]) Tlie importation of foreign arms at Amoy and Foochow by the Chinese Govern- 
 ment has heen enormous. 
 
 ('2) This is a custom in China for an oflioer, even of small raAk, to send a servant 
 or a slave of his to appear for him before the judjje by whom he has been 
 summoned, and the practice has force of law. However I was not aware that in 
 capital offences even a hi;»h officer would be dispensed from ajipenrinnf. He 
 would nut in case of trea:<on. Hut very likely the murder of a few barbariciis was 
 not coii^idercd a very s^.■ri(>u^ offence. 
 
tration of tlie foreign Customs; in otiier words, it is tlie money of 
 foreigners wLicli is giveii for the life of foreigners (1). 
 
 The foregoing is what Chung-How has been told to announce to 
 France, that is, provided one of his instructions is to tell the truth to the 
 Government to which he is accredited. 
 
 As to myself^ wlien the news of the departure of that Ambassador, at 
 the instance of the french Bepresentative himself, reached me, the flush 
 of shame mounted to my brow, and I may affirm that the feeling of indig- 
 nation in which every foreigner residing in tliis country partakes, has 
 been freely brought to the notice of Mr. de Eochecouart. That the 
 situation of this Diplomatic Agent may have been more than delicate, 
 no one of us will deny, but he had a very simple part to act, and that was 
 to do nothing. 
 
 Oonolnsion- '^^^ affair of Tientsin does not exclusively interest France; it 
 interests all human kind; and it is incontestable that a feeling of self 
 preservation should have compelled the other powers to espouse our quarrel. 
 By accepting this sad bargain, by receiving this sordid money, and cheifly 
 by distributing the same at once, we have almost approved the decision 
 of the cabinet of Peking, and we have closed the ease. 
 
 I do not wish to put Count de Rocliechouart un his trial; but I would 
 put on trial the policv he followed; that tliis Agent, jastly tronbled and 
 sorely grieved by the misfortunes of his country, seeing France devastated, 
 mined, has made up his mind to avoid, at ail c;)st, all complications, 
 and it may be war, we can easely believe. But, by doing that, he has 
 nevertheless committed a fault, the consequences of which are incalculable. 
 
 (1) On the '29th of Dei'eml;)er Lord Gmnville wrote to Mr. Wude: 'Although the 
 iiniiiedi.ite dLiiifrcr by which the ui;iiiiti'iiaiice of frieiilly relations between foreign 
 iiationi5 and China wivs threatened may, it is to be hoped, be considered to be 
 removed by the satisfaction tendered to, and accepted liy the French Charge 
 d'AiTaires in atonement of the massacre of I'Veneh siibi.jits at Tienteiu in the 
 month of June last, yet it is impossible for Her Majesty's Government to accept 
 the tardy and reluctant consent of the Chinese Government to do justice in a 
 case in which the feelings of all ('liristian nations were so enlisted, as sufficient to 
 effiice the disjil- isure which they have felt in ropiril to these matters. Although 
 the victims of tiiose attempts are almost exclusively French, it cannot be denied 
 thai such deeds reveal the existence of dangers which menace without distinction 
 all foreigners residing in China. It is by considering their interests as common in 
 these countries of the extreme Kast that the European I'uwers can arrive at 
 securing to their couiilrjinen ihc guaranlecs and the security .•stipulated for in the 
 'Ireuties. 
 
(49) 
 
 Aud in politics a fault is worse than a crinie. My only hope, to-day. is 
 that public opinion, enlightened as to those sad events, will remember that 
 !-lie is mistress of governments and derectress of their politics, and that 
 U 'publican France will keep intact the honor of the country, if she can 
 not preserve her influence; that she will send back this Ambassador as 
 unworthy of negociating with her, and that she will plainly tell Peking 
 that it is more than daring to send her such a Representative." ^^ .^ ^ ^.. 
 
 * * 
 
 December, 187.0. 
 
»CEi£ORAN"DTJ3r ^To. 3. 
 
 A TEIP OVEELAND FEOM FOOOHQW 
 TO AMOY. 
 
( .»» ) 
 
 Memoranduiii No. 3. 
 
 A TRIP OVERLAND FROM FOOCHOW TO AMOY. 
 
 3rd to Wi January, 1871. 
 
 .T'Otai.i lil; ti'llo cliose iti'iidvint 
 La Pontiiine. 
 
 Tlie following are extracts of a Journal kept by "W. Lee Sibbald 
 Esquire, the able laterpreter of the Imperial Maritime Customs at Foo- 
 cliow, during a trip of seven days taken in January last. It will be read 
 with interest considering that the Massacre of Tientsin took place on 
 the 21st of June last, and that the assault on Mr. Secretary Seward, at 
 Woo-chang was made in December of the same year. 
 
 , Mr. Sibbald writes: — On the 1st of January 1871, I 
 
 the GoTernor was invited by General Le Gendre, American Consul at 
 kun^'^and Ohe- -^i"oy> to call with him and Mr. Keim, a special Agent 
 iiang- of the United States Governuient for the inspection of 
 
 Consulates in the East, on H. E. Ying Kwei (^ ^), Governor General 
 of the two provinces of Foo-kien and Che-kiang, at his official residence, 
 in the City of Foo-chow-foo (|| ^I'l-j J^), in the capacity of interpreter. 
 This official is upwards of seventy years of age, and first became generally 
 known to foreigners in his capacity of Tartar General and ex-qfficio Super- 
 intendent of Customs. He is a man of the highest rank and wears as 
 such a red buttom of the first grade. General Le Gendre had often met 
 him before and had had many dealings with him. Mr. Keim was of course 
 a stranger. After usual Chinese compliments had been gone through, 
 General Le Gendre explained to H. E., in general terms, the objects of Mr. 
 Kiem's visit to the East. # 4^ * H. E. re-echoed the sentiments of 
 friendship as expressed by General Le Gendre and Mr. Kiem and said 
 that he saw no prospect of a change in the friendly feeling existing between 
 America and China. Mr. Kiem then gave a general sketch of his trip, 
 stating that while en route for China, he had visited the open ports of 
 Japan, and that since his arrival in China he had visited Peking and seen 
 
( M ) 
 
 the great Ministers of the Tsung-li-yainen (Chinese foreign office ,^ :^ 
 igj P^ ) ; that he had been at Tientsin and Shanghai, and ascended the 
 great river Yang-tze-kiang ^ ■? ?1, and had experienced everywhere 
 the most considerate treatment ; that he would, on his return to America, 
 _ inform the President of the fact, and narrate to him all that occurred 
 during his travels in China. Tliis, with a few remarks on different subjects,, 
 gives a general idea of the conversation carried on between liis Excellenej 
 and ourselves. H. E. had been notified of our contetaplated trip overland, 
 to Amoy, and had directed a small official to be in attendance on us, and 
 to prepare everything. ^ » » 
 
 It was evident^ from the first,, that the local authorities 
 Dealing with were much opposed to the execution of our project, and; 
 Omneseomoiais, ^q^j^j try_ every underhand means in their power to prevent 
 us making the trip. The foll&wing will give aninstance.of the difficulty of 
 dealing with Chinese officials. When it was desired to make a start, no 
 coolies to carry the chairs and baggage were forth coming, and the Governor 
 General's petty officer stated that he could procure none, as the graduates 
 from the Provincial examination had engaged them all. This appeared 
 to us to be untrue, so General Le Gendre sent the officer away and proceed- 
 ed to engage the required number himself. This was easily done : a sort 
 of chair-coolie broker, or head man, was called in, and, at once, agreed to 
 supply twenty-five men at $4.50 per head for the trip : one half of the 
 money to be paid in Foochow and the remainder in Amoy. The usual 
 price is $3 ; but owing to the fact that we were foreigners, an additional 
 $1,50 was asked for and paid. 
 
 The Foochow General Le Gendre was so dissatisfied with the conduct 
 Chinese Board of the officials of the Board of Trade, whose duty it was to 
 trrasMtion *of ^^^^^^ e^^^"}' assistance in their power, that he started lato 
 foreign official in the afternoon to see Ting Chia-wei, one of its principal 
 members. The board of trade is called in Chinese, T'ung-^ 
 Shang Tsung-Chu (j§ '^ ^ ^), or general board of trade; but its duties 
 consist in managing affairs arising out of intercourse with foreigners. The 
 title of Board of Trade, therefore, hardly gives to a foreigner a correct 
 idea of its duties, which are very important. It consists of three members. 
 One having the honorary rank of Provincial Treasurer, the second that of 
 Intendantj the third being the Prefect of the city. Tliese officials are 
 
(55) 
 
 tpoken of, collectively, as the Tnng-Shang-Chii-Sze-Tao, jg pg i^ ^ tl ^« 
 The title of the Treasurer is Pn-cheng-tze (;i|j ^ ^) that of the Intendant, 
 Tao-tao (^ •^). The title of the third member appears to be omitted in 
 the list. Tlie Board was established, I am told, in I860, after the Treaty 
 of Tientsin. In other parts of China the Intendant is the person with 
 whom Foreign Consuls have to deal. The names of the present members 
 of the board are, 1st, Yeh Yung-yuen {^^X): 2nd,. Ting Chia-wei (T 
 B ^); 3rd, Yiin Si-ming (f» W IS)- 
 
 Having arrived at the board of trade, Ting Chia-wei Cy ^ J$) enquired 
 from General Le Gendre why he would not go comfortably on board a 
 steamer to Amoy instead of going round overland. The General told him 
 that the object in view was to see the country and to be able from personal 
 observation to vouch for the efficiency of the Provincial Government (1). 
 The General further remarked that by treaty stipulation it was the duty 
 of the Board to use every effijrt to facilitate the departure of the intended 
 travellers, they being officials of a friendly power who had a treaty with 
 China; he also said that in the case of Chinese officials, travelling in America 
 they would be treated with greatest consideration by the United States 
 authorities ; that after all, it was useless to place further obstacles on his 
 way ; for having the right to go overland to Amoy, and having selected 
 that mode of travelling, hfe would not go by water ; and that if no con- 
 veyances could be found he would proceed on foot. 
 
 After much talk and banter on both sides, Ting agreed to send out 
 and procure chair coolies, telling the General that he had, however, better 
 borrow chairs for himself and friends, as there were none similar to those 
 employed by foreigners to be had in the city, ready made. This statement 
 proved ultimately to be untrue as the General procured two new ones that 
 evening, without any trouble, through the servants of Baron de Meritens, 
 the hospitable Commissioner of the Imperial Maritime Customs with whom 
 he was staying at the time. 
 
 Our adventures now really began. We had arrived at the Board of 
 Trade at about sunset, and after waiting there for upwards of an hour, a 
 messenger came in and infonmed us that the city gates had been shut, and 
 we were locked within the walls. The Tartar General is custodian of the 
 keys of the gates, which are deposited with him every night after sunset. 
 
 (1) Ting Chia wei understood well that General Le Gendre alluded to the Tientsin 
 Slassacre. 
 
( 5M 
 
 So, to his great mortification, Ting was obliged to send a messenger to ob- 
 tain them. After waiting an hour or nearly so, the messenger returned 
 and told us that the Tartar General, hearing that General. Le Gendre 
 was inside of the Walls and desired to return to the foreign settlement be- 
 fore morning, had, with pleasure, given orders to open the gates and let us 
 out. "We found out afterwards that Baron de Meritens, alarmed at not seeing 
 General Le Gendre return before the closing of the gates, had written to the 
 'Tartar General, begging him to render ns all possible assistance in case of 
 need. We accordingly left Ting. When we arrived at the gates of the 
 city, we found that the keys had not been sent, and we were obliged to wait 
 sitting in our chairs for another fifteen minutes and soon became the ob- 
 jects round which a crowd of admiring Chinese assembled. They were not 
 rude in the least, however, so that we had nothing much to complain of. 
 The doors having at length been opened we proceeded on our way, and, 
 after an hours rapid^ walking on the part of our chair coolies, we found 
 ourselves again at the Baron de Meritens, at 8.30 p. m. 
 
 Pirstday, Jan- Next morning January 3rd at.8 a. m., we left the house 
 nary 3rd. Qf Baron de Meritens, escorted hj another staff officer 
 
 of the Vice-Eoy, whom, at the urgent request of Ting, General Le Gendre 
 had allowed to remain in attendance. 
 
 .„ , As we had to go through the suburbs of Foochow 
 
 roochow, a o o 
 
 city of the first which we could see from the height to the right of the 
 Baron's house, I will give a rapid description of it. Foo- 
 chow-fu (ijg ^'I'l f^) is situated on the banks of the river Min (^ Dl) i^ *'^^ 
 province of Fookien (jjiH ^) of which it is the capital. It is the residence 
 of the Vice-Eoy or Tsung-tu (^ ^) of Fookien (fg ,^) and Chekiang 
 (?^jf Dl) ^iid of the other Provincial authorities, the Governor (Fu-tai fe- 
 ^) of Fookien, the General in command of the Tartar garrison (Chiang 
 chun 7|f 5) the Provincial Treasurer (Pu-cheng-tze ^i \!^pI) and the 
 Provincial Judge (An-cha-sze ^j^ '^ ^), and it is a Fu (jj^) or a city of 
 the first class. 
 
 Foochow and its suburbs contain about 600,000 inhabitants. The 
 walls are in good repair, and are, I should think, about seven miles in cir- 
 cumference. It contains an Examination HaU where the scholars compete 
 for literary degrees, and, on the south' side, it has an enormously long 
 bridge which communicates between two portions of its suburbs. The 
 
( w ) 
 
 foreign settlement is at a distance of about three miles outside the 
 walls. In Chinese literary compositions it is sometimes called by its 
 ancient name Tung-cheng (t# ^), or Banian city, from the great number 
 o? trees of that description that thrive in the city and outside its 
 boundaries. There are three hills within the town, the two principal 
 of which are Woo-shih-shan (,^ ;5' [Ij), Black Eock Hill and Chiu-sien- 
 shan (jl^ IJj ilj) the Hill of the nine'genii. The British consul has a city 
 residence on Woo-shih-shan. 
 
 _,, Having left Foochow, after passing over a large plain 
 
 tween Foochow St, highly cultivated generally, we arrived at a small town 
 Pang-k 0. Qj, -yiHage distant 35 li (12 miles) from the foreign set- 
 
 tlement at Foochow. Here we took boats and after proceeding about 
 five miles between the river banks, came to a landing place, and after a 
 short walk, stopped to lunch, at a temple called Fu-hsing-3ze (fg ^ •^). 
 The country through which we passed had been all alon'g flat with a back 
 ground of high mountain ranges rising one above the other, at a distance 
 of fifteen or twenty miles, with low spurs of hills running into the plain. 
 
 The character of the* country appeared to indicate that, under cul- 
 tivation, it would produce large crops of rice, sugar cane &c. ; but during 
 our tour it was under tillage, and we were unable to form from actual 
 observation, an estimate of its grain growing properties (1). 
 
 The water communications appeared to be very fine. Late in the 
 afternoon we struck the imperial road, which is about 3 feet wide, paved 
 with slabs of blue and black porphyry, the product of the hills close by. 
 At about 5 o'clock we arrived at a place called Fang-k'o (i^ p ) and put 
 up for the night. The inn there was small and draughty, and was there- 
 fore extremely uncomfortable. 
 
 We left at about 7.30 A. M., the next day, 4th January, having 
 breakfasted on hard boiled eggs and claret. 
 
 Second day, we Be'fore leaving Fang-k'o, next day, we were compelled to 
 leave fang-k'o. buy a Chinese umbrella and some oiled paper to protect 
 ourselves and luggage from the wet. Our road led towards the mountains 
 through a fine level country, where we saw a mill worked by water.* At 
 
 (1) The first day of our trip, we saw the farmers eugageil in burrii.ig stacks of millet 
 &i:. in heaps of earth, as it is done in the raaiiuf.icture of cimiuoal, in order, we 
 supposed, to bring out their fertilizing properties. It is very likely then, that, in 
 China, t„ey have known tlie valut; of elmreoal as a fertilizer, long before us, its use 
 for that purpose being among us, of a recent dale. 
 
(38) 
 
 10 A. M, we crossed a spur of the hills. Aiter a long walk we reached 
 
 a place called Yang-mei, (H %), 35 li from Fang-k'o and lunched in a 
 
 frightfully dirty inn. Tne weather was extremely. cold, and was rather 
 
 enclined to be wet. At 3.30 the geological aspect af the hiUs changed. 
 
 passing from the porphyry to the granite. At 5.30 we arrived at a large 
 
 -village called Yii-chi (^ -^ where we stopped for the night in a Kung- 
 
 kwan (5V S?) a sort of residence used by Mandarins when travelling— a 
 
 sort of official inn, in fact. 
 
 During this second day of our trip the scenery, along the road, was 
 
 very fine, and we passed several monuments to various people : one, in 
 
 particular, to a great military leader, who, in former years, had preserved 
 
 ihe city of Foochow frem invasion, and probably destruction. The stone 
 
 arches of these monuments were generally in ruins, making it evident 
 
 that the rebels had been in the vicinity at some previous period. We 
 
 crossed also several small bridges generally with five arches. One had 
 
 thirteen. 
 
 ^ The peaple all along the road were very civil and most 
 
 are very civil respectful, rising as we were passing by, to do us honor; 
 
 all along the ^^^^j ^^ ^^g very likely that they had received notice of the 
 
 day, we leave fact that foreign officials were on a tour through their 
 
 u-cni. country. We left Yii-chi, at 8.30 on Thursday morning, 
 
 5th January. We walked several miles j)assing through a long valley 
 
 amd at 11 o'clock came in sight of an arm of the sea, with a number 
 
 of Junks in the distance. The population about this part of the country 
 
 appears to consist to a large extent of fishermen. The scenery is very 
 
 fine, and, as we walked by the high road, we had the sea on our left and 
 
 high green hills on our right, covered with quantities of pine saplings. 
 
 At 12.30 we arrived at a place called Chiang-ko (^ P) where a small 
 
 river runs into the arm of the sea. The river is crossed here by a bridge 
 
 of great leitgth. Half way along the Bridge stands a sort of wooden 
 
 archway which informs passers by that here the Fuh-ching District 
 
 (Is Wi /If.) separates from theHsing-hwa (^ -ffj). 
 
 _, , , „ , On crossing the bridge one enters the old walled town 
 The old walled „ „, . ■, ,,^ •. r^-. 
 town of Chang- ot Ghiang-ko {iX. U)- The walls are in a state of great 
 
 *°" ruin, but the inside of the town does not seem to be in 
 
 bad repair. We passed directly through it and tiffined at a small Kung- 
 
 kwan (^ gg) outside. 
 
Village of Pa- After walking about four miles we came to a small 
 ^®^' Tillage named Pu-wei (^ ^) where we took boats for 
 
 Hsing-hwa-fu (^ ^ }^). We passed'on our way through a large village 
 called Han-chiang (j^S ^) where the canal was so narrow that it barely- 
 allowed the boat to pass between its stone embankments. This canal is 
 about thirty-five miles long and was dug only fifty years ago by a General, 
 in the Chinese army. There are- said, to be ninety-nine tributaries to it in 
 its lengthj and it passes through a rich country. 
 
 The walled city -At 7 p. m., we arrived at the walled city of Hsing- 
 of Hsing-hwa-fu. hwa-fu (^ it~M) and slept in the worst inn that we had 
 met with: on the trip^ Indeed it smelt horribly of everything disgusting. 
 Hsing-hwa contains a population of about 30,000 inhabitants; but 
 the country round it under the charge of a Prefect is said to have a 
 population ot 400,000. The walls. are in a..good. state of preservation and 
 are, I should think, about four miles in circumference. 
 
 Fonrth dav ^® ^^^ *^® place at 7.30 a. m., on the 6th of January; 
 
 The country appeared to be more heavily wooded than 
 hetherto. It is entirely granitic in formation and abounds in quartz 
 veins peeping out of the earth. 
 
 We noticed a water mill with an overshot wheeL The appearance 
 of the tombs, and monumfitnts show that rebels- have been in the neigh- 
 bourhood. At noon and about forty-three li from Hsing-hwa-fu, we 
 passsed through a small village full of dirty inns, where we took our lunclir 
 in a small temple. We. naw got into a rougher country cut up with dry 
 water courses. The rockaf)peared to be intirely composed o£ disintegrated 
 granite. The houses were built of stoue and wood and wore a more 
 cleanly appearaace than, those we had previously seen. We slept at To- 
 ling eighty li from Hsing-hwa. 
 
 Fifth day. The ^® ^^^* '^°-^^S (± #) on Saturday,, the 7th of Jan- 
 walled city of uary, at 6.45 a. m., and passed at^noon through Hwei- 
 Hwei-gnan-hsien. nga^.^sien, (^ ^ 0,), a waUed city of the third class,, 
 outside which we stopped to tiifin. It has suffered much from the depre- 
 dations of the population of the surrounding country and the long haired 
 rebels (Chang-mao-tsei ^ ^ |^). The former have the name of being 
 excessively turbulent. They rose in the 11th year of Hien-Fung (j^^ 
 1861) and seized the city which they nearly distroyed. 
 
(fiO) 
 
 In the first and third year of Tung-chih ([^ f^), 1863 and 1865, the 
 
 long haired rebels visited the place and they held it for six months, on the 
 
 second occasion. The Hsien (|^) magistrate, having led some troops 
 
 ■against them, was killed at Lo-yang-chiao (f^ [^ '1^). The town does not 
 
 now contain more than three thousand persons at most. 
 
 m, . ~j In the afternoon we passed through another town 
 
 yang. Remark- named Lo-yang (fi§ jJ^). There is a bridge which was 
 ° ' built about the lOtlrcentury by an officer and scholar 
 
 of the Sung Dynasty, named Tsai-siang (^ '^). Along its sides stone 
 tablets are erected commemorating its repair by benevolent individuals, 
 and, on a small island, which divides it into two parts, there is an archway 
 with some old inscriptions in it. It has seventy three arches and i» 
 about half a mile long. 
 
 The Country as we approached Chuen-ehow-fu (^ jfl /j?f ) has a great 
 number of monuments; and as we crossed a range of hills and from the 
 top of the pass, we could see the walls of the city which are said to be sixteen 
 miles in circumference. They are in good repair. 
 
 _, ,, , Chuen-chow (^ ffl) is a place of resort, I am told, for 
 
 The walled . 
 
 city of Chuen- the Literati and retired officials of the Province. Before 
 
 cliow-iu. arriving at the gate by which one enters the city from the 
 
 high road, there are large numbers of arches andr monuments and the Hill 
 sides are completely covered with graves. We went some little distance 
 into the town and put up at 5. P. M. at a large inn, there being no Kung- 
 kwan to recieve us. Our small mandarin went to the Yamen of the Pre^ 
 feet to see about one; but came back with a message to the effect that the 
 building, used by the Tartar General and other high dignitaries- when 
 travelling was, owing to the long period which had elapsed since the town 
 had been visited, very much out of repair, that the doors and windows had 
 been pulled down and the floors were much broken. 
 
 ■ Sixth day. We slept at the inn; and in the morning of Sunday, 
 January 8, started at 6.30 with an escort of four soldisrs, the authorities 
 were afraid that we might suffer insult. Near the gate through which 
 we left and inside the walls is a large drill ground; and just outside 
 of the city we came upon a bridge about one thousand feet in length 
 t*t)ssihgiihe river that enters the sea at Chuen-chow (^ j^). 
 
(fil> 
 
 Contrary to what had been said we found the people on the road 
 most civil. One instant we thought we might suffer some rudness from 
 a body of spearmen, about fifty, I should say, armed with pikes about 
 eighteen feet long; but they passed quietly on their way however, and 
 made room for our chairs. We took our lunch at a place without name 
 and at 4 p. m. we put up at a rather clean inn for the night at Sha»- 
 Chi (fP ^). . 
 
 Village of '^^^ distance from Chuen-chow (^ '}\\) to Sha-chi (^ -^) 
 Sha-chi. ig thirty one miles, and the country is hilly with water , 
 
 waj's quite dry. 
 
 Seventh day. We left our inn, on the 9th January before the sun got 
 
 woo-tien! Town ^^®^^ ^P" • ^* ^°°^ '^^^ arrived at Lew-woo-tien (|i) H }^) 
 of Amoy. a small town at the waters edge, where we took our lunch 
 
 in the Yamun of a small Mandarin. We left for Amoy Island at 1 o'clock 
 taking a small boat to carry us across. At 2.10 p. m. after|a passage of 
 thirty li we landed; and at 5 we arrived at the town of Amoy, whence we 
 crossed over to Ku-lang-seu (^ ^^ |^), the Drum Wave Island, as it is 
 called, where the United States Consulate is situated. 
 
 There is no doubt that the power of the aluthorities, 
 Sib^ld'as lo ^e ^^ exercised in the right direction, is a great check upon 
 intiuenoe of the the populace in their conduct towards us. I do not 
 Hpon the people, believe either that _the natives would^attack or insult 
 foreigners were it not that they did so in connivance 
 with their own pettyj Mandarins and Literati. During our whole journey 
 the only feeling that appeared to influence the people was that of curiosity. 
 They crowded round us at the inns when we stopped at noon or in the 
 evening, and, as we passed along the road, rushed with one accord to 
 gaze at the strange beings who were passing so confidently through their 
 country. We went entirely unarmed; we had not even a revolver with 
 us. In certain places along the route, near the sea shore, the inhabitants 
 have the reputation of being unruly and inclined to rise against the 
 authorities, and there are watch-towers placed half amile a part, or less 
 •n some districts, in which the inhabitants keep watch at night to give 
 tlie alarm in case of the approach of marauders, the landing of pirates 
 or enemies of any kind. At a regular intervals of ten li (about 3| miles) 
 there are small guard houses with three short chimneys either beside 
 
( ei ) 
 
 or in front of tliem in which in case of a rising, fires would be lighted in 
 order that the smoke assending might alarm the soldiers in the next' 
 military station ; but; on our whole ti"ip we did not^see a soldier either in, 
 or in the vicinity of one of the guard houses (1). Neither did we meet 
 any constabulary or police force to assist the authorities in the maintain- 
 aaice of order. We saw one robber or murderer being carried to Foochow 
 in a wooden cage. We could not find out with certainly what his crime- 
 was, but it was evidently one to be punished with death;, and he was in 
 the charge of two policemen unarmed I 
 
 FoocJimo, 11th Eebruary, 1871. 
 
 (Signed) W. Lee Sibbald.. 
 
 To understand this state of aftair, so diferent fi-orn: 
 the government that for which late accounts of China had prepared us^ 
 of the miadle Qjjg jg required to have lived in the East or to have 
 devoted sometime to the study of the social and political 
 organisation of the people there. What distinguishes the Chinese from. 
 Western races and renders the task of their mlei's easier is that they 
 have, I believe, a different idea of Society than we have ourselves, in 
 this, that while we always think of the rights which we have acquired 
 in gathering together as a natioo, and are very apt to loose sight of the 
 obligations which we have contracted thereby, the reverse is the case- 
 with them; aiid to teach children those duties which will be binding 
 upon them as men, is almost the exclusive task of those who, in China,, 
 are intrusted with public training. 
 
 To this end the whole System of Government is based upon patriarchal 
 authority, and filial pety is the sentiment which is first inculcated in 
 man's heart, tlie other virtues being considered as subsidiary to it. The 
 authority of the father and of tlie mother is absolute. It takes advice 
 from nobody and it ows account of its decisions to no one. It includes 
 
 (1) The Governor General of Fookian gives an explanation of this state of affairs in his 
 secret memorial to the Emperor, part of which I have quoted in Memorandum 
 No. 2; he says: "Of late we have not kept any permanent army in Fookien for 
 the defence of the Ports. The Provincial Treasury has been so much impoverished 
 by the unusual expense of the 3rd year of this reign that we liave been compelled 
 to disband the regular force sent from the provinde of Hounan and Houpei, to 
 aid us in putting down the rebellion and now we have but the number of Soldiers 
 ■which is strictly required for the niaintiiiiiance of order." 
 
the right of life and death which the Emperor liimself never exercises, 
 but when called upon to confirm, with the approval of the Censors, the 
 decision of the tribunals. 
 
 How excessive this right of parents may seem it has nevertheless 
 proved beneficial, natural feelings, doubtless being an effective safeguard 
 against the abuses which may result from it] and, besides, parents seldom 
 live alone with their children ; a common roof often shelters three or four 
 generations with their different branches and the impu Isiveness of the young 
 one must be tempered down by the authority of the elder people when this 
 has not already been accomplished by their example. In this way patern- 
 al supervision whereby a watchful eye is always kept on the family, fore- 
 seeing its wants, unwrapping its thoughts and opposing its faults, consti- 
 tutes the most powerful auxiliary which a government such as that existing 
 in China, could possibly have to its action, and keeps it always amply 
 provided with a healthful supply of subjects long prepared for submission. 
 
 I could not better compare Chinese families than to a company of 
 soldiers which is, as we know, the lowest unit of military organisation.' In 
 it all are hierarchically arranged and being submissive to their respective 
 chiefs, Hs soldiers, in camps, are to their petty officers and to their higher 
 commanders. This life in common, somewhat like that which Fourier had 
 dreamed for his Phalanstery, offere the advantage which must be very great 
 in a crowded country like China, to be very economical. And, in return, it 
 has very few inconveniences, for, in spite of the collection of so many persons 
 within such narrow limits, good health is general, at the least in the 
 country, doubtless owing to the peculiar way the Chinese liave of building 
 their houses which enables them to live almost constantly in open air and to 
 the fulness of their dress which aids the free circulation of the blood and 
 is calculated to easily adapt itself not only to season, but also to sudden 
 changes of temperature. 
 
 None except military and naval men can officiate in the Province of 
 their birth or where they have married, that they may be kept away from 
 influences foreign to the general good. The Prefects who are instrusted 
 more especially with tlie police and the administration of justice and the 
 collection of the land taxes, are called the fatliers of the people, being de 
 facto the senior paterfamilias of their districts. At the door of each house 
 
(«4) 
 
 may be seea, written on a board or on slips of paper, tbe names and the 
 ages of the members of the family, servants or slaves, should there be any, 
 included. 
 
 There are distant places which remain outside of the immediate juris- 
 diction of the regular authority, they being without importance and the 
 taxes which could be collected therein not being judged sufficient to cover 
 the expenses connected with the establishment of an imperial office. In 
 such cases the people appoint ahead man whom they pay and keep in office 
 as long- as they are satisfied with his administration. Althougb without 
 acknowledged 'rank, many of those head men are known to have at their 
 command a regular force of soldiers, which they use in enforcing the local 
 laws and in repressing desorder, and, in this, they are supported by the 
 Imperial Authorities who acknowledge them as the representatives of the 
 people and transact all their business of the District with them. And 
 thus Democracy is found to exist in its purest form in perhaps the most 
 despotic country on the face of the earth. 
 
 Primitive as it is, this system of Government adapts itself better to the 
 Chidese, I believe, than anything which we may ofifer as a substitute; and to 
 strengliten their Government and to enable it as much as possible to exert 
 its authority over its distant possessions, we only stand in the way by in- 
 sisting upon them conforming to us, and in this lies, in a great measure, 
 the secret of the failure of the foreign policy in China for twelve years past. 
 Confident of the future and, in the magnitude of our strength, we should 
 avoid asking for any blunt change and be satisfied with such reforms as 
 would compel the officers in the provinces to conform to their antique laws 
 causing the same to be modified from time to time and little by little, that 
 they may be better calculated to assist into the carrying out of the existing 
 treaties, meet the requirements of tlie age, and aid to, instead of obstruct- 
 ing, as they often do, the improvement of tlie relations both social and 
 commercial which must exist between these two races. Once the Empire 
 fairly open, Eeligion and Civilization must soon follow on the track open 
 by trade. 
 
 jj.The^Pekin To witness this gigantic struggle between the East and 
 
 th3 West, to aid in the accomplishment of the work of 
 
 transformation which must be the result of it, the best men should be 
 
 selected on both sides. As for America she needs at Peking her ablest 
 
(65) 
 
 statesmen, men of the highest order, men of calibre and experience, 
 men that will be above all petty influences or interests, men that will 
 despise coming bofore the world with temporary or fictitions triumphs, 
 men of energetic character, broad views and sound morals. Tliere is- for 
 such men a great career open in the East for fifty years to come, a 
 ■career as great as ever there was at home for any one. For China is 
 nearer to us than she is to any other^countries. she contains 360,000,000 
 inhabitants, and when we have attained our highest degree of industrial 
 and agricultural development and therefore, will be able to offer to the 
 world the necessaries which are now de.ived solely from the Continent 
 of Europe, the relations between her and ourselves, as guaranteed by the 
 necessities of both nations, must receive an impulse the measure of which 
 no one can foretell; and if the object in view of the Minister we have in 
 Peking must be to secure us an influence with the Chinese that will 
 guarantee us in the future a share of such a trade, we may, without 
 further comments, realize the extent of the services that a man of genius, 
 in that position, may render to his country. 
 
 Ainiiij, 2^-<(h. April. 1^71. 
 
memoe^a.nt»ttm: ncv *• 
 
 THE DISTTJEBAHCES IN THE AMOY DISTRIOr 
 
 PREVIOUS TO THE MASSACRE OF TIENTSIN, AND HOW THEY 
 WESE DEALT WITH. 
 
(69) 
 
 Memorandum No. 4. 
 
 THE DISTURBANCES IN THE AMOY DISTRICT PREVI* 
 
 OUS TO THE MASSACRE OF TIENTSIN, AND 
 
 HOW THEY WERE DEALT WITH. 
 
 Sine ira and Studio^ 
 Tacitus. 
 
 Whv this Bauer ^^ *^"^ views which I liave submitted upon subjects 
 
 is submitted. of public concern in China, had always met with 
 
 general approval, I would not fatigue you with the narrative of events 
 
 which are now foi^otten and, practically and in themselves, have ceased 
 
 to be of any interest to the people.— But, indeed, as, in connection with 
 
 these occurrences, I have been at variance with my superiors, in Peking, 
 
 chiefly regarding the construction to be placed upon the instructions 
 
 of the home ofEee in what relate to the appeal which it is contemplated 
 
 Consuls may have to make to the navy for assistance", a subject, you 
 
 will concede, fully deserving our attention, now that, at any time, we 
 
 may be called upon to act in defence of our countrymen in these 
 
 distant lands, I have thought well to the extend further with these notes. 
 
 The year 1868 was an eventful one with us. The warning for the 
 
 storm came from central Eormosa; but the first outbreack took place 
 
 in the northern portion of that Island. 
 
 „^ „ On the 13th of October the Yice-Consul for England 
 
 The Banca ■ . . n -mt -tr • i. 
 
 difficulties. received a communication from Mr. Kerr, managing partner 
 
 of a British firm established at Banca, reporting that a most cruel 
 
 outrage had been perpetrated, on the previous day, at that place, on 
 
 himself and on Mr. Bird, a clerk in the house. On receipt of the news, 
 
 I crossed over in the U. S. Gun-boat Aroostook under command of 
 
 ■ Capta;in Bradford, for the purpose of watching American interests which 
 
 I had good reasons to believe were threatened, Mr. Kerr, upon whom 
 
 the assault^ had;^ been made, at the time, being acting Commercial 
 
 Agent for "us. I arri^^ed in Tamsui in the afternoon of the 24th. 
 
( ' ) 
 
 During the evening, I received the visit from the Ting (District 
 magistrate) who informed me that, through his exertions, order had been 
 restored in the town of Banca, of which the small hamlet of Howei ifr 
 the Port. However he did not conceal his fears that it could not be 
 maintained if the British Gun-boat Janvs, then at anchor in the Port,, 
 should go further up the river; and therefore, he begged me to call the 
 attention of H. B. M.'s Consul on the subject. I, at first, refused to be 
 mixed up with an affair that I did not consider to be within my province.. 
 Mr. Kerr was a British subject ; he had not been assaulted while per- 
 forming any official duties for the United. States. Americans had not 
 been molested by the mob; they were at liberty to pursue their business,, 
 at all hours of the day, in the town of the Port; what right had I theu to 
 interfere? The Ting, appreciating my scruples, retired. 
 
 On the 25th Captain Bradford called upon the Ting, and stated to- 
 him that he endorsed my views. On the same day I returned the call of 
 the Ting, and, during my visit, he submitted to me a Despatch from Mr. 
 ConsulHolt, stating that the demands, therein, were ellegaV and that he 
 could not acquiesce to them. 
 
 Mr. Holt's de- -'^^- Holt's Despatch concluded as follows: "Ithere- 
 ™*'^^- fore now demand: I. An apology to be offered to me 
 
 from the Tamsuy Ting for the affront offered to me on the morning of the 
 12th of October, in his office at Banca." 
 
 II. "The punishment of the Hwang-clan, and of the head-men 
 named in the margin." 
 
 III. " That for the serious injuries on Messrs. Kerr and Bird, for the 
 entire .stoppage of their trade, and for the loss of prestige which they have 
 sustained, the local authorities shall compel from the Hw»ng-clan a pay- 
 ment of $5,000, to be made to Messrs. Dodd & Co." 
 
 IV. " The issue by the Tamsuy Ting of a proclamation, denouncing- 
 the late assault on Messrs. Kerr and Bird, to be cut in a stone tablet,, 
 ordering the people to pay every respect to foreign merchants trading in 
 Banca, and within the Tamsuy District, and threatening severe punish- 
 ment in the event of their being molested." 
 
 y. " That all the perspnal property stolen on the occasion of the: 
 ..assault, ,b^ returned or amply compentated for." 
 
(n) 
 
 VI. "That the aiitliorities shall use their utmdst diligence in ar- 
 resting as many of the assailants of Messrs. Kerr and Bird as they can, 
 %nd that they shall all be severely punished and imprisoned." 
 
 VII. "That both their old hong and the Loktow hong shall bei 
 restored to Messrs. Dodd & Co. without delay, and full compensatioa 
 made for such goods as may be missing." 
 
 VIII. "That on the day on which the authorities notify that the 
 Loktow hong is ready to be delievered over to Messrs. Dodd & Co., the 
 Tamsuy Ting, the Commander of the man of war, with his guard and my- 
 self, accompanied by Messrs. Kerr and Bird, with twelve of the principal 
 leaders of the late assault, in heavy cangues, shall proceed to the said 
 hong, through the same streets which they were driven through; and that 
 the said hong shall be formally delivered over to themj and the twelve 
 men be kept in cangues in front of the said hong, for one month from the 
 ■date of entry under a guard of soldiers." 
 
 IX. "That a guard of soldiers be stationed at Banca, to prevent 
 'Messrs. Dodd & Co.'s agents being again assaulted." 
 
 "If these conditions are not fulfilled precisely by 10 o'clock, in the 
 morning of the 27th instant,- I shall, at once, be compelled to take other 
 measures." I have &c., &c. (signed) Henry F. Holt. 
 
 Having fully examined the document, I advised the Ting to send a 
 verbal reply, which I agreed to unofficially offer, in his name, to H. B. 
 M.'s Consul. 
 
 Mr. Holt assents to Therefore, on the 25th, in the evening, I begged 
 the Ting's views of from H. B. M.'s Consul privilege to submit the Ting's 
 views, in which, after a short discussion, Mr. Holt 
 concuiTed; and, on the 26th, with the consent and knowledge of the 
 Consul, I held communication with the local authorities, who agreed to 
 abide to seven rules prepared by me and embodying these views. They 
 were as follows : — 
 
 KuLE I. — The Tamsuy Ting shall, this day, address a Despatch to the 
 Hai-kwan, stating that the affront, offered at Banca to the Vice-Consul's 
 card, has been punished by the dismissal of the offending servants; and 
 that, had the Tamsuy Ting being present in Banca, at the time, the ser- 
 vants would never have dared to use such words, or to act as they did. 
 
 Rule II. — The assault on Messrs. Kerr and Bird by the Hwang-clan, 
 Avas decidedly wrong. Four of the principal i-ing leaders have been taken 
 
(72) 
 
 and punislied, and, during the space of one month, from this date, will be 
 kept in cangues in front of the Tamsuy Ting's office. 
 
 EuLE III. — The Tamsuy Ting will issue a proclamation, instructing 
 the people to he on friendly terms, with foreigners and to conduct their 
 business with them amicably. Three copies will be issued to-morrow; one 
 to be given to Messrs. Dodd & Co., which they may cause to be cut in 
 stone, one to be put up in the public streets, and the third to be delivered 
 to Mr. Holt, H. M.'s Acting Tice-Consul. 
 
 KuLE lY. — Hwang-chang-she (man soon) had no right to the property 
 in dispute ; and in taking .it upon herself to lease it without the necessary 
 regard for the opinions and desires of her relatives, has committed a grave 
 fault, for which she must pay a fine of $3,000 within the next month, His 
 Excellency the Hai-kwan guaranteeing the amount. 
 
 EuLE V. — Messrs. Dodd & Co. are requested to send in an account for 
 certain pieces of goods, &c., which were lost during the time of the assault 
 and since that period, in order that the value may be made good to them. 
 
 Etile YI. — For the assault on Messrs. Kerr and Brid, the Hwangi 
 clan has been fined $1,000 Dollars. 
 
 EuLE YIl. — At Banca, thei'e are only police runners ; it is therefore 
 necessary to inform the heads of the people that they must exercise their 
 authoi'ity on the people of their respective wards, and must cause friendly 
 relations to be entertained towards foreigners. Supposing any troubles 
 ■occasionally arise, the matter must be immediately reported to the 
 Tamsuy Ting's office, in order that the matter may be impartially 
 investigated by him, in conjunction witli the Yice-Consul; a copy of 
 the Bond to be entered into by the head man shall be sent to the 
 Yice-Consul. 
 
 Final Settle- I" tlie afternoon I left for Banca whore I spent the 
 ment of the affair, night. Early in the morning, of the 28th, the Ting 
 held his court and, at 10 o'clock, when I left, the stipulations agreed 
 upon had been fully carried out:— The guilty parties had been placed 
 in heavy cangues; the security promised had been given; all the fines 
 had been paid; the Chinese agents of Mssrs. Dodd & Co. were freely 
 pursuing their occupations in their hong. On my way back to my 
 boat I was received with unmistakable marks of respect by the population 
 of the town. I reached the Port uf the town of Banca at 2 o'clock. I 
 
(73) 
 
 visited H. B. M.'s Consul the same evening, when he had the kindness 
 to hand me a letter of thanks. Early next morning we left the Port, 
 and on the 24th, in the morning, we were at anchor in Amoy. 
 
 The ttl t '^ *"^^ months after, H. B. M.'s Minister tendered 
 is approved by H. t^'^^^^s to Lieutenant Commander Bradford and myself 
 by ^il Vic^iSo^' °®*y^ll3^ through the Ambassador of the United States 
 ofPookien &Che- loi" what he was pleased to call the moral support we 
 Earlof ClaJendon! ^^^ ^iveu to Mr. Holt, at Banca. The Vice-Hoy of 
 Fookien and Chekiang, himself, did not delay in 
 informing me of the pleasure caused to him hy the adjustment of the 
 affair; and, finally, the Earl of Clarendon instructed Sir R. Alcock to 
 inform Mr. Holt that Her Majesty's Government approved of his conduct 
 in this matter. 
 
 My conclusions. To the great wisdom of the Ting, to his unmistakable 
 firmness, and to the rare conciliatory spirit exhibited by Mr. Holt, is 
 due the peaceful adjustment of this difiBculty which might have been, in 
 the Tamsuy district, the cause of a bloody contest, of serious embarrass- 
 ments to the Chinese, and of great injury to foreign trade — and for the 
 sake of the hint which I thought this settlement, as brought on by us, 
 might be to all in future occurrences, I had thus allowed myself to be 
 brought in between the contending parties. All this Inbor was not, 
 however, productive of the results which I had expected. On >ny return to 
 Amoy I heard that Liang Tautai, the Cxovernor of Formosa, , eeing himself 
 relieved from the embarrassment which he had once feared the Banca 
 affair would cause for him, with and by the advice of the Vice Roy 
 of the Province, had issued orders to treat foreigners, in central Formosa, 
 with renewed vigor. 
 
 Judging from their past aggressive attitude, not only in the Island and 
 on the main, but almost everywhere in the Empire, we had just causes for 
 apprehension as to our safety. 
 
 We were in November, and already, in central Formosa, 
 in^Srafpomo- Messrs. Elles & Co.'s Camphor had been most unjustly 
 sa since themonth confiscated; their Comprador's house had been plundered 
 of May previous. ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^.^^j^^^ jj^ liimself had been seized 
 
 and thrown into prison, his only crime being his connexion with a foreign 
 firm. On the 25th of June following, the comuuinity was startled at 
 
(74) 
 
 Teceiving the intelHgenee that the Intendant had sent a force against Mr. 
 I'ickering and had set a price on his head. Afterwards, on the 3rd of July, 
 Mr. Hardy, of Messrs. Tait & Co., was stabbed in a public street, in the 
 middle of the day, in a village near Takao ; but the would be assassin was 
 ■allowed to escape, nor was any effort made to seize him. The most outra- 
 -geous reports on a Dr. Maxwell, through whose desinterested exertions, 
 thousands of Chinese had been ta'ien from the grasp of death, were spread 
 ■about with a view to excite the ignorant multitude against him, and this 
 simply because, to a woi-k inherent to a medical man, he added that of a 
 preacher of the gospel. His life was several times threatened, and ffnally 
 lis house was burned down (31st of October). "We remember that Mr. 
 Kerr had been attacked in the northern portion of the Island, during the 
 •first part of the same month. 
 
 The catholic priests were not better treated; their mission being 
 twice burned down. Previous to this, the foreign settlements at Takao 
 had been several times threatened by the mob, the Tau-tai always refusing 
 to listen to the complaints of the Consuls. During the May previous, 
 being in Takao myself, I was a witness to this criminal indifference on his 
 part. Large bands of banditti were reported to be marching on the set- 
 tlement from the south. Troops were sent for, but were refused by the 
 Intendant Liang; and although Chentai Lew, the military commander of 
 the Island, was willing to call out the militia, Liang or his subordinates 
 refused to supply him with the necessary funds. In this predicament, the 
 community and the British Consul called through me upon captain Beard- 
 elee, U. S. 'N., then in port, for assistance. A spot where guns, the pro- 
 perty of Messrs. Elles & Co., should be placed in position was selected by 
 me, at the request of captain Beardslee, who agreed to supply the neces- 
 sary ammunition from his ship; and the mob, hearing of our preparations, 
 soon retired. Subsequently the authorities were simply asked to issue a pro- 
 clamation; but even this they neglected to do; for, if indeed the pro- 
 clamation was written, it was never posted. 
 
 Mr. Jameson who had remained in charge of the British Consulate 
 during all this time was soon succeeded by Mr. Gibson; but, instead of im- 
 proving, things went from bad to worse. With a view to avoid the annoy- 
 ances of personal interviews or of correspondence, the Intendant added 
 insult to injury. He refused to recognize the Consul. 
 
(75) 
 
 On the 17th of August, at a meeting of the Citizens of all nations, 
 resolutions were passed, urging the necessity of calling upon the navy for 
 protection. They represented that a large force was required, observing 
 with great wisdom, that a small display would only exasperate the popular 
 tions'already excited by their rulers; and, until such force would come, 
 they determined to leave Taiwanfoo and go to the subsidiary Port of 
 Takao, where, from the peculiar topography of the country, they may hope 
 more sticcessiuUy to defend themselveSi 
 
 From that time, 17th of August, until Anping was taken, 20th of 
 November, no foreigners visited Taiwanfoo or left any of their property 
 within its walls. All trade was suspended. 
 
 When it came to this, Mr. Gibson had,. I conceive,, to- call upon the 
 navy, not to use force, but to lend him the moral stipport of its presence. 
 He only requested the senior naval officer at Hongkong to furnish him. 
 with a gunboat for defensive purpose. 
 
 On the 26th of August, Lord Charles Scott determined to proceed to 
 Takao, I can safely say, for he told me so, with a view to bring about an 
 amicable settlement of the disputes. Hearingthatlwasonthe spot when the 
 difficulties originated, knowing that I had been mixed in them through the joint 
 action of the Chinese and of H. B. MT-'s Consul, when the first complica- 
 tions took place, with a rare eourte&y, he came to the Consulate, to consult 
 on the theory of the case, and inquire whether the presence of his forces 
 before Taiwanfoo would enterfere with my plans of a^ustment of the 
 camplior question. I gave him copies of my despatches to the Tice-Koy 
 on the subject, and he left with the "Rinaldo," having also the "Dwarf 
 under his orders." Having arrived in Anping he investigated the whole 
 case, weighing carefully the causesof complaint. He left fully satisfied tha4; 
 nothing but force would bring the Tautai to terras. However both he 
 and Mr. Gibson, judging that they had not sufficient authority to act, or 
 enough force to insure success, if they did^ they reported for orders to 
 their respective superiors. 
 
 On the 26th of September, Mr. Gibson wrote to the Minister: — "I 
 shall wait until Your Excellency send me instructions as to my future 
 proceedings, but perhaps circumstances will not permit me to wait. If 
 unforeseen circumstances will not permit this^ I shall act with great caution, 
 following out every link in the chain of success that binds foreign trade 
 and Missionary enterprize to Formosa, well assured of your Excellency'* 
 
( 70 ) 
 
 Bympatliy and approval." By Dispatch, dated October 24th, Sir Rutherford 
 approved of all Mr. Gibson's correspondence up to the 27th of September. 
 lie doubtless then judged the situation of affairs precarious in Formosa, 
 fur he wrote of it to the Admiral; and Sir H. Keppel who previously had 
 received a report from Lord Scott, came to Amoy to complete in a 
 personal interview with his subordinate, whatever written information he 
 had received from him on the subject. He wrote to the Minister (10th of 
 December) : That it was specially requisite to convince the authorities of 
 the British abilities to enforce a due respect for the treaty rights ; that he 
 disaproved of coercive threats being employed without ample'means being 
 at hand to carry them out. 
 
 Preparations '^° provide such means he had directed Captain Ross to 
 made by the proceed to Formosa in the Pearl, where he would take 
 force the tre»^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ t^® Sinaldo, and Dwarf a.nd four others under 
 ties in Central his orders. He said also that he thought that the first 
 of his operations would probably be the capture and occupa- 
 tion of Anping and Taiwanfoo, and he had therefore instructed, the 
 Senior Naval oiBcer on the Coast of Formosa to act in accordance with 
 these views aiid he hoped to reach Shanghai in January where the Rodney 
 awaited him, and he should be in position to join the force off Takao a 
 few days later, should circumstances demand his presence. The Senior 
 oflScer at Takao had been instructed to act in concurrence with the Consul 
 to whom he was to afford a cordial support and effective force. 
 
 The Vice- ^^^^® ^^^ "^^"^ "^^ ^'^^^^ ^^ ^"^ ^^^^^ *^^ resort to 
 Roy of Too- force was judged necessary both by the British Minister and 
 
 CoSLiSe? ^y *^'^ Admiral, although Mr. Gibson knew nothing of those 
 Formosa*' *^ despatches having passed through, the Imperial Commissioner 
 Tseng was directed by the Vice-Roy of the Province to 
 proceed to Taiwanfoo. 
 
 Tseng Taotai most reluctantly accepted the mission tendered to hira> 
 and even after he had accepted it he made all sorts of excuses not to go'; 
 and he left only on receipt of a most peremptory order of the Vice-Roy at 
 once to embark and to proceed to Taiwan and not leave the ship until he 
 had reached his destination. I had just returned from Northern Formosa 
 (31st October)— and I heard that he was most anxious to see me. But 
 being conflued to his ship, lying at anchor in the Amoy harboi-, under 
 
" ) 
 
 pretext of stormy weather outside, lie sent to me an officer on the staff 
 of Admiral Lee, with a verbal message, begging me to come. And, as 
 I delayed, he wrote me a private note. Seeing his distress, I, at once; 
 complied with his request, and handed over to him a paper,' which he 
 had asked me to prepare, giving my views of the difficulties which had 
 arisen in central Formosa. I had been careful to submit the paper to my 
 colleagues who, without exception, safe the Consul for Spain, had assented 
 to it. Tseng-Tayen read it with the greatest attention, and when he had 
 finished he said that the case was so complicated that he should like me 
 "to accompany him to Formosa and assist him with the British and the 
 French Consul whom he dreaded much to have dealings with, not having 
 met them before, and* he knew they were my friends. I replied that I 
 would gladly go, provided I could settle my affairs in tlie two days he 
 offered to wait for me in tlie Port of Amoy. But, at -the last moment, I 
 concluded to remain, having found out from outside parties that he had 
 not said the truth to me as regards to his commission and that, although 
 in fact he was vested with all the authority of his superior the Governor- 
 General, he had orders not to make use of it, but as a last i-esort, and, If 
 possible, to limit his action to the investigation of tlie alleged errors 
 and wrongs of the local Government, and simply to report upon the same 
 that his provincial masters might shift the responsibility of settlement and 
 throw it upon the Tseng-lee Yamen at Peking for whose interference in 
 the matter they had no thanks to offer. 
 
 Tseng Tautai was fully adequate to the task before him; and 
 doubtless he left Amoy having made up his mind to endorse the views of 
 the Governor General in approving the acts of Liang and reporting 
 upon the grievances of foreigners as being futile and of no importance 
 and then return to the mainland leaving both parties to arrange as 
 well as they could, and intending to show after that the conflict which, 
 he knew must take place between the Chinese authorities of Formosa 
 and the British naval officer, had been all brought on by foreigners 
 who, with evil motives,- had forced a quarrel upon the Chinese. I 
 was so convinced that this would be the case that I wrote of it to Mr. 
 Gibson, that he might be on his guard. 
 
(?s) 
 
 Tseng, having notified Mr. Gibson of his arrival at 
 Mr. ^ibson Taj-wan-foo, the latter lost no time in placing himself in. 
 in communica- communication with him; and he wrote him a lengthly 
 ^^°utai*^^^^°^ Despatch in which, having enumerated the crimes and 
 wrongs of Liang Tautai and his subordinates, he sub- 
 mitted the conditions which he felt bound to request from the local 
 Go-rernment oi Taiwan. This despatch ended as follows: 
 
 "Now I demand, in the name of every principle of justice, that 
 these three officers) viz. Liang Tau-tai, Lin-Lee, the District Magistrate 
 of Fung-shan, and Kew, the Loo-Kiang Ting, be dismissed with dis- 
 grace. ^ ^(. 4J. 4t * * ; that the accusers of Dr. Maxwell and Kao-chang 
 be tried, and, if found guilty, be most severely punished before a person 
 appointed by me. ^^ ^^ * ^j, * . That Hwang-king and others, if found 
 guilty, should suffer death; and their abettors should be severely 
 punished before a person appointed by me." ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 "That 16,000 be paid within the space of twenty-four hours as in- 
 demnity for the camphor officially and illegally removed from Messrs. 
 EUes & Co.'s hired house at Wu-chai, or $6,000 worth of camphor be 
 restored to Messrs. EUes & Co." 
 
 "That $1,167 be paid within the space of twenty-four hours to Dr. 
 Maxwell as indemnity for the destruction of the mission property." 
 
 "That 12,000 be paid within the space of twenty-four hours as in- 
 demnity to catholic fathers for the destruction of their property." 
 
 "That Messrs. EUes & Co.'s compradore have his property returned 
 as it was before his house was broken into, or damage given him within 
 the space of twenty-four hours to the exact amount of money and other 
 property removed." 
 
 ' ' That a suitable number (say 25) of Proclamations be issuedembodying 
 t 3 first paragraph of the IX article, the whole of the XIII, and the whole of 
 lue XIY (of fhe Treaty). That these Proclamations should guarrantee to 
 British merchants travelling under passports, which passports are to be 
 countersigned by the Tautai and respected, and the Chinese agents of 
 British merchants, liberty to trade in camphor both in the interior of this 
 Island and at coast ports forbidden to foreign vessels, and that these 
 Proclamations should abolish any notifications issued hetherto ordering 
 natives, under the most severe punishments, viz: death, not to sell 
 camphor to foreign merchants." 
 
(?9) 
 
 " Tliat a suitable number (say 25) of proclamations be issued in favor 
 of the Christian religion, Protestant and Catholic, embodying the VIII 
 Article of the Treaty ; these Proclamations to involve that the poisonous 
 or noxioiis drugs which idle reports states that the Missionaries used, is 
 but a piece of mendacious gossip, that the authorities will very severely 
 punish any person who utters such lying affirmations, and that con- 
 verted natives, not offending against the Laws, are not be persecuted or 
 interfered with. 
 
 " That a suitable number (say 10) of Proclamations bo issued, embody- 
 ing the XVII Article of the Treaty, and stating that whenever such 
 cases arisen between a British subject or their Agents, and a Chinese 
 subject, as that the Cgnsul cannot settle them amicably, he shall request 
 the assistance of the Chinese authorities and that these authorities 
 shall come. 
 
 "All these conditions are fair and just. Liang Tautai and his subordi- 
 nates simply laugh at them. I think you, as an honest, intelligent and 
 straight-forward officer, will very much regret their procedure and I 
 request you to report the gross malfeasance of the local Government. 
 
 " I shall conclude by four remarks: " I have written this Despatch 
 to you, and will show you all the documents that I have in my possession 
 upon this subject, simply for your information ; but you have come over 
 here with very defective powers, utterly incapable of suspending, even for 
 a moment, the Tautai or any other officers's Commission. It was on 
 account of your defective powers that I refused to discuss with you sub- 
 sidiary affairs ; not on account of your requiring proof of Liang Tautai's 
 misdeeds. Your desiring evidence of those wrongs of which I accuse 
 Liang Tautai, I consider as very fair and impartial; and I beg to 
 submit this Despatch, the office Despatches, • and a hdst of witnesses, as 
 indisputable proof. ^^ ^ * ^^ # ^^ 
 
 " The wrongs inflicted by Liang Tautai on British subjects are of 
 eight or nine months duration. I have been very patient under these 
 afflictions; but those proceedings must come to an end very shortly; can 
 you not, on your own responsibility, suspend Liang's Commission ? 
 
 " I must inform you of one error that you made in our conference 
 yesterday. You seemed to assert that British subjects are involved in 
 quarrels with the people generally. NotUng could he farther from the fact. 
 British subjects have no complaints to make against the people generally; 
 
(SO) 
 
 but they have loud complaints to make against Liang Tautai and the 
 rest of the officials, their servants, their soldiers, their militia and their 
 hangers on." (Signed) John Gibson. 
 
 Mr Gibson's -^^ -'- ^^'^ foreseen, Tseng made light of the Consul's letter, 
 demands. and, with a view to discourage all investigation, he informed 
 
 Mr. Gibson, before witnesses. Dr. Manson, Mr. Hardy, Lieut. Gordon, 
 Lieut. Johnson and Mr. Taylor, who had been summoned by the Consul, 
 should Commissioner Tseng require evidence from them in the cases 
 in litigation, that he was sent only, " To inquire and report; that the week 
 he had spent in the capital of the Island and its immediate vicinity " (he 
 had come on the 8th and did not see the Consul in Takao till the 16th — 
 during all that time living with the officers against whom charges had 
 been made) — " had been sufficient for his investigation ; that, on the 17th, 
 if the British Consul would not settle the two or three cases of indemnity 
 with him, which he considered of very little moment, he would return to 
 Amoy in his steamer, lying in the harbour, on the 18th or 19th. 
 
 Knowing all he knew, when Mr. Gibson saw Tseng 
 which Mr.^Giftson's taking such a position, what was he to do ? He had 
 repV consTderelf ^ already broken off all intercourse with Liang Tautai, 
 and stood on the detensive for five months ? Two meth- 
 ods of procedure were open to him: 1st, to take a reprisal in order to make 
 Tseng show his real powers, or, 2nd, to call on Europeans undef his juris- 
 diction, to go on board ship and set sail along with Tseng for Araoy. 
 
 Mr Gibson de- '^^' ^^^^"'^i ^^*^^ much consideration, and consulta- 
 cides for the firat tion with the best men in the place decided for the first 
 alternative. And in this, I believe, he acted wisely. 
 For it must be borne in mind that in a country peopled by a race which, 
 when incited by their rulers, is apt to show a degree of barbarism which, 
 seldom has been equalled in the darkest days of the middle ages, "govern- 
 ed by officials who, in certain things, are so little above a state of barbar- 
 ism themselves, that they had no scruple in placing an ambuscade of arm- 
 ed men to intercept and kill a Consul and naval officer proceeding to the 
 Magistrate's place of residence, on a peaceful mission, and thought the best 
 mode of preventing a merchant from recovering property of which he had 
 been despoiled, was to send people to shoot him down, or to forbit the 
 people under the penalty of death to give him shelter or food. There is 
 
(81) 
 
 enough in such conditions to demoralize all diplomacy, if not to justify a 
 
 resort to reprisals and acts of hostility not contemplated by Vatel. Mr. 
 
 Gibson concluded the time had come when it was imperative to give check 
 
 to an adversary of this stamp by alarming him for his own security, as the 
 
 only means of paralizing his power of inflicting irreparable injury, and 
 
 securing from an attack a community not otherwise to be protected ; and 
 
 he determined to take military possession of the fort of Zelandia, and the 
 
 ramparts of the village of An ping," (1) not only as a material guarantee, 
 
 in the shape of a reprisal, but as a basis of action, Anping being the key 
 
 to the capital of Taiwan. He applied to Lt. Gordon, Her Majesty senior 
 
 naval officer, who approved of his plan of proeedings. Mr. Gibson and Lt. 
 
 Gordon were off Fort of Zelandia on the 20th. They landed about 3 
 
 o'clock P. M. on the same day, and they reconnoitred the fort and the 
 
 ramparts of the village. They found the doors on the magazines in the 
 
 fort locked and, from information which Mr. Gibson received, the soldiers 
 
 and their commandant had all removed. The reconnoitring party took 
 
 military possession of the fort and the ramparts of the village without 
 
 opposition. The Consul requested verbally Her Magesty's senior naval 
 
 officer not to interfere with the civil government of the village, to allow 
 
 the native merchants to trade as usual, and to protert the foreign Custom 
 
 House. He posted proclamations over the village of Anping, enjoining 
 
 the people not to leave home, but to proceed with their different occnpa- 
 
 tions as hitherto; and he transmitted another set of proclamations to Tai- 
 
 wanfoo, announcing to the inhabitants tliat, if they molested Her Magesty's 
 
 Consulate, or the foreign houses, the city should be bombarded. Finally, 
 
 it was agreed between the Consul and the naval officer that the fort and 
 
 the ramparts of the village should be held from the ship. 
 
 „^. ^. , "No doubt it was an act of agffression and of war to 
 
 Objections made, _ _ °^ 
 
 In principle, to the seize a fort however strictly it may have been intend- 
 act of Mr. Gibson; i j .<■ ■ ' <.i • • i ^v i. 
 
 reply in justiflca- ed as a purely deiensive measure on the principle that 
 
 tion of the same, ^ j^^^^g thrust is often the best parry. But in dealing 
 
 with an Eastern race and officials, it will sometimes happen that a few 
 foreigners may be menaced with attack from overwhelming numbers, or 
 under circumstances of disadvantages which would make eftective defence 
 impossible. This is a fatal condition which no sane man, if he clearly 
 (1) Sir K, Alcock to the Lord of Clarendon (unpublished official correspondence.) 
 
(83 ) 
 
 fwesees it, will voluntary accept it. In such circumstances tliere may be 
 only one alternative, and that is to strike at your enemy first, where he 
 least expects it or where he may be most vulnerable. In this case flight on 
 board the gunboats was impossible for want of accommodation for the 
 number requiring shelter, and of sufficient means to_ protest the property 
 ©f the people." (1) 
 
 For it must be remembered that at Takao, which is virtually the Port 
 of Taiwanfoo and where foreigners mostly reside, the wealth of the place 
 is all, i. e. centred in the foreign houses, the Cliinese property being 
 merely a few fishermen's huts. And it is likely that if Tseng had left 
 Takao, as announced by him, without making an investigation, Liang- 
 encouraged by impunity, would have found more than one, among his 
 numerous followers, to apply a discreet torch to our settlements. And, in 
 the record of Chinese treachery we have abundant reason to believe that 
 this would have likely been done. When in Taiwanfoo, in 1842, they 
 resolved to murder 197 cast aways, they now say, as a reprisal for the cap- 
 ture of Amoy, they did not send an armed force to overwhelm them. 
 Under the most humain pretext, they divided the infortunate into small 
 parties, and, then, in the dark, during £heir sleep, they covered them with 
 chains, beheaded them on the public place of execution in Taiwanfoo, 
 leaving their bones without sepulture, — an easy prey for the dogs' and kites 
 Thei'e are Chinese, now living, that can yet tell the infamous tale. Or 
 in the case of Eurgevine, a great criminal in law, may be, but yet a man 
 who, under the treaties, if liable to. be sentenced to death, had a right to 
 an American rope : they bribed his servant, a colored man, whom I have 
 Been since in Amoy, and who led him defenceless to their lines. They 
 put him in a boat ostensibly to bring him to Shanghai, caused it to be 
 upset, and the infortunate man, loaded with chains (he had been suffering 
 acute dysentery for many days, and was never once unbound by his 
 captors), sunk deep into the waves, and none remained to relate his fate. 
 I could multiply the instances. 
 
 It cannot be contended that in such cases, when danger is imminent, 
 although not immediate, and there are just causes for reprisal, the property 
 should be abandoned, and for its loss, the owners be expected to apply 
 afterwards for indemnification by the Central Government. For who could 
 
 (1) Sir K. Alcock to the Lord of Clarendon (unpublished official correspondence.) 
 
(sa) 
 
 indemnify them for, or who could estimate the numberless losses contingent 
 on the violent suspension of any business? Further, if it was not in- the- 
 spirit of the instructions that redress should only be insured against 
 ultimate ruin, why is the contrary stated ? and why is it admitted that, iit 
 cases of very peculiar nature, a recourse to arms is justifiable ? 
 
 " If the only remedy when foreign life and property is in danger, is 
 to be flight, if foreign merchants are to be compelled to abandon everj- 
 tbing and run away, even such a flight were possible^ and no resistance 
 to be made at all to oppression of any sort,. I am bound to say my con- 
 viction is strong that no foreigners will be allowed to remain long in- 
 China. Let the Chinese authorities and Governntent once know that 
 such is the policy to be pursued by Foreign Powers in every port, they 
 will very soon render our position in Chian untenable; As one of the- 
 American Ministers in China once said: "Then indeed the policy of 
 peace will produce no peace." Or at least the peace will be all on one side 
 and only to be attained by the absence of all foreign commerce from: 
 the coast of China" (1). 
 
 Having carefully considered all this, Mr. Consul Gibson came to the- 
 conclusion that this was precisely one of the emergencies where a Consul 
 must talce all responsibility to a\nert a catastrophe which would hava 
 proved an irreparable injury to tlie interests it was his duty to protect at 
 all hazards, and he resolved to take a reprisal which would be a sure 
 means of convincing Tseng that he could not decline acting under his 
 mandate, with impunity, and a reprisal which did not injure trade or be 
 a stumbling block and offence to tlifi people,, but fall upon the investigators 
 of the whole course of illegalities, wrongs, and crimes. In such emergencies 
 I should think, a Consul, in a country like China, rises at once to a 
 higher station; he must take the responsibility devolving upon the 
 Minister himself, nay, upon the Government at home and act as the 
 highest authority on the land would have acted had it been on. the spot. 
 
 The question to decide, therefore, is not to determine whether Mr. 
 Gibson exceeded his powers but whetker he made good use of them-. 
 For if it is once admitted that it was his duty to protect the people m 
 their Uves and property, at aU hazards, it must be conceded also tliat 
 he could not have too great powers. What could Mr. Gibson have done 
 (1> Sir R. Alcoek ta the Lord of Clai-endon (UnpublLshx^d official ccrrespoudence).. . 
 
( 84 ) 
 
 in this particular case? Blockade the port ? There is uo port in Taiwanfoo. 
 Stop the junk trade as Sir Butherford did many years ago in Shanghai? 
 There were no junks in sight. He did the only thing he could, he 
 seized Anping which he had good reasons to believe could be taken 
 possession without effusion of blood. 
 
 Parties whose opinion has considerable weight in China, re- 
 ferring to the Yang-chow crisis, where a display of force proved 
 sufficient to secure justice to foreigners, have expressed the regret that 
 the urgent requisition of Her Majesty's Consul at Formosa should have 
 required an act of war when the end could have been gained by a milder 
 form of coercion. I cannot concur in these views. The protracted 
 correspondence resulting from the course of wrongs which I have exposed 
 above, had proved that diplomacy had almost exhausted every effort to 
 bring about a settlement of just claims. And I have it on undoubted 
 authority that Liang said to a foreign Commissioner of Customs, Mr. 
 Kopsh, that he did not care what foreigners might thi-eaten to do, as 
 he would defy them from Taiwanfoo, where no European guns could 
 reach him from the sea, in which delusion he was confirmed by the 
 foreign residents taking refuge in Takao. Therefore, there is very little 
 doubt left in my mind that a display of force would have resulted simply 
 in the force being used. And as the British Admiral had detached 
 eight ships with about six hundred men, who actually came after, this 
 officer, most likely, would have landed his forces and; I know it from 
 reliable source, overrun Formosa, destroying peace which soon after 
 was reestablished upon treaty basis, and he would have annhilated trade 
 and lighted up the flames of rebellion in the Island, for which the natives 
 are always ready. 
 
 Having heard of what had been done at Anping, on 
 the^'negooil™ *^« ^Srd, Tseng called at the British Consulate, for 
 after the occupa- an interview, on the 24th, this time not as a simple 
 on the°24d!^^Tfe ^^P^^J but as a Commissioner vested with full powers; 
 arrivSSffi ^°^ ^^ ''^"'^ *° *^^ following understanding with Mr. 
 Gibson> ' Gibson. It was agreed between both gentlemen: on 
 
 the one part, that, as a guarantee of the promises made 
 before to Lord Chs. Scott, in September, and afterwards ignored, the 
 British forces should hold Anping till all Mr. Gibson's conditions were 
 fulfilled. That Mr. Gibson, at once, should notify the naval officer of the 
 
( *<-» ) 
 
 agreement made during the day. On the'other side, that Tseng would 
 notify this same agreement to the Taiwan Authorities. 
 
 Mr. Gibson's notification to the naval officer was forwarded on the 
 25th ; it was acknowledged as having been received on the 26th at about 
 6 o'clock. 
 
 Annine is ^ have never been able to ascertain whether Tseng 
 bombarded on made due diligence in acquainting the native officers in 
 Taiwanfoo with what had been done and whether the 
 latter, being in the ignorance of the arrangment made, actually made 
 preparations to resist the British. But what is certain is that, on the 
 25th, from information the naval officer received through a resident 
 of Takao, Mr. Taylor^ it appears that the whole village of Anping was 
 filled with armed men ; that they had guns in position, and had attempted 
 to reoccupy the village. Therefore the naval officer, acting on this 
 information, sent a Despatch to the Commandant of the Fort : that, unless 
 he retired with his forces before 3 o'clock, he should be obliged to open 
 fire. No answer came up. Therefore, at 4 o'clock, it is said, the naval 
 officer opened fire upon the fortifications. The fire did no damage, the 
 Clunese getting out of the way, as the shells were coming. It has been 
 said that the Commander in chief of the Island, General Lew, had ordered 
 the resistance to which Mr. Taylor's report alluded; and thus that 
 he was responsible for Lt. Gordon's landing. I do not believe it. There 
 is no evidence on record that Chentai Lew gave order to attack and 
 re-occupy Anping. It is true, we know, that he was anxions to do so. 
 But we know also that he was dissuaded by Mr. Man, Commissioner 
 of Customs for Southern Formosa. All he did was to make preparations 
 to oppose the advance of the British further than Anping. He erected 
 stockades, rebuilt such portions of the walls of Taiwanfoo that had been 
 destroyed by the eartquake, and manned them. This he considered he 
 had a perfect right to do under the agreement entered into with Mr. 
 Gibson, Taiwanfoo not having been surrendered to the British forces, 
 and he was in duty bound to reassure the populations greatly alarmed 
 by the presence of Lt. Gordon at Amping. 
 
 The display of force of which Mr. Taylor made mention to Lt. 
 Gordon on the 25th can be easily expl^ned. There are in Taiwan no 
 regular forces, except the body guard of the General or field officers 
 commanding at the fortified points over the Island. In Taiwanfoo the 
 
(SO) 
 
 Commandant in Chief has about one thousand braves who are quartered 
 in the interior of the city, in his Yamen, or near- it. The Heptai, or 
 General in command at Anping, has bat few of those msn, the ramainder 
 of his forces consisting of the inhabitants of the place, organ zed as a 
 militia corps and required to wear a sort of soldiers jacltet, when on duty. 
 On the 25th, these men were in Anping by the very simple reason that 
 they are there every day in the year, and that they had been especially 
 invited to remain by Mr. Gibson in his proclamations, posted at Amping 
 on the 21st. However, I suspect that their commandmt had omitted 
 to order them to put aside their military dress. So that very unfortun- 
 atly they appeared in uniform in the streets of the placa, which lead Mr. 
 Taylor to suppose that the fort was being reoccupied by the Chinese. 
 The commandant, when leaving his Yamen, had probably left forty or 
 fifty of his men in charge, being under the impression that there was no 
 harm in doing so. These men Lt. Gordon found when, in the evening,, 
 the 25th, having heard that he was to hold Anping on agreement made 
 the day before by Tseng and Mr. Gibson, he determined to land. These 
 men, started up out of their sleep, in the middle of the night, not know- 
 ing probably what the whole thing was about, rushed to their arms; and 
 the British officer, acting as any good soldier, in such circumstances 
 would have done, having no means to ascertain what force was iu the 
 place, rushed at them so as to leave them no time to organize, and killed 
 a few. 
 
 On the 26th, the Heptai who must have heard of what had taken 
 place, and who doubtless was responsible for the occurrence to his 
 superior, hasted to Anping to arrange matters. Lieut. Gordon was, 
 we must not forget, in a very critical position, only twenty three men 
 with no possible support from the ship. He felt that against an avalan- 
 che of men that would necessarily crush him if they should come to 
 close quarters, he must take advantage of his arms and operate at long 
 range. So, without giving the enemy time for reflection, they opened 
 fire, killing one man. It is said that, the Chinese stood and returned 
 the volley and then fled. The Heptai, who was with them, lost his head, 
 and, in Chinese fashion, poisoned himself. 
 
 That was all the fighting. On the 27th, Mr. Gibson arrived at Anping 
 after it was all over. He condemned all the money requisitions made 
 by Lt. Gordon during his absence, holding that any agreement of the 
 
(sr) 
 
 sort, in such circumstancas, would simply 'e id the Ch'nese to believe 
 that foreigaers had come to Anpiag in quest of money and not of justice. 
 As a matter of fact, it belonged to the native me.ciants and the pro- 
 perty of the merchants can mate no impression upon the feelings of the 
 officials in China. Therefore it would have been a very great hindrance 
 if the British foroes had been obliged to advance in Taiwan, and it was 
 not in his request to the naval officer. The senior naval officer, however, 
 on Mr. Gibson's representation, gave back the $40,000 which had been 
 obtained from the native merchants, upon the condition that it would 
 be held by the naval officer as a guarrentee that the Consul's demands 
 should be fulfilled by the local authorities, and he agreed to return the 
 other sums, should thq, Admiral direct him to do so. , 
 
 The loss of life on the 25th and 26th, destruction of 
 
 The occurrences property on the 26th, and money requisiiions, which 
 
 26th gave rise to resulted from the action of Lieut Gordon at Anping, 
 
 the question of g\i Qf ^vhich was independent of his previous aeree- 
 the responsibility ..,,,, ^ , . , ^- j. 
 
 of the Consul for ment with the Consul, gave rise to a grave question, at 
 
 naval^officer*^ *^^ *^® *™® " *^® q^iestion of the responsibility of the Con- 
 sul for the acts of the naval offioar. It was said justly 
 that when a Consul calls upon a naval commander for support, he assum- 
 es thereby the responsibility of the consequences of the armed interven- 
 tion in its full extent, but I should add, so far only as the plan of action 
 agreed upon should have been carried out entirely. If, after both the ■ 
 naval officer and the Consul have settled upon a plan, the naval officer 
 deviates from it, I should think he does s i at his own risk. If it is 
 proved that, in doing so, he has acted judiciously-, he mu )t have all the 
 credit; but should the reverse appear, he must be blamed. 
 
 Having a c mplished all this, Mr. Gibson returned 
 tums'toTaiwanfoo to Taiwanfoo where the conditions submitted to Tseng, 
 
 where his condi- ^j^^ j^g^jj previous, were soon considered and, one 
 
 tions, as submit- -^ 
 
 ted on the 18th, after the other, complied with. Thus Tseng, who we 
 are considered. remember, had informed the Consul that he had no 
 power to consider these conditions, by his own fault, " was left no alter- 
 native but either to admit to the Consul such misrepresentation and de- 
 rilection of duty in the first instance in not punishing offenses and seri- 
 ous outrages, or a gross pervertion of justice when a settlement was 
 
(88) 
 
 effected in the end, and sentences passed^ under such pressure as Mr. 
 
 Gibson put upon him." (1) 
 
 Views of the '^^® Anping affair has been differently judged. In 
 
 ■^?^?^ .^^iF' his correspondence with the Tseng lee Yamen and 
 
 as taken toy the ^ ° 
 
 Britsh & Ameri- will Lord Clarendon, H. B. M.'s Minister in China, 
 
 and by Lore! contended that the whole responsibility of the conflict 
 Clarendon. ^-^^^ ^^^^ ^^ace, on the 25th and 26th, with consequent 
 
 loss of life and destruction of public property, rested with Liang for 
 the serious provocations so long and so persisteutly given, and with the 
 Vice Eoy and Governor at Foochow, who not only tolerated such con- 
 tinued misgovemment and violation of Treaty, but encouraged them and 
 finally neglected to give effect to the Central Government's orders at the 
 eleventh hour while it was yet time to prevent an appeal to arms and 
 a catastrophe. 
 
 Mr. J. Eoss Browne, U. S. Minister at Peking, maintained that the 
 instructions of the foreign Governments to their consuls, issued after the 
 signing of the Treaty of Tientsin, had been ignored by Mr. Gibson and 
 he warned me against following on his steps (1). 
 
 As to Lord Clarendon he found no words of blame strong enough to 
 condemn Mr. Gibson's conduct at Anping; he wrote to the Minister for 
 England: — "It is quite clear that Mr. Gibson is wholly unfit to be 
 intrusted with any discretionary power or to be placed in any other than 
 a subordinate situation where he will be constantly under the superinten- 
 dence and control of a superior Consular officer on the spot. His proper 
 office is that of Interpreter, and you will be careful not to place under 
 his charge the superintendence, even temporary, of a consulate or vice 
 consulate, for the duties of which judgment tact, discretion, and modera- 
 tion are essential requisites. 
 
 I need scarcaly say that, under no circumstanees, must he be allowed 
 to remain in Formosa; and I oqIj hope that the judgment thus passed 
 on his conduct will produce a salutary impression throughout the consular 
 service in China, and serve as a warning to all persons employed in it, 
 that Her Majesty Government will visit with the severest condemnation 
 acts of violence wantonly under taken and carried out without the express 
 sanction of Her Majesty's Government. 
 
 (1) Sir R. Alcofik to Lord Clarendon (unpublished official correspondence.) 
 (1) Privately, Mr. J. R. Browne held other views. 
 
(89) 
 
 . When the intelligence of this sentence passed upon 
 
 the Anping af- Mr. Gibson reached me, I did all I could to have it 
 ^^^- reversed. Seeing that he was sick and almost incapable 
 
 of doing any work— (he died of sorrow, two months afterwards by mv 
 side, in Amoy) — and at his request, I wrote his defence in the best 
 manner I could and sent it to our Minister begging him to submit it 
 to his eoUeage for England. Mr. Browne did so on his return to 
 Peking, in June 1869, and Sir Rutherford Alcock lost no time in com- 
 municating with his Government (11th June 1869). But the judgement 
 
 was never reversed. 
 
 . I have never known the views which were taken of 
 
 fair takenin con- the Aniping affair at Washington;. but I have always eon- 
 
 ne^on with the gi^ered that, under the instructions of the Department 
 instructions of ' nr 
 
 the Department to his Agents at Peking, issued many years ago, Mr. 
 
 of State. Gibson's action in seizing fort Zelandia was justifiable, 
 
 and therefore I was of the opinion that a commentary upon the first 
 paragraph of these instructions by the Department and which would 
 enable Consuls, in cases of emergency, to judge by analogy of the cir- 
 cumstances under which a resort to force would be justifiable, was all 
 that was required. It reads as follows: — "I feel very sensibly the em- 
 barrassments of giving instructions at this distance, which will be ap- 
 plicable to the prevention or settlement of unforeseen local disputes to 
 arise in China. Nevertheless, there are some principles which may be 
 safely adopted. 
 
 1. "One of these is, .that Consuls ought, in all practical cases, 
 to refer every question to the Legation, and to await instructions there 
 from, before resorting to the expedient of threats or demonstration by 
 force (1)." 
 
 Now what is meant by "all practical cases? An emergency I 
 take it to be, an exceptional condition of effairs involving such immediate 
 danger to life or liberty as to leave no remedy by Diplomacy. 
 
 In the case before us, as related above, we find that, in May 1868, tlie 
 house of the compradore of EUes & Co. had been burned down; in June, 
 the Governor of the Island had set a price on Mr. Pikering's head. In 
 July, Mr. Hardy was stabbed in the streets by one of the Yameii'.< 
 
 (1) These instructions have not been published that I am aware of. 
 
-soldiers. Subsequently reports similar to those that caused the massaei-e 
 ■of Tientsin, last year, were spread among the people by persons in the 
 /employ of the highest officers in the Island. A catheehist was murdered. 
 -On the 21st of September, an armed ambuscade was planted on the road 
 -to Pitau to capture and kill a Consul and a naval officer. On the 
 -31st of the same month. Dr. Maxwell's house was burned down. We 
 know that from the 17th of August until Anpipg was taken (20th of 
 November) the foreign residents had all left Taiwanfoo, a treaty port, 
 in fear of their lives, and all trade was de facto suspended therein. It 
 will doubtless be conceded that all this was certainly -an exceptional 
 -.state of affairs and one which, in a country like China, indicates the 
 .greatest danger. But past experience teaches that, in the East, such signs 
 rare not deceptive. Therefore they should not be ignwed. And in this lies 
 my argument to show that the -condition of affairs, as we take it to have 
 existed in and around Taiwanfoo, on the 20th of November, involved 
 such immediate danger^o the life and the property of foreign residents 
 as to leave no remedy short of forcible resistance by reprisals as were 
 made in taking Anping. 
 
 Oonolusion. The Anping affair being likely to be one of the most 
 important precedents in the events that Consuls may have to examine 
 And understand for their future guidance, I hardly need to make an 
 -apology for having so much enlarged upon a subject that does not con- 
 cern me personally as an officer of the United States and wherein the 
 interests of our country are only indirectly involved, being more or less 
 bound up in the general welfare. If Consuls understand it thoroughly 
 in its connexion with the general principle involved in it, they will be 
 at no loss when called upon to make an application of it. If the ques- 
 tion remains unsolved and obscure, we shall be apt to err and, what would 
 be worse, I believe, in China, remain undecided or timid. I have there- 
 fore not hesitated in thus giving to you a full expose of this important 
 case, in order that the state of foreign intercourse with the Chinese may 
 be exhibited in its proper light. 
 Amoy, March 31st, 1871. 
 
3«EM;ou.4.Ni>xj3d: >ro- 5. 
 
 A PLAN FOR THE BETTER TRANSACTION OF 
 
 i'iniVAais AFFAIRS IX THE INTEBIOR OF THE EMPIRE BETWEEJi 
 THE GOKSULS AND THE OHINESIL 
 
(93) 
 
 Memorandum No. 5. 
 
 »o>»;o« 
 
 A PLAN FOR THE BETTER TRANSACTION OF FOREIGN 
 
 AFFAIRS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 BETWEEN THE CONSULS AND THE 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 He gave offices only to the worthy, and employ- 
 ments only to the able, * * » then he had only to 
 let his robes fall down and fold his hands, and the 
 ^ Empire was orderly ruled (The Shooking, the book 
 
 of Bhang.) 
 
 Before going into the subject of reforms to be introduced botli in 
 our Consular service and in tlie branch of Chinese administration which 
 is more especially intended for the transaction of foreign affairs in the 
 interior of the Empire and at the treaty ports^ we must consider the great 
 points involved in this question: The treaty of Tientsin and the Govern- 
 ment of the Chinese. 
 
 The great fea- '^^^ g^^^at feature of the treaty "of Tientsin was the 
 tureof the treaty provision for a Eesident Minister at Peking. "Experi- 
 len sm. ence, since 1842, had made one point clear, that it was 
 
 utterly futile to make treaties, so long as the foreign powers were debar- 
 red access to the Central Government, the only authority desired to be 
 responsible for their observance. While they allowed themselves to b© 
 referred, for the adjustment of their intercourse, to an Imperial Commis- 
 sioner, in the person of the Provincial Governor of Canton, there could 
 be no security for the maintenance of pacific relations. The servant of a 
 central power, intensely hating the foreigner, how dare he do otherwise 
 than give effect to the wish of his masters? to act;|,otherwise would have 
 been to risk life as well as fortune. ■When,;therefore, they applied to him 
 for the fufilment of the stipulations of our treaty, they were simply 
 mocked at. They addressed representations to Peking, but the only 
 answer they could get was a reference back to the Provincial Governor, 
 who, in turn, referred them, for their satisfaction^ to. the perusal of his 
 own letters. 
 
Tossed to and fro, like a shuttle bstween Imperial and Provincial 
 authority, our Ministers were unable to make either responsible for the 
 commission of acts of which they had daily to complain. The treaties 
 became a dead letter and, for years, we endured a state of things which 
 practically involved no relations at all with the Chinese Government, as 
 represented by its Canton Commissioner. At last England and France 
 declared war. 
 
 Direct relations, as the result of the expedition in 1860, were estab- 
 lished with the Imperial Government, and the right for foreigners tO' 
 trade in the interior of the provinces was again reaffirmed." (1) 
 
 The country which was thus being opened to us was 
 of the Gove'r- ^°* what we generally take it to be. It was much more 
 ment of China, a vast confederation of eighteen provinces, governed by 
 nine Vice-Boys, than an Empire under the ordinary ac- 
 ception of the term and, up to this day, it has not changed. Those 
 Vice-Eoys administer their provinces as they choose; make regulations 
 for all internal questions^ for the collection of taxes of all natures^, for 
 the keeping of armies, for the payment of the salaries of all the civil 
 and military officers of what ever grade they might be. They concen- 
 trate, in one word, in their hands, the prerogatives of the Sovereign 
 power itself, including the right of life and death, in certain cases, and 
 that of grace. They are sorts of Proconsuls with both judicial author- 
 rity and military command (potestates vel jurisdictionem et imperium) 
 and have with Peking no well defined lien. "With all this the Vice- 
 Eoys profess the greatest respect for the sacred person of the Emperor. 
 And why would they not? the sovereign does not inconvenience them 
 in the least; he does not interfere in their administration, and seldom 
 takes decisions in matters connected with it, unless it is upon the pro- 
 position of the Great Council (2) which is composed of all the friends of 
 the provincial dignitaries from the Tsung-tu to the Tung-chit 
 
 The Vice-Eoys, or Governors General, are appointed for three years; 
 they seldom remain longer. The Emperor can remove them from office. 
 
 (1) " General remarks upon our policy,'- by Horatio N. Lay C. B., late Inspector 
 General of Chinese Customs. London 1864. 
 
 (2) Kiun ^-Ki ^ Ta:/C Chin g ( S. S. Williams), the name of the board 
 Kiun "g, Ki i^ Chu ^ (Baron de Meritens), the place where they meet. 
 
( »•-> ) 
 
 degrade them or censure them, and it is not rare to hear that he has 
 made use of this sovereign privilege." (1) 
 
 The Grovernor-General belongs always to the first class of officers, by 
 his ex-officio dignity of President of the Board of "War, a dignity by virtue 
 of which he is enabled to command the military of two provinces. As 
 Governor-General he exercises authority over the civil officers and the 
 people. Bat, by his side, he has two officers, the Tartar-General or 
 Tsiang-kiun, and the Governor, or Fatai with whom he must consult on 
 all matters of importance relating to each of the Provinces composing his 
 Governmant. The first of these officers, the Tsiang-kiun, of the Em- 
 peror's, family and generally of a rank higher than the Governor-Gen- 
 eral, in the Fooki^n province, collects the revenue derived from 
 imports and exports, and in other provinces, he commands the Tartar, 
 troops, and takes jurisdiction over their families which, at the time of 
 the conquest, were located, as so many military colonies, in a separate 
 ward, inside the walls of the capital of each province in the Empire. 
 " The other officer, the Futai, as ex-officio Vice-President of the Board 
 of War, has a certain number of troops under his command, altogether 
 independent of the Governor-General. In certain cases, which are suf- 
 ficiently numerous, he issues a death warrant, just as the Governor-Gener- 
 al does; and, like the latter, he can, at all times, send a report direct to 
 the Ejiperor, on any subject, a privilege that would alone j)lace him 
 almost on a virtual equality with the Governor-General, where there is 
 so much to conceal, and so many stories to make up. A distinction in 
 the nature of their duties that the Chinese always make, when questioned 
 on the subject, is, that the Governor-General is almost exclusively con- 
 cerned in what passes on the rivers and the sea, while tlie Governor is 
 more immediatly concerned with what passes on the land." (2) All the 
 naval forces are under the immediate control of the Governor-General, 
 although they are under the chief command of an Admiral whose rank 
 is equal to and powers, in time of war, exceed those of the Governor- 
 General. 
 
 (1) ContiJontiiil Repoit made to the Inspector General of Customs at rckiiig in 1868, 
 liy I5<in)n ile .Moritens, L'lUiim'ssioner of Customs, at Foochow. 
 
 (■1) Drsnltorv notes l<-c. &e. Ry Thomas Tnvlor Mcaclinr«, Interpreter to lier Majesty's 
 C<'ii-ulate al Canton. Lnndon 1847. 
 
(9«) 
 
 The various secretaries at Peking, including the Department of forr 
 eign affairs, correspond with these three officers on a footing of perfect 
 equality. Never do they send them orders or imperative Despatches 
 (Chah), but simple communications (Tze-wen). In fact, although vested 
 ■with the supreme power, neither the Emperor or the Council of State 
 have any taste for what we usually call centralisation. They consider 
 their task easier by assuming less responsibility or even taking any 
 unless they are compelled to. The Governors-General do the same with 
 their Governors, with their Fantai, (1), or Superintendent of Finances, 
 their Nietais (2), or Provincial Judges, their Yun-tais (3), or Collectors of 
 the salt gabel, their Leang-chu-tau (4) or Grain Collectors, that is to say 
 make them responsible for the execution of the orders given and the es- 
 tablished laws. The Governor, in turn, leaves every thing with the 
 Tautais, or Intendants of Circuit (5); and the Tautais with the Che-fu, 
 or Prefects of Departments, and the Chi-fus with the Tung-chis, Sub 
 Prefects and so on to the end of the scale. 
 
 (1) The Fantai receives that part of the land tax which is fixed in money, from the 
 D'strict Magistrates or other authorities. They pay it directly into his establish- 
 ment, and he has, consequently, from the way these things are done in China, a 
 great influence over them. He has, besi es, the privileire of addressing the Em- 
 peror directly three times in the year. On two of these occasions the^address is 
 said to be merely " congratulory form," but on the third, he makes a long report on 
 all the affairs of the Province. The standards of weights and mcasu'res are de- 
 posited in his Yamun. He pay the salaries of nil the officers, and those newly 
 appointed must deliver their credentials to him. Besides these, his peculiar duties, 
 he exercises, under the Governor General and the Governor, a general superin- 
 tendance over all the affairs of the Province. 
 
 (2) He can take cognizance of civil actions; but he is more speciallv a criminal judge 
 and, as such he may be called the' highest judicial authority of the province; . for 
 although the Governor General and the Governor, in grantinsr a death— warnint, 
 also examine the criminal, it is merely for form's take. The judse is the officer 
 usually deputed to quell rebellions against the officers in distant p.irts of the Pro- 
 vince, on whii:h occasions he has the i)ower delegated to him of issuing death 
 warrants; and having the chief command of the troops that acccjmpany hinChe has 
 the privilege of addressing the Kmpcror in the same manner as the Superintendent 
 of Finances. 
 
 (a) I'he authority of the Salt Commissioner is confined to the salt department and a 
 superintendence over the ssale of native iron. ' 
 
 (4) His duty is to superintend the collection of that part of the land tax which is 
 fixed payable m lund, or to name the price and receive the auu)unt of so much as 
 may ultimately be demanded in money.. He also nets as a kind of commissary 
 general, superintending the distribution of their rations to the military throu.rhout 
 the province. " 
 
 (5) There arj many of ihese in each Province; one is stationed in each of the several 
 circuits into winch it is unequally divided. The oflice of Taiitai unites in itself 
 111 a manner similar to that of (Governor General and that of Governor a direct 
 general superintendence over all the artairs of a circuit, not ex.-l„din.r tnose of a 
 military nature ^Dcsullur; notes c^c. T. Taylor .Meadows, quoted aLove''; 
 
The Chinese Laws, made to secure the just administration of the 
 Provinces, are many; but, owing to the extent of the conntry, they are 
 powerless in checking the rapacity or dishonesty of the ojQ&cials. Hence 
 the provinces of this Great Empire, like those of Rome, have been 
 miserably oppressed by the exactions of their officers without possible 
 interference on the part of the Central power, if we can so call it. In 
 this manner not only the avarice of the Governors has to be gratified, 
 but that of all his officers. In all matters of finances the Governors 
 General are like large Farmers on whom the Master, the Emperor, draws 
 for his personal wants and the wants of his court and whenever he thinks 
 fit to do so; but, heavy as his wants are, the Governors General are 
 able to stiU retain the lion's share. 
 
 One of the Imp*ial privileges is to send Imperial dignitaries, with 
 an honorific rank, among the various Governors General, for them to 
 dispose of, and it is this corps of functionaries without offices, who 
 constantly ask for employment and must be provided for, that constitutes 
 one of the most trying sores of the Empire. Most of these expectant 
 officers are located at the barriers in the interior to collect the local 
 taxes and they remain there till an employment suitable to their grade is - 
 found for them (1). 
 
 Such as it is this old mechanism had been able to stand till now and 
 to work both good and bad without bringing much difficulty to the 
 Peking Government, or disturbances to its ever cherished quietude. 
 The resources of the provinces have seldom failed in any alarming 
 proportion. The rebellions have been overwhelmed; and it is likely 
 that when we come to force upon Peking any serious occupation beyond 
 the care of the coasts, the Imperial Government will refuse to accept 
 for itself alone and constituted as it is, from the foreign powers, a 
 responsibility which, from their want of knowledge of the distant pro- 
 vinces, they are unprepared to take. A few instances may demonstrate 
 this thoroughly. . . 
 
 (1) Most of this revenue is expended in ])aying the salaries of the ixpcctant office's 
 and in defraying extraordinary expenses, sucli as thu suppression of revolts, tho 
 erection of public works &c. Tlie Arsenal, of Foochow has been partially built 
 from local taxes levied in the Province of Fahkien. Of the duties collected from 
 the salt, the junk trade, the foreign maritime customs, about seven tenths are 
 lodo-ed in the Governor General's treasury and arc spent in djpraying public pro- 
 vincial expenses. The balance is sent to Poking where it is distributed botweeu 
 the Emperor, his family and the manchu nobles living yet in manchuiia, (uuuver- 
 sations with admiral Lee, a native officer.) 
 
( 9S ) 
 
 " The Governor General of the Kiangs who generally resides at Nan- 
 kin, is the Imperial Commissioner ' for .foreign affairs, although the 
 Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Great Powers reside at Peking. To 
 the present day, the Emperor has refused to accept a single suggestion 
 made by Europe or Amarica even in the interest of China, unless it was 
 Jbacked up by one of these great dignitaries. The famous Osborne 
 flotilla, the original plan of which had been given by Mr. Hart, or the 
 present French Arsenal at Foochow, were approved only after they had 
 .been presented and endorsed by their Vice Boys. The first scheme 
 was proposed by Tseng-kwo-fan, the then Governor General of Nankin, 
 .and the second by Tso Kong-pao, the then Governor General of Foh- 
 kien and Chi-kiang, who, although now out of his Vice Eoyalty^ is stiU 
 responsible for the success of the enterprise. On the other side the 
 only great scheme which had been originated exclusively binder Imperial 
 patronage and outside of the Governor General, the Peking coUege, has 
 failed" (1). 
 
 But above the Emperor or the Governors General are the literary 
 men who, like the Brames once in India, the Eoman Priests in Europe, 
 in an occult manner, through craft and deceit, ruled the peopla To 
 them we have nothing to oppose but a will of iron, a skill superior to 
 their own and the moral influence of our Missionaries who may yet 
 pave a road to civilisation in China,, as their precursors, the first 
 apostles, have done during the first ages of Christianity, within the 
 limits of the Eoman Empire, before it fell to pieces, an easy prey to 
 the barbarians of the North (2). 
 
 The treaty Such was the Government whose task it was to give 
 stipulations. gjfg^^. ^^ ^]^q treaties of Tientsin modified as they were by 
 the convention held at Shanghai six months, I believe, after they had been 
 signed. The most important stipulations of these treaties were, first, the 
 right for foreign merchants to travel to all parts of the Empire under 
 a system of passports for the purpose of trade or of pleasure. Secondly 
 the right to send or take foreign goods into, or bring foreign owned 
 produce, from, the interior, under a system of transit passes. 
 
 (1) Baron de Meritens' cojifidential report, &o. &c. quoted above. 
 
 (•2) I have not mmXe any mention here of the six Supreme Boards and of the board of 
 Civil OfliL-e in Ppking. those details being purely administrative and thej can be 
 found in most all the books on China. 
 
(99) 
 
 In the first clause we grasped with one of the most 
 in tfle interior serious and one of the most just objections made by 
 for the purpo38of China to our Diplomatists : The difficulty for her officers 
 'to enforce the laws and the police regulations of the 
 country with foreigners who are not subject to her jurisdiction, who 
 do not speak her language, and who, most often, escape punishment 
 after they have been turned, over to their Consuls. 
 
 It is true that we may reply to China that, in this^ she suffers tha 
 consequences arising from the state of semi — barbarism in which she is, 
 there being no justice in the Empire and the tortures applied to those 
 undergoing examinations before her courts, shock our morals and conflict 
 with our civilisation* But whatever may be the value of this argument 
 and the right we may have to put it forward, we should prefer, con- 
 ciliating the healthy principles laid down in the treaties, with the 
 respect due to the laws and the customs of the nation into whose 
 territories we have come to reside, acknowledge the correctness of the- 
 objection made, and, in an additional ride, find, if possible, the- remedy 
 to the situation made to us. 
 
 To meet the requirements of the case, I would apply 
 
 Foreign Inter- to the inland di&tricts a system of justice somewhat 
 
 preterd appointed, similar to that which has been so successfully introduced 
 
 With JUaiCal pOW- im -n 1 1 1- T-ii^ 
 
 era to Governors- at the ireaty r^orts to regulate tlie relations which, ot 
 midve^DM't of the necessity, had to exist there since the signing of the 
 esrvice. treaties, between the native revenue authorities and the 
 
 merchants. I would appoint to the Vice-Hoys, Govern- 
 ors aud Tautais at each port open to foreign trade, Interpreters of foreign. 
 Iwrth, whose chief business would be to assist the local authorities in tha 
 transactioa of foreign affairs at the treaty Ports aud in the interior districts- 
 visited by toarists, missiomirios and raerchaats. Thsy would be vested 
 with judical powers to act jointly with the native officers, in all cases 
 arisinc within the limits of their respective districts. 
 
 Rules of proce- Tl^^ rules of procedure to be observed in such cases 
 diire &o. would be laid down by means of special legislation and 
 
 they would form a code of laws to be approved by all the representatives- 
 of the foreign powers and promulgated, like any other Laws, by the 
 csntral native Government at Peking, througli its Governors-General; and 
 it wuuld h3 so conUriierl that it coalfl apply to all cases, both Civil, oj:- 
 
( W(i ) 
 
 Criminal, with right of appeal, in first instance, to a higher authority at 
 the nearest treaty Port, and, as a last resort, to a Supreme Court to be held 
 at various points of the Empire as I will soon explain. "As a preventive 
 measure it would be well, I believe, to enact that the penalty provided in 
 ■Article 48 of tlie British treaty of Tientsin, against vessels engaged in 
 smuggling, will apply to any one who, having received leave to travel in 
 the interior of the Empire, either for purposes of pleasure or of trade; 
 'Bhould have seriously abused the privileges given tohim^ or otherwise 
 violated the laws and regulations of China. Such person, being arrested 
 •by the native authorities, as the treaty provides, would be tiirned over to 
 the competent local authorities," to be tried and, if coavicteJ, could have 
 his passport cancelled never to receive an other, and, in ease of a very 
 serious offence, upon requisition made by the Central Government, he 
 ' would be expelled for ever from the Empire. Such a penalty made to 
 strike the guilty parties in their future prospects and in their fortunes 
 would constitute one of the greatest guarantees against bad behavior from 
 those who reallj^ have any thing to lose. At first those against whom the 
 authorities might have to' take steps would be of that class of adventures 
 for whom it is difficult to profess any sympathy. The object of a treaty 
 of commerce is not to protect such people, but to give assistance and facil- 
 ity to those really eng-aged in trade, and who have interest in being in 
 good terms with all and to quarrel with none. I believe that, had we 
 offered such guarantee to China in 1858, we should have had very little 
 
 ■ trouble in bringing her to give us free access to the interior, there to reside 
 and to trade; for she would have soon learned by experience that she could 
 always look for the prompt trial and punishment of those of our people 
 who would have abused of a right frankly asked and liberally conceded." (1) 
 
 Merits of the ^^ ^^'^^^ manner the right of original jurisdiction of 
 plan proposed. which, with reason, the Chinese are so jealous, would 
 
 ■ be returned to them; and the principle, laid down by Mr. Cushing, and 
 whereby a foreign state, under any circumstances must be denied jurisdic- 
 
 ■ tion over the lives and liberties of citizens of the United States, unless that 
 foreign state be of our own family, in a word, a Christian State, would also 
 be fully respected. Again the authority of these officers being suffici- 
 ent to insure the maintainance of order, the reasons offered as an excuse by 
 
 (1) Baron de Mcrltens' coiifidential report &c. &c., quoted above. 
 
(101) 
 
 the Chinese for exchiding iis from the interior, that we are not amenable 
 to any laws and often take advantage of it to disregard the feelings or the 
 rights of the people, or show disrespect to the local authorities, and that it 
 is almost impossible to produce proof against us in the consular courts at 
 the treaty ports, and that the immunity, which we thus enjoy, is produc- 
 tivfe of regrettable conflicts between the Vice-Koys and the Consuls, 
 would thus be removed. The salutary influence of the Interpreters would 
 not be less felt in an other direction. The native officers, feeling that 
 their acts are controlled and watched by men that cannot either be deceiv- 
 ed or bribed, could no longer refuse to meet the foreign applicants for 
 redress, on fair grounds and they must act as their conscience, threnceforth 
 enlightened by soiind and responsible advices, may dictate. 
 
 As to the relations existing between the native authorities and the In- 
 terpreters, they would be those which now govern the official intercouse of 
 the Commissioners of Customs with the ITaiquans. There should be no sub- 
 ordination of the Chinese officer to the Interpreter. There would not be even 
 an assimilation of rank between them. One, the native officer, might, as the 
 Haiquan now is, be considered as having the command under the Tseng- 
 lee Yamen whose orders, the other, the Interpreter, must see executed. In 
 this manner any opinion, as expressed by the latter, wovdd be expected to 
 receive the respectful consideration of the former, and, although it is ad- 
 mitted that room for differences between them must often be left, in such 
 cases and in unforeseen emei^encies, they could not fail to agree upon the 
 course to be adopted, and to cooperate with each other to the best of their 
 abilities. Both would be responsible to their respective superiors for their 
 opinions and their acts, and they would correspond directly and separately 
 with them on the subject of public foreign affairs. 
 
 Instructions concerning Chinese political questions, as distingui'shed 
 from those purely foreign would be intrusted, at they now are, to the 
 care of native officials, without possible interference on tlie part of the 
 Interpreters, and the Emperor's commands would be conveyed to both 
 through the regular channel. However, responsibilities of a peculiar 
 character would devolve upon the Interpreters, as they would be made 
 aware of from time to time, by their immediate superiors at Peking. 
 
 As to the rank of the officer called to direct the working of the foreign 
 branch of this new service at Poking, no suggestions could be made; 
 the susceptibilities and the vanity of the Chinese not being likely to 
 
( 102 ) 
 
 remain indifFerout in tlie settlement of tliis question, it slioulJ be dis- 
 cretely left for the contracting parties to decide. The creation of this new 
 service might be also the pretext for the introduction of a desirable 
 reform in the customs service of the Empire. The circu,mstance3 which 
 rendered the establishment, in 1855, of the foreign branch of this 
 administration, having in a great measure, passed away, there is hardly 
 any reason why it should, not be fused into the native branch under- 
 one chief, a Clunese, with the present Commissioners, assisted by two- 
 Secretaries, one foreign and the other native, as Interpreter-advisors. 
 This, however, could not be accomplished, but gradually and as the 
 vacancies which might conveniently be made by the appointment of 
 foreign officers, now in the Customs employ, to the positions of Interpreters 
 to territorial officers, could be filled by natives whose fitness for the 
 position would be ascertained by severe examination in one of the 
 foreign languages spoken in the East and the other branches of requisite- 
 knowledge. In this manner the present system of compensation by 
 means of fixed salaries, adopted in the present foreign branch of the service, 
 could be gradually applied to the whole native administration and the 
 demoralizing system of squeezes would, in the long run, come to an end. 
 
 _, , J So much for the executive part of this service. As to- 
 
 ling part of the the controlling branch, which is the most important of all, 
 service. j^ vs^ould consist of eight oflicers of high rank residing at 
 
 Peking, four Foreign and four Chinese, all well versed in Chinese and 
 English or French. Six months in the year these officers would make 
 tours of inspection in both the Northern and Southern divisions of the 
 Empire. Tliey would be expected, with others of an equal rank,, 
 foreigners, who would be called Inspectors of Consulates, appointed by 
 each Power, to inspect the Consular Districts, and to adjust all cases which,. 
 owing to legal or other difficulties,"from time to time, must be left open 
 for final adjudication by a higher court. These officers, somewhat 
 resembling, for the occasion, those whom the Roman Emperors sent to 
 command in distant Provinces, in cases of great emergency (Legati Cesaris) 
 would have exceptional powers, and when absolutely required, the foreign 
 associate concurring, would have power to suspend officers of any rank. 
 On their return to Pekin they would make their report whicli,, if advisible 
 
4 m) 
 
 Blight be published for the information of the Ministers, of the Consuls 
 and of the piiblic. 
 m, . , . The advantage of this plan is that it is essentially 
 
 i. Ills pJL&H 13 ^ ' - 
 
 entirely Chi- Chinese. We remember that the Chinese Magistrates do 
 ^^ ■ not officiate in the Provinces of their birth, and all the 
 
 official business is transacted in the mandarin language which is spoken 
 only in some of the northern provinces. Consequently there is no official 
 in the Empire that ha,s not his judicial Interpreter and advisor or Shi-ye 
 ffl M- "The sole business of these people is to protect the interests of 
 their employer, to point out to him the proper way of conducting his 
 judicial examinations; and to see that the do.cisions he pronounces are in 
 strict accordance with the laws and justifijd by the facts of each par- 
 ticular case, so that he may not incur any of the penalties laid down 
 in the code of the boai'd of civil office. To obviate this, too, all docu- 
 ments that issue from a Yamun, are revised by these men, and those 
 of importance are drafted by them." (1) The only difference between 
 the She-ye and the Foreign Judicial Interpreters, as I propose them to be 
 would be that, while the former are not recognized by the Government as 
 official servants, the latter would be and they would hold their appointment 
 from the Emperor. Unlike their native colleagues they would have an 
 official seat at judicial examinations in cases involving foreign interests, 
 and, although no judgment would be rendered in their liarae, no decision 
 in any cases would be final and could be appealed from to a higher Court, 
 unless it is concurred in by them, and they would be held responsible 
 both by the provincial authorities and their superiors at Peking for the 
 opinions given and the judgments rendered by the native officers at their 
 suggestion. 
 
 The substitution of regular salaries for the present system of 
 "squeezes" is a,lso eminently conformable to Oliinese usage and laws, 
 which, in this special reference, stand in direct contradiction to the actual 
 practice, which is so universal now that we have taken it for the law. 
 The most revered principles of legislation reprove, in the strongest man- 
 ner, the low standard at which the salaries of the public officers are fixed 
 as the ultimate cause of the evil we have signalized. As we have seen, it 
 is written : " When officers display capacity and activity, promote their 
 
 (1) Decuhoi-y notes &c. by T. T, Meadows page 105. 
 
(104) 
 
 views, and the country will be prosperous. All the magistrates being 
 well paid, insist on their doing good; if you cannot render them comfort- 
 able in their own families, these men will soon be involved in crimes 
 (take improper means to supply their wants)." (Sliooking, Book IV, 
 section V. written B. C. 1121). And again: "If you regularly in giving 
 your orders say, "My instructors whom I am to follow, my minister of 
 instruction, my minister of war, and my officers of works; my heads of 
 departments, and all ye, my officers, I will on no stccount with oppressions 
 put men to death." Let the prince also set the example of respecting and 
 encouraging the people, and these will proceed to respect, and encourage 
 them. Let him go on in dealing with those who have been traitors and 
 villains, murderers and harbourers of criminals, to exercise pardon, and 
 these, when they observe the prince's conduct, will likewise pardon those 
 who have assaulted others and injured their property. When sovereigns 
 appointed Inspectors, they did so in order to the government of the people 
 ^t * 4j. # (Shooking, — fifth part. Book XI. The Timber of the Tsze tree 
 Translated by James Legge, D. D., Hongkong, 1865). 
 
 Interior trade. I now come to the second stipulation, viz: the privilege 
 for foreign merchants to carry goods in trauBitu from or to the interior, 
 on payment of one half of the tariff duty, the a 1 vantage of this being that 
 it exempts them from the local taxes paid by Chinese at each barrier, on 
 exports, from the place of production to the place of exportation and, on 
 Miiports, from the port of entry to, the place of consumption. 
 
 " This article of the treaty, on the main land, in this province, has 
 seldom received even a show of execution." (1) 
 
 It is true tliat the Foreign Board at Peking has, 
 Chinese objeo- ^ . a ^ ^ -n ■ .\ 
 
 tions to intei'ior several times, ordered ostensibly in the most imperative 
 
 trade being con- manner that the transit passes should be respected everv- 
 ducted according ^ r .. 
 
 to treaty sLipula- where in the interior of the country; but their coin- 
 
 '^^^ mauds, soon followed by secret insti'uctions, have not 
 
 received generally any cousiderati0n. And this is easy to conceive : "For 
 when the Governors-General saw that they would have to communicate to 
 tlie Peking authorities, the account of t^xes that are collected in the interior 
 on imports or exports, and which, under the farming system, they them- 
 selves ignore and have no interest to know; when it became evident to 
 
 (1) Ijaroii de Meiilcii»" confldentiiil report &c. &c., quuted above. 
 
(105) 
 
 them that the result of the substitutioa of the new system for the old one-, 
 would be the ruin of the army of expectant officers for whose maiatainance 
 they ai"e answerable to the Emperor, and the sigual of reslamatious which 
 they would b3 unable to satisfy ; when it became not less evident for the 
 Goveraors-General that the presence of foreigners in the interior would 
 give rise to endless diffijulties which they had no means to settle, and 
 which would b3 the maans of bringing to light fiscal transactions in which 
 they hav3 never been and could not possibly be interfered with, a pain of 
 being made responsible for extortions which^ for centuries, they had both 
 permitted and shared; when finally the Tseng-lee Yamen understood that, 
 by all this, they would deeply hurt the feelings of the Emperor's represent- 
 atives in certain Provinces and give a strong shock to the whole adminis- 
 trative machine for which they have so much respect and fancy, and 
 which, in fact, they cannot change but by order of the Emperor acting 
 with the consent and by the advice of the Great Council, they all entered 
 into a tacit agreement to bmy the subject of transit dues and to leave it 
 ais an open question never to be solved if possible." (1) 
 
 In this Province they closed the discussion by entirely setting aside 
 the treaty stipulations, it being held by some tliat the tenth article of the 
 British Treaty of Nanking refers only to merchants and not to merchandize, 
 and by others, that it is of no avail to either. As to the IX a,rticle of the - 
 British Treaty of Tientsin confirmed by rules 7th and 8th of the American 
 supplementary Treaty of Shanghai, of 1858, they held that it refers only to . 
 travel for the purpose of pleasure and they have refused permission to travel 
 for purposes of trade. Or when they gave that permissiou, in Formosa, for 
 instance, they submitted the operators to so many tribulations that they 
 had to withdraw from the trade. For instance, in 1868, having yielded to 
 me as regards passports, they took advantage of an obcure point in the 
 treaty by placing on all foreign owned goods, in transitu, a tax which 
 was not levied on goods in native hands; and the spiiit of the Treaty of 
 Tientsin, the framei's of which contemplated that chinese and foreign 
 merchants should be placed on equal terms, was disregarded thereby. 
 Later, they admitted by proclamation that foreign merchants had a right 
 to evade the local taxes by sending their goods into the interior under the 
 authorized transit certificates ; but at the same time, they directed their 
 
 (1) Baron de Meriteaa coufidontial rpporfc ■Sec. &;. quoted abjvo< 
 
( 106 ), 
 
 ■officers to stop goods in transitii under tlie most futile pretexts, to make 
 the native servants of the owners of the goods responsible for any alleged 
 "breach of the regulations, and they announced that no claim would be 
 lutertained for deterioration of goods or loss of weight or market, and they 
 3)rivately informed the Chinese consignees that, In the event of their 
 receiving such goods, their hongs sliould be shut and their goods confiscated. 
 Sir E. Alcock, H. B. M.'s Minister at Peking, and 
 Trea^as propos- ^''- I^^berl Hart, Inspector General of the Foreign 
 -ed by Sir R. Al- Customs, have proposed to meet the difficulty arisins; 
 «ock & Mr. Hart. „ . i , , / r. . , . . -it,, 
 
 from this state or aliairs, by increasing considerably 
 
 the duties on opium, and those on imports and exports by one half, and 
 "collecting the same through the foreign branch of the Maritime Customs 
 -where certificates, intended to be protective against further taxation in 
 the interior, would be delivered on payment of these additional duties, 
 and where an effective system for refunding charges, illegally levied, would 
 Ibe organized. These able gentlemen think that, thus, the Chinese would 
 be enabled to define the inland taxes and to protect the foreign Merchants 
 against the other abuses connected with the inland trade. They argue 
 that the increase of duty on opium and other merchandize would cause 
 no loss whatever to our merchants, who have interest in obtaining a 
 uniform tariff and who would certainly not pay more under a raised tariff 
 tWi. they now do, as the difference between duties, as now collected, and 
 those that it is proposed to establish and to collect directly from the 
 foreign importer, is now indirectly received from the Chinese dealers 
 under the name of local taxes. 
 
 Olaeetions to There is a great deal to say against this plan ; but the 
 the British Mi- main objection to it is that it conflicts with the interesta 
 nis era pan. ^^ the small mandarins in the interior who, as we have 
 seen, live from the" collection of these taxes. If, as proposed, they were 
 shut out from this source of revenue and left with a salary which, when 
 it is paid, is hardly suflBcient to defray the yearly expenses of one of their 
 hundred attendants and employes, in self defence, they must continue 
 to collect the old taxes at each- barrier, and, in spite of the orders from 
 Peking, they have to ignore the transit passes or other foreign documents 
 exactly as they did after the framing of the treaty of 1858. 
 
( lor ) 
 
 It must be remembered that, under the present system, bad as it may' 
 be said to be, our merchants ha^ the aptian to eitlier pay, in addition 
 to the regular import or export duties, to the foreign Commissioner of 
 Chinese Customs, the luilf tariff duties on all the goods which they desire 
 sending to, or taking from, the interior markets, that they may be freed. 
 froui further taxation at the inland barriers, or, not to pay these half 
 tariff duties, and, in that case, submit to the native taxation as if they 
 were Chinese operators. But, as they have found that the payment made 
 to the foreign branch of the Chinese Customs is not taken into considera-^ 
 tion iind they are invariably required to settle the taxes at the inland 
 barriers, they never apply for transit certificates or customs memos and 
 they use native agents who simply pay the taxes at the inland barriers., 
 But this tliey could not do, we must remember, if the plan proposed by 
 H. B. M.'s Minister and Mr. Hart, were adopted; for, in that case, there 
 is no option left to them and they must pay both the duties and the 
 taxes to the foreign Commissioner of Customs, against a pi'omise that 
 their goods shall be permitted ta circulate free of further taxation through-^ 
 out the whole Empire. How then, setting aside the opposition of a certaia 
 class of Mandarins which, we have seen above,, is irrepressible;, how^ I 
 may be permitted to demand, can the Chinese keep their promise, if the- 
 interior taxation is maintained? How will the distinction- between gooda- 
 in foreign and native hands, be madel Is not the experience of the days 
 that followed the signing of the British treaty of 1842 present to our 
 memory? I am well aware that a certain protection, must be derived 
 from the refunding system. Yet, how will, the merchants prove that they 
 have been wrongued in cases of squeezes for which,, we welLknow, receipt*^ 
 are never given ? 
 
 Such is the plan offered to the trade, for it& acceptance, by the noble 
 Minister and his able coadjutor. It can be summed np in a few words;: 
 Under the existing treaties, we are paying but one; under the new 
 rule, we must expect ta have to pay three I Further coiiMnent i& needless;: 
 and sooner than see the United States assent to such a legislation, I would 
 rather see our merchants fated t& forever live under, the protective stipu- 
 lations of the Treaties of 1858. 
 
 Other siiffa-ea- '^^^ suggestion made tliat a solution of the problent 
 tiom diflciu^. before us be found in the abolition of the local taxes as. 
 being contrary to the existing Treaties,, cannot be better entertained. 
 
(108) 
 
 Cliina, under the Laws of Nations, has a perfect right to regulate her 
 internal revenue as the pleases, and, as well as any other countries,- she 
 must have internal taxe^ to defray her internal expenses. But, if she 
 Cannot be required to abolish those taxes, certainly it can be demanded 
 of her to harmonijse them with treaty stipulations that they may cease to 
 be prohibitive, and to equalize them, that the balance of trade will not be 
 disturbed. To this end Baron de Meritens, the able Commissioner of 
 Customs at Foochow, has recommended to fix the* taxes throughout the 
 ■whole Empire at one half of the tariff duties, as inscribed in the conven- 
 tion of Shanghai, of 1858; and, to reconcile conflicting interests, whjle 
 he advocates the creation of a refunding system under the foreign branch 
 of the Maritime Customs, he wisely leaves the collection of the taxes to 
 the ProviuciaV Authorities. 
 
 In this manner all the requirements of the case, except such as refers 
 to the exaction of squeezes, are met; but this deficiency would be supplied 
 by the Interpreter- Judges and "the Inspectors by, and the mixed code in 
 accordance with which all commercial, civil and even criminal eases 
 which may arise between foreigfiers and Chinese, as I have proposed; 
 ■should be judged. In sum, I shoald incline to strongly rcommend this 
 combination as being the most simple, the most complete and one that 
 reconciles itself more thoroughly with the Customs and adapts better to 
 the interior econom}^ of the Chinese Empire. 
 
 I now come to the subject of naTigation of the great 
 navigation of the i^i"^6rs in the interior, and of the coast. I have, I con- 
 
 great rivers and fess, very little experience of the former as neither in 
 pn the ooast. 
 
 Formosa nor in the Amoy District proper have we any 
 
 rivers of any magnitude. But I may say that I am of the opinion that it 
 
 would be much to the interest of trade to have inserted in our treaty that 
 
 the natives have the priyilege to purchase or build and to own and use 
 
 for themselves or others, vessels propelled by steam. The Chinese who 
 
 are very speculative by nature, would soon overcome their prejudices and 
 
 acquire steam tugs to tow native craft carrying produce on the rivers or 
 
 6n the coast for shipment at the treaty ports. In this manner the coasts 
 
 and the rivers would become a roadstead • opened indirectly to foreign 
 
 trade and the ports on the coasts or on the rivers navigable to coasting 
 
 craft would be the last barrier, under rule 7 of the Treaty, through which 
 
 tho merchants could convey to the nearest treaty ports, goods purchas- 
 
(109) 
 
 ed in the interior, or the first barrier through which they would have to 
 pass in case of imports. But should the prohibition to natives to own 
 aiid use (1) in the transportation of foreign owned goods in transit, boats 
 of foreign model and propelled by steam or by wind, or by foreign 
 hands, be maintained, the suggestion made the year before last that 
 foreign owned cargo boats equipped by natives and duly registered both 
 at the Consulate and at the nativ& Customs, could be used for coast 
 services, would be most acceptable. The native boats are unsdfe and 
 their arrangements exceedingly awkward. Many important points of the 
 coast, in my district, for instance the camphor ports of Formosa, Owlan, 
 Goche, are not accessible but in light draft boats, and should the con- 
 cession asked for be refused, the foreign trade would remain excluded of 
 the best marts on the coast of Formosa which would remain exclusively 
 accessible td native merchants A concession in that direction 
 would have the great advantage of dispensing with the considerable and 
 unnecessary expenses inherent to the opening of new ports, such as 
 Chin-chiew, to the northward of Amoy, and Goche, Owlan and Sau-o- 
 Bay in Formosa. It is also evident that the more foreign commerce will 
 use the coast as a roadstead, the less considerable, at first, the inland 
 travel will be, and this is not of small importance to the Chinese Gov- 
 ernors-General to whom the presence of the foreign merchants in the 
 interior, before a proper system of control has been placed in running 
 order, must be the cause of considerable embarrasement and anxiety. 
 
 The change recommended would not affect materially the internal 
 economy of the Empire since all the heavy labor would have to be done 
 by natives. Against local exactions, the foreign traders could find suffi- 
 cient means of redress in the local tribunals constituted upon a new foot- 
 ing, as above stated; and to save the coolies against all possible injustice, 
 a rate of wages not unreasonably exceeding the tariff of the locality as 
 applying to labor performed in tlie usual indolent way for Chinese mer- 
 chants, might be agreed upon between the natives and consular authori- 
 ties. The right of appeal against such decisions, to higher courts, has 
 been fully reserved in the suggestions which I have offered in connection 
 with inland trade; and the privilege for foreigners to appear before the 
 
 (1) Such prohibition will obtain untill the Great Council of the Empire has proclaiined 
 that such inventions are coJlainoJ in the kiugs. See the Uan')n of Shun, Shoo- 
 kin", BooJi l3t, Section 2, slso the I)octrinc of tlie Mean chap, XXVIII. . 
 
(110) 
 
 native magistrates through their native agents in conformity with th» 
 custom whidi obtains with Literati of certain rank, or, if in jjerson, with- 
 out submitting to ceremonial not prescribed by consular courts^ would, 
 be also reserved. 
 
 The limits of I have not said anything in these notes concerning 
 the Treaty Ports, ^j^g right to reside and trade in the open ports. It in- 
 volves one point of importance which has never yet been determined; 
 the limits of the Treaty Ports. As this would be of secondary importance 
 if the reforms which I have recommended above were adopted, I will not 
 touch upon it. 
 
 Currency. I have explained in my various reports to both the Secre- 
 
 taries of State and of the Treasury the want of a uniform currency in 
 China. The disputes which daily arise out of the use of Sycee (1) 
 might be a sutficient cause for pointing out to the cabinets of Peking the 
 advantages of our monetary system. 
 
 Tonnage It remain, for me to speak of the Tonnage — ^Daes funds, 
 
 dues. QjjQ of ^jjg most regrettable results of Mr. Hart's irresponsible 
 
 autocracy has been the waste which, in some instances, has been attendant 
 of the use of these funds. By the terms of the Treaty, they shonld have 
 been> spent in lighting and buoying the China oasts, under the joint 
 supervision of the Chinese Superintendents of Trade and of the Consuls. 
 I find no fault with our able Ministers in so modifying the treaties that 
 the Consuls have ceased to be consulted on these matters; but as, surely^ 
 the Inspector General is not more competent than the Consuls to deal 
 with a subject which is of an Engineer's province, I should suggest the, 
 propriety of making new arrangements by which these revenues should 
 be placed at the disposal of a mixed commission consisting of Chinese 
 and Foreigners qualified for the work, and who would from time to time 
 draw up -statements for the information of the Chinese and foreign 
 Governments. I calculate that tlie total amount of the Tonnage-Dues 
 reoipiVed by Mr. Hart, from 1865 to 1868, was about Tads 20,000, or about 
 |S0,000, per annum, as but one tenth of the sum, collected during that 
 period from foreign trade on account of Tonnage-Dues, was handed to the 
 Inspector-General by the Chinese. 
 
 (1) A Sycee is an ingot of pure silver, having the shape of a shoe. All duties are 
 paid in shoes of Svcee or their eijuivalents in Mexican Dollars. The Ohinepe claim 
 that tlie Mexican Dollars are made of bad silver and when duties are paid iu lUat 
 kind ef money tlify invariably require a bonus of ten per cent.- 
 
(HI) 
 
 From the 1st of April 1868, the proportion of tlie Tonnage-Dues fund 
 for appropriation to the lighting and bnoying of the ooa?t of China, was 
 increased to seven tenths, and therefore the amount paid to the Inspector 
 General from that date until the corresponding date of 1871, must have 
 been about Theb, 150,000, or, for the three years, Taels, 450,000, equal to 
 about STOO,000. 
 
 Again, the Inspector General received from the British-Government, 
 in liquidation on account of the Osborn flotilla, the sum of £120,000, or 
 $600,000: Total to the debit oftJie Ibnnage-Dttes account, about $1,390,000. 
 
 To the Credit of this account, we must place $210,000, the estimated 
 cost of three beacons at Foochow, the amount already expended for a light- 
 house in course of erection at Amoy, a few buoys and beacons at Amoy, 
 Tamsuy and Kelung, Light-ships and beacons at New-chwang, a Light-house 
 and Light-ships at Shanghai (the estimated values of which are Taels 
 36.000). And this amount of $210,000 will swell to $610,^00 if we 
 include the coast of three Revenue-Cruisers, purchased in England for 
 £80,000, leaving a balance of $780,000 to the debit of the Tonnage-Dues 
 account. 
 
 If, as Admiral Rowan understood from the Chinese authorities, in 
 1868, the Government is too poor to go on more energetically with the 
 work of lighting the coast, it must be that this balance of $780,000 has 
 been spended, as I have said in my Report on the trade of my District for 
 the period from September 30th 1868 to September 30th 1869, in support- 
 ing an army of idle functionaries who are enumerated in Memo No. 5 
 (vntJtmd dale) for Marine Commissioners guidance, issued from the Inspect- 
 or-General's office; for we cannot take into' account the wages of the 
 officers and crews of the three Revenue Ccuizers, two of which have been 
 laid up at Canton ever since they arrived fi-om England, and the third 
 has been lying at anchor in the Amoy harbour, opposite the TJ. S. 
 Consulate, for the last nine months, regardless of the amount of smug- 
 gling which was going on in native junks in the vicinity of the Port and 
 which might have been cliecked in a measure, had the necessary orders 
 been issxied by the Inspector General. 
 
 Consular re- Having come to this point, it remains for me to speak 
 forms. of the changes which the adoption of the reforms in the 
 
 branch of the Territorial Administration of the Chinese for the transaction 
 of foreign affairs would require in our own Consular service. And indeed 
 
( 112 ) ^^ 
 
 tliese changes would not be advisible were not correiponding modifications 
 in the Consular service introduced. 
 
 In one of my Despatches to the Minister, I have sug^- 
 of'^^^ConsulfSf gested the grouping of the Consulates so that njen of 
 Limited centra- weight and experience would be located at the most 
 hsation. important points where, or near which, the ■ Governors 
 
 General reside, and where they would control the minor ports in their 
 respective Districts;' they would be in a position to approach the highest 
 Provincial native officers and discuss with them the great questions of 
 internal improvement and trade, which, we have seen, must be solved 
 through them with the central Government at Peking. I say, must, 
 because in a country as large as China, the centralisation cannot be 
 ab36lute and the power although concentrated in the capital, ouglit to 
 extend, through the Vice Eoys, to the extremities of the Empire, that it 
 may be felt there. In this respect the Vice Eoys resemble somewhat the 
 Governors of English Colonies or those of our States in America; and in 
 my opinion this system of limited centralisation is so good, so well adapted 
 to the country, that it should not be changed. 
 
 As we have it now with the principle of non-local 
 laconvemenoe _ / _ ' 
 
 of the System interference, in any case, and of invariable reference to 
 of absolute non- -r, , . , . . , t • i t i /-h • 
 
 looal interfer- Peking, nothing is done, in one side we have the Chi- 
 
 .^^°^- nese officers M'ho generally are thoroughly ignorant of 
 
 .the treaty stipulations and of the details of the foreign cases coming 
 nnder their investigation. Secluded in their Yamen, they hear very little 
 or nothing of the outside world, leaving to their confidential secretaries 
 , the ■ responsibility of carrying on the duties of their office. The latter 
 knowingwell the partiality of their masters for quiet life, generally keep 
 tliem in the dark till the mob gathers growling in anger at the Taraen 
 door or the cannon of foreigners roars in the distance, threatening a 
 stronger argument than that commonly used with reasonable and think- 
 ing people. On the other side the expenses incurred in putting down 
 rebellions have been so heavy and the insurgents have so often been near 
 success that with the phantoms of popular troubles, the Vice-Roys of Provinces 
 carry almost all their points at the Tseng-Lee Yamen which is seldom 
 moved from lethargy and profound indolence except by fear ot war with 
 foreign puAvers. 
 
( 113 ) 
 
 Now that China claims a seat amonsr the western 
 Advantages of a . , , ,. i , . , 
 
 System of limited nations, she cannot help frankly accepting the position 
 
 Native'andfor^gn '^'^'^e for her by the fortunes of war^ and decidedly, 
 
 Inspectors in Chi- i^er rulers cannot expect us to demand from them less 
 nese employ. , ^ 
 
 than a just and disinterested mediator would claim 
 
 from us, under the treaties, and the laws of nations. My own experience 
 in Formosa leads me to believe that under the system of limited local 
 action recommended by me a great many misunderstandings must be avoid- 
 ed and a greater harmony of views must prevail. In their special capacity 
 the Inspectors acting as tlie deputies of the Tseng-lee Yainen, would bo 
 Capable of carrying through what the foreign custom house officers, or a 
 Consul of one power, in an almost unofficial capacity, and as friends to 
 both parties, with Consuls of another power often in vain have attempted 
 doing. 
 
 It is always a matter of the utmost delicacy for a 
 Olgections to Custom's >^ , ^ . ^ , ^ ^i /-n • -, 
 
 officers' interference be- *.^onsul to so interpose between the Ohinese and one 
 
 tween the Consuls and of his colleagues even when he is asked to do so by 
 
 the native authonties. ., , ° ^ , ^ .,, ■' 
 
 either or both; and but very few will ever accej.t 
 
 the responsibility. As for custom house officers to go out of their proper 
 sphere, which is simply to collect the revenue, and, with the best inten- 
 tions, to peep into the conference room or any other scene of action, and 
 watch the acts of either party, it is a most dangerous t.isk. If by it the 
 Commissioner promotes the end of Justice and serves the foreign cause 
 to the satisfaction of the Chinese, he will gain credit at the Tseng^Lee- 
 Yamen and may be rewarded. But if matters turn against the Consul, 
 the storm raised against the ill fated mediator must be such as very few 
 can stand. He will be accused in every way by a prejudiced public, 
 which, too often, judging only from appearances, will look at him as if his 
 chief motives had been simply to bring about mischief that he may dis- 
 tinguish himself, afterwards, as a demon of disorder. 
 
 As a general thing the Commissioner's interference is seldom desired 
 by the Chinese, and the Consul never accepts it but as a last resort; and 
 this not only because of his natural inclination to maintain his own 
 dignity, or of any prejudices against the foreign branch of the Imperial 
 Customs, but, and chiefly on account of, the gap which the Commissioner's 
 well calculated reticence on all questions where public interest is at stake. 
 
tlie absence of any definite responsibility to eitlier the Chinese or the 
 
 Toreign Authorities, and the want of a clearly defined sphere of duties 
 
 for hiniself and the service over which he presides, have created every- 
 
 "where, except perhaps at Shanghai, Foocliow and Canton, between himself 
 
 ■and the Consular "body. 
 
 The result of this is clear, the wisest and ablest Com- 
 
 absolute non in- missioners, acting in self defence, in critical cases, refuse 
 
 terference judged to act at all; and the native ofii.;er left to himself with 
 •hy its results. . ' n i ■,- ■, r- 
 
 a subject which he has but imperfectly studied, to dis- 
 
 •cuss with the Consul ( a man whose motives he seldom appreciates), being 
 nanable to argue, indiscriminately opposes and refuses, till both parties, 
 weary of resistance, come to some sort of compromise, generally nnsatis. 
 factory to all coacerned, or refer the point in dispute to Peking, with such 
 •conflicting statements and obscure records, that it is almost a superhuman 
 task to draw ahytbing like truth from them. Hence endless correspond- 
 ences and references from the Capital to the Provinces and from the latter 
 to the former which only lead to disappointment and regrets. The judges 
 finally, having to decide in the dark, almost invariably come to conclusions 
 seldom reflecting the credit which their labours and perseverance deserve. 
 As to the merchants, tired of claiming redress in vain, they have ceased to 
 address the Consuls or Ministers whose ability to protect them a bitter 
 experience has taught them to distrust, and, while this is going on, the 
 Vigilant Chinese, watching his chance and encouraged by impunity, every 
 day inflicts upon us new wrong. 
 The Inspectors of ^^® creation of the office of Inspector of Consulates 
 
 Consulates: their would be the signal of radical improvement in this state 
 functions. . _ 
 
 of affairs. It would be the means of connecting more 
 
 closely the provinces to the capital; and the reports which would be made 
 
 by the Inspectors to the Ministers would have the most salutary effect upon 
 
 the latter. Isolated as the foreign Ministers are in Peking and inhaling 
 
 an atmosphere of prejudice and routine, they require, I believe, to be 
 
 placed under a counterbalancing influence of some sort. It has been said 
 
 that able as a general may be, he will never accomplish anytliing if, under 
 
 him, he has not one that can proceed where he ought to be and yet where 
 
 ' he is prevented from going, that can see that which is out of bis "sight and 
 
 • which still it is important he should know, and that can handle whatever 
 
 is shaking and which, at the same time, is beyond the reach of the chief 
 
(115) 
 
 strong hand. This applies with equal propriety to a Minister in China^ 
 His supervision, extending over an imraense space, offers no less difficulties 
 than are met by an officer directing the coin.plicated and extensive- 
 manoeuvres of armies in the field;, and while, of necessity, the former is ia. 
 Peking, watdiing his chances to carry out the policy of the Government,, 
 he cauiiot direct the minor branches of the service in the Provinces, unless 
 under him, he has one that can see that his plans are well understood, his 
 instructions properly obeyed and the laws strictly executed. This duty 
 the Inspector would perform^. He would vasit the Ports or such of themi 
 as, in his estimation, required his presence,, six months in the year, 
 and he would arrange that his tours of inspection corresponded with 
 those of the officers ^n the employ of the Cliinese engaged in a similar 
 labor. In cases of appeal from- a Consular Court, in cottuection with the 
 Chinese officers^ he would decide as Supreme Judgc 
 
 This system of appe9,l presents, I believe, great ad- 
 Advantages offer- vantages over that recommended by our able Consul— 
 tton^f thl'^nspec- General, Mr. George F. Seward. Mr. Seward origin - 
 tors, of Consulates, ally proposed to- remedy the present evils by theestab- 
 aoting as supreme ,. , „ „ . Vi ^ .^ ot. t. • z- ni,- 
 
 judges in oases of lishraent of a Superior Court at bhanghai tor Ohma,. 
 
 BuUff'^C^^^or ^a Japan and Siam^, and last year, by Eeasous-of econoiny,, 
 
 Superior Court eith- j suppose, he- has so far modified his original plan in- 
 er at Shanghai or t-i ^ or. 
 
 at San Francisco. the bill that passed the Congress of the United States,. . 
 
 that all the appeals from the Consular and Ministerial 
 Courts,, in the countries above named,, must be sent to. the California court. 
 I maist say that, in ray humble opinion, either plan meets but very unperr 
 feetly the requirements of the case. I should prefer to either of those plans 
 the substitution of the Inspector of Consulates,, who, in ad'dition to his other- 
 duties, as defined above, could very well,, on the spot and better than either- 
 the Consul General as Judge of appeal or the Supreme Court of California,, 
 take cognizance ofaH the cases that would not have been finally decided 
 in Conaular Courts. To him all Consuls would be subordinate with right 
 of appeal to the Minister, in political or purely Consular cases. 
 
 Indeed, while the facilities afibrded to appeal to the Supreme Court of 
 California, will secure, I confess, a desirable redress against errors in the 
 Consular Courts, it is to be feared that the delays and expenses incurred 
 in carrying cases before it,, the impracticability, acknowledged in the bill 
 
( nr, ) 
 
 passed, to bring teatiniony before it from Siam, Japan, Canton and 
 Tientsin, &c., must prevent the majority of our citizens from going before it. 
 On the whole, I think that there is little or nothing, save what I liave 
 proposed above, to be changed in the working of our Consular Courts in 
 China. Mr. Williams, our able Secretary of Legation, speaking from an 
 experience of twelve years, states that he is quite satisfied with their 
 results. He says : " If the rules of procedure in Consular Courts are laid 
 down with clearness, they can be followed by d!ny person with a fair 
 education, and the value of his decision can be increased by requiring him 
 to get the advice of Assessors. Most of the cases in China consist ot 
 damages for injury to persons or property, for debts or division of estates, 
 such as require no high legal attainments for their equitable settlement " 
 (1). I am aware that Mr. G. F. Seward had cases of the gravest character 
 to try; but that was after he first came to China. Now the state of 
 disorganization which prevailed in that country after the Franco-British 
 war, and which was consequent partly on the opening- of New Ports, 
 andpartly on the existence of an insurrection, has passed away and the 
 conclusions arrived at by Dr. Williams may be looked upon, perfectly 
 reliable. 
 
 Neither would the establishment of a Court of appeal 
 
 Supervisory in Shanghai prove of any benefit in connection with the 
 
 pectorsofOon- superior, powers which it would confer upon the Consul- 
 
 OonsSs*6ene- General. This ofiicer has enough to do with his owns 
 
 ral over Oon- Consulate without being burdened with the care of afi'airs 
 
 Bills 
 
 at the other Ports, unless a Consul be appointed, besides the 
 Consul-General, for Shanghai ; and this would be, I think, a most useless ex- 
 pense. Moreover the great distance of Shanghai from the various Ports ; the 
 delays in receiving and transmitting communications between it and the 
 minor Ports, the peculiar aspect which every case assumes according to 
 the circumstances of places, render it necessary to leave much to the 
 discretion and good judgment of the local ofiicers at points so far apart in 
 this vast Empire; and, if a Consul is capable and devoted; if he has due 
 regard to standing instructions, no one better than himself can protect 
 the interests of his country in his District. To all illuse of power or 
 errors of judgment by the Consuls, the Inspector of Consulates, who 
 would always intervene on the spot, would prove an efPective check 
 without embarrassing their action, a tiling which the Consul General 
 
 (1) .Mr. Williams to ijai-on Rilif nes - IVking, June 26, 1868. Diplomatic correspond- 
 
 tnci',— jH(>,— I'art ): pnge 562. 
 
(117) 
 
 might, however iinwillingly, do if he were allowed to use, at a distance, 
 the powers which I propose to delegate to an Inspector. 
 
 I now come to the details of the grouping of the various' 
 ing of Cosul- Consulates. Tientsin being the most important of the 
 ates,theTient- three northern Ports and only eighty seven miles South, 
 west of Pau-Ting-fu, the capital of the Province of Che-li, 
 where the Governor General of Che-li, and Shan-tung resides, would be 
 the seat of a Consul who would have two Agents under him, one at New- 
 chwang, in the territory of Sing-king, also called Liu-tung, and the other 
 at Che-foo, in the Province of Shang-tung. 
 
 The Shanghai Shanghai would be the natural centre for the Ports of 
 group. Chin-kiang and Ningpo, not because of its political im- 
 
 portance, but on occount of its being, . as our able Consul General, Mr. 
 Seward names it, the great commercial port of the Asiatic Coast and the 
 place w^here more Americans congregate than at all the other points in 
 China. — Ningpo being in the Che-kiang, would be made a dependency of 
 the Foochow Consulate were it not that all its steam communications are 
 with Shanghai. Chin-kiang is a very important port owing to its pro- 
 portion of inland trade which at present is greater than at any other Port 
 in the Empire, and on that account, it would require an officer of the 
 first order, whose jurisdiction would extend over Wu-hu if it should be 
 opened. 
 
 The Hankow Hankow being situated opposite Woo-chang foo (|^ ^), 
 group. which is the residence of the Governor General of Hoo- 
 
 kuang, (f^ ^) or the Two Hoo, as it is generally called, and which com- 
 prise the Province North of the Lake Hoo-pei, and the province South 
 of the Lake^Hoonan , and being frequented by many American steamers, 
 it should be the station of a Consul of great experience, who would have 
 jurisdiction over Kiukiang (jl, ^) in the province at Kiangsi and any 
 ports that may hereafter be opened further to the Westward on the Yang- 
 tsze, Tu-chow (^ >)^) and Sha-she (^ iff) where he would have agents 
 who would transact aU business of importance through him. Yu Chow 
 is the key to the. Province of Hoonan and lies at the entrance of the 
 Tung-ting Lake (HpJ /^ j^) which is the Great thoroughfare of Hoonan, rich 
 in timber of all sorts. Coal, Tea and rice. Sha she is the Great entrep6t 
 for the trade of the province of Sze ChuenJaU the light draught boats 
 which are built to navigate the rapids of the Yang-tsze, which terminate 
 
( 118 ) 
 
 about forty miles above Yih-chang (g ^), tranship their cargoes into 
 large vessels that convey them down the Great Eiver Yang-tsze, which 
 discharges itself in to the sea near Shanghai. 
 
 TheFooehow Foochow-foo the place of residence of the Governor 
 group. General of Fookien and Chekiang, the Tea Districts, 
 
 Pagoda Anchorage, where the Chinese have an immense Arsenal and a 
 Dock Yard, built on foreign style by officers of the French Navy, Wanchu, 
 to the Northern, if it should be opened, would be placed under one 
 Consul residing at Foochow-foo with agents under him. 
 
 The Amov -^^oj) ^^^ door to the Fookien Province, as its name 
 group. in Chinese indicates, would be the proper residence for 
 
 a Consul whose jurisdiction would extend over agents at Swatow and 
 Vice-Consuls for the Formosa ports. 
 
 The Canton Wampoa and the Island of Hainan would come under 
 group. jj^Q Consul residing at Kwang-chiu-Fu, or Canton, as it is 
 
 called by foreigners, it being the seat of office of the Governor General of 
 Kwang-Tung and Kwang-se. Canton is a Port of much importance, the 
 proportion of the American Trade being probably greater there than 
 at any other Port except Shanghai. 
 
 I have now to refer to the term of office for which 
 Offlceforwhidl Consuls in China should be appointed. Doubtless the 
 
 Consuls should practice of removing an officer without iust cause is 
 be appomted. ...,,, . , ■" 
 
 injurious to the service and should be abolished. Yet 
 
 I would not advocate life appointments with pension at the end of a 
 term of years, they being, I believe, too often productive of indifference 
 to public interest and apt to close the door to worthy men. In the 
 Consular service in China, like in the Army and the Navy, men with 
 special knowledge and experience are required and, without giving life 
 commissions to officers caUed to any office in the East, I should suggest 
 the enactment of a law by which persons sent there could not be removed 
 at the end of a Presidential term unless they have failed to fill their 
 post to their credit and to that of their own Country; and therefore the 
 reasons given for their removal should be flagrant. 
 
 The Interpreter I would propose to give still greater guarantees to 
 Corps. the officers of the Interpreter Corps from which the 
 
 Yice-Consuls, Consulars Agents and Consular Clerks would be recruited. 
 Such men should receive permanent appointments -with pension after 
 
(119) 
 
 thirty ji-eixi's service. Of necessity Student Interpreters come to China 
 when yet very young, and before t'.iey liave received the after school 
 training which, in An3rica, open? the door to alimit every career; and, 
 j;0 arduous is their task, that, after they have acquired a sufficient 
 knowledge of the langiiage, their early years have gone by and they 
 are only litted for the spscial and arduous duties to which the most 
 wmpetent are known to have devoted a life-time. I should suggest 
 tlie appohitment of six Interpreters with a Salary of $2,500 for Tientsin, 
 Sliangliai, Hankow, Foochow, A-.n)y and C.mton, and often Student 
 Interpreters, with a Salary of $1,800, to be distributed among the minor 
 ports, such as New-chwang, Che-foo, Chin-kiang, Ningpo, Kiu-kiang, 
 Wuhu, "Wancha Tamsui, Taiwan-foo an.d Hainan, where they would 
 officiate as Consular Agents or Vice-Consuls. It has been proposed by 
 Mr. Sdward, oar able Consul General, to appoint three or four inter- 
 preters to reside at Ports known to be the rendez-vous of a large num- 
 ber of American vessels but where, as a general thing. Consuls hold little 
 or no intercourse with native officials, owing to the fact that there are, 
 in the District, no American interests to protect, except such as are con- 
 nected with the entering and clearing of vessels, the shipping of cargo, 
 all of which is transacted through foreign Commissioners of Customs' in 
 the employ of the Chinese. At other points, like Poochow-foo, Amoy, 
 Tamsuy, and the ports of Formosa, where our shipping is inconsiderable, 
 but where the inland traffic in articles of export to the United States, 
 although not as great as it is in Shanghai, Canton &c., is still of much 
 importance, and therefore where Consuls and Native Officials have daily, 
 opportunities to discuss the perplexing questions connected with the 
 Inland trade, it is proposed to suppress the office of Interpreter and 
 to make simple aUowance for their occasional services. If this were 
 done, doubtless the consular prestige, at points much visited by our' 
 vessels, will gain with scarcely other benefit to us than the satisfaction 
 of our national pride, while the development of our internal relations 
 with China wiU be sacrificed at places which, owing to the peculiar pro- 
 duction of the soil, must soon become great centers of exchange of. 
 trade between the Pacific States and China. 
 
( 130 ) 
 
 _ . ... If I were to undertake the task of securing durable 
 Services which . , ^, . i i i , ^ 
 
 Interpreters can concessions from the Chinese and had to select for as- 
 
 ®''' sistance between a whole squadron, and an able inter- 
 
 preter, although I concede that Diplomacy, not assisted by force, will 
 never accomplish anything of any consequence in the East, I would rather 
 incline for the latter. In two of the most important cases I ever had with 
 the Chinese during my term of five years, I was indebted for success to 
 the friends who aided me in communicating with the Chinese, Dr. 
 Talmage, who so often has revised translations of my dispatches and 
 Baron de Meritens, of Foochow, who more than once has presented them 
 to the Vice-Roy of Fookien and Chekiang and commented on them to 
 him to render their affect more decisive. In the case of the Eover, 
 where the influence of the Ministers, the demonstration of force by 
 admiral Bell had failed, words of persuasion, properly offered, made 
 tiie Chinese do what the most sanguine had never expected to obtain 
 from them even with the assistance of what they call the moral influence 
 of our fleet. In the case of the Amoy Dock, which had been in 
 Peking for eight years before I took hold of it, without the aid 
 of the Minister, in three months, through the Vice-Boy of Chekiang 
 and Fookien, I gained my point. It was said at the time that I 
 had used force. I need not say that I had not, and I can refer those 
 who would remain incredulous, to my correspondence. And if I quote 
 these cases, it is because they are well known ia southern China, their 
 happy termination having been the source of general benefit, and by these 
 examples I may demonstrate more conclusively what we can accomplish 
 with good Interpreters and how important it is to give to the organiza- 
 tion of a Corps of those officers the attention it deserves. 
 
 The Salary ■'■" coming to the pecuniary considerations of this suh- 
 ofConsularof- ject, I shall be extremely brief, having already extended 
 over it in a previous despatch to the Minister, copy of 
 which was sent to the Department. Suffice it to say, therefore, that, under 
 the present regime, an officer, with ordinary family obligations, is un- 
 able to sustain the drain forced upon his limited resources by the 
 requirements of his official position, and which are not supplied by the 
 country, and, therefore, one of the two, either he must see the service 
 suffer or resign a post the responsibilities of which he has accepted 
 and which he finds he is unable to properly sustain. And yet, to answer 
 
( 121 ) 
 
 the requirements of every Consulate, but a very small proportion of the 
 income which the United States derive from the China trade need be 
 expended. As regards the Amoy District, constituted as it is a little more 
 than one per cent (or $16,180) of the annual revenue accruing to the coun- 
 try from the export trade of the five ports therein, would supply all its de- 
 mands. As it is not generally known that this income is so large, I will offer 
 a few figures showing its importance. From Amoy 5,453,370 lbs. of 
 Tea were sent to the United States during the seasons 1868-69, on which 
 were paid to the Treasury a duty of $1,363,342 Gold coin. In 1869 not 
 less than 741,589 lbs. of Tea were shipped from Tamsui to our markets, 
 and besides 450,000 lbs. of Camphor, direct from the same Port to New 
 York, the duties on Tea alone amounting to over $178,000 Gold coin. 
 Southern Formosa does not count yet for anything in the exports to 
 America. But doubtless, before long, Camphor, Tea and Sugar will 
 form an important items of trade between that region and the United 
 States. A trial shipment of Sugar to California, through Japan, was 
 made from Takao, in Southern Formosa, at the end of 1870. 
 
 Coolie Trade. I should have desired not to close this series of 
 memoranda without alluding to the coolie trade; but besides that the 
 notes which I have given you on the additional legislation which, I 
 believe, is required, to make the laws of 1862 thoroughly effective, and 
 the voluminous correspondence which I have transmitted to the Depart- 
 ment in 1867 and 1869, doubtless, will afford j'ou sufficient information 
 on this most important subject, the great length of this paper prevents 
 me from further extending over it, and I will beg privilege to offer a few 
 concluding remarks. 
 
 Amot, 20th April isTl. 
 
CONCLUSIONS. 
 
( 135 ) 
 
 — =cieceoccoD=— 
 
 In peaceful and tranquil times, be strictly just. 
 AA'hen tlie peoplj are obstinate and unyielding, rule 
 them by severity ; wlu^n they are harmonious and 
 C'duipliaut, govern tliem with mildness; when they 
 are deeply sunk in barbarity, rule them with rigor. 
 (The Shoo-king, Hook of Show section VI). 
 
 If tlie premises given in tlie foregoing paper are correct, tjie follow- 
 ing deductions are equally- true. Unless directly or indirectly, through 
 our guns or through the Inspector General who, of late, has virtually 
 become an irresponsible Secretary of Foreign Affairs to the Chinese, we 
 are prepared to absorb China and substitute in a day (trade would not 
 stand the delays and constant changes which must be the result of a 
 regular crusade) over those 360,000,000 of people, our system of Govern- 
 ment, and the mechanism of our administration of public affairs, we have 
 either to give up all idea of ever giving effect to the terms of the treaties, 
 or to devise means of earring them out which will prove satisfactory to 
 the Chinese. I do not suppose that there is any foreign power, in our 
 days, except Russia, tliat-seriously thinks of conquering China. In my 
 opinion there is no doubt that she has such a desire, although I could 
 not give any proof. "One can only judge by analogy. They have 
 extended themselves in Asia wherever they have had the opportunity and 
 they have recently conquered and annexed the kingdom of Bokkara at 
 great cost, completing the extension of their dominions in that quarter 
 to the borders of British India, a boundary which they must accept as 
 final in that direction. The difficulties in that enterprise were greater, 
 and the advantages not to be mentioned as compared to those to be 
 incurred or gained in the acquisition of China. In the actual direction 
 of this Empire, they have taken and occupied with forts within a few 
 .years, the great tract of country lying between the Amoor and the present 
 frontier, without any advantage in the region itself to attract them, and 
 apparently only for the object of reaching nearer to China proper. They 
 obtained a valuable fort upon the coast, but that they could have had 
 without the costly annexation of so great a territory." 
 
 " They have more young men learning the Chinese language in one 
 ■way or another than all the other Westerns together, and they push 
 
( 126 ) 
 
 their traders into the country with a pertinacity quite uncalled for by 
 the exigencies of heir trade. 
 
 "Finally, there liej before them a prize unsurpassed in the 
 history of the World ! A nation of at least 200 millions of in- 
 dustrious, energetic and ingenious people^ ripe for conquest, and 
 capable, when conquered, of giving inexhaustable supplies of excellent 
 soldiers and sailors ; a nation poor indeed in resources at present, but 
 capable of a miraculous resurrection under an energetic rule. A 
 country full of natural wealth, with an area of fertile soil already under 
 cultivation; with a system of navigable rivers unsurpassed in the world; 
 a coast abounding in fine harbours and commanding this side of the 
 Pacific ; a dominion extending to the tropics and including in its wide 
 embrace every climate and almost every valuable production of the earth J' 
 
 "It is impossible that, with their antecedents, their settled policy 
 for centuries, the Russian should fail in desire for such a prize as this.. 
 As for the power, unl«ss succoured by other Western nations, the 
 country would lies defenceless before the assault of 50,000 men led by 
 a General skilled in modern war. Such succour, if it canie at all, would 
 probably come too late. By occupying the western and north western 
 Provinces under one pretext or an other, and with the declaration 
 that it was provisional or temporary, tliey could fairly reach the coast 
 and have possession of the main strategical points with two or three 
 hundred thousand Chinese soldiers under arms and in effective condition, 
 before any Earopean power, could have concluded to intervene. Their 
 conclusions then would be uninteresting." (1) 
 
 In view of this greatest of hazards, a man who has had a great- 
 experience of China was writing in 1864. " When a strong and highly 
 civilized nation comas in contact with one weaker and lower in the scale 
 of civilization, one of two things, I fancy, must happen, — either the 
 inferior must be raised by a process to the level of the more civilized 
 power, or it will not be raised. In which case it must sooner or later 
 succumb to the stronger by whom it will be conquered. China must be 
 regenerated, or remain stationary, and be parcelled out among foreign 
 powers; and our present policy is fast tending towards that end." (2) 
 
 (1) A letter from Jlr. EiUvard Cunningham, an American Citizen, residing in Shanghai, 
 to Mr. George V. Seward, U. S. Coiisul-General in China, 1869. 
 
 ('>) Our interests in China &o. by Ilo.atio ?f. Lay, C. B., late Inspector General of 
 Chinese Customs. 
 
(12?) 
 
 Mr. Hart who has been under Mr. Lay was fully satisfied with the 
 'Correctness of these views and his aim has been to save China from 
 lierself by inducing her to substitute western civilization for her own. 
 But, to accomplish this, a revolution was required by which the rule of 
 the Literati must come to an end; and that was simply an impossible 
 undertaking. Che-Hwang-te (B. C. 220) before Mr. Hart, had conceived 
 Uie same plan; and, to make sure of it, in eastern style, he had ordered 
 the burial alive of those of the Literati who v/ould oppose his rule, and 
 the burning of their books, that no trace would ever remain of them in 
 the Empire. This was carried out to the letter. Yet, when twenty two 
 years later, his successor, Vanti, of the Kan Dynasty, undertook to revive 
 literature, he found little or no obstacle. The books had disappeared, it 
 is true, but their contents having been committed to memory by old 
 men, and by them to their children, they soon came again to light. Since 
 then the Literati have been submitted to many persecutions, but their pow- 
 er has survived them all, and, to-day, they reign as supreme over China aa 
 they did two thousand years ago. The Tartars have conquered China, 
 they have issued death warrants against them, they have revived the 
 laws of Che-Hwang-te against their books; but both have resisted the 
 trial, and the Tartars themselves have finally been absorbed by the 
 civilization which many of their Emperors had made it their task 
 to destroy. 
 
 It is easy to conceive what a fault Mr. Hart committed in disclosing 
 his plans to the Literati who, in self defence, had to oppose him. And 
 whatever he may do to amend his error, I fear, it is a fatal one, and that 
 his scheme will never obtain the countenance of the rulers of Cliiaa. 
 As it- is now, a statesman would have no other course to take but to openly 
 condemn, from the start, what has been done for ten years past. Standing 
 upon the platform of respect for treaties which, even with savages, is a 
 platform, I should think he would require their fulfilment from the 
 Chinese. Under that platform, it must be conceded by the Cabinet of 
 Peking that direct relations, being the result of the expedition of 1860, 
 the audience question must be settled. Having once gained access to 
 the person of the Emperor, our Statesman should give him plainly to 
 understand that war with the foreign powers means defeat to Chinese 
 arms and therefore the fall of his Dynasty. And I believe that, sooner 
 than have war, the Emperor who knows that China is not ready, would 
 
( 12^ ) 
 
 make many concessions. But if we wait two years longer, perhaps 
 less, he will listen to nothing. Being better prepared, the Chinese will 
 consider themselves invulnerable; they will take the aggressive and 
 make an desperate attempt to expel us for ever from their country. 
 And a most bloody war will be the result of our policy of peace. 
 
 I do not advocate the abuse of our position by making inconsiderate 
 demands upon China. Eendered wise by the experience of Europe wh Dre, 
 forty years ago, the same reforms which we now propose to China were 
 introduced, we could save her the sad experience which one of her 
 greatest statesman and the most honest of our opponents, Tseng -kou- 
 fan so mixch apprehends for her, and which, indeed, must result from an 
 inconsiderate and too rapid advance in the road to progress. But we 
 should insist upon a begintiing being made in the right direction by a 
 fair inauguration of the inland trade which our Ministers could easily 
 protect through the pacific means which I have recommended and 
 through their moral influence at the capital ■and demonstration of force, 
 at given points, whenever it should be judged necessary to resort to such 
 extreme steps^ But I am sure that^ almost always, if the Ministers and 
 the Consuls will be prompt and firm, such calamities as must result 
 from a resort to force, could be avoided. Having thus shown the Chinese 
 that we are as ready to go towards them as we are determined thib they 
 shall come to us, and the race, so to speak, between the two Civilizations 
 being once fairly progressing, we could safely look for results from time. 
 
 Bussia, in this, has shown us how to proceed. She has her frontier 
 touching the Chinese frontier. Her treaties, it is true, contain very 
 few provisions which can be construed as protective of the rights 
 and the liberty of her subjects engaged in the China trade, but 
 she has given the cabinet, of Peking to understand that her mer- 
 chants, how far they may go from their flags, are always under 
 its protection and that they must not be molested, and it is well known 
 at Peking that if they should ever molest a Russian, the coloring of the 
 map of the North East of Asia would soon to have to undergo a material 
 change. The appropriation by the Russians of the few provinces which 
 they have " annexed " of late years teaches the Chinese a better lesson 
 than to play off Yang-chow or Formosa tacties with the Czar or to levy 
 17J per cent on brick tea instead of 2|. When we have said this, we 
 have shown the Russian policy in Cliiua. When our Ministers either 
 
(129) 
 
 court the Chinese, or bully them, the Eussian Ministers remain silent. 
 They never talk, but they always act, and constantly in the same way. 
 And that frightful regularity has an incredible effect on the Chinese 
 character. It has with these people something of the power of fate; and, 
 strange.to say, with all this, Russians are most popular with the Chinese. 
 Native officers have aften told me that they consider them less trouble- 
 some than most foreigners. 
 
 It is true that, unlike Kussia, we have no common frontier with China. 
 But surely her coast is at our mercy, and we may lay our hands on that 
 portion of her revenue which accrues from foreign trade, whenever 
 we may choose to do so'. Let the Cabinet of Peking once understand 
 that a system of reprisal similar to that which the late Mr. Gibson at- 
 tempted to inaugurate in Formosa, will be applied by our Consuls in every 
 case when the lives and property of our citizens shall be in danger, and, 
 in other cases of serious violation of our treaty rights, by the Minister^, 
 and we will not have to record over again outrages like tlie Tientsin 
 Massacre, or the fa"co^ onnected with the iiiterpretati m which has been 
 given, for the las; tan years, to tho iStli Article of the British Treaty of 
 Tientsin. 
 
 I must not be understood to advocate a policy of blood and discord 
 for which I have as much repugnance as the advocates of the " laisser 
 faire" policy. But I hold that the lextalionis adapts better than any 
 other to an Eastern race. It has been inaugurated by the greatest legis- 
 lators from the plains of Arabia to the banks of the Yellow river, and 
 Burely we cannot disregard, without endangering the ultimate success 
 of our mission in the East, the lessons taught to us by an experience of 
 thousands of years: — and I am convinced tliat we commit a great fault 
 in not applying it to China, whenever circumstances of undoubted, 
 gravity demonstrate that we should treat the natives or their B\ilers with 
 unusual rigour. It would be in vain that we should attempt making 
 any impression upon them through any others means. 
 
 How severe this regime may seem, it would not exclude the milder 
 form of dealing with man wh'ch ar3 in u',e a-n )n^ C'lristian nation?; and, 
 inordinary timas, no opportunities should be lost by wliich the Chin s; 
 may be shown that we have, naturally, a high sense of equity and mode- 
 ration. This may bo done tlu-ju^h the Interprot?'- -judges- and the In- 
 
iim) 
 
 Spcctors and the special legislation which I have recommended in Memo- 
 randum No. 5. Indeed, this pure administration of Justice at the re- 
 anotest parts of the Empire, could not fail to work incalculable good in 
 imdermining little by little and without shocks, but surely, the foundations 
 upon which the social and political organization of the Chinese is based. 
 Again, the unfortunate construction placed upon several articles of the 
 treaties, being removed, I should not think that there would be many 
 serious causes of opposition to the inland trade left to either the local or 
 provincial authorities; and I believe that both would cease to resist a 
 system sanctioned by their masters for the unobstructed working of 
 which they might be easily made responsible. Nay, finding in the 
 'foreign activity sure means to increase trade, and, thereby, their income, 
 they would soon favor the extension of its field. The facilities which 
 they now give to Kussian Merchants who have disdained availing them- 
 selves of any exterritorial rights, may be a hint of what they would 
 do in our case, if we should conclude to 'interfere less imprudently and 
 nnnecessarily than we have done lieretofore with the native officers, 
 rights and privileges. Tlie opening o£ the inland trade would not only 
 contribute in serving the foreign interests in China; it would inaugurate 
 a new era in the history of our relations with this people. Tlirough it 
 Foreigners and liTatives, being placed in more frequent and closer contact, 
 would learn how to appreciate their respective qualities and put up 
 with each other's ways and manners. Soon mutiial confidence would 
 Teign between the two races and the causes of dissension and conflict 
 wiuld gradually decrease. This would not be the result of one days' 
 lahar, but it would surely come in the end. A result which we shall 
 never obtain if we persit in the policy of isolation and-"laisser faire" which 
 ■we iiave adopted during the last ten years. 
 
 It cannot be argued that the adoption of the.ie views would be tlie 
 beginning of a policy of interference which it ha^ been the aim of the 
 United States to avoid with every nation, since the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, and, therefore resisted. For, has not a deviation from this 
 traditional policy been already decided upon as regards Cliina? Is not 
 tiie fact of our citiijens' presence on the sacred soil of the Empire under 
 tlie terms of treaties which we know were not willingly signed bv Chinn, 
 a most flagrant violation of this misst solemn principle of non-iiiter- 
 fereuce? Is not that article of the Treaty as regards Christianitv whicl , 
 
(131> 
 
 ia condemning the worsliip of ancestors places itself in direct oppositioi* 
 to the fundamental law of the Empire, a most flagrant interference 
 in the affairs of the Chinese? (1) This deviation from. our traditional 
 policy has been decided upon in the interest of Civilization, that China 
 should not be longer tolerated to remain in her suicidal isolation from 
 the balance of the \?orld. What we have thought well to- do in 1842 
 and 1858 in the interest of Eeligion and Civilization, we can surely do 
 now to save a great nation from irreparable sufferings and perhaps ruin_ 
 If the first interference was justified.by the motives which dictated it, the 
 second shall be worthy of praise, and will gain to us not only the acclama- 
 tions of the rest of the world but, in the long nm, the gratitude of tlie 
 Chinese nation, — and this is why I advocate it in such strong terms. 
 
 Amot, 2lBt April 1871. 
 
 "^jT^e^iea^ing. Part the V, the Books of Show, Boot 1, The great declara* 
 tion.. Fart L~ 
 
iPPEiilM 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 On page 119- of tins paper, in connection witli services which Inter- 
 preters can render, I say: — "If I were to tmclertake the task of securing 
 ilurable concessions from the Chinese and had to select for assistance 
 between a whole squadron, and an able interpreter^ although I concede 
 that Diplomacy, not assisted by force, will never accomplish anything 
 of any consequence in the East, I would rather incline for the latter. In 
 two of the most im'portant cases I ever had with the Chinese during my 
 term of five years, I was indebted for success to the friends who aided 
 me in communicating with the Chinese^ Dr. Talmage, who so often 
 lias revised translations of my dispatches and Baron de Meritens, of 
 Foochow, who more than once has presented them to the Vice-Eoy of 
 Fookien and Chekiang and commented on them to him to render their 
 affect more decisive." 
 
 As I might be misunderstood in the use I make of the word persuasion, 
 I think it but just that I should, at least, give the words which I used in 
 carrying out my points in one of the two cases which I quote, that of the 
 Bover, inasmuch as the truth that I conveyed to the Chinese authorities, 
 in the despatch alluded to, was much more terrible to them than the 
 presence of a whole fleet. As regards the massacre of the crew of the 
 American Barque Rover, on the southern end of the Island of Formosa, I 
 only took the matter in hand and independently from any one else, after 
 the disastrous visit of the U. S. flag-ship Hartford to the scene of the 
 occurrence which resulted in the death of liientenant commander Macken- 
 zie, who was killed in an encounter with the natives, and the immediate 
 withdrawal of our ftirces. After Rear-Admiral Bell had declined to 
 cooperate with me on the plea that he had no available forces, I wrote the 
 Governor-General tlie despatche hereunder given and which' I antedated 
 tliat it might appear as having been written before the intelligence of the 
 dis-Xfiter mat witli l)y tlio Adininil had reached me. It is translated almost 
 literjillv frtnu the f'liiuu.-L' \-ersiun. 
 
( 136 ) 
 
 Tlie effect of this despatch was all that could be desired. The Vice- 
 Roy ordered an expedition to proceed to the place where the Bover's crew 
 had been murdered, and in order to enable me to accompany the ex"- 
 peditioii, he placed one of his own steamers at my disposal; and ijiiiBty 
 days afterwards, and at the end of a campaign which lasted forty-five days, 
 and during which the Chinese lost one eighth of their forces through hard- 
 ship and disease, the desired satisfaction was obtaiiiefl and the agreement' 
 entered into at the time, with the natives^ for the protection of castaways, 
 has never since been broken. (See Diplomatic correspondence for 
 1807-1838 — China— alsp commercial relatiohs for 1869 and ,the Chinese 
 Customs Gazette for Seeember 1870). j 
 
 U. S. Consulate, Amoy 22nd June 1867. 
 
 The sudden conclusion you have come to in the affair of the Bovef 
 and the reasons you give disappoint me extremely. You had never 
 seemed to doubt, bafore this, that ' the Rover h^id been wrecked on the 
 Chinese seas and thij,t her crew had been murdered on Chinese Territory. 
 If you ever had any doubt left on tliis point, why not say so and settler 
 the question, at once, by a glance over the map, when called upon by Cap- 
 tain Febiger and by myself, on the 20th of April last, to lend your aid 
 towards investigating this distressing affair? Then, and not now, was the 
 time to present your objections. For then the monsoon was favorable to 
 naval operations in the soutliern Bay of Formosa. Then the hot weather, 
 had not set in; then we had our forces near tlie spot. Then many of the 
 unfortunate vic,tim-( who, by this time, doubtess have parislied through 
 violence, exposure or starvation, were, I doubt not, living. The remains of 
 tliose that had I)eeti murdored, since 'rendered irrecognisable by the action 
 oftimo, or scattered to the winds, could have been recovered and sent to 
 their friends for sei)ulture. AU^this we could have accomplished without, 
 other paople's lielp and on our own responsibility, had we only known your 
 designs; and wc could have reserved our rights for, such indemnity, as we 
 miy have boon justified to ask by your tornisr ina-jtion. But your language 
 differed much from what it now is. You prayed us to do nothing and you 
 promised that you' would do everything that was asked. In fact you wrote 
 im: '-O.i receipt of information relative to the massacre of the master 
 ail crew of tlie Bark Rwur by the savages, previous to your arrlvftl, we 
 have issiidl direct! i:i.- to the civil and iiillitury authorities to n(li>pt moa- 
 
(137) 
 
 It ■ — ■ 
 
 saves for the management of this affair # * ^^ and if any exertion of zeal 
 can do it, no endeavours will be spared to bring the offenders to immediate 
 punishment, in order that terms of good fellowship and harmony may exist 
 between China and the foreign powers. We could not dare troubling Cap- 
 tain Febiger Jand yourself for military and naval assistance in the matter, 
 since, in the event of any accident, we would feel more than ever grieved- 
 We have again directed the civil and military authorities to despatch 
 1)i"oops and constabulary to carry on operations." ^^ # » (April 19th 1867). 
 On the 20th, that is to say the day after this letter was written, we re- 
 ceived the same assurance of your readiness to comply with our just request, 
 and the General only required a few days to perfect his plans, his past 
 experience of mountain warfare bein^ limited. But he promised to act 
 promptly and simply asked for liberty to strike the blow alone. He said 
 to me : "If any force can bring these savages to terms the Chinese soldiers 
 are adequate to the task; but being alone responsible to my Government 
 for the success of the expedition it is but justice, that I should condtict it 
 with entire liberty of action and I decline accepting any assistance on the 
 part of foreign natipnp." Under the circumstances Captain Febiger and 
 myself determined to remain passive of observers, feeling that you thorough 
 ly understood the extent of your obligations under the Treaty and that you 
 had made up your mind to discharge them with celerity and honor. And 
 we folly realized that, from that day, we cOuld not take any step in advance 
 of yon, that would relieve your Government of all responsibility with the 
 United States without interfering with the claims for indemnity which 
 must be made on behalf of such of the survivors of the Rover's crew as it 
 was expected would be sayed through youl- exiEa-tions, should you fail to fulfill 
 your obligations. ^ ^ ^ You cannot claim that, at the time, you ignored the 
 name of the locality where the iJovef-. had met her fate, for you furnished it 
 to me in your despatch of the 19th April and said it is, "Red head 
 Mand." l^"either did you ignore that of the bay where the Bover's crew 
 were murdered, for, in the same despatch, you informed me it is called Ku- 
 wa-shu-pi-suan, by the natives. Later you notified me that your officers were 
 only waiting for your final orders, their first column being ready to advance 
 and that tli^ would soon prove by their acts that the Chinese Government 
 oitertained the most kind feelings for the Western nations. 
 
(188) 
 
 Mo^ 4iffe^ent jOTgr l^,Hguage, n6w I Tliose same offieera, Tin-Pau. 
 Chew-Qbapg and |*en-key ^ha yesterday were about to accomplish so 
 ffluph, h^yi^g exaiai|ied the Treaty, suddenly find out that they can do 
 nothing. .4ccording to your own statement, they report : '< Art. 11 and 13 
 provide th,at whenever, within the jurisdiction of the Emperor of China, 
 either on shqa:^ or at sp^, any one who shall molest Americans, shall be pun- 
 ished by the civil ^nd military authorities to. the best of their ability, 
 But as ip ^l^e Bover'f case, the Americans were not murdered in Chinese 
 territory, pr on Chinese seas, but on a region occupied by savage tribes, 
 relief caniiot be asked for under the treaty. Were it in our power to seize 
 the muydergr-§, we would gladly do so, that the Chinese might keep friend- 
 ly intercourse witli foreigners. But the savage region ■ does not come 
 within the Jimtts of our jurisdiction &c. &c." As for yourself, far from 
 disavowing sqch words so different from your own, you state that, '*Tour 
 iinpres^ioii is th?i.t your subordinates have furnished you with a true 
 §tatem,ent of the case and you believe that those savages are wild animals 
 with whona any one would disdain to contend," 
 
 Such being the conclusions you have arrived at, I will remark that 
 this correspondence has now lasted longer than it should, and that it has 
 to b^ brought to a close by a fair understanding on both parts of what 
 our respective rights and duties are. In consequence I beg to reaffirm 
 what I have said, or written to you at former times, that the United 
 States, in this case as in any other, will insist upon a strict observance of 
 t)le treaties. And I may remark that, on the 3rd moon, 15th day, 6th 
 year, appearing to fully understand Capt. Febiger and myself, you pro- 
 mised to afford prompt relief to the Bover's crew, to punish the mur- 
 derers of our countrymen, that two months have" elapsed since and that 
 nothing has been done on you part towards keeping this most sacred enga- 
 gement, having only discovered at this late hour, through your agents, that 
 you are not expected under the Treaty, to keep your promises, in as much 
 as they were made in ignorance of certain facts which have since been 
 made known to you. 
 
 I am sure the Q-overnment of the United States will not accept such 
 an issue, and, in its name, I protest emphatically, pardon me the ex- 
 pression, against this shifting way of dealing in this most important 
 case, and I make a,ll possible y egerves for all claims in indemnity and 
 
reparation which may hereafter be brought forward in consequence 
 thereof, by my Government against yours. 
 
 However it may be well for you to consider that the question involved 
 in the wreck of the Rover and the murder of her crew by the natives 
 of southern Formosa, a dependency of the Chinese Empire, does not only 
 afifect the American interests but also the interests of every one of the western 
 powers that are connected by trade with China a.nd whose ships ply -between 
 the Spanish, Dutch and English possessions. South, South East, and South 
 West from Formosa, the various ports of China, on the Coast south of 
 Amoy and those on the North of it. These vessels, either following their 
 natural or direct route, or carried out of it by the winds, are apt to come 
 to grief on or near the breakers on which the Hover was lost, and, of 
 necessity, must seek for refuge in the bay at the South of Formosa Island. 
 For if they go to the eastern of it, they find an abrupt coasst where even 
 an ordinary embarcation would not be safe, and if they go farther to 
 the north on the Western coast, they must not stop until they reach 
 Liang-Kiaw Bay which is, at least 15 miles distant. Can they afibrd 
 always this long run? The deposition of the last known survivor of the 
 Bover's crew, seems to show that this is not always practicable. They 
 made the attempt and they had to stop/ having soon become exhausted 
 by fatigue, thirst and hunger. So that nine times out of ten they must 
 Btop in the Southern Bay which appears to have been opened by the 
 Almighty as a natural refuge against the uncertainty of the elements. 
 Hence humanity makes it a law to civilized nations to see that that portion 
 of Formosa is kept clear of any of the inhospitable hordes that infest it, 
 and if your Government does not do it, on the ground that it has no 
 jurisdiction therein, or, that it has not the ability or the power to perform " 
 the task, the foreign powers will have to take the case in hand. 
 
 The United States would hear with regret that the Western nations 
 have come to such expedient. For they have no desire to acquire any 
 portion of the territory that must be occupied if ^t is resorted to; and 
 the step, when taken, would be the first in th^ direction of a policy of 
 violence that might ultimately end in the dismemberment of the Chinese 
 Empire or at least its humiliation based on the incompetency of its authorities 
 to command the respect of its own subjects or to fulfil certain obligations 
 imposed by the laws of nations. I can assure yoii that it ip the interest 
 of the Ui^ited States tjiat you sliould >e posp^raqs ^^4 pQwerM, 
 
( 140 ) 
 
 and at peace with foTeign nations and among yoiir own people; and we 
 have no arabitiona designs to accomplish in regard to yon, no desire to 
 acquire any of yonr territory, having one already too large of our own; 
 and the greater and more rich you become, the more mutually beneficial^ 
 will be the trade between the two countries. Tour prosperity will be 
 fof th-e good of the'^United States, and, whatever tends to impair it, a loss.- 
 Yet and with all this the United States form a great commercial nation 
 and they are such above all. They deSire the extension of trade all over 
 the world and would not certainly sacrifice their interest to a blind friend- 
 ehipfor China or any other country. And should any foreign pow-er, 
 being justified by the neglect or ill will of the Chinese, nndel-takethe 
 pacification by control of Southern Formosa, and clear it fi'om-thehordes^ 
 that infest it, we would express no regret. The Southern - end of the. 
 Formosa channel is a most iniportant commercial thoroughfare which must 
 be kept opened and free at all hazards. Having thus given yon these 
 assurances, it remains for me to show that, under the existing Lawsof 
 nations, the portion of Formosa settled by what you called the "lemooked 
 foreigners,'''' or Savages, is one over which the western nations are justified 
 in looking to the Government of China for the maiiitainance of order. 
 
 The Formosa tribes stands on the same footing with the Indians 
 that inhabit yet a great portion of the United States. "What I may say 
 of one can apply to the other. As regard ourselves, for the sake of our 
 interest, we have iusisted With foreign nations that our Indians hold- 
 their existence as tribes at Our exclusive will. Even if you never ex- 
 pected to interfere with the natiyes of Formosa further than to keep ont 
 the Agents of the foreign powers that might seduce them into foreign ' 
 alliances, the result of which would probably be the absorption of the Island 
 by a foreign ally, you should imitate us in onr policy with these uncivilized 
 people. For if you admit that such a territory has never been explored, 
 you admit also that it can be seized by the first power that will find its 
 interest to occupy it in advance of yon, and that power shall acquire an 
 indisputable right to its posseBsion as the Spanish did when they discovered 
 the New World, or as you did yourselves when you first implanted your 
 colonies on the western shore of the Island. So you perceive the view 
 we take of the native tribes of Formosa ife that they should not be treated 
 as independent, nor regarded as the owners of the soil they respectively 
 live on; but that Chinft has aright to that same soil becatise it occupies 
 
( in ) 
 
 it at leisure. In fact this doctrine seem to to have been iuloi>terl liv your 
 (ioveninient, since theAvestern Chinese tkruiers, when tliey find tlicniselves 
 crowded in their settlements keep advancing towards the Eastern Coast, 
 the sword in their hands chasing the natives before them. And it is lilcely 
 that they will do so until they have absorbed the whole country from 
 . the Formosa channel to the Pacific shore. And, in this, they only confirm, 
 de facto, the Tightness of the law I have quoted above and in virtue of 
 ■which superior raoes, since the origi:i of the world, have, by degrees, sub- 
 stitute 1 tluir civiiizition fjr tliit of a i inferior one. Tae Cliinj^e divide 
 and parcel over the land of the natives of Formosa and grant it to their 
 sibjects as they need it, exactly as if it had been vacant and unoccupied 
 land. They do more, anticipating the occupation of the native territory 
 bv their subjects, they controle in sosne instances, by the most arbitrary 
 rules, the trade of the natives with the merchants of the western shores. 
 The camphor, one of the most important staples of the Island, comes from 
 the native mountains. Xo foreigner is allowed to export it or to acquire 
 it therein. One single individual enjoys the exclusive right to carry oii 
 that traffic for the benefit of the Chinese Government; any one interfering 
 ■with the right of the monopolist is put to death. 
 
 So the Chinese Goverimient has even gone further with the natives 
 of Formosa than the United States have gone with their Indians and, 
 de facto, in the most flagrant manner, they have insisted for the last two 
 hundred years upon a supreme power and dominion within the territory 
 therein. This being the case, it is too firmly and clearly established 
 to admit of dispute that the Formosa tribes are subject to the authority 
 of China, and, although the country occupied by the natives is not 
 within the limits of the various Chinese magistrates, the task of punishing 
 any ofl:ence conmiitted therein, whether the guilty party is a Chinese 
 or a native, devolves on China and not upon the foreign powers. For 
 if the native territory is not Chinese in population, it is Chinese in law 
 and in fact, the Chinese Government having a sort of preemptive claim 
 on it which it enforces every - day through its subjects when it considers 
 fit and advisable. ^ ^^ * Sincerely hoping that this communication 
 ■will tend to reform your judgment on many points of vital importance 
 both to China and the United States^ I give you the new expression ot 
 ijiY higli regards and cs'.e-jm.