Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin Part 22

[Sidenote: Negotiations.]

_Tientsin.--June 5th_--After sending off your letter yesterday, I went to have my first official interview with the Chinese Plenipotentiaries. I made up my mind, disgusting as the part is to me, to act the _role_ of the 'uncontrollably fierce barbarian,' as we are designated in some of the confidential reports to the Chinese Government which have come into our hands. These stupid people, though they cannot resist, and hardly even make a serious attempt to do so, never yield anything except under the influence of fear; and it is necessary therefore to make them feel that one is in earnest, and that they have nothing for it but to give way. Accordingly I got a guard of 150 marines and the band of the 'Calcutta,' and set off with all my suite in chairs, _tambour battant_ for the place of rendezvous. It was about two-and-a-half miles off, and the heat of the sun very great.

The road carried us through several narrow streets of the suburb, then across a plain, till we reached a temple at which the Plenipotentiaries were awaiting us. A dense crowd of Chinese men--I saw not one woman--lined the route. Curiosity chiefly was depicted on their countenances; some looked frightened; but I observed no symptoms of ill-will. At the entrance of the temple were two blind musicians, playing something like squeaking bagpipes. This was the Chinese band.

We marched in with all our force, which drew up in a sort of court before an open verandah, where refreshments were set out, and the dignitaries awaited us. I was received by the Imperial Commissioner, and conducted to a seat at a small table covered with little plates of sweetmeats, &c. One of the Chinese Plenipotentiaries sat on either side of me. It was a very pretty scene, and the place was decorated in very good taste with flowers, &c. As my neighbours showed no disposition to talk, I began by asking after their health and that of the Emperor. They then said that they had received the Emperor's orders to come down to treat of our affairs. I answered, that although I was much grieved by the neglect of the Prime Minister to answer the letters I had addressed to him, yet as they had on their cards stated that they had 'full powers,' I had consented to have this interview in order that we might compare our powers, and see whether we could treat together. I told them that I had brought mine, and I at once exhibited them, giving them a translation of the doc.u.ments. They said they had not powers of the same kind, but a decree of the Emperor appointing them, and they brought out a letter which was wrapped up in a sheet of yellow paper. The chief Plenipotentiary rose and raised the paper reverentially over his head before unfolding it. I thought the terms of this doc.u.ment rather ambiguous, besides which I was desirous to produce a certain effect; so when it had been translated to me, I said that I was not sufficiently satisfied with it to be able to say on the spot whether I could treat with them or not; that I would, if they pleased, take a copy of it and consider the matter; but that I would not enter upon business with them at present. So saying I rose, moved to the front of the stage, and ordered the escort to move and the chairs to be brought. This put the poor people into a terrible fl.u.s.ter. They made great efforts to induce me to sit down again, but I acted the part of the 'uncontrollably fierce' to perfection, and set off for my abode. I had hardly reached it when I received two cards from my poor mandarins, thanking me for having gone so far to meet them, &c.

_June 12th._--I have gone through a good deal since we parted.

Certainly I have seen more to disgust me with my fellow-countrymen than I saw during the whole course of my previous life, since I have found them in the East among populations too timid to resist and too ignorant to complain. I have an instinct in me which loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and all this keeps me in a perpetual boil.

[Sidenote: Treaty signed.]

_June 29th._--I have not written for some days, but they have been busy ones.... We went on fighting and bullying, and getting the poor Commissioners to concede one point after another, till Friday the 25th, when we had reason to believe all was settled, and that the signature was to take place on the following day.... On Friday afternoon, however, Baron Gros came to me with a message from the Russian and American Ministers, to induce me to recede from two of my demands--1. A resident minister at Pekin; and, 2. Permission to our people to trade in the interior of China; because, as they said, the Chinese Plenipotentiaries had told them that they had received a decree from the Emperor, stating that they should infallibly lose their heads if they gave way on these points.... The resident minister at Pekin I consider far the most important matter gained by the Treaty; the power to trade in the interior hardly less so.... I had at stake not only these important points in my treaty, for which I had fought so hard, but I know not what behind. For the Chinese are such fools, that it was impossible to tell, if we gave way on one point, whether they would not raise difficulties on every other. I sent for the Admiral; gave him a hint that there was a great opportunity for England; that all the Powers were deserting me on a point which they had _all_, in their original applications to Pekin, demanded, and which they all intended to claim if I got it; that therefore we had it in our power to claim our place of priority in the East, by obtaining this when others would not insist on it? Would he back me?... This was the forenoon of Sat.u.r.day, 26th. The Treaty was to be signed in the evening. I may mention, as a proof of the state of people's minds, that Admiral Seymour told me that the French Admiral had urged him to dine with him, a.s.suring him that no Treaty would be signed that day!

Well, I sent Frederick to the Imperial Commissioners, to tell them that I was indignant beyond all expression at their having attempted to communicate with me through third parties; that I was ready to sign at once the Treaty as it stood; but that, if they delayed or retracted, I should consider negotiations at an end, go to Pekin, and demand a great deal more, &c.... Frederick executed this most difficult task admirably, and at 6 P.M. I signed the Treaty of Tientsin.... I am now anxiously waiting some communication from Pekin.

Till the Emperor accepts the Treaty, I shall hardly feel safe. Please G.o.d he may ratify without delay! I am sure that I express the wish just as much in the interest of China as in ours. Though I have been forced to act almost brutally, I am China's friend in all this.

[Sidenote: Articles of the Treaty.]

It may be well here to recapitulate the chief articles of the Treaty thus concluded, which may be briefly summed up as follows:--

The Queen of Great Britain to be at liberty, if she see fit, to appoint an Amba.s.sador, who may reside permanently at Pekin, or may visit it occasionally, at the option of the British Government;

Protestants and Roman Catholics to be alike ent.i.tled to the protection of the Chinese authorities;

British subjects to be at liberty to travel to all parts of the interior, under pa.s.sports issued by their Consuls;

British s.h.i.+ps to be at liberty to trade upon the Great River (Yangtze);

Five additional ports to be opened to trade;

The Tariff fixed by the Treaty of Nankin to be revised;

British subjects to have the option of clearing their goods of all transit duties by payment of a single charge, to be calculated as nearly as possible at the rate of 2-1/2 per cent. _ad valorem_;

The character 'I' (Barbarian) to be no longer applied in official doc.u.ments to British subjects;

The Chinese to pay 2,000,000 taels (about 650,000_l._) for losses at Canton, and an equal sum for the expenses of the war.

[Sidenote: Reasons for moderation.]

[Sidenote: Right of sending an amba.s.sador,]

In bringing this Treaty to a conclusion Lord Elgin might have said of himself as truly as of the brother who had so ably helped him in arranging its terms, that he 'felt very sensibly the painfulness of the position of a negotiator, who has to treat with persons who yield nothing to reason and everything to fear, and who are at the same time profoundly ignorant both of the subjects under discussion and of their own real interests.' Moreover he had constantly to recollect that, under the 'most favoured nation'

clause, every concession made to British subjects would be claimed by the subjects, or persons calling themselves the subjects, of other Powers, by whom they were only too likely to be employed for the promotion of rebellion and disorder within the empire, or for the establishment of privileged smuggling and piracy along its coasts and up its rivers. In all these circ.u.mstances he saw grounds for exercising forbearance and moderation; and his forbearance and moderation were rewarded by the readiness with which the Emperor sanctioned the Treaty, and the amicable manner in which its details were subsequently settled. One exception there was to this moderation on his part, and to this readiness on theirs; viz.

his insisting, against the earnest remonstrances of the Imperial Commissioners, backed by the intercession of the Russian and American envoys, on the right of sending an amba.s.sador to Pekin. But it was an exception of that kind which is said to prove the rule; for the stipulation was one which could not lead to abuses, and which would be conducive, as he believed, in the highest decree to the true interests of both the contracting parties. He was convinced that so long as the system of entrusting the conduct of foreign affairs to a Provincial Government endured, there could be no security for the maintenance of pacific relations. On the one hand the Provincial Governors were entirely without any sentiment of nationality, caring for nothing but the interests of their own provinces: nor were they in a position to exercise any independence of judgment, their lives and fortunes being absolutely at the disposal of a jealous Government, so that it was generally their most prudent course to allow any abuses to pa.s.s unnoticed rather than risk their heads by reporting unwelcome truths. On the other Land the central Government, in which alone a national feeling and an independent judgment were to be looked for, was profoundly ignorant on all questions of foreign policy, and must continue to be so as long as the Department for Foreign Affairs was established in the provinces. For these reasons he regarded the principle that a British minister might henceforth reside at Pekin, and hold direct intercourse with imperial ministers at the capital, as being, of all the concessions in the Treaty, the one pregnant with the most important consequences.[2]

[Sidenote: to be kept in reserve.]

But, the right once secured, he was very desirous that it should be exercised with all possible consideration for the long-cherished prejudices of the Chinese on the subject, who looked forward with the utmost horror to the invasion of their capital by foreign ministers, with, their wives and establishments; these latter being, as it appeared, in their eyes more formidable than the ministers themselves. Accordingly, when the Imperial Commissioners addressed to him a very temperate and respectful communication, urging that the exercise of the Treaty-right in question would be of serious prejudice to China, mainly because, in the present crisis of her domestic troubles it would tend to cause a loss of respect for their Government in the minds of her subjects, he gladly forwarded their memorial to the Government in England, supporting it with the strong expression of his own opinion, that 'if Her Majesty's Amba.s.sador should be properly received at Pekin when the ratifications were exchanged next year, it would be expedient that Her Majesty's Representative in China should be instructed to choose a place of residence elsewhere than at Pekin, and to make his visits either periodical, or only as frequent as the exigencies of the public service might require.' With much shrewdness he pointed out that the actual presence of a minister hi a place so uncongenial, especially during the winter months, when the thermometer falls to 40 below zero, might possibly be to the Mandarin mind less awe-inspiring than the knowledge of the fact that he had the power to take up his abode there whenever the conduct of the Chinese Government gave occasion; and that thus the policy which he recommended would 'leave in the hands of Her Majesty's Government, to be wielded at its will, a moral lever of the most powerful description to secure the faithful observance of the Treaty in all time to come.'

[Sidenote: Return southward.]

_At Sea, Gulf of Pecheli.--July 5th_.--At last I am actually off--on my way home? May I hope that it is so? I got on Sunday the Emperor's a.s.sent to the Treaty, in the form in which I required it; sent immediately down to stop the troops, and set off myself on Tuesday at noon for the Gulf. We sailed yesterday afternoon, with the intention, if possible, of seeing the great Wall of China on our way to Shanghae, but we have not been very successful, and have now put about, and are moving southwards.... Frederick is going home with the Treaty, and I proceed _via_ j.a.pan....

_July 14th._--Frederick embarks to-night, and sails to-morrow morning at four. I shall not know all that I lose, publicly and privately, by his departure, till he is gone....

_Shanghae, Sunday, July 18th._--I have just returned from church. Such an ordeal I never went through. If a benevolent lady, sitting behind me, had not taken compa.s.sion on me, and handed me a fan, I think I should have fainted.... Everyone says that the heat here surpa.s.ses that felt anywhere else. They also affirm that this is an exceptional season.

_July 19th._--Writing has been an almost impossible task during these few last days. The only thing I have been able to do has been to find a doorway, or some other place, through which a draught was making its way, and to sit there reading.... In sending Frederick away, I have cut off my right arm, but I think, on the whole, it was better that he should take the Treaty home,... and of course he is better able than anyone else to explain what has been the real state of affairs here.... It is impossible to acknowledge too strongly the obligation I am under to him for the way in which he has helped me in my difficulties.

[Sidenote: Yeh]

_July 21st._--As for Yeh, I cannot say very much for him; but the account given of him by the Captain of the 'Inflexible,' who took him to Calcutta, differs as widely as possible from that of the _Times'_ Correspondent. He was very courteous and considerate, civil to everybody, and giving no trouble. I suppose that there is no doubt of the fact that he executed a vast number of rebels, and I, certainly, who disapprove of all that sort of thing, am not going to defend that proceeding. But it is fair to say that rebels are parricides by Chinese law, and that, in so far as we can judge, nothing could have been more brutal or more objectless than this Chinese rebellion. They systematically murdered all--men, women, and children--of the dominant race, and their supporters, on whom they could lay their hands.

Certain Americans and Europeans took them up at first because they introduced a parody of some Christian doctrines into their manifestoes. But these gentlemen are now, I think, heartily ashamed of the sympathy which they gave them.

_July 26th._--I heard yesterday a good piece of news. The Emperor has named my friends, the Imperial Commissioners, to come down here to settle the tariff, &c. This, I think, proves that the Emperor has made up his mind to accept the Treaty and carry it out. I hope also that it will enable me to settle the Canton affair.

A few days later, finding that some weeks must elapse before the Imperial Commissioners could arrive, he sailed for Nagasaki, in order to turn the interval to account by endeavouring to negotiate a treaty with the j.a.panese Government in accordance with the instructions which he had received when leaving England.

[1] Those who remember the somewhat angry discussion which, arose afterwards about this delay, its causes and its consequences, may be struck with the fact that the subject is scarcely alluded to in any of the extracts here given. The omission is intentional: Lord Elgin's friends having no desire to rate up an extinct controversy which he would have been the last to wish to see revived, and respecting which, they have nothing to add to--as they have nothing to withdraw from-- what he himself stated in the House of Lords on February 21, 1860.

[2] Another article of the Treaty, though of less importance in itself, has been brought by recent events into so much prominence that it may be desirable to give in full the views of its author respecting it. In his despatch of July 12, having mentioned, as one of the princ.i.p.al commercial advantages obtained by British subjects, the settlement of the vexed question of the transit duties, he proceeds:--

This subject presented considerable difficulty. As duties of octroi are levied universally in China, on native as well as foreign products, and as ca.n.a.ls and roads are kept up at the expense of the Government, it seemed to be unreasonable to require that articles, whether of foreign or native production, by the simple process of pa.s.sing into the hands of foreigners, should become ent.i.tled to the use of roads and ca.n.a.ls toll-free, and should, moreover, be relieved altogether from charges to which they would be liable if the property of natives. On the other hand, experience had taught us the inconvenience of leaving the amount of duties payable under the head of transit-duties altogether undetermined. By requiring the rates of transit-duty to be published at each port; and by acquiring for the British subject the right to commute the said duties for a payment of 2-1/2 per cent. on the value of his goods (or rather, to speak more correctly, for the payment of a specific duty calculated at that rate), I hope that I have provided for the latter as effectual a guarantee against undue exactions on this head as can be obtained without an entire subversion, of the financial system of China.

CHAPTER X.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA. j.a.pAN.

EMBARK FOR j.a.pAN--COAST VIEWS--SIMODA--OFF YEDDO--YEDDO--CONFERENCES--A COUNTRY RIDE--PEACE AND PLENTY--FEUDAL SYSTEM--A TEMPLE--A JUGGLER--SIGNING THE TREATY--ITS TERMS--RETROSPECT.

[Sidenote: Embark for j.a.pan.]

'On the last day of July, 1858,' writes Mr. Oliphant, we embarked on board the "Furious," delighted, under any circ.u.mstances, to escape from the summer heats of Shanghae, were it only for a few weeks; but our gratification increased by the antic.i.p.ation of visiting scenes which had ever been veiled in the mystery of a jealous and rigid seclusion.'... There was a charm also in the very indefiniteness and uncertainty of the objects of the expedition. 'I do not exactly know,' wrote Lord Elgin, 'what I shall do when I get to Nagasaki; but, at any rate, I shall ascertain what my chances are of making a satisfactory treaty with j.a.pan.'

The 'Furious' was accompanied by the 'Retribution' and by the 'Lee'

gunboat; and it was arranged that the Admiral should join them at Nagasaki.

_Nagasaki.--August 3rd._--We have had beautiful weather, and have reached this point,--a quiet, small-looking town, fringing the bottom of a bay, which is itself the close of a channel pa.s.sing between ranges of high volcanic hills, rugged and bold, but luxuriant with vegetation and trees, and cultivated in terraces up to their summits.

I have seen nothing so beautiful in point of scenery for many a long day. No sort of difficulty has been made to our progress up to the town. The only symptom of objection I observed was an official in a boat, who waved a fan, and when he saw we took no notice, sat down again and went on with a book which he seemed to be reading. On both sides of the channel, however, there is a very formidable display of cannons and works of defence, which I apprehend would not be very formidable in action. I have heard little in the way of news yet, but I am disposed to believe that nothing can be accomplished here, and that if anything is to be done we must go on to Yeddo. It is still hot, but the air, which comes down from these lofty hills, is, I think, fresher than that which pa.s.ses over the boundless level in the vicinity of Shanghae.

_August 4th_.--I have just had a visit from the Vice-Governor of Nagasaki. One of his own suite did the interpretation. These are the nicest people possible. None of the stiffness and bigotry of the Chinese. I gave them luncheon, and it was wonderful how nicely they managed with knives and forks and all other strange implements. The Admiral arrived this forenoon. He now finds that his instructions direct him to send the 'Emperor' yacht (which is to be a present) to Yeddo. I shall take advantage of this and go to Yeddo myself at once.

I may do something, or find out what I can do.

_August 5th.--Four P.M._--The heat yesterday, and for the two nights at Nagasaki, was very great. It must be a charming place when the temperature is low enough to admit of walks into the country. As it is we have just pa.s.sed into the sea, through what Captain Osborn calls a succession of Mount Edgec.u.mbes. I went ash.o.r.e yesterday and this morning, chiefly to make purchases. Things here are really beautiful and cheap. The town is wonderfully clean after China. Not a beggar to be seen. The people clean too; for one of the commonest sights is to see a lady in the front of her house, or in the front-room, wide open to the street, sitting in a tub was.h.i.+ng herself. I never saw a place where the cleanliness of the fair s.e.x was established on such unimpeachable ocular evidence.