Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin Part 28

For some time it seems to have been hoped that the Emperor of China, when fully informed of the misconduct of his officers in firing upon British s.h.i.+ps without notice, would have been ready to make the proper _amende_; but when this hope was dispelled, it became clear that such an outrage must be summarily dealt with. A large force, both naval and military, was ordered from England and India to the China seas, to co-operate there with forces sent by the French, who felt themselves scarcely less aggrieved than the English by the repudiation of the common Treaty.

For the command of this expedition there was one man whom all parties alike regarded as marked out at once by character and ability, and by previous experience. On the 17th of April, 1860, Lord Russell, who was then Foreign Secretary, wrote officially to Lord Elgin that 'Her Majesty, resolved to employ every means calculated to establish peace with the Emperor of China, had determined to call upon him again to give his valuable services to promote this important object, and had signified her intention of appointing him to proceed to China as her Amba.s.sador Extraordinary to deal with these matters.' His instructions were necessarily of the vaguest.

After touching upon some of the awkward contingencies that might arise, Lord Russell proceeded: 'In these circ.u.mstances your 'Lords.h.i.+p and your enlightened colleague, Baron Gros, will be required to exercise those personal qualities of firmness and discretion which have induced Her Majesty and her Ally to place their confidence in you and the French Plenipotentiary.' The only conditions named as indispensable were, (1) an apology for the attack on the Allied forces at the Peiho; (2) the ratification and execution of the Treaty of Tientsin; (3) the payment of an indemnity to the Allies for the expenses of naval and military preparations.

To be called away from the happy home which he so rarely enjoyed and enlightened, and to be sent out again to the ends of the world on such a service, was no light sacrifice even to his patriotic spirit; and the feeling of this was perhaps aggravated by the half-hope cherished during the first few weeks, that any day he might be met by tidings that the Chinese had made the required concessions, and that the affair was settled.

The following extracts from his Journal reflect something of this.

[Sidenote: Gloomy prospects.]

_Sunday, April 29th.--Off Sardinia._--So much for my chronicle; but I write it with a certain feeling of repugnance and self-reproach. It was very well on the occasion of my first voyage, when I wished to share with you whatever charm the novelty of the scenes through which I was pa.s.sing might supply to mitigate the pain of our separation. But this time there is no such pretext for the record of our daily progress. I am going through scenes which I have visited before, on an errand of which the issue is almost more than doubtful. When I see my friend Gros I feel myself doubly guilty, in having consented to undertake this task, and thus compelled him to make the same sacrifice. And Frederick--what will he think of my coming out? It is a dark sky all around. There is only one bright side to the picture. It is very unlikely that my absence can be of long duration. If such ideas were to prevail in England as those which are embodied in an article on China, which is to appear in the forthcoming _Blackwood_, I might be detained long enough in that quarter; but these are not the views of the public or the statesmen of England. What is desired is a speedy settlement, on reasonable terms--as good terms as possible; but let the settlement be speedy. This, I think, is the fixed idea of all.

Gros tells me that when he took leave the Emperor grasped both his hands, thanked him with effusion, and said that not one man in fifty would make such a sacrifice as he (Gros) was doing.

_Monday, 30th._--I do not know whether I shall do much more to this letter before I reach Malta, for we are both rolling and pitching, which is not favourable to writing, the climate has now changed. It is very near perfection in point of temperature. If we could only keep it so all the way! We expect to reach Malta this evening, and remain about four hours. Where are you now?... Have you returned to your desolate home? I think I see B. looking up to you with his thoughtful eyes, and dear little L. putting pointed questions, and, in her arch way, saying such kind and tender words!... You must continue to write, as you did last time, all you are doing and thinking, that I may reproduce, as faithfully as I can, the life which you are living. I do the same by you, though it is with a more leaden pen than formerly....

Poor Gros has retired to his cabin in order to take a horizontal position. Many of my companions are in the same way.

[Sidenote: Old letters.]

_May 3rd._--Are you still s.h.i.+vering in the cold, while I am gliding through the calm sea under an awning, and going against a breeze sufficiently light to do no more than fan us pleasantly? If it would never go beyond this, there is certainly something very delightful in such a climate; the clear atmosphere, bright stars, light nights, and soft air; and to be wafted along through all this, as we now are, at the rate of some twelve miles an hour, with so little motion that we hardly know that we are making progress. It will be a different story, I fear, when we get into the Red Sea, where we may expect a wind behind us, and around us the hot air of the Desert!... I have been employing myself for a good part of to-day in a sad work. I took with me a number of letters of very old date, and have been looking over them, and tearing up a great part of them, and throwing them overboard. I thought it would be an occupation suited to this heavy tropical sea-life. I shall be sorry when it is over, as it is also soothing, and brings back many pleasing memories which had nearly faded away. Some few I keep, because they are landmarks of my past life.

[Sidenote: The Pyramids.]

[Sidenote: The Sphinx.]

_Steamer 'Simla.'--May 9th._--I had only a few moments to write before we left Suez, and my writing, such as it was, I performed under difficulties, as the bustle of pa.s.sengers finding their cabins, and conveying to them their luggage, or such portions of it as they could rescue from its descent into the hold, was going on all around me. I had, therefore, only time to tell you that our visit to the Pyramids has been a success. It was one of the greatest which I ever achieved in that line. It came about in this way. When Baron Gros and I, accompanied by _Betts Bey_, the chief director of the railway, were journeying in our pachalic state-carriage from Alexandria to Cairo, a question arose as to how we were to spend the few hours which we should have to remain at the latter place. I expressed a desire to see the Pyramids, as I had witnessed all the other lions of Cairo. But Betts Bey observed, that to go there during the day, at this season of the year, was a service of considerable danger, the risk of sunstroke being more than usually great. We were, in fact, traversing Egypt during the period (of about six weeks' duration) when the wind from the south blows, and the only air one receives is like the blast of a furnace heavily charged with sand. He added, however, that it was not impossible to go to the Pyramids at night, remain there till dawn, see the sunrise from the summit, and return before the great heats of the day. When I found myself at Cairo, I proposed to my _entourage_ that we should undertake this expedition. My proposal was eagerly accepted, especially by 'Our own Correspondent,' Mr. Bowlby, who is a remarkably agreeable person, and has become very much one of our party. It was arranged that we should dine at the _table d'hote_ at 7 P.M., start at 9, in carriages to the crossing of the Nile (about four miles), and on donkeys from Gieja (about six miles). The Pasha's state-coach came to the door at the appointed hour; we started, our own party, Mr. Bowlby, Captain F., and M. de B., Gros' secretary. Gros himself, having twice seen the Pyramids, declined going with us. The moon was very nearly full, and but for the honour of the thing we might have dispensed with the torch-bearers, who ran before the carriage and preceded the donkeys, after we adopted that humbler mode of locomotion. Our row across the river to the chant of the boatmen invoking the aid of a sainted dervish, and our ride through the fertile borders of the Nile, covered with crops and palm-trees, were very lovely, and, after about an hour and a half from Cairo, we emerged upon the Desert. The Pyramids seemed then almost within reach of our outstretched arms, but lo! they were in fact some four miles distant. We kept moving on at a sort of ambling walk; and the first sign of our near approach was the appearance of a crowd of Arabs who poured out of a village to offer us their aid in various ways. We had been told before we started, that a party who had visited the Pyramids the night before had been a good deal victimised by these Arabs, who, alas! in these degenerate days, have no other mode of indulging their predatory propensities than by exacting the greatest possible amount of 'backs.h.i.+sh' from travellers who visit the Pyramids. We pushed on over the heaps of sand and _debris_, or probably covered-up tombs, which surround the base of the Pyramids, when we suddenly came in face of the most remarkable object on which my eye ever lighted. Somehow or other I had not thought of the Sphinx till I saw her before me. There she was in all her imposing magnitude, crouched on the margin of the Desert, looking over the fertile valley of the Nile, and her gaze fixed on the East as if in earnest expectation of the sun-rising. And such a gaze! The mystical light and deep shadows cast by the moon, gave to it an intensity which I cannot attempt to describe. To me it seemed a look, earnest, searching, but unsatisfied. For a long time I remained transfixed, endeavouring to read the meaning conveyed by this wonderful eye; but I was struck after a while by what seemed a contradiction in the expression of the eye and of the mouth. There was a singular gentleness and hopefulness in the lines of the mouth, which appeared to be in contrast with the anxious eye. Mr. Bowlby, who was a very _sympathique_ inquirer into the significancy of this wonderful monument, agreed with me in thinking that the upper part of the face spoke of the intellect striving, and striving vainly, to solve the mystery--(What mystery? the mystery, shall we say, of G.o.d's universe or of man's destiny?)--while the lower indicated a moral conviction that all must be well, and that this truth would in good time be made manifest.

We could hardly tear ourselves away from this fascinating spectacle to draw nearer to the Great Pyramid, which stood beside us, its outline sharply traced in the clear atmosphere. We walked round and round it, thinking of the strange men whose ambition to secure immortality for themselves had expressed itself in this giant creation. The enormous blocks of granite brought from one knows not where, built up one knows not how; the form selected solely for the purpose of defying the a.s.saults of time; the contrast between the conception embodied in these constructions and the talk of the frivolous race by whom we were surrounded, and who seemed capable of no thought beyond a desire for daily 'backs.h.i.+sh,'--all this seen and felt under the influence of the dim moonlight was very striking and impressive. We spent some time in moving from place to place along the shadow cast by the Pyramid upon the sand, and observing the effect produced by bringing the moon sometimes to its apex and sometimes to other points on its outline. I felt no disposition to exchange for sleep the state of dreamy half- consciousness in which I was wandering about; but at length I lay down on the s.h.i.+ngly sands, with a block of granite for a pillow, and pa.s.sed an hour or two, sometimes dozing, sometimes wakeful, till one of our attendants informed me that the sun would shortly rise, and that it was time to commence to ascend the Pyramid, if we intended to witness from its summit his first appearance. We had intended to spend the night in the tombs, but it was so hot that we were only too glad to select the spot in which we could get the greatest amount of air. A very soft and gentle breeze, wafted across the Desert from an unknown distance, fanned me as I slept. The ascent was, I confess, a much more formidable undertaking than I had antic.i.p.ated; and our French friend gave in after attempting a few steps. The last words which had pa.s.sed between him and me before we retired to rest, were interchanged as we were standing in front of the Sphinx, and were characteristic: _Ah!

que c'est drole!_ was the rea.s.suring exclamation which fell from his lips while we were there transfixed and awestruck. As far as the ascent of the Pyramid was concerned, I am not sure but that I was sometimes tempted to follow his example, when I found how great was the effort required to mount up, in the hot air, the huge blocks of granite, and the unpleasantness of feeling every now and then with what facility one might topple downwards. This sensation was most disagreeably felt when, as generally happened at any very critical place, my Arab friends, who were helping me up, began to talk of 'backs.h.i.+sh,' and to insinuate that a small amount given at once, and before the ascent was completed, would be particularly acceptable.

However, after a while the summit was reached. I am not sure that it repaid the trouble; at any rate, I do not think I should ever wish to make the ascent again. We had a horizon all around tinted very much like Turner's early pictures, and becoming brighter and more variegated as the dawn advanced, until it melted into day. Behind, and on two sides of us, was the barren and treeless Desert, stretching out as far as the eye could reach. Before us, the fertile valley of the Nile; the river meandering through it, and, in the distance, Cairo, with its mosques and minarets, the highest, the Citadel Mosque, standing out boldly upon the horizon. It was a fine view, and had a character of its own, but still it was not in kind very different from other views which I have seen from elevated points in a flat country.

It does not stand forth among my recollections as a spectacle unique, and never to be forgotten, as that of the night before does. Very soon after the sun rose the heat became painful on our elevated seat, and we hastened to descend-an operation somewhat difficult, but not so serious as the ascent had been. We mounted our donkeys, and after paying a farewell visit to the Sphinx, we returned to Cairo as we had come, all agreeing that our expedition was one of the most agreeable and interesting we had ever made. I confess that it was with something of fear and trembling that I returned to the Sphinx that morning. I feared that the impressions which I had received the night before might be effaced by the light of day. But it was not so. The lines were fainter, and less deeply marked, but I found, or thought I found, the same meaning in them still.

[Sidenote: Pa.s.sengers homeward bound.]

_May 10th._--We are now pa.s.sing some islands, nearly opposite to Mocha: to morrow at an early hour we shall probably reach Aden. Shall we find any Chinese news there? And if we do, what will be its character? We have not yet heard a syllable to induce us to think that matters will be settled without a conflict, but then we have seen nothing official.

We met, at the station-house on the Nile, between Alexandria and Cairo, the pa.s.sengers by the last Calcutta mail-steamer. There were some from China among them, but I could gather from them nothing of any interest. It was a curious scene, by the way, that meeting: 260 first-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers, including children, pale and languid-looking, thrown into a great barn-like refectory, in which were already a.s.sembled our voyage companions (we ourselves had a separate room), jovial-looking, and with roses in their cheeks, which they are doubtless hastening to offer at the shrine of the sun. These two opposing currents, bearing such legible records of the climes from which they severally came, met for a moment on the banks of the Nile, time enough to interchange a few hasty words, and then rushed on in opposite directions. As I am not like the Englishman in 'Eothen,' who pa.s.ses his countryman in the Desert without accosting him, I had as much talk as I could with all the persons coming from China whom I could find, though, as I said, without obtaining any information of value.

[Sidenote: Perim.]

_May 11th.--Seven A.M._--Before I retired last night, I saw, through the starlight (we have little moon now) Perim. On the right is an excellent safe channel, eleven miles wide; so that it will be impossible to command the entrance of the Red Sea from Perim. There is a good anchorage on this side, so says our captain; but of course we could not see it. I am sorry we pa.s.sed it so late, as I should have liked Gros to have seen it, in order that he might calm the susceptibilities of his Government in respect to its formidable character. I enclose a little bit of a plant which I gathered on my return from the Pyramids. The botanist on board says it is a species of camomile. It is a commonplace plant, with a little blue flower, but I took a fancy to it, because it had the pluck to venture farther into the Desert, and to approach nearer the Pyramids than any other which I saw.

[Sidenote: Aden.]

_On Sh.o.r.e at Aden.--Noon._--I am at the house of Captain Playfair, who represents the Resident during his absence. A very pleasant breeze is blowing through the wall of reeds or bamboo, which encloses the verandah in which I am writing. I am most agreeably disappointed by the temperature; and, strange to say, both Captain P. and his wife do not complain of Aden! So it is with all who live here. And yet, when one looks at the place, dry as a heap of ashes, glared upon by a tropical sun, without a single blade of gra.s.s to repose the eye, or a drop of moisture from above to cool the air, save only about once in two years, when the sluices of Heaven are opened, and the torrents come down with a fury unexampled elsewhere, one feels at first inclined to doubt whether it can be possible for human beings to live here. I suppose that it is the reaction, produced by finding that it is not quite so bad as it appears, that reconciles people to their lot, and makes them so contented. We have got some sc.r.a.ps of China news; and what there is, seems to be pacific.

[Sidenote: Books.]

_At Sea.--May 15th._--If we go on to China, if we take the matter in hand, then I think, _coute que coute_, we must finish it, and finish it thoroughly. I do not believe that it will take us long to do so; but the indispensable is, that it should be done. This is my judgment on the matter, and I tell it to you as it presents itself to my own mind; but how much wiser is Gros, who does not peer into the dim future, but awaits calmly the dispersion of the mists which surround it!... He has been reading the book on Buddhism (St. Hilaire's), which I got on your recommendation, and have lent him. I have myself read Thiers; the _Idylls_ over again; some other poems of Tennyson's, &c.

&c. The first of these is very interesting. The pa.s.sion of the French nation for the name of Napoleon seems more and more wonderful when one peruses the record of the frightful sufferings which he brought upon them; and yet, at the time when his reign was drawing to its close, the disgust occasioned by his tyranny seemed to be the ruling sentiment with all cla.s.ses. As to the _Idylls,_ on a second perusal I like 'Enid' better than on the first; 'Vivien' better; 'Elaine' less; and 'Guinevere' still best of all. Nothing in the volume can approach the last interview between Arthur and the Queen.

_May_ 19_th._--We are to reach Galle to-morrow or next day.... I think of you and the dear small ones, to whom I feel myself drawn more closely than ever; for, in spite of my preoccupations, I became better acquainted with them during my last eleven months at home, than ever before-dear B.'s full and thoughtful eye; L.'s engaging and loving ways. Oh that I could be at home and at peace to enjoy all this!

[Sidenote: Ceylon.]

_Ceylon, May_ 21_st._--Last night was black and stormy, and when I came on deck this morning, I was told that we did not know exactly where we were; that we had turned our s.h.i.+p's head homewards, and were searching for Ceylon. We found it after a while, and landed in a pelt of rain at about noon.... On landing, I asked eagerly for China news. Hardly any to be obtained; little more than vague surmises. Nothing to justify an arrest of our movements, so we must go on. I do not know how it is, but I feel sadder and more depressed than I have felt before. I cannot but contrast my position when in this house a year ago with my present position. Then I was returning to you, looking forward to your dear welcome, complete success having crowned my mission to China, I am now going from you on this difficult and unwelcome errand.... I feel as if I knew every stone of the place where I pa.s.sed so many weary hours, waiting for Frederick, with a fever on me, or coming on. Gros is in the next room bargaining for rubies and sapphires; but I do not feel disposed to indulge in such extravagances.... The steamer in which we are to proceed to-morrow looks very small, with diminutive portholes.

We shall be a large party, and, I fear, very closely packed.

[Sidenote: Russell on the Indian Mutiny.]

_May 22nd._--Have you read Russell's book on the Indian Mutiny? I have done so, and I recommend it to you. It has made me very sad; but it only confirms what I believed before respecting the scandalous treatment which the natives receive at our hands in India. I am glad that he has had courage to speak out as he does on this point. Can I do anything to prevent England from calling down on herself G.o.d's curse for brutalities committed on another feeble Oriental race? Or are all my exertions to result only in the extension of the area over which Englishmen are to exhibit how hollow and superficial are both their civilisation and their Christianity?... The tone of the two or three men connected with mercantile houses in China whom I find on board is all for blood and ma.s.sacre on a great scale, I hope they will be disappointed; but it is not a cheering or hopeful prospect, look at it from what side one may.

[Sidenote: s.h.i.+pwreck.]

_Galle, May 23rd_.--L'homme propose, mais.... I ended my letter yesterday by telling you that I was about to embark for Singapore amid torrents of rain and growlings of thunder; but I little thought what was to follow on this inauspicious embarkation. We got on board the Peninsular and Oriental steamer 'Malabar' with some difficulty, there was so much sea where the vessel was lying; and I was rather disgusted to find, when I mounted the deck, that some of the cargo or baggage had not yet arrived, and that we were not ready for a start. I was already half wet through, and there was nothing for it but to sit still on a bench under a dripping awning. About twenty minutes after I had established myself in this position, the wind suddenly s.h.i.+fted, and burst upon us with great fury from the north-east. The monsoon, now due, comes from the south-west, and therefore a gale from the north-east was unexpected, though I must say that, as we were being a.s.sailed by constant thunderstorms, we had no right, in my opinion, to consider ourselves secure on any side against the a.s.saults of the wind. Be this however as it may, the gale was so violent that I observed to some one near me that it reminded me of a typhoon. I had hardly made this remark, when a severe shock, accompanied by a grating sound, conveyed to me the disagreeable information that the stern of the vessel was on the rocks. Whether we tad two anchors out or one; whether our cables were _hove taut_ or not; whether we had thirty fathoms out or only fifteen, are points still in dispute; but at any rate we had no steam; so, after we once were on the rock, we had for some time no means of getting off it. During this period the thumping and grating continued. It seemed, moreover, once or twice, to be probable that we should run foul of a s.h.i.+p moored near us. However, after a while, the engines began to work, and then symptoms of a panic manifested themselves. The pa.s.sengers came running up to me, saying that the captain was evidently going to sea, that there were merchant captains and others on board who declared that the certain destruction of the s.h.i.+p and all on board would be the consequence, and begging me to interfere to save the lives of all, my own included. At first I declined to do anything,--told them that I had no intention of taking the command of the s.h.i.+p, and recommended them in that respect to follow my example. At last, however, as they became importunate, I sent Crealock[2] to the captain, with my compliments, to ask him whether we were going to sea. The answer was not encouraging, and went a small way towards raising the spirits of my nervous friends around me. 'Going to sea,' said the captain, 'why, we are going to the bottom.' The fact is that we were at the time when that reply was given going pretty rapidly to the bottom. The water was rising fast in the after-part of the s.h.i.+p, and to this providential circ.u.mstance I ascribe our safety. The captain started with the hope that he would be able to pump into his boilers all the water made by the leak. If he had succeeded, the chances are that by this time the whole concern would have been deposited somewhere in the bed of the ocean. The leak was, however, too much for him, and he had nothing for it but to run over to the opposite side of the anchorage, where there is a sandy bay, and there to beach his s.h.i.+p. We performed this operation successfully, though at times it seemed probable that the water would gain upon us so quickly as to stop the working of the engines before we reached our destination. If this had happened we should have drifted on some of the rocks with which the harbour abounds. When we had got the stern of the vessel into the sand we discovered that we had not accomplished much, for the said sand being very loose, almost of the character of quicksand, and the sea running high, the stern kept sinking almost as rapidly as when it had nothing but water below it. The cabins were already full of water, and the object was to land the pa.s.sengers. As usual, there was the greatest difficulty in launching any of the s.h.i.+p's boats, and none of the vessels in the harbour, except one Frenchman (and one English I have since heard, but its boat was swamped, and therefore I did not see it), saw fit to send a boat to our a.s.sistance. In order to prevent too great a rush to the boats, I thought it expedient to announce that the women must go first, and that, for my own part, I intended to leave the s.h.i.+p last.[3] This I was enabled to do without unnecessary parade, as the first boat lowered was offered to me,--and no doubt the announcement had some effect in keeping things quiet and obviating the risk of swamping the boats, which was the only danger we had then to apprehend. Such were our adventures of yesterday afternoon. I had a presentiment that something would happen at Galle, though I could hardly have antic.i.p.ated that I should be wrecked, and wrecked within the harbour!... _Five P.M._--I have just been on the beach looking at our wreck. The stern, and up to the funnel is now all under water. A.

jury of 'experts' have sat on the case, and their decision is, that nothing can be done to recover what is in the after part of the vessel (pa.s.senger's luggage and specie) until the next monsoon sets in--some five or six months hence! A wardrobe which has spent that period of time under the sea will be a curiosity!

This untoward accident detained him for a fort-night at Galle, occupied in superintending and pressing on the operation of fis.h.i.+ng up what could be saved from the wreck. By the aid of divers, his 'Full Powers' and his decorations were recovered, together with most of his wearing apparel; but his 'letter of credence' was gone, and he had to telegraph to the Foreign Office for a duplicate.

[Sidenote: News from China.]

In the meantime the lingering hope which he had cherished of an immediate return to England was dispelled by accounts from China, which made it clear that he must proceed thither and go through with the expedition.

_May 28th.--Seven A.M._--This will be a sad letter to you, and I write it with a heavy heart, though we have much to be thankful for in the issue of this adventure.... I trust that Providence reserves for us a time of real quiet and enjoyment. I go to China with the determination, G.o.d willing! to bring matters there to a speedy settlement. I think that this is as indispensable for the public as for my own private interest. Gros is of the same opinion. I still hope, therefore, that with the change of the monsoon we may be wending our way homewards.

[Sidenote: Missionary station.]

_June 3rd._--Nothing has occurred to mark the lapse of time except a visit we paid two days ago to a place called Ballagam, some ten miles from here. It is a missionary station, built by the money of the Church Missionary Society, or by funds raised through the Society. It is situated on rising ground, and consists of an excellent bungalow for the missionary, a church, and a school. A good part of the building is upon an artificial terrace supported by masonry, and must have cost a great deal of money. It appears that at one time, while the work was going on, and cash was abundant, the congregation of so- called Christians numbered some 400. It is now reduced to thirty adults and about fifty children. The European missionary has left the place, and it is in the hands of a native missionary. It gave me a lively idea of the way in which good people in England are done out of their money for such schemes.

_June 4th._--This morning I was awakened by the appearance of Loch in my room, carrying a bag with letters from England. I jumped up and opened yours, ended on the 10th of May. Your letter is a great compensation for our s.h.i.+pwreck and delay, and it is at once a strange coincidence and contrast to what happened on the last occasion. Then your first letters to me were s.h.i.+pwrecked, and delayed a month in reaching me. This time I have been s.h.i.+pwrecked myself almost in the same place, and I have got your dear letter a month sooner than I had antic.i.p.ated. How differently do events turn out from our expectations!... I suppose we shall get off to-morrow, though the steamer for China is not yet arrived.... I have saved a considerable portion of my effects, some a good deal damaged. But some of my staff have lost much more, as they travel with a greater quant.i.ty of clothing, &c., than I do.

At last, on the 5th of June, they were able to leave Ceylon; and they reached Penang, after a rough pa.s.sage, on the 11th.

[Sidenote: Penang.]

_Steamer 'Pekin,' Straits of Malacca.--June 12th._--You may perhaps remember that, when I first visited Penang in 1857, the Chinese established there mustered in force to do me honour. There was a sketch in the 'Ill.u.s.trated News,' which portrayed our landing. No similar demonstration took place on this occasion; whether this was the result of accident or design, I cannot tell.... I have every inducement to labour to bring my work to a close; to reach sooner that peaceful home-life towards which I am always aspiring.... I think that I have a duty to perform out here; but as to any advantage which will accrue to myself from its performance, I am, I confess, very little hopeful.... It is terrible to think how long I may have to wait for my next letters. If we go on to the North at once, we shall be always increasing the distance that separates us. It is wearisome, too, pa.s.sing over ground which I have travelled twice before. No interest of novelty to relieve the mind. Penang and Ceylon are very lovely, but one cares little, I think, for revisiting scenes which owe all their charm to the beauties of external nature. It is different when such beauties are the setting, in which are deposited historical a.s.sociations, and the memories of great deeds or events. I do not feel the slightest desire to see again any even of the most lovely of the scenes I have witnessed in this part of the world. Indeed, so tired am I of this route, that I sometimes feel tempted to try to return by way of the Pacific, if I could do so without much loss of time.... This is only a pa.s.sing idea, however, and not likely to be realised.

[Sidenote: Singapore.]

_June 13th.--Singapore._--We arrived at about noon. I find a new governor, Colonel Cavanagh.... I am to take up my abode at the Government House. Not much news from China, but a letter from Hope Grant, asking me to order to China a Sikh regiment, which has been stopped here by Canning's orders, and I think I shall take the responsibility of reversing C.'s order, with which the men were very much disgusted.

The next day he was afloat again, on his way to Hong-Kong.

_June 14th._--When you receive this, you will be thinking of dear Bruce's school plans. Would that I could share your thoughts and anxieties!... I have been reading a rather curious book--the 'Life of Perthes,' a Hamburg bookseller. It reveals something of the working of the inner life of Germany during the time of the first Napoleonic Empire. It might interest you.

[Sidenote: Books.]

_June 17th_.--Another Sunday. How many since we parted? I cannot count them. It seems to me as if a good many years had elapsed since that sad evening at Dover. But here I am going on farther and farther from home! We hope to reach Hong-Kong on Thursday next; but that is not the end of my voyage, though it is the beginning of my work. I am still comparatively idle, ransacking the captain's cabin for books. The last I have read is Kingsley's 'Two Years Ago.' I do not wonder that you ladies like Kingsley, for he makes all his women guardian angels.

_June 19th_.--I have read Trench's 'Lectures on English' since yesterday. I think you know them, but I had not done more than glance at them before. They open up a curious field of research if one had time enough to enter upon it. The monotony of our life is not broken by many incidents. Tennyson's poem of the 'Lotus-Eaters' suits us well, as we move noiselessly through this polished sea, on which the great eye of the sun is glaring down from above. We pa.s.sed a s.h.i.+p yesterday with all sails set. This was an event; to-day a b.u.t.terfly made its appearance. In two days I may be forming decisions on which the well-being of thousands of our fellow-creatures may be contingent.

_June 20th_.--Still it is sad, sometimes almost overwhelming, to think of the many causes of anxiety from which you may be suffering, of which for months I can have no knowledge, and with which these letters when you receive them may seem to have no sympathy.... I can only pray that you may have in your troubles a protection and a guidance more effectual than any which I could afford when I was with you.... As to my own particular interests, I mean those connected with my mission, I can hardly form any conjectures.... I am glad that the time for work is arriving, though I cannot but feel a little nervous anxiety until I know what I shall learn at Hong-Kong respecting our prospects with the Chinese, &c. &c.