Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh Part 29

The inspectorate system has placed a set of cosmopolitan mercenaries in a position not only to govern but to prey upon the whole foreign trade with China. They are ever upon the _qui vive_ to seize and confiscate the merchandise of their own countrymen, and have caused the effectual closing of every port on the coast of China, except those opened by treaty. Property that may be unprotected by every legal right, or may be placed (through the owner's ignorance of inspectorate forms) in such a position as to incur some of the vexatious penalties attaching to every infraction of rules almost daily issued by the European Commissioners of Customs, or their Mandarin colleagues, _ad libitum_, is eagerly pounced upon and appropriated. In fact, it may safely be said that, instead of benefiting foreigners and their trade, the scheme acts directly against their interests; that it places a number of European and American adventurers in a position to a.s.sist the Mandarins in taking every advantage of each flaw in the treaty, while at the same time const.i.tuting a capital s.h.i.+eld behind which the still repulsive Manchoos can execute their anti-foreign plotting in safety.

3. The hostilities against the Ti-pings were caused through the unrighteous policy established by the treaty of Tien-tsin, the foreign inspectorate of Customs, the extortion of indemnity for the war, and the protection of the vile opium trade. This policy has been a great success, in so far as arresting and beating backward the only portion of the mult.i.tudinous Chinese whose progress afforded a prospect of change for the better. It has, with still greater iniquity, warred against and prevented the spread of Christianity; destroyed many thousands and tens of thousands of those who professed that faith, and has stopped the circulation and printing of the Bible in its full integrity by the Ti-ping Government, besides having caused the re-establishment of idolatry on the ashes of the destroyed Book, and the wholesale slaughter of those who only begged for our friends.h.i.+p and instruction. Through the wicked intervention of England, the former territory of the Ti-pings has been wrested from them, and the bleached bones of the victims mark the country thick and close for hundreds of miles. The starvation, the horrors, have been fully described; and now it is reported from China that many of the solitudes created where once happy villages of Ti-pings were found, have become infested with beasts of prey--wolves, panthers, and tigers.

As for having effected the slightest improvement in British relations with China, made the Manchoo authorities less unfriendly and illiberal, or rendered the least service to the general welfare of humanity, the past policy of the British Government has proved a lamentable failure.

By unjustifiable meddling, England has thrown China into a state of general anarchy. The cruelty and excessive corruption of the Manchoo officials throughout the country have always been sufficiently great to cause local insurrections and different regular systems of rebellion; but it was only to the great Ti-ping revolution (which proved its power so superior to that of the Imperial Government as to threaten the rapid extermination of the latter, and compel the a.s.sistance of England to save it) that people could look for success, and eventual pacification of the empire. Well, these urgently required results have been prevented by the policy in question.

Unable to depend upon the success of the Ti-ping movement, the disaffected Chinese have joined other rebellions, and at this day there are many desolating the country. In the north, a great amalgamation of the Yellow River rebels (an old organization, sometimes under allegiance to the Ti-ping king) or Nien-fie, with a force of Ti-pings, and a large body of Mohammedan rebels, has taken place. The army of this league is estimated at over 300,000 men; in the summer of 1865 they defeated the Tartar Generalissimo (of Pekin campaign memory) San-ko-lin-sin, who was afterwards killed by some country people with whom he sought a refuge--thus showing the state of feeling amongst the population. The northern rebels then seriously menaced Pekin itself, and at one time it was reported that they had captured the city; lately they seem to have moved more to the westward--probably to effect a junction with other revolutionists; but it is quite certain that the Imperialists are unable to subdue them.

Besides the league, there are two other formidable rebellions raging in the north of China--the Mohammedan rebels, who defy the power of the Government in Shen-si, Shan-se, Kan-su, and other parts of the empire.

To the south of these come the "Honan filchers," a horde of more than 100,000 banditti, who maintain, as they have done for years, an independent existence in the Honan Province. Away to the west, the large Tartar province of E-li, four times as large as Great Britain, has been wrested from the Imperialists by a rising of Mahommedans.

Along the western boundary general anarchy prevails: it would almost seem that as Russia advances into central Asia, the Mohammedans were moving towards China.

In the great province of Sze-chuan, the Ti-pings under s.h.i.+h-ta-kae, the I-w.a.n.g, or his successor, are still in power. At Hankow (treaty port) in Hu-peh, and at Kew-kiang in Kiang-si, the Imperialist troops lately revolted and set up the standard of rebellion. In Ngan-whui serious disturbances have arisen. Farther south, in Kwei-chow, Yun-nan, and Kw.a.n.g-si, the Miau-tze, or independent mountaineers, are steadily increasing in strength; in fact, every province of China is more or less the scene of formidable revolution or local revolt.

The Ti-pings, in strong force, under the s.h.i.+-w.a.n.g and other leaders, are making rapid progress on the borders of the provinces of Kw.a.n.g-tung, Kiang-si, and Fu-keen, and the Imperialist troops seem totally unable to interfere with them.

Referring to the distracted state of China, the _Overland China Mail_, June 29, 1865, truly states that "there must be something in the conduct of the Imperial Government, and of the local Mandarins, which provokes a strong feeling of resentment against their authority in all parts of the empire." Singularly enough, the same journal has always opposed the revolutionists who tried to alter a Government the people hate.

The _Times_, in its Chinese intelligence of June 21, 1865, referring to the successes of the Nien-fie League, states:--

"So far as we can at present see, the Nien-fie insurrection is likely to prove quite as formidable as was that of the Taepings.

Their leaders have substantial wrongs to avenge, and the people themselves have been subjected to so many hards.h.i.+ps at the hands of the local Mandarins that the slightest spark is sufficient to set the whole north of China in a blaze of rebellion."

Those who have advocated interfering against such a movement as that of the Ti-pings, and supporting such a dynasty as that of the Manchoos, must have very curious reasons to plead for a justification--they have generally admitted the necessity for a change of government, and then amused themselves by resisting the change when offered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF CHINA _Showing the locality of the different rebellions in that Empire, the line of retreat taken by the Ti-pings from their settled territory, and their present position Spring of the year 1866._]

The only policy which could have benefited China would have been, either an energetic protectorate established by England, and maintained with energy until the evil Government had been thoroughly and radically reformed in every branch; or, what would have been far better, the Chinese should have been left to themselves and allowed to choose their own rulers. If England had simply preserved her honour and remained neutral, China would have had a native, progressionist, and powerful Government at the present day. That huge empire has lasted more than 2,000 years, and the only deterioration its const.i.tution has suffered has been caused by the Tartar conquest. The resources of China are as great, the capacities of her people as vigorous, and the elements of her ancient civilization as durable as ever: once let the incubus of Manchoo maladministration be removed, that vast and intelligent people will rapidly establish a native Government which will inaugurate an era of progression and improvement. For some time the usurping dynasty has been tottering towards its fall; England would have done well to have avoided supporting the decayed and hopelessly corrupt fabric. She has served a dying despotism, too far gone to feel even grat.i.tude for her a.s.sistance, and has repelled a young successor who wished ardently to become of the same brotherhood as herself!

4. By her aggressive, meddling policy, England has alarmed the naturally suspicious and treacherous Manchoos. Making them feel towards the "outer barbarians" the pa.s.sion of fear as well as hate, has, of course, only tended to make them more exclusive and repellant than ever. Every mail from China brings successive proof of the fact. Those who receive advices from the East cannot fail to notice such pa.s.sages as the following:--

The _Overland China Trade Report_, in its issue September 11, 1865, states:--

"Each succeeding mail takes some instance of Mandarin repellance towards foreigners. There can be no doubt that this feeling is the policy decided on by the Pekin Cabinet.... As bearing upon this point, reference is called to a notification ... issued by the Shanghae authorities, forbidding Chinese to hire foreign vessels.... The hand of Tseng-kwo-fan, the leader of the anti-foreign party, becoming visible in the present foreign policy pursued...."

The article then proceeds to notice the fact that the Mandarin policy of preventing the employment of foreign s.h.i.+pping, and encouraging that of native craft, simply tends to increase piracy by providing prey; and is further reprehensible because the Mandarins will not a.s.sist to suppress an evil which, were it not for the presence of British men-of-war, would destroy their entire maritime commerce. Mr. Hart, the Inspector General of Customs, endeavoured to induce the Imperial Government to allow Chinese to own vessels constructed after the foreign mode, but the hatred of foreign innovation, however beneficial, prevailed, and the authorities refused the much-desired boon.

Another instance of Manchoo repellance is the withdrawal of the concession formerly granted to foreign vessels to visit the ports of the Island of Formosa.

And again: the port of Wan-chew was open to foreign trade before the treaty of Tien-tsin, and became a place of much importance. Why it was not included in the list of open ports it is difficult to understand.

The foreign representatives and merchants lately endeavoured to obtain the concession of having it opened to foreign trade, and for a time were encouraged by Prince Kung to believe that their request would be complied with. But since Tseng-kwo-fan has come to the front, the concession is rejected, and the idea abandoned.

The notification referred to as prohibiting the employment of foreign vessels was issued by Lin, Imperial Commissioner, and acting Viceroy of Kiang-su, in which province Shanghae is situated. It seems to have proved very effectual, and very injurious to British s.h.i.+pping interest.

The last mail from China brought the _Overland Trade Report_, dated "Hong-kong, October 15, 1865." It contains these lines:--"The repellance and anti-foreign tendencies of the Mandarins are becoming more broadly marked as each month advances."

The _North China Market Report_ states "that the Chinese are rapidly learning to disregard the most important of the treaty stipulations." In fact, all sources of information are unanimous as to the hostile feelings of the Manchoo Government England has done so much to bolster up.

Just six months have elapsed since the Colonial Government of Hong-kong perverted its powers by giving up an unfortunate refugee from Nankin to the sanguinary Imperialist Mandarins. After noticing the facts of the case, we will observe how the Manchoos responded to the officious and unwarrantable efforts of the Hong-kong rulers to execute the exterritoriality clause of the notorious treaty of Tien-tsin, the twenty-first article of which stipulates that, "if _criminal_ subjects of China shall take refuge in Hong-kong, or on board of British s.h.i.+ps there, they shall, upon due requisition by the Chinese authorities, be searched for; and, _on proof of their guilt_, be delivered up."

Acting upon the above clause, the Canton Mandarins, in the month of April, 1865, demanded from the Colonial Government the rendition of a certain Chinaman residing at the latter place, on the plea of his having been a pirate. The man demanded had been residing in Hong-kong since September, 1864, and the following facts transpired during the inquiry inst.i.tuted. He had been a Ti-ping chief, known as the Mo-w.a.n.g (probably a successor to the rank of the a.s.sa.s.sinated Commandant of Soo-chow); and, upon the evacuation of Nankin, had escaped and made his way to Hong-kong, with a considerable sum of money. As this became known to members of some secret societies established amongst the Chinese there, he was subjected to much extortion from people who threatened to denounce him to the Mandarins as a rebel unless he satisfied their demands. At last the persecution drove him to seek legal advice from some English lawyer, who told him that he was perfectly safe on British soil. Consequently, he defied his persecutors; and they, doubtless, to obtain reward from the Mandarins, fulfilled their threats. The princ.i.p.al Manchoo official at Canton, who was certain of promotion should he succeed in catching a rebel of such rank, forthwith demanded his rendition _as a pirate_.

The man was seized and tried before the magistrates' court, where the above evidence was obtained. The proof of his piracy (although consisting of the testimony of only _one_ Chinese witness, _sent down specially by the Mandarins_) was considered sufficient; and, notwithstanding the protest of the counsel retained for the prisoner, the magistrate, under the direction of the law officers of the Crown, made out the requisite order for his rendition.

The valuable account from which the facts of this case are taken[83]

states:--

"On this being communicated to the Mo-w.a.n.g, he made up his mind to commit suicide, if possible, by jumping overboard on his pa.s.sage to Canton, knowing, as he did too well, the horrid fate that there awaited him. When _handed over_ to the Chinese officials, he begged to be released from the handcuffs; but one of our civil officials (the man's name should be made public), not in the police, would not permit this; and he was therefore conveyed to Canton in the manacles of the Hong-kong police. On his arrival there he was taken to prison, the next day brought before the Mandarin, where he refused to plead, acknowledging himself a Ti-ping chief: he was taken back to prison, and the next day was executed in the way reserved for _political offenders_, viz., he was tied to a cross, his cheeks then sliced off, then the insides of his arms, thighs, &c., and finally disembowelled while yet alive. This put beyond a doubt the real cause of the demand for this man, and the real offence for which he was wanted."

Now, in this cruel case of rendition the Government of Hong-kong committed an act repugnant alike to humanity and the Christian principles of their countrymen, and which was not only entirely illegal, but grossly unjust.

The Mo-w.a.n.g was demanded and given up as a pirate. The only evidence against him was given by _one_ Chinaman, and tended to prove that the chief had once stopped a Chinese vessel, on board of which was the witness, endeavouring to run past the Ti-ping Custom House established at Nankin. The junk was confiscated by the Ti-ping authorities. Here we have the main point of the case. This was the only act charged against the Mo-w.a.n.g. The only question is whether it was piracy. The Colonial authorities, true to the Mandarin-wors.h.i.+pping-and-Ti-ping-destroying policy, answered in the affirmative. Let us examine their decision.

First. The Ti-pings had been recognised as belligerents; and, moreover, as an established power, by repeated acts upon the part of representatives of Great Britain (and other countries); how then could the seizure of a vessel of the enemy by the Mo-w.a.n.g--a regularly commissioned officer of the Ti-ping Government--be construed into an act of piracy? Why, the United States of America would have stronger (though none the less unreasonable) grounds to demand from England the rendition of every ex-Confederate officer, as a pirate, who might be found within her jurisdiction! The decision of the Hong-kong authorities is clearly against the rights of the case and the law by which it was tried. But what conclusively proves this is the fact that the Mandarins demanded the Mo-w.a.n.g as a pirate, but executed him as a _political offender_, and nothing else.

Thus, it cannot fail to be seen that the unfortunate victim was not a pirate--the Hong-kong Solons gave him up as one.

Secondly. The extradition treaty with China specially declares "_criminal_" offenders as those who may be given up, upon "_proof_ of guilt." The Mo-w.a.n.g was not a criminal, therefore the Hong-kong authorities violated the law by giving him up as such.

Thirdly. The treaty of Tien-tsin was not the law of Hong-kong, therefore the authorities had no legal right to render up even a criminal subject of China--how much less the innocent Mo-w.a.n.g! As the Hong-kong _China Overland Trade Report_, May 30, 1865, truly states, in reviewing this atrocious affair:--"It would appear that the local authorities have not only read the treaty erroneously, but that they have no power whatever to meddle in the matter, no ordinance ever having been pa.s.sed to enable them to take cognizance of offences under the Tien-tsin treaty....

"The case of the St. Alban's raiders has elicited the fact that a treaty is not a statute, and cannot be adopted by a court of law without a statutory enactment. The Ashburton treaty was not the law of Canada, because the Government had neglected to legalize it by statute. So the Tien-tsin treaty is not the law in Hong-kong, because no ordinance has been pa.s.sed to legalize it."

The above three objections to the rendition of the Mo-w.a.n.g pretty strongly prove that his death was a judicial murder by those who unlawfully gave him up to so frightful a doom. Another example of British malversation in China, and a further instance of persecution of the Ti-pings!

It might at least have been expected when British officials exceeded their authority and so misapplied the exterritoriality clause of the treaty in order to oblige the Mandarins, that the latter would have responded. We will observe how they did so.

Within _one month_ of the rendition of the Mo-w.a.n.g, the Imperialists in the neighbourhood of Amoy captured the mercenary soldier, Burgevine (already noticed in these pages), an Englishman named Green, and a British East Indian subject, whilst endeavouring to join the Ti-pings at Chang-chew. These men had committed no crime, and were caught _before_ having committed any political offence (any previous episode of Burgevine's life const.i.tuting another case, which did not concern the Englishman, Green). Even if they had succeeded in joining the revolutionists, and had afterwards been caught levying war against the Imperialists, their only offence would have been a political one, viz., breach of neutrality, punishable by deportation from China or three months' imprisonment.

The American Consul at Amoy, hearing of the seizure, demanded, as in this case he had a perfect right to do, the rendition of Burgevine, according to the terms of the exterritoriality clause of the treaty. The Mandarins refused to fulfil their obligations and give up the men. They carried them into the interior and murdered them by heavily ironing, and then drowning them, afterwards pretending that the three unfortunate prisoners had met their death by the capsize of a boat in which they were being conveyed across a river!

Thus we see that immediately after a Chinese _political_ offender was illegally given up to the Manchoo Government by the authorities of Hong-kong, the Mandarins deliberately violated the exterritoriality stipulations of the treaty, by refusing to give up the three men whom they had seized before offence, on suspicion only, and by cruelly putting them to death.

The last mail from China brings intelligence of the murder of three Europeans at the treaty port of Chin-kiang. Two (Messrs. Filleul and Pickernel) were Englishmen, and old friends of mine; the third, a Mr.

Lewis, was an American. These men were set upon by Imperialist soldiers in the dead of the night, while sleeping, and cruelly murdered, without having given any offence, although another European had struck a Chinaman on the previous day. The murderers belonged to a disciplined contingent, commanded by a Mandarin named Kwo, a force which had been raised, officered, and equipped by British means!

Besides the continual violation of the exterritoriality clause of the treaty, the Manchoos have lately displayed their growing disregard for their obligations and their increasing repugnance to foreigners in a variety of illiberal measures. To those which we have already noticed may be added the late blunt refusal of the Pekin Cabinet to allow the construction of a proposed Russian line of telegraph from Siberia to that city.

Another very serious blow to British and Chinese interests has been the fruitless mission of Sir M. Stephenson. The Manchoo Government has pointedly refused to grant permission for the introduction or construction of railways, and the local authorities have obstructively prevented the formation of proposed experimental lines at Canton, and between Shanghae and Woo-sung, a distance of about fourteen miles.

There is another case in point, which effectually proves the thorough impracticability of the Manchoos. A few months ago an enterprising Shanghae merchant, Mr. E. A. Reynolds, was public-spirited enough to erect a line of telegraph from Shanghae to the sea-coast. He made all arrangements, compensated various native landowners, and erected his posts, only to find them all chopped down again one fine morning. The Mandarins, when appealed to, insulted the British Consul, and refused to allow the erection of the telegraph, the alleged reason being that it interfered with Fung-shui--the spirit of geomancy, the air, or something else.

Shortly before the above outrage, the Mandarins showed their grat.i.tude for the a.s.sistance England had given them, by closing the whole of the silk districts and interior to steam communication or transit by foreigners, the same having been free and open under the rule of the Ti-pings, who encouraged the employment of steamers.

Many other instances of Manchoo repugnance and hostility could be mentioned, but those noticed are sufficient for all purposes, and so we will close our review of _some_ of the results of British policy in China.