WOLSELEY'S WAR WITH CHINA.* This, we think, is a better
book than the one by Mr. Swinhoe, which we noticed a fortnight since. In descriptive power, except on purely military matters, it is not, indeed, greatly superior, but it is written in a manly and unaffected style, and the author's views, both on warlike questions and those of future policy, are well worthy of at-
tention. We shall not retrace with him the events of the campaign, which most newspaper readers remember well enough ; but even those who remember it best would have been glad of a map to refresh their memories. This, which we think a serious omission, is not atoned for by any extra clearness of description as to the line of march ; as an example of which fault, must be pointed out the commencement of Chapter IV., where we defy anybody to–make out., without a collation of subsequent passages, on which bank of the river the expedition landed.
There cannot, it seems, be two opinions as to how the whole affair was organized. Crimean experiences were not thrown away, and every- thing which could make an army efficient in the field or comfortable in camp was provided without stint. In these respects we had no reason to dread comparisons with our allies. Their promptitude in making the best of circumstances as they arose, in getting the best quar- ters, &e., was what it always has been, and they seem to have been somewhat more successful in winning the confidence of the natives. On the other hand, the English commissariat arrangements were the better of the two. On arriving at Peh-tang, the French did nothing but chase pigs, or catch fish for subsistence, because, having landed at first with more provisions than would keep, they had had to throw them all away. The English had only enough for three days, after which the regular supplies were issued. In the matter of strategic skill, Sir Hope Grant proved himself decidedly superior to his French colleague. The latter wished the attack on the Taku forts to be made on both banks of the river, a plan which would have split the force and exposed it to the risk of being cut up by the Tartar cavalry—would have necessitated the formation of a bridge, causing great delay, and was quite unnecessary, the key of the posi- tion being attainable without crossing at all. In spite of " formal protestations" by the French General, Sir Hope Grant adhered to own plan, and the event proved that he was perfectly right.
Colonel Wolseley, who thoroughly examined the whole position, gives a long and interesting description of it, and is of opinion that from almost any other point than the one chosen the position would have been impregnable. An absurd picture, which was found in Sang-ko- lin-sin's bedroom, representing a plan for attacking the "barbarian" army by means of bulls covered with combustibles and with fireworks tied to their tails, proved to his satisfaction that the Russians had given the Chinese no iustraction—as was formerly suspected—in the art of war, while it was also evident that if the labour employed in and about the forts had been under the direction of a skilled engineer, the place might have resisted for months.
The author is a thick-and-thin supporter of the Armstrong gun,
and is careful to deny stories which have been circulated about the unsoundness of the gun-carriages in the campaign, which, he says, tad to undergo a strain too severe for any but the best workmanship and materials to have endured it. Their firing was equally excellent. At a range of 1000 yards, it was found possible to hit the Chinese gunners at their pieces, and to disperse cavalry in a very few minutes. The French rifled guns, however, were, at the same range, as accu- rate and efficient as the Armstrong. The performance of the latter in a subsequent battle was equally satisfactory, and we do not find any mention of the " stripping" of the lead envelope, which has been stated to have taken place during some one of these engagements. Of the rifle under the new regime, Colonel Wolseley entertains a less sanguine opinion than is the fashion of the day, and the following extract is worth notice. The Tartar cavalry was at a distance, as we gather, of about 250 yards: "An infantry battalion close by was ordered by its brigadier to form square, and in that formation fired volleys at the advancing enemy, with- out, I believe, killing a man of them. Our old soldiers, untrained in all the minutiae of position and judging-distance drill, and armed with the much- abused old Brown Bess, could not certainly have done leas damage. Upon more than one occasion during the war, the absurdity of imagining that an enemy can be destroyed by an infantry fire delivered at long ranges, or directed at troops not crowded together in deep formations, was made ap- • ]Parr-afire of the War with China is1860. By Lieutenant-Colonel G. J. Wolseley, 90th Light Infantry. Longman& parent to all, except, perhaps, a few unpractical men, whose judgment was biased by theories, and from whom no amount of actual illustration in the field could drive the opinions which they had formed upon the sands at Hythe. Upon one occasion I remember seeing a man get up from behind some cover where he had been concealed, about twenty yards from a line of our skirmishers, and get away safely over a smooth open field, although fired at by every man of ours near him, some having reloaded and fired a second time at him."
Colonel Wolseley devotes a chapter to a description of the Summer Palace and of as much of its contents as remained in state quo after the first entrance of the French. All accounts agree in showing that the latter obtained the lion's share of the plunder. Officers and men "looted" indiscriminately, and, for fear of unpleasant collisions, all the English troops were carefully kept in camp while this fun was going on, so that they saw "their allies rolling in wealth, and even their own officers all more or less provided with curiosities, while they themselves had got nothing." After Sir Hope Grant had visited the palaces, a room of treasure was discovered there, " a small share of which" was secured for the English army by the exertions of Major Anson, one of our prize agents : this share amounted to about 90001. sterling. With all the "looting," however, it seems that the most valuable articles were left behind: "The grand entrance to Then-wing-yuen lay immediately beyond the paved road leading up to the gate, upon either side of which was the colossal representation of a lion mounted upon a granite pedestal. As they were of a bronze colour, no one took the trouble of ascertaining the nature of the metal of which they were composed, taking it for granted that they were of the ordinary alloy from which the bronze ornaments, so com- mon in China, are usually cast. Some months afterwards, when at Shanghai, some Chinamen asked a friend of mine residing there whether we had removed the golden lions from the"gate of Yuen-ming-ynen ; and upon being questioned regarding them, he described them accurately as being painted a bronze colour. Many other well-informed natives corroborated the statement, and said that the fact of their being gold was well known to all the nation.' It is to be regretted that we did not find it out before leaving Pekin, as from their- size I have no doubt but that their value would have gone far towards defraying the expenses of the war."
Colonel Wolseley is a little less vague in his descriptions of scenery than Mr. Swinhoe, but he does not give us very mach more definite ideas. He often mentions the colour, but never the exact shape, of anything. In describing the religious buildings of Poo-too (on the mainland near Chusan), he talks of the "picturesque roofs and tall flag-posts of the temple," of "a tall summer-house-looking building" with " a fantastically constructed roof," of "three large temples built one behind the other," each eousisting of "one large hall of lofty proportions supported by massive pillars within, the outer walls being of substantial masonry.' As for the exterior form or outline of these temples, or the character of their architecture, it may be like Salis- bury Cathedral, or the Army and Navy Club, or the Taj-Mahal, and the interior may be like Westminster Hall, or like Covent Garden Theatre, or like the Mosque of Omar, for anything that the colonel tells us. The hills seen during the voyage of the coast have " bold" outlines, and the houses at Wei-liei-wei are "neat and clean," and "thatched with straw," but whether in the form with which we are familiar or not it is impossible to say. Frequently the author thinks it enough to say that a building is "like a joss-house," which per- haps conveys some definite idea to Anglo-Orientals, but is scarcely precise enough for us. In describing the Summer Palace and its famous gardens, he tells us that beyond a certain lake were the "private apartments" of the emperor, but it does not seem to occur to him to give us any idea of the size or form of the building. That Colonel Wolseley is not destitute of descriptive power, but has simply not cultivated it as regards things in general, is evident from the fact that wherever he has to speak of anything in the nature of fortification he is clear and definite enough. His account of the walls of Pekin is excellent, but when he comes to mention the temples, official residences, &c., within the city, he only says that they possess " no local peculiarity." He notices, however, what we do not remember to have seen so clearly brought out elsewhere—the great contrast between the Tartar and Chinese portion of the city. The latter are full of good shops and of all sorts of thriving business, while everything in the former is characterized by lethargy and dirt. "The nomadic disposition of the race was indicated by the numbers of tents pitched about in odd parts of the city; in some places along the wide streets a space was left between them and the houses for foot passengers, and a roadway in the centre for carts and horses." This is certainly curious for the capital of a great empire. We are glad to see that the author defends the destruction of the Summer Palace, which our allies (not being able to carry it away like its most valuable contents) wished to spare, and thinks that it was the only measure calculated both to strike terror into the Government, and to prove to the people that with them we had no quarrel. As to the objects of the war, Colonel Wolseley thinks they had been thoroughly realized ; but perhaps it is a little too soon to draw any conclusions either way. The Chinese people seem to be very like those round-bottomed toys called "Chinese josses," which you may knock over as often as you like, but which always resume their position as soon as the pressure is taken off. The great difficulty now seems to be the question of what policy we ought to adopt towards the Tae-ping rebels. By far the most interesting and novel portion of Colonel Wolseley's work is a chapter describing his stay of a week at Nankin, which is now the head-quarters of the rebel power. He went there prejudiced against thesimperial government ; but left it with the strongest conviction that the rebels, although the mis- sionaries favour their cause, are entirely unworthy the name of Christians, and that their influence on the prosperity of the country is as bad as it can possibly be. The government of Nankin is of a most curious kind. The head of the whole movement is Hung-tsen-tsuen, now generally known as " en-wan," or "The Heavenly King ;" he, however, does not appear in public, but remains in the recesses of his palace, into which no male creature is suffered to penetrate. The accounts of the matrimonial privileges which he and his followers arrogate to themselves, read rather like a chapter from Utah than from the Flowery Land. The city is governed by eleven kings, to one or other of whom every man is attached and registered as his fol- lower, and each " king" provides for the wants of all his men—after a sort of patriarchal fashion. Even the coolies who were appointed to wait on the author were afraid to receive a " tip," immediate de- capitation being—to use railway language—" the consequence of ac- cepting the smallest gratuity." No shops are allowed, and the inha, bitants are thus entirely dependent upon the benevolence of their masters. The religion of the rebels is a blasphemous adaptation of Christianity, in which Tien-wan claims the title of "uterine younger brother" of Christ. It pretends to include a belief in the Trinity ; but no Chinaman can really admit the equality of the Father and the Son. The Jewish Sabbath is supposed to be kept, but no dif- ference is made between that and any other day, and there was no. thing like public worship anywhere to be seen. The slightest offences are visited with capital punishment, and the power of inflicting this is given to men of a rank equivalent to that of a policeman, who use it freely: "The man who on the day of our landing was sent with us from the custom-house to show the road into the city had this power. All who have it carry a little three-cornered flag, with the character Ling' in its centre. Such is their attribute of awe and majesty.' This guide vis a very common-looking fellow indeed ; dressed little better than a coolie, and holding such an inferior position, that the gatekeeper of the city refused to let us enter at his request. Mr. Roberts told us that when he was leaving Soochow en route for Nankin, a petty officer of this sort was sent with him to obtain chairmen for him at the different stages ; and upon that one occa- sion some poor person having annoyed him (the official), he said he would behead him, and was only prevented by Mr. Roberts from actually carrying his threat into execution. . . . Although smoking is said to be punishable by death, all the officials who visited us were delighted to get cigars; indeed at last they became rather importunate in their applications for the fragrant weed. Wherever we went the same question was univer- sally asked us, 'What have you got for sale ?" Have you any opium ?' ' Have you any fire-arms ?' A man went on board one of our ships lying off Nankin, and asked for a hundred chests of opium. Some of our party had once to pay the Tien-wan a visit late in the evening, when that royal personage was quite stupid, and most unmistakably under the influence of the above narcotic. To say that the Tien-wanists deserve any praise for their proclaimed laws prohibiting the use of opium, is absurd ; and although it may serve as a good missionary cry, to create sympathy for the cause in England, it will be laughed at by every man who has lately paid the Yang-tse-kiang a visit at any point where the rebel territories touch upon it. We visited many such places, and at all, as at Nankin, the great cry was for opium and arms."
The only strength of the rebels consists in the weakness of the Government :
" All the rebel soldiers that we saw were badly armed, the universal weapon being a long bamboo with a pike on the top—a very small propor- tion having old muskets, matchlocks, or pistols; a few, fowling-pieces and rifles. Every second man carried a huge flag, and some carried swords— altogether it is impossible to imagine a more undisciplined or inefficient mob. Wherever they go they plunder and destroy. Civilization and even animal life seem to disappear before them, and their march may be tracked by the bodies of murdered peasants and the ruined habitations which they leave behind them. The country people, far and wide, fly from contact with them, transporting their little all to some place which they deem safer. On the banks of the river, beyond the territories thus laid waste, numbers of large straw-built villages are now to be seen, hastily thrown up by the unfortunate refugees, who endeavour to support life by fishing, or by any local employment which they can obtain. In all such places as we had an opportunity of visiting, the distress and misery of the inhabitants were beyond description. Large families were crowded together into low, small, tent-shaped wigwams, constructed of reeds, through the thin sides of which the cold wind whistled at every blast from the biting north. The denizens were clothed in rags of the most loathsome kind, and huddled together for the sake of warmth. The old looked cast down and unable to work from weakness, whilst that eager expression peculiar to starvation, never to be forgotten by those who have once witnessed it, was visible upon the ema- ciated features of the little children. With most it was a mere question of how many days longer they might drag on their weary lives; whilst even the very momenta of many seemed already numbered. The rebel ranks are swelled in two ways: first, by the capture of unwilling men ; and secondly, by those who, being deprived of all they have in this world by the invading marauders, have, as their only alternative, either to starve, or join their spoilers, and thus obtain a subsistence by becoming spoilers themselves. The destructive policy of the rebels. in this way serves them well. As we steamed from Nankin up the river, how we desired that all those good people at home, who wished the Tien-wanists well, and pray daily for their success, could but make a similar voyage, and thus have an opportunity of judging for themselves regarding the two rival powers who are now struggling for mastery. When once you have passed clear from the rebel outpost, and got some distance within the still imperial territory, the con- trast around could scarcely be believed without seeing it. The river which near the rebels is a great deserted highway, is there to be seen well covered with trading craft; highly cultivated farms stretch down to the water's edge, whilst neatly-built and snug-looking villages and hamlets are scattered along both banks."
Colonel Wolseley thinks that our true policy in China is now to carry out our alliance with the emperor by helping hint to put down the rebellion. It would be easy to take Nankin, and its capture would go far towards restoring peace and prosperity to the country, while it would do more than anything else to open the interior to our own commerce. The rebels at present look with the greatest jealousy and suspicion on our newly established trade on the Yang-tsc-kiang, for they think our presence at Hankow and elsewhere will procure for those places a safety which the Imperialists alone could not afford them. On the Yang-tse itself Colonel Wolseley made a voyage as far as Hankow. His account is interesting enough, but adds little to what we know from a similar narrative published, at the close of the i
war, in the Times, and read in an enlarged form at the last meeting
of the Geographical Society.
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