BOOKS.
LORD ELGIN'S MISSION TO CHINA A_ND JAPAN.• [man NOTICE.j Ma. Onremaair's new book possesses a twofold interest, as a aphie personal narrative and as an authentic account of Lord Elg in's proceedings and policy in China and Japan. As we can- not fairly discuss the work in both its phases within the limits of a single article, we will, for the present, confine our attention to its political matter, reserving its more :picturesque and ad- venturous details for another occasion.
Mr. Oliphant thinks it needless to discuss the particulars of the Arrow case seeing that they were thoroughly canvassed at the time. He briefly recounts the facts, only as a matter of his- tory, and as a necessary introduction to his remarks on the steps taken by our diplomatic and naval authorities on the spot to re- dress the alleged insult. The consequences of these steps, he says, coupled with other causes, compelled Lord Elgin to adopt a line of policy not altogether in accordance with his original in- structions, as defined in the House of Commons by Lord Palmer- ston during the session of 1857. He does not disguise his opinion that the proceedings of Sir John Bowring and Sir Michael Sey- mour in the vain attempt to induce the Imperial Commissioner to make the amende honorable, were from first to last highly in- judicious. Sir John entangled himself in a disadvantageous cor- respondence with the wily Yeh, and Sir Michael's coercive mea- sures were wholly ineffectual, whilst Yeh carried on the war in his own peculiar fashion, by subornation of murder and other underhand proceedings' with great vigour and encouraging success. There was one act of the British authorities which Mr. Oliphant condemns as peculiarly impolitic. After their inability to exact an apology by force had been unmistakably manifested, they strangely thought the opportunity a fitting one to complicate the pending question by additional demands of the most irritating kind. "These additional demands involved the right for all foreign representa- tives of free access to the authorities and city of Canton. Hitherto the point at issue had been one simply of principle, and turned upon the right of the Chinese Government to seize a Iorcha under certain conditions. It is just possible that even this stubborn fuctionary may have had his doubts on the subject, and been disposed to purchase peace and quietness at the price of so immaterial a concession. But now any momentary weakness, if it ever existed, was passed for ever. A grave question of policy had been raised—an old and much vexed one, in the successful battling of which his predecessors had covered themselves with glory. Moreover, this sudden change of issue rouses the whole suspicious nature of the Chinaman, and he draws an inference somewhat discreditable to us, but not to be wondered at, which he thus expresses in a proclamation issued to the Cantonese : "'Whereas the English barbarians have commenced disturbances on a false pretence, their real object being admission into the city, the Governor- General, refering to the unanimous expression of objection to this measure on the part of the entire population of Canton in 1849, has flatly refused to concede this and is determined not to grant their request, let them carry their feats and machinations to what length they will.'" in the sequel there occurred an incident which Mr. Oliphant notices as furnishing a contrast between our policy and that of the United States under somewhat similar circumstances. The- American flag was fired on from the Barrier Forts, and these, as a measure of retaliation, were taken and destroyed by Commodore Armstrong, of the United States Navy. Here the matter ended ; Dr. Parker thought the insult to the flag had been sufficiently avenged, and shortly afterwards resumed correspondence with Yeh. It is plain, from the manner in which Mr. Oliphant alludes to this affair' tbat he thinks the American mode of resenting in-, salts offered by the Chinese is much worthier of imitation than that adopted by Sir John Bawring. The result of the latter, pre- vious to the arrival of Lord Elgin, was that " never before, since the abolition of the old monopoly, had Englishmen made so poor a figure in the eyes of the Chinese populace." This state of things was a good deal modified by the gallant affair of Fatshan on the 1st of June, 1857' but many months elapsed before Lord Elgin was in a condition to enter upon a more effectual course of policy. He had to wait for the forces which. should take the place of those he had, with such happy prompti- tute, handed over to the Governor-General of India ; and even had not this cause of delay existed he must have waited for the arrival of the French Ambassador. Lord Elgin landed at Hong- kong on the 1st of July ; but Baron Gros did not make his ap- pearance until the 16th of October. On the 10th of December the British Minister sent his ultimatum to Yeh, demanding the execution of treaty engagements, and compensation for losses sus- tained by British subjects, the island of Henan being meanwhile occupied as a material guarantee. On the 13th, Yell returned a frivolous reply, denying all the alleged grounds of complaint, and concluding with an assurance that all difficulties might be satis- torily arranged through the medium of a little amicable corres- pondence. Thereupon Yeh was summoned to surrender the c' on or before the 22d, but the attack was humanely delayed longer, so that every opportunity was afforded to the authorities to yield, and to the people to provide for their own safety and the security of their property. The bombardment began on the 28th, and was continued for twenty-seven hours, but the resistance was insignificant, and the Ambassadors took formal possession of the city on New Year's Day, 1858. Yeh was captured and sent a prisoner to Calcutta where he died ; but Pihkwei, Governor of Canton, and the Tartar general were reserved for other uses.
* Narrative of the Earl of Rigin's Mission to China and Japan in the years 1857, '58, '59. By Laurence Oliphant, Private Secretary to Lord Elgin. with Illustration-a from Original Drawings and Photographs. In two volumes. Pub- lighed by Blackwood and Sons. To preserve the population, from the worst effects of anarchy it was necessary to organize a government without delay. The naval and military authorities confessed their inability to govern the city, and their conviction that the Chinese functionaries were alone competent to preserve order. This being also the opinion of the Plenipotentiaries, Pihkwei was installed as governor, but all possible care was taken to make it plain to himself and to the whole Chinese population that he held office only by the authority and at the will of the Plenipotentiaries and the Commander-in- Chief. This is one of the measures condemned by Sir John Bow- ring in his article, "The Chinese and the Outer Barbarians," in the CornItill _Magazine. "A grand opportunity," he says, "was
thus lost of exhibiting to the Cantonese the benefits of a just and honest, however severe, administration ; " Mr. Oliphant, on the other hand, gives strong reasons for his belief that "it was mani- festly absurd to think of replacing the local Chinese system of government by one of our own; any such attempt would assuredly lead to the plunder and destruction of the town, the demoraliza- tion of the troops, and to disappointment and failure on the part of those engaged in carrying out the experiment. Of this fact no persons were more thoroughly convinced than Mr. Wade and Mr. Parkes, upon whom would devolve the functions of all the man- darins in Canton." There were other embarrassments with which we were threatened by our occupation of one city in an empire with which we were not formally at war. This was manifestly a condition of things out of which international difficulties might easily spring, if there should chance to be—as there was reason to suspect—any disposition to create them. It well accorded, therefore, with Lord Elgin's policy to comply with the prayer of the Cantonese merchants, and of Pihkwei himself, that the blockade established during Lord Elgin's absence in India should be raised, and this was according done on. the 10th of February. "Those," says Mr. Oliphant, "who are familiar with the normal state of our rela- tions with Chinese mandarins at Canton, will appreciate the change which must have been operated upon them when the go- vernor of the city approaches a British minister as a suppliant for the reestablishment of that trade in the prosecution of which it has been the policy of England so often to humiliate itself before China."
About the end of March, the English and French Pknipoten- taries arrived at Shanghai' having previously forwarded notes to
the Imperial Secretary of State, whilst others were also sent by the representatives of the two neutral Powers—Russia and the United States. The result convinced Lord Elgin that it was only by proceeding to the Peiho that he could bring the Court of Pekin to their senses, but he was considerably embarrassed by Admiral Seymour's failure to send forward the ships and gun- boats at the time specified. Lord Elgin proceeded without them, but was constrained after all to wait for the arrival of the admirals and a larger force. This, we are told, was-
" A necessity which ultimately compelled Lord Elgin to abandon entirely his original policy. It had been his hope, when he proceeded from Shang- hai to the Nortb,1 that a'. or about the time of his arrival in the Gulf of Pechelee, a force, especially of gun-boats drawing little water, would be collected there, sufficiently large to enable him to approach the capital at
once, and to conclude a peace, at such a period of the year as would have admitted of his visiting Pekin before the hot season. If this plan had been carried out, not only would many of the inconveniences I shall have to de-
tail been avoided, but the difficult question of direct intercourse with the Emperor would have. been solved, at a. moment when there were unusual facilities for settling it satisfactorily. Unfortunately, this hope was not
realized. In order to employ the time which elapsed before the arrival of the gun-boats, it was necessary to spend five weeks in temporizing at the mouth of the Peiho, during which time the Chinese authorities not unna- turally strengthened their defences, and sent orders to the Braves in the
neighbourhood of Canton to harass us in our occupation of the city. A further consequence of this delay was, that before the Treaty of Tientsin was concluded the thermometer was 96* in the shade,—a state of things which, coupled with the urgent call from Hongkong and Canton for the re- turn of the force, rendered any advance on the capital highly inexpedient. Owing to this circumstance, it was left for the minister charged with the ratification of the treaty to solve the delicate questions involved in the re- ception of a British mission at Pekin."
The Takoo forts were taken by assault on the 20th of May. Admiral Seymour having attacked at the top of the tide, our men had but a few yards of mud to traverse, and they were in the embrasures at once. The enemy were evidently taken by sur- prise, not knowing that it was our practice to take batteries by assault ; but in the late unfortunate attack the extent of mud to be crossed was much greater, and the garrison knew that we should land and storm, and were prepared accordingly. Pushing on to Tientsin Lord Elgin was met by the Imperial Commission- ers, and took such a tone with them as afflicted them with undis- guised dismay, and cured them of all desire to practise any more diplomatic jugglery upon him. This task, however, was under- taken by Sir Henry Pottinger's old friend Keying, who was nomi- nated in an independent capacity to assist in the settlement of the barbarian business. Lord Elgin refused to meet him, and his dis- comfiture was completed by the production of a memorial under his own hand, which had been found among the spoils of Yeh.. It contained a full recital of the stratagems he had used to delude the" blindly unintelligent" barbarians in the affair of the former treaty, and its production was a complete estopper to his meddling in the negotiation of another. He slunk away from his post, was served with an autograph decree of the Emperor's that he should make away with himself, and drank poison in presence of the bearers of the order.
The text of the treaty concluded at Tientsin is published at full length for the first time in Mr. Oliphant's appendix. Among its clauses not included in the other treaties there were two which Lord Elgin obtained with the utmost difficulty,—those, namely, which conceded a right of residence for a British Ambassador at Pekin, and to British subjects the right of travelling to all parts of China for trading purposes. These rights, which some persons in England are now representing as worthless, are shown to be the most important of concessions, absolutely indispensable (along with a third) to a peaceful and prosperous commerce with China. Peace with that empire can only be preserved by dealing directly with the Imperial Court for the prevention of the causes of war ; and there is no possibility of obtaining cheap tea except by pur- chasing it on the spot where it is grown, and there paying a fixed ad valorem duty upon it, in lien of the oppressive and indefinite transit duties to which it is now subject.
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