FOREIGN RELATIONS.
The conduct of the Chinese, ever since the peace executed by Sir Henry Pottinger, had been such as to show that the treaty was not intended to be kept by the authorities any longer than force constrained, and that with the people all intercourse with foreigners on equal terms was unpopular. During 1846 unoffending Europeans at Canton were frequently attacked, and on one occasion the factories were stormed, and only after a protracted conflict did the Europeans and Americans succeed in expelling the assailants. The government of Canton always affected to deprecate this violence on the part of the Cantonese, and as far as proclamations went there was a magnificent display of justice. Several Englishmen and other foreigners were murdered, and certain innocent Chinese were seized and executed by the mandarins, while the murderers were notoriously at large. In 1847 the merchants, who had often in vain called for protection and redress from the British government, drew up a memorial of their wrongs, which induced Sir John Davis, the governor of Hong-Kong, to interfere on their behalf. Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen seemed to adopt the policy of submitting to any indignities the Chinese government or people might offer, rather than interrupt commercial relations, or create any embarrassment at home. Possibly the state of parties and the general distress at home may have influenced the premier and the foreign minister to adopt this course, but its result was injurious to British interests and to humanity; it entailed a still greater interruption of commerce, and involved a larger sacrifice of human life.
The demands of the merchants were:—1. A distinct recognition of their rights to go such distance into the surrounding country as could be traversed, either by land or water, in one day out and home; and full protection during such period from attack or insult.—2. A space of ground of about fifty acres at Honan, or in some other convenient part of the suburbs, for the erection of warehouses and dwelling-houses.—3. A site for a church and church-yard * for British residents.
* By a “church yard” was meant a burial-ground attached to the church, for Europeans only.
—4. A burial-ground for the Parsee community, either on Dares or French Island, of forty thousand square feet.—5. A bridge to be thrown over the passage of Hog Lane, to connect the two factory gardens.—6. A cook-house for Lascars in Hog Lane.—7. The railing in of Lower China Street and the lower part of Hog Lane, and the garden walls to be kept free from Chinese buildings, excepting the military and police stations already erected.—8. Removal of the stationary boats which at present encumber the avenue to the factory gardens at the river-side.
Sir John Davis determined upon seeking redress for the various insults and outrages which had been inflicted, whatever might be the propriety of requesting the concession of such advantages as the merchants sought. In the opinion of Sir John, who knew the Chinese well, no demand would meet with attention which was not backed with military force. Orientals comprehend only that argument which Europeans regard as the dernier resort. The Chinese authorities were taken by surprise, or they would have prepared for resistance, and met the military demonstration of the English governor with defiance or stratagem. Major-general D’Aguilar commanded the British troops. As soon as he received the directions of the plenipotentiary, he consulted with Captain M’Dougall in command of her majesty’s ship Vulture. These officers agreed that the force at their disposal was inadequate to the enterprise, but that, as audacity and promptitude were the best weapons with oriental nations, it would be well to act at once with such forces as they could employ. General D’Aguilar considered it also important to impress practically upon the mind of the Chinese authorities the possibility of the garrison and the naval force at Hong-Kong being sufficient, without aid from India or England, to chastise any affronts or injuries offered to British persons, honour, or interests. It had been well if, in subsequent events, similar views had been entertained by British officers and British governments. The promptitude of the general’s action harmonised with the wisdom and boldness of his opinion. By midnight of the day on which he received his orders, the troops were embarked; and at nine o’clock the following morning the squadron arrived at the Bocca Tigris. The Vulture then lowered her boats, into which the general ordered two detachments, the one under Lieutenant-colonel Brereton, the other under his own immediate orders. On landing, all the batteries were seized, the guns spiked, the ammunition destroyed, and the garrisons sent, unmolested, away. This bold measure was necessary to the safety of the general’s small force, for had he left these batteries in his rear, his return would have been endangered. At six o’clock, the squadron arrived at Whampoa. As the Vulture was of too large a draught to proceed higher, the troops were placed on board the steamers Pluto and Corsair. Sir John Davis accompanied the general in the Pluto. At eleven o’clock the squadron arrived before several forts, which were attacked. Lieutenant-colonel Brereton, landing, took two of them by a coup de main, blowing in the gates with gunpowder, and instantly seizing and spiking the guns. General D’Aguilar and his party were received by the other two forts with round and case shot, but the boats pushed in, blew open the gates, and spiked the guns, the garrison retreating by the rear. The expedition then proceeded to the French Folly Fort, a stronger place than any of those already captured, and situated on one of the narrowest bends of the river. The British swooped down upon this place as an eagle upon its prey, and their rapidity was rewarded by its immediate capture, for a few minutes delay and the guns of the work would have given our troops a reception more warm than welcome. Four other batteries were taken and spiked on their way up river by the general and commodore, and by six o’clock in the evening the troops were landed in the factories. Eight hundred and seventy-nine pieces of Chinese cannon had been spiked, to the amazement of the enemy, who had no time to recover from the panic into which so sudden an incursion threw them. The general, upon landing, placed the factories in a state of efficient defence by barricades, and such other means as were at his immediate command. The Chinese commissioner, Keying, now waited upon Sir John Davis, but refused to comply with his demands; the next day, however, the high commissioner requested another day’s delay. This was granted, and the terms demanded were ultimately agreed to by the commissioner. General D’Aguilar withdrew the troops, except a company of sappers, and the light company of the 18th royal regiment of the line. These were ordered to remain until what was promised should be fully executed. This feat of the English general’s was one of the most dashing ever executed with so small a body of men. The whole military force did not amount to one thousand men, and the naval force could only afford a few hundred sailors and marines for land operations. Audacity and rapidity carried the day—the grand secret of success in Asiatic warfare.
The Chinese, however, had no intention of observing the treaty; and when all appeared to be adjusted, six British subjects, who made a short excursion, in agreement with one of its clauses, were barbarously murdered. They were attacked by the whole population of the place which they visited. The Englishmen, when at last compelled to defend themselves, slew one and wounded several of their assailants. It required much negotiation to secure the punishment of some of the murderers, four of whom were decapitated, and a few others received minor punishments.
Whenever the French found that the British displayed vigour towards the Chinese, they made out a grievance, and sent an armed force to demand redress somewhere. Their object seemed to be to show that France also was a great nation, and could enforce respect. Two French ships of war appeared in the Bay of Touron during this year, to demand redress from the government of Cochin China, for injuries alleged to have been inflicted upon French Roman Catholic priests. Their demand not having been at once complied with, and some treachery on the part of the natives having been detected, the French ships opened fire upon the war-junks, sinking and destroying many, and slaying more than a thousand men.
The conduct of the Chinese to Europeans generally, during the year 1847, kept them, the British more especially, in a constant sense of danger. Applications were made for reinforcements, but, notwithstanding the prodigious armaments of England in India, and her resources elsewhere, it was with extreme difficulty that any additional force could be obtained. The following parliamentary papers show the perilous routine necessary on every occasion when our officers require even the most paltry reinforcement. General D’Aguilar applied to Major-general Smelt, the officer commanding at Ceylon, for two guns and a few artillerymen. In a month after, General Smelt wrote to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, the military secretary at the Horse-Guards, informing him that if he (General Smelt) heard again from General D’Aguilar that the reinforcement was necessary, he would send it! but that, in doing so, he should leave Ceylon all but utterly unprotected, so far as artillery was concerned. Lord Torrington, the governor of Ceylon, at the same time communicated this “great fact”—that two guns and a few men were wanting at Hong-Kong—to Earl Grey, the colonial minister, who, at the latter end of November, sent a despatch to General D’Aguilar, telling him not to do anything against the Chinese without authority from home! The discretionary power in the hands of Sir John Davis, and the promptitude, energy, and enterprise of the general, obtained, with less bloodshed than frequently occurred in a street riot in Canton, redress of grievances, a recognition of rights, and a series of important concessions. If it had been necessary to refer these disputes to the Colonial Office at home, everything would have been frustrated. Possibly a grand expedition, at an enormous expense, would have gone out in a year or so afterwards, and an expenditure of British as well as Chinese life on a large scale have resulted. In spheres so distant, men thoroughly competent to act ought, in both civil and military matters, to be appointed, and the honour of the country should be committed to their hands. With a small force, complete in itself, at the disposal of such men, more could be effected at the moment for the honour and interests of the country than by long and roundabout despatches, passing through so many hands that one fool in authority nullifies all, as a bad link in an otherwise good chain renders the whole useless. Omitting the other portions of the correspondence, the following letter from Major-general D’Aguilar, dated Hong-Kong, August 21, 1847, to Major-general Smelt, reveals sufficiently the incompetent arrangements for British interests in China, in 1847:—
“Although I have not the pleasure of your personal acquaintance, your character and services are so well known to me, that I venture to address you without form or ceremony. I have every reason to hope that things will settle down here peaceably, but I have no positive assurance of it; and if circumstances should occur to oblige me to go to Canton again, I am but badly off for artillery. I can never hope to surprise the Chinese defences a second time; and whatever I do must be done in form, and with reference to the altered position of things.
“Under these circumstances, I write to ask if you can spare me half a company of artillery, with their proportionate number of field-guns and ammunition complete. I should only want them for six weeks, and I promise you to send them faithfully back the moment the service is over.
“Should the contingency—the possibility of which is on the cards—occur, I shall endeavour to avoid taking the field before the end of November, when the cool weather will add strength to our exertions; and I will take care to give you the earliest notice of my intention. In the meantime, perhaps, you would kindly prepare Lord Torrington for this request on my part, and afford me your interest in giving effect to it, should circumstances render it necessary.
“A couple of 9-pounders, with the half-company of artillery, would be the best; but if they are not to be had, then anything your people are supplied with.”
On receipt of the above, Major-general Smelt wrote as follows to Lieutenant-general Lord Fitzroy Somerset.
The letter was dated Colombo, Ceylon, September 22nd, 1847:—
“I have the honour to inform your lordship that I received, two days ago, a letter from Major-general D’Aguilar, commanding in China, informing me that it is likely that he would require a reinforcement of artillery in the event of operations being carried on at Canton towards the end? of this year, and requesting me, if I could spare it, and circumstances rendered it necessary, to afford him a half company of artillery, with two 9-pounder guns complete, with ammunition, &c.
“I shall therefore be prepared, should I hear again from General D’Aguilar that their services would actually be required, to send such force as, in the present strength of artillery in this command, would be in my power. But your lordship is aware that the whole amount of artillery throughout this island only consists of two weak companies, reduced in their number of Europeans in consequence of a proportion of gun-lascars; and the only ordnance that I could spare, at present equipped for service, are 4 2/5 inch howitzer guns, having neither 9-pounder nor 6-pounder guns, excepting two of the latter, which have no carriages.
“Under these circumstances, and with the recommendation of his excellency the governor, I should be able to afford a detachment of one officer and twenty-five gunners, with a proportion of non-commissioned officers and the two howitzers above mentioned. I am informed by General D’Aguilar, who will give me the earliest notice of his plans, that he would only require this force for six weeks, and that it should be sent back to me immediately the service is over; in the meantime, as this draft would reduce my strength of European artillerymen in this island by about one-third, I shall, in order to repair the deficiency, cause a portion of the soldiers from the line regiment, equal to about five men per company, to be trained and exercised at the gun drill.
“I have to add that a draft of one hundred and twenty men of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment are under orders, and will probably sail the end of this month for Hong-Kong, to complete the six companies at present serving there to their full complement of one hundred rank and file; these companies having been sent to China so much under their establishment with a view to their being completed by recruits sent from Singapore, but the uncertain state of things there rendering it quite necessary now that trained soldiers should be sent from this place, which I trust will meet with the approbation of his grace the commander-inchief.”
The foregoing offer of assistance was finally countermanded by Earl Grey, in a despatch to Major-general D’Aguilar, dated Colonial Office, November the 24th, 1847:—
“The governor of Ceylon has communicated to me an application which you have made to the major-general commanding her majesty’s troops in that island, for a reinforcement of half a company of artillery, with two guns, and a proportionate supply of ammunition, to be held in readiness to be forwarded to Hong-Kong, should circumstances render it necessary to undertake any further military operations at Canton.
“I have desired the governor of Ceylon not to send to Hong-Kong the detachment for which you have made application; and I have further to signify to you that her majesty’s government peremptorily forbid you to undertake any further offensive operations against the Chinese without their previous sanction. Her majesty’s government are satisfied that, although the late operations in the Canton River were attended with immediate success, the risk of a second attempt of the same kind would far overbalance any advantage to be derived from such a step. If the conduct of the Chinese authorities should, unfortunately, render another appeal to arms inevitable, it will be necessary that it should be made after due preparation, and with the employment of such an amount of force as may afford just grounds for expecting that the objects which may be proposed by such a measure will be effectually accomplished without unnecessary loss.”
Lord Grey was right, that a similar expedition, if made with the same force, would probably fail. General D’Aguilar knew that rather better than Lord Grey, and did not need a pompous despatch from the Colonial Office to inform him of it. But the general did not mean to attempt the same thing with the same force, and therefore sent for aid where he might naturally have expected to derive the little he sought. There can be no doubt that if matters had been left to the general’s own discretion, and his forces been adequately strengthened, he would have performed what was proper to the occasion, and, perhaps, all that English safety and interests required, and thereby have averted future conflict, as well as the humiliations which Englishmen had to endure, and to punish at a great cost of treasure and immense sacrifice of blood.
France.—The Spanish marriages caused stormy debates in the French chambers, which reflected much moral discredit upon the King of the French, his minister Guizot, his ambassador M. Bresson, the queen and queen-mother of Spain, and Narvaez, the chief abettor and tool of the faction of Christina. The eloquent denunciations of M. Thiers against Guizot and his policy told upon the French mind, and led to modifications in the cabinet; but this clever invective was purely in the spirit of party: the honour of France and the love of truth were as little considered by the one leader as the other. The British government maintained an attitude of coldness to that of France, but it was not possible to act independently of it: in many of the affairs of other countries to which England stood related, and in every instance, the influence of the French king was prejudicial to the interests and moral influence of England. On the completion of the Spanish marriages M. Bresson returned to Paris, and had the impudence to demand, as his reward for his share in that transaction, the embassy to London. This was refused, on the ground that the relations of France to Great Britain were too delicate to be committed to the minister who had the chief part in producing the coldness which existed. He then demanded the embassy to St. Petersburg, but this post required higher qualifications than were conceded to M. Bresson by his government. He was nominated to the French ministry at Naples, and proceeded to his destination reluctantly, considering the appointment a slight after sustaining French affairs with the government of a superior country. Soon after he arrived at Naples, perceiving the evil consequences of the Spanish marriages, his chagrin was so increased that he put an end to his own existence.
Spain and Portugal.—Spain passed a year of disorder and bad government, but, excepting as regarded the affairs of Portugal, England had no especial connection with the proceedings of the Spanish government. The state of Portugal was desperate. The Miguellites and liberals continued to maintain the civil war against the queen. The former were repeatedly defeated. Their leader, M’Donnell, perceiving that all hope of inducing the party to adopt measures sufficiently bold were at an end, collected around him a chosen band, and precipitating himself upon the queen’s cavalry, fell fighting sword in hand. The radical or constitutional party made their head-quarters at Oporto, where they set at defiance the queen’s government. Meanwhile the French and Spanish governments were desirous to interfere on behalf of the queen, whose opinions and sympathies were despotic, and in harmony with those of the French king and the Spanish queen. To prevent such an interference the English government reluctantly consented to a joint interference of England and Spain only. Accordingly, the British navy co-operated with a Spanish army for the purpose of putting down all armed opposition to the queen’s government, at the same time obtaining indemnification for all in arms against her majesty, and a guarantee on the part of her majesty, by her solemn promise and the dismission of her reactionary ministry, that she would respect the constitutional rights of her people. This was effected, and Louis Philippe was balked of his desire to interfere in Portugal to promote a reactionary policy. The queen, however, did not keep faith with her allies; she did not dismiss her government until the English minister made such demands as compelled compliance. Peace was by these measures restored to Portugal; but no party within or beyond the bounds of her kingdom had any confidence in the good faith, good sense, or good feeling of the queen.
Lord Palmerston was much censured as the originator of the British policy in Portugal, but an impartial examination of the course he took will show that it was politic, and that by it he enforced upon Portugal the only plan possible to secure her independence of foreign despotic interference, and her release from internecine war. Portugal was saved for the time, and the designs of Louis Philippe were permanently baffled.