"After this sort of work had been going on for some time, the beautiful temple of the 'Queen of Heaven' was set on fire by the French. The fire had been extending ever since, so that now the Eastern suburb presents a sad spectacle. The burning of the Southern and Western suburbs by the English, and the greater part of the Eastern suburb by the French, has deprived thousands of their happy homes and reduced them to irretrievable poverty."
Recounting the events of the following day, the author states:—
"Now the firing and shelling commenced. The Insurgents stood it for several hours like men of stone, immovable, without returning a single shot. At length a well-directed shell from H.M.S. Pioneer, bursting in the midst of one of the hamlets, and another from the Racehorse, which followed the former in about two seconds, bursting in the midst of the other hamlet, started them fairly."
At Si-ka-wei, a village some few miles from Shanghae, the following proclamation was found posted upon the Roman Catholic church:—
"The Chung-wang herewith commands his officers and soldiers that they may all be thoroughly acquainted with it. Having received the Heavenly decree to lead my soldiers everywhere to fight, the soldiers have already come to Shanghae and have pitched their tents at the chapel. Now it is ordained that not the minutest particle of foreign property is to be injured. The veteran soldiers are supposed to be acquainted with the Heavenly religion, that foreigners together with the subjects of the celestial dynasty all worship God and equally reverence Jesus, and that all are to be regarded as brethren (or to belong to the body of brethren). The veteran soldiers will surely not dare to offend, but I have been thinking that the soldiers who have but recently joined us are ignorant of this being a place of worship, and are unable thoroughly to understand that their religion is one with, and their doctrine has the same origin as, ours. Hence the propriety of issuing this command. Because of this, all the soldiers, whether veterans or otherwise, are commanded to be fully aware that, hereafter should any one be found guilty of injuring the property, goods, houses, or chapels of foreigners, it is decreed that he will be decapitated without mercy. Let all tremble and obey. Don't disobey this command. 7th month, 15th day."
The Times of India contains the following, in the article from its Shanghae correspondent, dated October 24th:—
"I thank you for having done what you could for your suffering fellow-creatures in China, but the work is not done yet. Hitherto you have heard nothing but the details of rebels being handed over to the Imperialists for torture; of Shanghae, with its notorious execution-ground, being held by English and French troops; of a steamer manned by sailors from French ships of war, and loaded with rice, being sent to the relief of Imperialist cities; of English officers and sailors fortifying cities and mounting guns, and instructing the Tartar soldiers in fighting against the rebels; of guns being plundered from the Taepings; of duties being collected for the Imperialists; and last, not least, of innocent blood having been shed by Englishmen, and all this without one single act of retaliation, a circumstance perhaps unparalleled in the history of the world."
But enough of extracts from the press; it is sufficient to state that, with few exceptions, the whole British press of China and India emphatically condemned the flagrant violation of honour, of international law, and of solemnly pledged neutrality. Although too late to prevent the deeds in China that have tarnished the national honour of England, it is yet possible that similar atrocities may be in future arrested, if the British people will only be a little more watchful of the dealings of their Government with foreign nations, and will seek wider sources of information as regards them than such as may be presented through ordinary channels. It is, moreover, of particular importance that, upon every question of foreign policy, a man should be competent to judge for himself: to content oneself with "home policy" is simply absurd, for while other nationalities and other races exist, home policy will entirely depend upon foreign conduct, and the relations that are established abroad; in fact, as much so as the conduct and management of a household is regulated by society and the customs of its neighbours.
FOOTNOTE:
[31] The opinions of Mr. Holmes afford a fair sample of the anti-Ti-ping missionaries.