"Shanghae, March 21, 1862.
"Sir,—The Taoutae" (Manchoo governor of the walled Chinese city of Shanghae) "having been anxious for some time past to get a reinforcement from the army under General Tseng-kwo-fan" (Manchoo general commanding Imperialist troops up the river Yang-tze) "for the relief of this garrison and that of Sung-kiang-foo, and having repeatedly questioned me as to the possibility of allowing a few British vessels to be chartered for the purpose of bringing the troops down....
"The Taoutae accordingly entered into negotiations with a house here for the employment of a certain number of steamers for the conveyance hither of 9,000 men.... I at once addressed Sir J. Hope a letter, ... and from his answer ... you will observe that he entirely approves of the measure.
"I have, &c.,
(Signed) "W. H. Medhurst."
This arrangement, in accordance, we are bound to believe, with the "duties of neutrality," was executed by the house of Mackenzie, Richardson, & Co., of Shanghae, in consideration of the sum of 180,000 taels (£60,000) paid by the Manchoo Government.
While the British steamers have passed the walls of Nankin, crowded with Imperialist troops, hastening to the destruction of the Ti-pings in the neighbourhood of Shanghae, I have sat on the silent batteries and sympathized with the too credulous people who, faithful to their promises of neutrality, foolishly allowed the Tartar troops to pass scathless right under the muzzles of their guns, simply because they were safely sheltered by the British ensign flying over them. The ruse of shipping the soldiers as coolies, and so smuggling them past the Ti-ping positions, was abandoned upon the legalization of the trade by the same admiral and authorities who, but a few months previously, had explained the "duties of neutrality" to the Ti-pings, and had given them to understand it was impossible their stores could be conveyed to Ngan-king, as any such act would constitute a breach of neutrality! After the legalization, the Imperialist braves were carried down to Shanghae by thousands, and many a time I have longed to put a shot through the hulls of their conveyances; but the Ti-pings would not allow me, because, as they said, it might hurt the "foreign brethren"! Meanwhile, directly the cowardly rabble had passed out of range of the batteries, their yells of bravado could be plainly heard, and British oak and British seamen became hidden and disgraced by a cloud of Manchoo flags waved in defiance, whenever it could be done in safety.
As Mr. Parkes and his co-adjutors did not obtain an instant compliance with their grossly unjust demands upon the Ti-pings, viz., not to attack Shanghae, a city belonging to them by every known right as natives of the soil, if they were able to capture it from the Manchoos; not to levy duty upon the British vessels passing through their territory, and to avoid all the principal ports, the great sources of revenue to their enemies, simply because their capture of such places might interfere with the British trade—they took more active measures, viz.:—
"To effect this, we proceeded early on the following morning to the palace of the Tien-wang ... and on arriving there at 10 A.M. handed the following note to an officer, with the request that it might be sent to the Tien-wang:—
"The undermentioned British officers, namely, Captain Aplin, senior naval officer in the Yang-tze river, and Mr. Parkes, having been engaged during the last five days in fruitless endeavours to arrange certain important business with the Taeping authorities, and being greatly inconvenienced by the delay thus occasioned, respectfully request admission to the Tien-wang, or that the Tien-wang will appoint an officer to meet them with full authority to settle their business without further trouble.'"