Let Englishmen apply this arrogant document to themselves. The Tien-wang was crowned sovereign over a vast territory; his large armies were in victorious possession; and he, being invested with all the mystery and divine attributes common to eastern monarchs, became a much more unapproachable object than western rulers, even to his own people. What would Englishmen do if some foreign official, dissatisfied with waiting "five days" in negotiation with their proper authorities "to arrange certain important business," were to force themselves into Her Majesty's palace, and "request" her to personally treat with them, or "appoint an officer to meet them," and so infringe official etiquette?
Not satisfied with issuing this presumptuous summons, Mr. Parkes proceeds:—
"After having repeatedly inquired whether the Tien-wang had taken any notice of our application, and been as often told that it had been sent in to him, we at last ascertained that instead of this having been done, our note had been forwarded to the Tsan-sze-keun" (one of the Ti-ping secretaries of state, and the proper authority to receive any communication). "We now told the officer who had deceived us to bring back our note, and while waiting for it the Tsan-sze-keun and Le Teen-tseang, a chief who had taken a prominent part at all the interviews, sent to tell us that the orders we wanted should be ready to-morrow. We took no notice of this message, and they sent a second time to say that they wished to see us at the Tsan-sze-keun's residence. To this we replied that having found it necessary to make an application to the Tien-wang himself, we could not now return to them, and that if they" (the persons appointed by the Ti-ping Government to transact such business) "wished to speak with us they should come to the palace."
If Mr. Parkes had met with the fate of Mr. Richardson and others in Japan, or experienced indignities similar to those suffered by Mr. Edan, political agent at the Bhootanese court, during his superlatively arrogant dictation to the Ti-ping chiefs, can it be denied that it would have been his own fault?
In his explanation of thrusting himself into the Tien-wang's palace, and outraging all the Ti-ping rules and ceremonies, Mr. Parkes has evidently forgotten himself, and represented his own conduct as that of the Ti-pings. He says:—
"It was clearly necessary to take a stand of this kind when we saw that the ignorance and pride of these people induced them to assume the same absurd and insufferable pretensions in their treatment of foreigners that characterized the Mandarins in days that are past."
This little conceit of the diplomatic agent is really amusing, by reason of its being perfectly unique. I cannot remember another instance in which the Ti-ping has been compared with the Manchoo in behaviour to foreigners or anything else. When people set themselves to work deliberately to injure others, it generally happens that they strive to vilify them in order to justify themselves. To this motive, I suppose, we must ascribe the "clearly necessary stand" of Mr. Parkes.
The result of the Yang-tze expedition, in so far as the Ti-pings were concerned, amounted to a treaty of neutrality between them and England; a promise on their part not to attack Shanghae, and to remain 100 li (about 30 miles) away from it during the "present year" (1861), upon condition that the British authorities prevented the Imperialists from attacking them from that place, or using it for belligerent purposes; and a pledge from Admiral Hope, that if the Ti-ping forces were to attack the other treaty ports, all British subjects being "unmolested both in their persons and property, the commanders of the vessels of war stationed there will receive directions in no way whatever to interfere in the hostilities which may be going on, except for the purpose of protecting their countrymen, should it be necessary to do so." It also resulted in their being compelled to break their engagements, and thus expose themselves to British hostility and encourage the violation of solemn pledges of neutrality. Grave as are the accusations which may be brought forward against a number of British officials, it must be admitted that their conduct fully justified the most severe animadversions.
In the meanwhile, during the negotiations at Nankin, the Ti-ping forces mentioned in the first pages of this chapter were severally engaged prosecuting, upon the whole, a very successful series of operations.
The city of Ngan-king (capital of Ngan-whui province) having become closely invested by an Imperialist army of some 20,000 men, and a flotilla of several hundred gun-boats, the Ying-wang was charged with the relief of that city during his march up the course of the Yang-tze to his destined operations in the province of Hupeh.