Poor Mellen had on board a large amount of money, some £6,000 sterling. At E-ching his crew had informed the Mandarins of this, and they, taking the opportunity to pocket a large sum by simply gratifying their hatred of a solitary "foreign devil," had authorized a party of soldiers to murder him. These soldiers assembled on board a large Ti-mung close to where I found the Fox; but as the latter happened to pass them during the day, and moreover, in company with another vessel, their designs were frustrated for a little while. With true Chinese cunning, however, these wretches managed to get Mellen into their murderous clutches. At the village of Kwa-chow, within sight of the treaty port Chin-kiang, the Chinese lowder (captain), by making some plausible excuse, induced his master to anchor there and allow him to go on shore. Returning on board with a couple of soldiers disguised as merchants, this wretch (who was actually the father of Mellen's wife, and whose life his master had once saved at the peril of his own) pretended the pseudo traders were anxious to have a large cargo taken to Nankin, to be embarked some distance up the river, and for which they agreed to pay a very high freight. Mellen was very unwell, and trusting to the statements and integrity of his Chinese father-in-law, unfortunately agreed to return up the river and take in the fictitious cargo for the Ti-pings. That same night his vessel was anchored but a short distance from the Ti-mung and her bloodthirsty crew. About midnight the assassins took to a couple of small boats and pulled for their prey. At this time the confederates among the lorcha's crew made a noise on deck, probably to get Mellen out in the dark, when their work would be safer than in a light cabin with a deadly revolver to oppose them. Mrs. Mellen, leaving her sick husband below, ran on deck with a revolver, and seeing the two boats close alongside, instantly fired several shots at them. As the yelling savages swarmed on board, she ran down to her husband closely followed by them, and then the butchery commenced. Poor Mellen was killed rising from the berth, and ere he could draw the sword I found half unsheathed just underneath him. His wretched wife, after suffering every torture and atrocity the cruel Chinese particularly excel in, died over her husband's body, faithful to the last, with one arm round his severed neck, the other upraised as though to ward the blow her eyes had seen coming ere they closed for ever. Poor girl! I can never forget the horribly mutilated state in which I found her: it would hardly have been possible to touch an unwounded spot on her body. She had killed one and hit another of the murderers; they stated ashore that she was as bad as a "Yang-quitzo" (all this my interpreter ascertained); and they wreaked a most ferocious vengeance upon the defenceless woman. When the victims were killed, the treasure was carried off, and the whole vessel pillaged fore and aft; and when everything of the slightest value had been taken, the crew and soldiers, after running her ashore upon the bank, took their departure. The old nurse, after some time, had ventured from her hiding-place, and for four days had been living on the deck of the charnel ship when we boarded her.
Having sent news of the tragedy to Chin-kiang, a steamer came to the spot and towed the Fox down to Silver Island, where the mangled bodies were removed and given Christian burial. And so terminated my friendship with poor Mellen and his courageous wife; since then all my friends, I may say, in that distant and fatal land have perished by the sword, by sudden death, or by the deadly diseases of the country.
The facts of the foregoing barbarous murders I forwarded to H.M.'s consul at Chin-kiang, who, with the officers of the gunboat on the station, beheld the bodies and saw them buried, yet no redress was ever sought from the allies of the British Government. This is but one of many and many a similar specimen of the Manchoo feeling towards Englishmen, and this is the style of people who are to be firmly established throughout China by the overthrow of the Ti-ping rebellion by the aid of British arms.
Leaving my vessel at Chin-kiang (I had at this time entirely purchased her from the previous owner), in charge of A-ling, I took a passage to Shanghae with my friend on board one of the river steamers. When all business was arranged, I set out upon my return to Nankin, leaving L—— in charge of a fine lorcha we had jointly purchased as a blockade-runner to the Ti-ping capital, to follow me as fast as wind and tide would allow. I found out Marie's relatives, and they told me that Manouel Ramon had inherited all her father's property, that he had raised a foreign contingent of Manila-men and Portuguese, with which he had joined the Imperialists, and that he was determined to be revenged upon myself and betrothed.
While at Shanghae I sought out many Europeans who owned lorchas, Ningpo boats, and other river craft, and stating the advantages to be derived from trade with Nankin, induced a goodly number to undertake the risk, to whom I bestowed the passes given me by the Chung-wang. When I had settled various transactions with regard to obtaining arms, agents, and a correspondence with that portion of the Shanghae press known to be impartial, I returned by steamer to Chin-kiang, accompanied by Captain P——, whom I had formerly seen in command of the schooner whose crew had mutinied at the Lang-shan crossing. I had met him in Shanghae, and he willingly took a share of my vessel at Chin-kiang, agreeing to run her himself in the Nankin trade.
Upon reaching Chin-kiang and taking up my quarters on board the old craft, I determined to proceed with her to a town some thirty miles up a branch of the Grand Canal, purchase a cargo of rice, and take it with me to Nankin. This idea was soon put into force, and after the lowder had collected his men from the gambling dens in the village immediately opposite the city of Chin-kiang, on the other side of the river, we got underweigh. With a light breeze and beautiful weather we proceeded merrily on our trip, with that exhilarating feeling the prospect of a visit to a strange and interesting country always produces.
After being swept down stream for more than an hour, just below Silver Island, we came to the entrance of the creek up which lay our further course. Steering into its mouth, we left the swift and turbid waters of the great Yang-tze, and landing our crew with their collars and rope, slowly tracked along the quieter stream. Our destination was the town of Sin-ya-meu, the great emporium of that part of China. From the river inland the whole country is richly cultivated, and the style of agriculture and farm-house seems more nearly approaching that of England than I have observed elsewhere. Barley, wheat, rye, and oats greet the eye in place of the interminable paddy-fields of most parts of China. Haystacks are seen about the farms, and the dwellings are all of a large and spacious build. The country is slightly wooded and full of wild pigeons, and of these my friend and self obtained many, thanks to our double-barrels. These pigeons are quite unlike any I have seen in other countries; their colour very closely resembles that of the dove, but the breast and wings are like the golden plover; and a beautiful circlet round the neck, similar to the ringdove, with a large black tail, completes their exquisite plumage. The delicacy of this bird excels that of any other I have ever tasted, yet the Chinese pay no attention to their presence, and neither attempt to catch, eat, tame, or do anything else with them.
This country would be perfect were it not for the imperfections of the people who inhabit it, or rather, the evil qualities of its rulers, for I believe the Chinese themselves are capable of almost any improvement. During my trip to Sin-ya-meu I particularly noticed the abominable extortion of the Manchoo Government. Although the distance from the mouth of the creek to the town is considerably less than thirty miles, I passed no fewer than fifteen custom-houses established along its banks. The creek is a very broad one, and forms the principal route for the wood rafts bound from Han-kow (up the Yang-tze) to the town. I passed many on my journey, and conversed with the merchants to whom they belonged, who all bitterly complained of the gross extortion of the Customs officials, and assured me that by law no more than two duty-stations were authorized, yet at each of the fifteen they were squeezed of the same amount of duty that ought only to have been paid twice.
Sin-ya-meu I found to be a very extensive unwalled town, the centre of an immense trade. What little business is transacted at the treaty port Chin-kiang, is entirely dependent upon Sin-ya-meu; and unless the native merchants can be induced to establish themselves at the former city, it will never become a place of much commercial importance.
