"Your Lordship will observe that he states that the capture of Shanghae would be fatal to the commercial prosperity of the port. To me it is rather a matter of surprise that trade should continue at all.... The export of silk between June 1860 and June 1861 has, in spite of these disadvantages, amounted to 85,000 bales."
Directly after this we find Mr. Bruce bearing testimony that Ti-ping "success in any locality is attended with its total destruction!" Admiral Hope admitted that the insurgents had the Shanghae trade, "by far the largest portion of that from China," entirely in their power, but did not stop it; Mr. Medhurst (Shanghae Consul) declared the whole country within "fifty to sixty miles" was under Ti-ping jurisdiction; and Mr. Bruce notices the large export of silk from the districts where silk, he states, meets with "total destruction"! Now, common sense may inquire whether this totally destroyed country, "wretched state of anarchy," "native population that inevitably disappeared," and "property that miserably deteriorated," could have managed to produce 88,112 bales of silk in the year 1861? This, with only one exception, was the largest amount ever exported from China in one year. The silk districts were entirely in the possession of the Ti-pings, and every bale had passed through their hands. A reference to the table of statistics[48] will convince the most sceptical that the Ti-pings actually increased the valuable trade, but that since their expulsion from the silk districts, the produce and exportation of that article has fallen off more than one half.
There is another matter to be considered with regard to the political morality of Mr. Bruce. At the beginning of the year 1861 he officially stated:—
"It does not appear to me necessary to take any part in this conflict; but our material interests at Shanghae justify us in insisting on its being exempted from attack until the insurgents have sufficiently established their superiority to enable us to consider the contest as respects that part of China at an end. In that case, the population of the town will be quite ready to acknowledge the new power, and the authority of the Mandarins will fall without a blow."
Yet, when, according to the extracts from the despatch of Consul Medhurst, this "until" had arrived by the complete establishment of the Ti-ping superiority, Mr. Bruce singularly enough forgets his declaration of only a few months previous.
The Ti-pings at length, after successively capturing the important cities of Shou-shing, Fung-wha, Yü-yaou, and Tsze-kee, came in contact with the British authorities at Ningpo. Having occupied every part of the Che-kiang and Kiang-su provinces, to the south of the Yang-tze, with the exception of the three treaty ports, Shanghae, Ningpo, and Chin-kiang, the Ti-pings, both to preserve their conquests and prosecute their cause, were obliged to advance upon those cities, which had become the strongholds of the enemy. Upon their approach to Ningpo, a conference was held by the representatives of Great Britain, France, and the United States. The official report of this meeting states:—
"It has been decided that the undersigned[49] shall proceed this day (28th Nov.), on board Her Majesty's gun-boat Kestrel, to the rebel head-quarters ... and having obtained an interview with the insurgent leaders, shall convey to them verbally, as well as in writing, the following message:—
"'1. That the undersigned take no part in this civil contest, but that they claim exemption from injury and annoyance at the hands of both parties." ...