"Good faith, as a principle of action, being a most important desideratum, no retractation must be made in respect of the number of days conceded prior to our advance on the city.
"With reference to the persons and property of your respective countrymen, I will issue the strictest orders, forbidding either the one or the other to be injured in the very least degree. Trade shall be allowed to continue as usual, with the additional advantage of being conducted on a fairer footing. On no account will acts of violence or robbery be permitted.
"One word from the superior man is sufficient to settle any affair; he is true, he is sincere, and hence no mistake or misunderstanding can arise.
"Whilst forwarding this in reply, I beg to express my wishes for your happiness.
(Enclosed, twenty-one Proclamations.)
"22nd day of the 10th month of the 11th ('Sin-yew') year of the Heavenly Kingdom of Universal Peace" [2nd December, 1861].
Faithfully fulfilling that extraordinary example of their willingness to preserve friendship with foreigners—the promise to delay their occupation of Ningpo one week—the Ti-pings, immediately upon the expiration of the seven days, on the morning of December 9, moved up to the city walls, and within an hour Ningpo was completely in their possession; the Manchoos, Mandarins, regular troops, braves, pirates, and all, having fled from the city, scarcely striking a blow in its defence.
Although the British authorities contented themselves upon this occasion with underhanded hostility against the Ti-pings, the same unworthy procedure was equally as much a violation of the principle of their pledged neutrality as the open warfare they shortly commenced in the neighbourhood of Shanghae. As all assertions of this description require proof, it is necessary to encumber this narrative with extracts from the official documents that, for the honour of England, should remain in oblivion for ever, were they not necessary to prove the disreputable transactions of various officials, and my reasons for advocating the Ti-ping cause.
I have already noticed the singular sort of interpretation put upon the "no wish to quarrel," "the wish to maintain amicable relations," and the orders to "abstain from all interference in the civil war," "maintain an attitude of strict neutrality," &c., by Admiral Hope and Captain R. Dew. We will therefore conclude the review of "fitting twelve heavy guns," &c. at Ningpo, by one other example of breach of faith and neutrality.