Plain it is to all who will judge fairly and honourably, that England is heavily responsible for the effects of the unprovoked hostilities carried by her soldiers and sailors into the Ti-ping dominions. Besides the more direct evil consequences of that most evil policy, there were others not so well known though closely connected with it. In the first place, few people are aware, or trouble themselves to reflect, that the wholesale destruction of grain and rice by the allies (as per Admiral Hope's despatches) led to the starvation of many thousands of the unfortunate country people. The Ti-ping system of Government is one of a paternal form (so favorite with the Chinese, but so seldom obtained), involving a community of interests upon the part of every subject. Consequent upon this, all rice crops and other descriptions of grain were gathered regularly into the state granaries, and from thence supplied to every person and family in the respective departments of the "Land divisions of the Ti-ping dynasty." Consequently, when the whole stores of food were destroyed in the districts ravaged by Admiral Hope and others, the miserable people had literally nothing to eat; so that, although the Ti-ping soldiery were killed in hundreds by the irresistible foreign artillery, the non-combatants perished by tens of thousands from famine.
Then again: the only means of support for the large Ti-ping armies, the Government and administrative machinery, were precisely similar to those of other nations; that is to say, from direct and indirect taxation. Naturally, therefore, when England maintained the treaty ports against the Ti-pings, and when Admiral Hope invaded their territory, many valuable sources of revenue were cut off. If a nation, or organized body of people, possess neither settled territory nor regular revenue, they must plunder their neighbours in order to exist, and by this mode of reasoning it is evident that England is responsible for all plundering or brigandage committed by the Ti-pings when driven from their dominions, and defrauded of their just dues by her intervention. At the time, however, to which we have now arrived (summer of 1862), the revolutionists had not been expelled from the valuable silk, and a great proportion of the tea, districts, the revenue upon the productions of which exceeded £2,500,000 sterling per annum. Previous to their expulsion from these districts, the Ti-pings only acted as marauders when literally compelled to do so in order to save their own lives, and when any people in the world would have acted in the same manner. When driven back by the raids of Admiral Hope and General Staveley, the troops and people, rendered destitute, fell upon the nearest places to forage and subsist. Otherwise, the only plundering ever indulged in by Ti-ping soldiery was upon the public property of the enemy. Private property, except in dire cases of necessity, was always respected: most especially were the troops careful to avoid injuring the standing crops of grain—a course of conduct which forcibly contrasts with the destruction of the cultivated fields of the unfortunate New Zealanders by English soldiers, and with the outrages committed by the forces of the Emperor of the French in Algeria! Most unjustly the Ti-pings have been represented as "hordes of banditti," "ruthless marauders," &c.; but these statements may invariably be traced to interested quarters. If a few examples of sack and pillage have been selected to blacken the character of the Ti-pings, are we to forget the names of Magdeburg, Badajos, and Ciudad Rodrigo? Are we not to remember the progress of the Federal General, Sheridan, through the Shenandoah Valley, as recorded in the columns of the Times of the 30th March, 1865? "Burning houses and barns, he passed through the valley, and may boast of a destruction such as no Asiatic chief ever surpassed!"
When Admiral Hope ascertained that Soong-kong, the only remaining Manchoo place outside the walls of Shanghae, was seriously threatened by the Ti-ping forces, he sent up strong reinforcements to it, commanded by Captain Borlase, R.N. Upon this, the Chung-wang gave orders to abandon the siege; and, after placing strong garrisons in all the recaptured cities, returned with the rest of his forces to Nankin. During the march from Soo-chow to the capital, I became acquainted with a singular custom of the Chinese. We had just passed through a village, when we came upon a party of country people carrying a coffin to the burial-place. To the great surprise of myself and European comrades, instead of interring the corpse or building a grave over it, according to the usual Chinese customs, two forked wooden stakes were fixed in the ground, and the coffin placed upon them at either end. Upon inquiry, we were informed that the dead man had been killed by lightning, and that the common practice throughout the country was to dispose of the bodies of those who perished in such a manner by placing their coffin on stakes which would support them above the ground.
Soon after reaching Nankin, the Chung-wang seriously turned his attention towards operating against the Manchoo forces further up the Yang-tze, whose successes, though unimportant when compared with the great Ti-ping victories in Che-kiang and Kiang-su, were yet becoming dangerous to the supremacy of the revolutionists in that part of China. When the Commander-in-Chief drew off all his troops from the Shanghae district, after having retaken all the places previously captured by the allies, he did so under the impression that neither England nor France would again make war upon the re-established Ti-ping territories. A man so noble-hearted, large-minded, and honourable, could not realize the determined hostility entertained against his cause, or credit the intention of Admiral Hope and General Staveley to resume active warfare upon the arrival of reinforcements from Tien-tsin and India; he therefore left garrisons amply sufficient to repel any effort of his natural enemies, but neglected the precaution of leaving in the district even a single corps d'armée, which would have frustrated the future triumphs of his unexpected foemen. It was certainly necessary that large additions should be made to the Ti-ping forces opposing the progress of the Imperialists from the upper waters of the Yang-tze towards the city of Nankin; still, this could have been thoroughly accomplished, and a field force of at least 50,000 men left in the neighbourhood of Shanghae at the same time. Had any such disposition been made, the easy success of the allies, during their next campaign, would have been exceedingly different; the disasters that subsequently befell the Ti-ping cause would never have taken place; while the standard of liberty and Christianity would now wave erect and triumphant.
During the interval between our return to Nankin and the commencement of further military operations, I was frequently closeted with the Chung, Kan, and other chiefs, upon the discussion of political matters. On one occasion, at an interview with the Commander-in-Chief, my friend D—— was present, and translated a certain speech, which was subsequently published in some of the Shanghae papers. He asked the Chung-wang "why he had ventured within the limits of Consular Ports;" and received this reply:—
"Why? Because foreigners have broken faith with us! The English and Americans stipulated with us to remain strictly neutral in regard to our war with the Manchoos. This agreement was kept on their part by assisting, in every way they could, in the collection of the very 'sinews of war' for the Imperialists; allowing their subjects to enter the Manchoo employ, and at the same time sending a man-of-war to force, at the cannon's mouth, the return, and even punishment of the few foreigners who had joined us! Was this neutrality?
"This was not all: they actually, with their own Government troops, invaded our territory, and violated the most sacred usages of war, by permitting, or not preventing, the Chinese troops from committing the most atrocious barbarities. It has been told us that, among foreigners, the proof of courage is clemency towards the vanquished. But the torture inflicted lately upon some of your helpless prisoners proves to us the quality of your neutrality! Neutrality! Every few days we see several Manchoo steam vessels, laden with munitions of war, all to be expended to our destruction, passing under the very walls of our capital, but flying the American flag! They are called by foreigners the Koong-foo-tze (Confucius), Kee-me-et (Williamette), An-te-lok (Antelope), etc. But for that flag we would have sunk them hundreds of times. Is this neutrality? Is it not a most shameful perversion of the American nationality? Is it not a vile trading—a base jobbery in the dignity and honour of a noble people, who have never permitted their officers to openly violate our rights? Would not these great foreign sovereigns blush to see the degradation of their flags, perverted to such ends as private aggrandisement and infamous prostitution?
"Moreover, as lords of our immense territory, we have a perfect right to levy taxes on goods of natives passing through our dominions; but by acts of gigantic fraud,[21] the foreign consuls have given to native craft papers, and their national flag, simply for a fee—thus robbing us of our revenues, in as far as they could! Would any other nation have borne these outrages for years, as we have done, without making reprisal? And we have been accused of relentless barbarity; of burning towns, slaughtering the people, &c. Well, granted. It is the hard necessity of war, which we would avoid if we could; but knowing, as we do, the conduct of Napoleon in Europe, of the British in India, &c., and the Americans in their own country, we think such accusations come with a bad grace from foreigners. The Ming dynasty was founded by a revolution such as is now in progress; and we have never heard of a people who expelled tyrants from their country who did not suffer both offensively and defensively.
"That the foreign Powers are playing a game to suit their own profit in China, is to us perfectly clear. When, some time ago, we addressed their authorities on this subject (at the Consular Ports), our communications were returned unopened. This contemptible insult taught us that you foreigners" [the translation of this part cannot be literally given, by reason of the Chung-wang's use of idiomatic and figurative language, but may best be expressed as follows:—] "thought our cause a sinking one, or intended to make it so; and, like rats on shipboard, you would desert—not us, but your own professions towards us. Not long after, our capital was called, in a public print, the 'City of Coolie Kings.' This title, which was meant for a sneer, we thought the highest compliment possible: we are indifferent as to what the Duke of Pa-le-chiau[22] thought of the remark, or the Americans, whose capital might be called by the same name with equal justice. It was easy to judge, from these circumstances, and many others, at what value we could esteem the lofty sentiments of honour, justice, and equity, which foreigners professed towards the Chinese people. 1st. They struck a nearly fatal blow to the Manchoo power; then, in pretence of seeking the real good of the nation, they bolster up the tottering simulacrum, and actively carry on operations against us. They reform not one abuse of the Tartar Government, and send for Captain Osborne's fleet![23] Will the most noble Empress of England, the mother of her people, permit her brave soldiers, and noble-minded naval officers, to serve under the most cruel and corrupt Government officials in the world, and furnish them with means to come to the Middle Kingdom, to crush out at the cannon's mouth the last vestige of liberty, and freedom of being governed, while professing our religion, as seems to us most conformable to the sacred book (Bible)? We cannot think so, though her officers have refused to receive our communications!
"Will not one of you here present make it known to the sovereigns of England and America, that by this conduct we can only judge of them, and that it seems that they desire to exterminate us. Of the French we have nothing to hope; they have never professed any friendship for us! They (the French Jesuits) materially assisted the Manchoos in getting possession of the throne, for the sake of propagating a religion which English missionaries have taught us to condemn. But, at least, they have never deceived us by false professions!"