May 21st.—I have spent during the last three weeks the worst time I have passed since 1849, and really I have not been capable of writing. The forts were taken yesterday. The Chinese had had several weeks to prepare, and their moral was greatly raised by our hesitations and delays. The poor fellows even stood at their guns and fired away pretty steadily. But as they hardly ever hit, it is of very little consequence how much they fire. As soon as our men landed they abandoned the forts and ran off in all directions. We have hardly had any loss, I believe; but the French, who blundered a good deal with their gunboats, and then contrived to get blown up by setting fire to a powder magazine, have suffered pretty severely. I fancy that we have got almost all the artillery which the Chinese Empire possesses in this quarter…. This affair of yesterday, in a strategical point of view was a much more creditable affair than the taking of Canton. Our gunboats and men appear to have done well, and though they were opposed to poor troops, still they were troops, and not crowds of women and children, who were the victims of the bombardment at Canton.
May 22nd.—Would that you had been a true prophet! Yet there is something of inspiration in your writing on the 1st of March: 'I was fancying you even now, perhaps, ascending the Peiho with a train of gunboats!'
May 23rd.—These wretched Chinese are for the most part unarmed. When they are armed, they have no notion of directing their firearms. They are timorous, and without either tactics or discipline. I will venture to say that twenty-four determined men, with revolvers and a sufficient number of cartridges, might walk through China from one end to another.
May 25th.—No news since I began this letter, except a vague report that the Admirals are moving up the river slowly, meeting with no resistance, rather a friendly reception, from the people. I am surprised that we have not yet heard anything from Pekin. I hope the Emperor will not fly to Tartary, because that would be a new perplexity. I am not quite in such bad spirits as last week, because at least now there is some chance of our getting this miserable war finished, and thus of my obtaining my liberty again…. We ought to have a mail from England any day…. Changes of Government have this inconvenience, that of course the new-comers cannot possibly take time to read over previous correspondence, so that they must be but partially informed on many points,… but no doubt at this distance it is practically impossible for Government to give instructions, and all the responsibility must rest on the agent on the spot. At this moment, when I am moving up to Pekin, I am receiving the despatches of the Government commenting upon the Canton proceedings, and asking me: What do you intend to do next?
May 27th.—I have been pacing the deck looking at the dancing waves sparkling under a bright full moon. It is the third time, I think, that I have seen it since I have been in this gulf. I had a message last night late from the Admiral, stating that he is within two miles of Tientsin! I sent Frederick up that he might see what is going on, and let me know when I ought to advance. I had also a communication from the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, but it was not of much importance. I do not think that these poor, timorous people have any notion of resisting. I only trust that they may make up their minds to concede what is requisite at once, and enable us all to have done with it.
May 28th.—The last news from Canton shows that the kind of panic which had been, in my opinion most needlessly, got up, is subsiding, and the General has sent up a few men—for which I ought to thank him, as he had only been asked whether he could supply any if wanted.
May 29th.—I have a short despatch from the new Government, giving me latitude to do anything I choose if I will only finish the affair. Meanwhile Frederick writes from Tientsin to recommend me to proceed thither, and I intend to be off this afternoon. There appears to be on the part of the Chinese no attempt at resistance, but on the other hand no movement to treat. This passivity is, of course, our danger, and it is one which slowness on our part tends to increase. However, we must hope for the best.
[Sidenote: On the Peiho.]
[Sidenote: Tientsin.]
Yamun, Tientsin.—May 30th.—Only look at my date, does it not astonish you? I hardly yet realise to myself where I am. I started at about 4.30 P.M. yesterday from the 'Furious,' crossed the bar, at the forts at the entrance of the river, picked up Gros and the French mission, whose vessel could not get on, and moved on to this place. The night was lovely—a moon nearly full. The banks, perfectly flat and treeless at first, became fringed with mud villages, silent as the grave, and trees standing like spectres over the stream. There we went ceaselessly on through this silvery silence, panting and breathing flame. Through the night-watches, when no Chinaman moves, when the junks cast anchor, we laboured on, cutting ruthlessly and recklessly through the waters of that glancing and startled river, which, until within the last few weeks, no stranger keel had ever furrowed! Whose work are we engaged in, when we burst thus with hideous violence and brutal energy into these darkest and most mysterious recesses of the traditions of the past? I wish I could answer that question in a manner satisfactory to myself. At the same time, there is certainly not much to regret in the old civilisation which we are thus scattering to the winds. A dense population, timorous and pauperised, such would seem to be its chief product. I passed most of the night on deck, and at about 4 A.M. we reached a point in the centre of the suburb of Tientsin, at which the Great Canal joins the Tientsin or Peiho river. There I found the Admirals, Frederick, &c. Frederick had got this yamun for us, half of which I have had to give to my French colleague. It consists of a number of detached rooms, scattered about a garden. I have installed myself in the joss-house, my bedroom being on one side, and my sitting-room on the other, of the idol's altar. We have a letter informing us that the Emperor has named two great Officers of State to come here and treat, and our Admirals are in very good humour, so that matters look well for the present.
June 1st.—I found my joss-house so gloomy and low, that I have returned to my first quarter in the garden, on a mound overlooking the river. It consists, of a single room, part of which is screened off by a curtain for a bedroom. It is hot during the day, but nothing much to complain of. I took a walk yesterday. The country is quite flat, cultivated in wheat, millet, &c. Instead of the footpaths of the southern parts of China, there are roads for carriages, and wheeled carts dragged by mules in tandem going along them. I have not been in the town, but some of the party were there this morning, and one had his pocket picked, which is a proof of civilisation. They say it is a poor place, the people stupid-looking and curious, but not as yet unfriendly.