Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin

by Earl of James Bruce Elgin

The general results and chief incidents of the interesting expedition thus happily completed, were reported to the Government in England in a despatch, dated January 5th, 1859, from which are taken the following extracts:—

[Sidenote: Difficulty of getting at facts.]

The knowledge of the Chinese language possessed by Messrs. Wade and Lay enabled me to enter, without difficulty, into communication with the inhabitants of the towns and rural districts which we visited. At various points in our progress we wandered, unarmed and unattended, in parties of three or four, to a distance of several miles from the banks of the river, and we never experienced at the hands of the natives anything but courtesy, mingled with a certain amount of not very obtrusive curiosity. Notwithstanding, however, these favourable opportunities, the budget of statistical facts which I was able to collect was hardly as considerable as I could have desired. Chinamen of the humbler class are not much addicted to reflection, and when subjected to cross-examination by persons greedy of information, they are apt to consider the proceeding a strange one, and to suspect that it must be prompted by some exceedingly bad motive. Moreover, having been civilised for many generations, they carry politeness so far, that in answering a question it is always their chief endeavour to say what they suppose their questioner will be best pleased to hear. If, therefore, the knowledge of a fact is to be arrived at, it is, above all things, necessary that the inquiry bear a tint so neutral that the person to whom it is addressed shall find it impossible to reflect its colour in his reply. He will then sometimes, in his confusion, blunder into a truthful answer, but he does so generally with a bashful air, indicative of the painful consciousness that he has been reluctantly violating the rules of good breeding. A search after accurate statistics, under such conditions, is not unattended with difficulty.

[Sidenote: Exaggerated reports of population.]

I am confirmed, by what I have witnessed on this expedition, in the doubts which I have long entertained as to the accuracy of the popular estimates of the amount of the town population of China. The cities which I have visited are, no doubt, suffering at present from the effects of the rebellion; but I cannot bring myself to believe that, at the best of times, they can have contained the number of inhabitants usually imputed to them. M. Hue puts the population of the three cities of Woo-chang-foo, Han-yang-foo, and Hankow, at 8,000,000. I doubt much whether it now amounts, in the aggregate, to 1,000,000; and even when they were flourishing, I cannot conceive where 3,000,000 of human beings could have been stowed away in them.

[Sidenote: Rural population.]
[Sidenote: Town population.]

What 1 have seen leads me to think that the rural population of China is, generally speaking, well-doing and contented. I worked very hard, though with only indifferent success, to obtain from them accurate information respecting the extent of their holdings, the nature of their tenure, the taxation which they have to pay, and other kindred matters. I arrived at the conclusion that, for the most part, they hold their lands, which are of very limited extent, in full property from the Crown, subject to certain annual charges of no very exorbitant amount; and that these advantages, improved by assiduous industry, supply abundantly their simple wants, whether in respect of food or clothing. In the streets of cities in China some deplorable objects are to be met with, as must always be the case where mendicity is a legalised institution; but I am inclined to think that the rigour with which the duties of relationship are enforced, operates as a powerful check on pauperism. A few days ago a lady here informed me that her nurse had bought a little girl from a mother who had a surplus of this description of commodity on hand. I asked why she had done so, and was told that the little girl's husband, when she married, would be bound to support the adopting mother. By the judicious investment of a dollar in this timely purchase, the worthy woman thus secured for herself a provision for old age, and a security, which she probably appreciates yet more highly, for decent burial when she dies.

[Sidenote: Manufactures.]

My general impression is, that British manufacturers will have to exert themselves to the utmost if they intend to supplant, to any considerable extent, in the native market, the fabrics produced in their leisure hours, and at intervals of rest from agricultural labour, by this industrious, frugal, and sober population. It is a pleasing but pernicious fallacy to imagine, that the influence of an intriguing mandarin is to be presumed whenever a buyer shows a preference for native over foreign calico.

In returning to Shaughae, Lord Elgin had hoped to find the objects of his mission so far secured, that there would be nothing to prevent, his sailing for England at once: but nearly two more months elapsed before he was able to turn his back on the Celestial Empire.