At one moment, on the 2nd of September, it really seemed as if the object of the mission was achieved; for the Imperial Commissioners—one of whom was the same Kweiliang who had conducted the negotiations in 1858—in a formal despatch gave a positive assurance that the Treaty of Tientsin should be faithfully observed, and that all the demands hitherto made should be conceded in full. A draft of convention was accordingly prepared on this basis; but, when it came to the point, Kweiliang and his colleagues declared that they had no authority to sign it without referring to Pekin; and it became obvious that he either did not possess, or did not at that moment wish it to be supposed that he possessed, powers equal to those which he held in 1858, although his previous language had been calculated to convey the opposite impression.
[Sidenote: Broken off.]
Here was clearly a deliberate design to create delay, with the view of dragging on negotiations into the winter. It was indispensable, Lord Elgin thought, to check this policy by an act of vigour; and accordingly, with the concurrence of Baron Gros, he intimated to the Imperial Commissioners that, in consequence of the want of good faith exhibited by them in assuming the title of Plenipotentiaries when they could not exercise the authority which it implied, and of the delays which the alleged necessity of constant reference to Pekin would occasion, he had determined to proceed at once to Tung-chow, in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital, and to enter into no further negotiations with them until he should have reached that place.
September 8th.—I am at war again! My idiotical Chinamen have taken to playing tricks, which give me an excellent excuse for carrying the army on to Pekin. It would be a long affair to tell you all the ins and outs, but I am sure from what has come to pass during the last few days, that we must get nearer Pekin before the Government there comes to its senses. The blockheads have gone on negotiating with me just long enough to enable Grant to bring all his army up to this point. Here we are, then, with our base established in the heart of the country, in a capital climate, with abundance around us, our army in excellent health, and these stupid people give me a snub, which obliges me to break with them. No one knows whether our progress is to be a fight or an ovation, for in this country nothing can be foreseen. I think it better that the olive-branch should advance with the sword. I am afraid that this change in the programme—a hostile instead of a peaceful march on Pekin—will keep me longer here, because I cannot send for Frederick till peace is made; and I cannot, I suppose, leave Pekin till he arrives there.
Sunday, September 9th.—Kweiliang and Co. wanted very much to call on me yesterday, but I would not receive them. The junior Commissioner, who was at Canton with Parkes, and knows him well, told him that, in fact, the people here had been urging them to make an effort to prevent war, saying: 'If we were sure that the foreigners would have the best of it, we should not care; but if they are worsted they will fall back on us, and wreak their vengeance upon us.' This does not seem a very formidable state of mind as far as we are concerned. We have behaved well to the people, except at Peytang and Sinho, and the consequence is that we can move through the country with comparative ease. If the people tried to cut off our baggage, and refused us supplies, we should find it very difficult to get on. … Noon.—I have just returned from a service on board the 'Granada,' where the clergyman administered the sacrament to a small congregation. At four we march to the wars; but as I go to bear the olive, it is not so bad a Sunday's work. You may very likely hear through Siberia of the result of our march before you receive this letter announcing that it is to take place. I shall not, therefore, speculate upon it.
Yang-tsun, about twenty miles above Tientsin.—September 10th.—Two P.M.—This morning we started at about five, and reached this encampment soon after seven. A very nice ride, cool, and through a succession of crops of millet; a stiff, reedy stem, some twelve or fourteen feet high, with a tuft on the top, is the physiognomy of the millet stalk. It would puzzle the Tartar cavalry to charge us through this crop. As it is, we have seen no enemy; and Mr. Parkes has induced the inhabitants to sell us a good many sheep and oxen. Our tents were not pitched till near noon; so I sat during most of the forenoon under the shade of a hedge. There has been thunder since, and a considerable fall of rain. I hope it will not make the roads impassable; but if it fills the river a little it will do us good, for we may then use it for the transport of our supplies, and it is now too low. We do not know much what is ahead of us, but we hear of Tartar troops farther on; and at Tung-chow it is said that a large army is collected under Sang-ko-lin-sin himself (their great general). I am now enjoying the life of a camp; writing to you seated on my portmanteau, with my desk on my only chair. It is perhaps better than my hothouse at Tientsin.
[Sidenote: New Plenipotentiaries.]
September 11th.-Six A.M.—Parkes and Wade have just been in my tent with a letter from two new Plenipotentiaries—really some of the highest personages in the empire—stating that they are under orders to come to Tientsin to settle everything, and deprecating a forward movement.[2] I shall of course stick by my programme, and decline to have anything to say to them till I reach Tung-chow. Of course this proceeding on their part augurs well for peace. It poured all last evening, and the General determined not to march this morning; but as it is fine now, I think we may start at noon, and make out our allotted march. It is cooler this morning, and I think it not improbable that the thunder of yesterday may close the hot season. However, the sun is coming out in his strength, so one cannot say what the day may bring forth. Ten A.M.—All our cart-drivers, with their animals, disappeared during last night, leaving the carts behind them. Probably they got a hint from the Chinese authorities. I am sorry for it, for if we begin to resort to measures of violence to supply ourselves, we may entirely alter the footing on which we have hitherto stood with the people. We are putting all our surplus goods into junks, in order to reduce our baggage.
[Sidenote: Chinese gentleman-farmer.]
Nan-tsai-tsun.—September 12th.—Where will this letter be sent from? It is begun at a small town on the close of our march of to-day, which ought to have been our march of yesterday. It was a very mild one—about eight miles—through a nice country, more wooded than former marches, and with bright sunshine, and a fresh, almost frosty air. The sunshine we had not at first, for we started before the sun had appeared on the horizon. Instead of trusting to our tents, we have this day taken up our abode in the house of a Chinese gentleman- farmer, the owner of about 1,000 acres. It is nearly as large as the house I occupied at Tientsin; at least it has nearly as many courts. The gentleman has a good library, in which I have established myself; and he seems, poor man, very anxious to accommodate us, though his appearance is not that of a man entirely at his ease. As I was starting this morning I got a second letter from the new Plenipotentiaries, rather more defiant in its tone, and saying that there are troops at our next station, with whom we shall come into collision, if we advance with an army. Parkes is gone on with an escort, and we shall soon know from him what the state of the case really is.