[Sidenote: Swatow.]
H.M.S. 'Furious,' Swatow.—March 5th.—I am again on the wide ocean, though for the moment at anchor…. The settlement here is against treaty. It consists mainly of agents of the two great opium- houses, Dent and Jardine, with their hangers-on. This, with a considerable business in the coolie trade—which consists in kidnapping wretched coolies, putting them on board ships where all the horrors of the slave-trade are reproduced, and sending them on specious promises to such places as Cuba—is the chief business of the 'foreign' merchants at Swatow. Swatow itself is a small town some miles up the river. I can only distinguish it by the great fleet of junks lying off it. The place where the foreigners live is a little island, barren, but nicely situated at the mouth of the river. A number of Chinese are resorting to it, and putting up rather good houses for Chinese. The population has a better appearance than the Cantonese. The men powerful and frank-looking, and some of the women not quite hideous. Our people get on very well with the natives here. They have no consuls or special protection; so they act, I presume, with moderation, and matters go on quite smoothly. I went into the house of one of the 'Shroffs' (bankers or money-dealers) connected with Jardine's house, and I found the gentleman indulging in his opium-pipe. He gave us some delicious tea…. The Shroffs here are three brothers. They came from Canton, their father remained behind. The mandarins wanting money to carry on the war with us, called upon him to pay 12,000 taels about 4,000_l_. They used him as the screw to get this sum from his sons who were in foreign employ. Though the old man had resolved to leave his home and his patch of ground rather than pay, his sons provided the money and sent him back. Such cases are constantly occurring here, and they show bow strong the family affections are in China.
[Sidenote: Rough justice.]
Another case was mentioned to me yesterday, which illustrates the very roundabout way in which justice is arrived at among us all here. The coolies in a French coolie ship rose. The master and mate jumped overboard, and the coolies ran the ship on shore, where the crew had their clothes, &c., taken from them, but were otherwise well treated. On this a French man-of-war comes, proceeds to Swatow, which is fifty miles from the scene of the occurrence, and informs the people that they will bombard the place immediately unless 6,000 dollars are paid. They got the money, but the mandarins at once squeezed it out of these same Shroffs, saying, that as they brought the barbarians to the spot, they must pay for the damages they inflicted. Meanwhile, the 'foreigners' have it, I apprehend, much their own way. They are masters of the situation, pay no duties except tonnage dues, which are paid by them at about one-third of the amount paid by native vessels of the same burthen!
[Sidenote: Mr. Burns.]
Hearing that Mr. Burns, a missionary, whose case is narrated in the series of 'insults by the Chinese authorities' submitted to Parliament (he having been in fact very kindly treated, as he himself acknowledges), was at the island, I invited him to breakfast. I found him a very interesting person, really an enthusiastic missionary, and kindly in his feelings towards the Chinese. He wears the Chinese attire, not as a disguise, but to prevent crowds being attracted by his appearance. He does not boast of much success in converting, but the Chinese are very willing to listen to him and to take books. They approve of all books that inculcate virtue, morality, &c., but they have no taste for the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. As Yeh said, when a Bible was presented to him from the Bishop:—'I know that book quite well, a very good book. It teaches men to be virtuous, like the Buddhistic books;' and then turning very politely to his captain, 'Will you be good enough to take care of this book till I want it.'
The country in this neighbourhood is very lawless. Burns, a few days before he was arrested, slept with his two companions, two native Christians, in a large village. During the night the house he was in was broken into, and all they had stolen. Nothing remained but a few of their books, which they carried tied to sticks over their shoulders. A peasant came up to him and said, 'I see you are not accustomed to carry loads,' and took his burden and carried it for him six miles, asking for nothing in return. Other natives bought the books (they had previously given them gratuitously), and thus they got money enough to go on with. When they got into this principal town, and were arrested by the police, the authorities seemed rather to regret it. They underwent some interrogatories which Burns seems to have turned into a sort of sermon, for he went at length into Christian teaching, and the judges listened most complacently. They confined them in prison, but did everything they could to make Burns himself comfortable. His companions were not so well treated. He joined them at one time at his own request, under circumstances curiously illustrative of Chinese manners. A subordinate of the gaoler with whom he was lodged died from swallowing opium. The gaoler was at once held responsible, and his house was mobbed. On which Mr. Burns, not knowing the cause of the disturbance, asked to rejoin his companions. He found them shut up in a very loathsome cell, with several other prisoners; a place something like my Canton prisons; but he said they did very well while there, for they were able to preach to the other prisoners. At one of the interrogatories, one of his companions, the more zealous of the two, on being asked why he had brought a foreigner to the place, answered that it was because he was a Christian, and that their books said, 'It is better to die with the wise than to live with fools.' This sentiment was not considered complimentary by the mandarins, who immediately ordered him to be beaten, upon which he got ten blows on each side of his face with an instrument like the sole of a shoe. Mr. B. told this story, but added that he believed the beating had been determined on before, for his other companion, who was the more worldly of the two, and who had probably found his way to the heart of the gaoler, was told that he too would be beaten that day, but that the blows would be laid on by a friendly hand, and that if he kept his cheek loose, he would not feel them much.
[Sidenote: Amoy.]
March 8th.—We are entering Foochow; a most beautiful day; the sea smooth as glass. We left Amoy last night. I went to church in the forenoon at the Consulate. An American missionary preached. There are several missionaries at Amoy. They have, as they say, about 300 converts. The foreigners and natives get on very well there. The town is a poor enough place, and the island seems rocky and barren. How it can sustain the great population which inhabits the villages that cover it is a mystery.
March 14th.—A vessel from Shanghae brought me this morning a letter from Oliphant, which shows that he has got well through the business which I entrusted to him.[3] He went with my letter for the Prime Minister of the Emperor to a city named Soochow, which is not open to foreigners, and which is moreover the seat of beauty and fashion in the empire, and he seems to have been well received. This is a good sign. An edict has moreover been issued by the Emperor degrading Yeh, and moderate in its tone as regards foreigners. All this looks as if there would be at Pekin a disposition to settle matters. God grant that it may be so, that I may get home, and not be required to do farther violence to these poor people.