[371]An Imperial Edict issued on the third day of the eighth moon in the tenth year of Hsien-Feng (6/9/1860) said amongst other things: ‘We have never forbidden England and France to trade with China, and for long years there has been peace between them and us. But three years ago the English, for no good cause, invaded our city of Canton, and carried off our officials into captivity. We refrained at that time from taking any retaliatory measures, because we were compelled to recognise that the obstinacy of the Viceroy Yeh had been in some measure a cause of the hostilities. Two years ago, the barbarian Commander Elgin came north and we then commanded the Viceroy of Chihli, T’an Ting-hsiang, to look into matters preparatory to negotiations. But the barbarian took advantage of our unreadiness, attacking the Taku forts and pressing on to Tientsin. Being anxious to spare our people the horrors of war, we again refrained from retaliation and ordered Kuei Liang to discuss terms of peace. Notwithstanding the outrageous nature of the barbarians’ demands we subsequently ordered Kuei Liang to proceed to Shanghai in connection with the proposed Treaty of Commerce and even permitted its ratification as earnest of our good faith.
‘In spite of all this, the barbarian leader Bruce again displayed intractability of the most unreasonable kind, and once more appeared off Taku with a squadron of warships in the eighth Moon. Seng Ko Lin Ch’in thereupon attacked him fiercely and compelled him to make a rapid retreat. From all these facts it is clear that China has committed no breach of faith and that the barbarians have been in the wrong. During the present year the barbarian leaders Elgin and Gros have again appeared off our coasts, but China, unwilling to resort to extreme measures, agreed to their landing and permitted them to come to Peking for the ratification of the Treaty.
‘Who could have believed that all this time the barbarians have been darkly plotting, and that they had brought with them an army of soldiers and artillery with which they attacked the Taku forts from the rear, and, having driven out our forces, advanced upon Tientsin!’ (I. O. Bland and E. T. Blackhouse, China under the Empress Dowager (London, 1910), pp. 24-5. Cf. also in this work the entire chapter, ‘The Flight to Yehol’.)
[372]These European exploits to make China receptive to commodity exchange, provide the setting for a charming episode of China’s internal history: Straight from looting the Manchu Emperor’s Summer Palace, the ‘Gordon of China’ went on a campaign against the rebels of Taiping. In 1863 he even took over command of the Imperial fighting forces. In fact, the suppression of the revolt was the work of the British army. But while a considerable number of Europeans, among them a French admiral, gave their lives to preserve China for the Manchu dynasty, the representatives of European commerce were eagerly grasping this opportunity to make capital out of these fights, supplying arms both to their own champions and to the rebels who went to war against them. ‘Moreover, the worthy merchant was tempted, by the opportunity for making some money, to supply both armies with arms and munitions, and since the rebels had greater difficulties in obtaining supplies than the Emperor’s men and were therefore compelled and prepared to pay higher prices, they were given priority and could thus resist not only the troops of their own government, but also those of England and France’ (M. v. Brandt, 33 Jahre in Ostasien, 1911, vol. iii, China, p. 11).
[373]Dr. O. Franke, Die Rechtsverhältnisse am Grundeigentum in China (Leipzig, 1903), p. 82.
[374]Bland and Blackhouse, op. cit., p. 338.
[375]Ibid., p. 337.
[376]Until recently, in China the domestic industries were widely practised even by the bourgeoisie and in such large and ancient towns as Ningpo with its 300,000 inhabitants. ‘Only a generation ago, the family’s shoes, hats, shirts, etc., were made by the women themselves. At that time, it was practically unheard-of for a young woman to buy from a merchant what she could have made with the labour of her own hands’ (Dr. Nyok-Ching Tsur, ‘Forms of Industry in the Town of Ningpo’ (Die gewerblichen Betriebsformen der Stadt Ningpo), Tuebingen, 1909, p. 51).
[377]Admittedly, this relation is reversed in the last stages of the history of peasant economy when capitalist production has made its full impact. Once the small peasants are ruined, the entire work of farming frequently devolves on the women, old people and children, while the men are made to work for their living for capitalist entrepreneurs in the domestic industries or as wage-slaves in the factories. A typical instance is the small peasant in Wuerttemberg.
[378]W. A. Peffer, The Farmer’s Side. His Troubles and Their Remedy (New York, 1891), Part ii, ‘How We Got Here’, chap. i, ‘Changed Conditions of the Farmer’, pp. 56-7. Cf. also A. M. Simmons, The American Farmer (2nd edition, Chicago, 1906), pp. 74 ff.