It was the opinion of Sir Henry Pottinger, in which the general and the admiral perfectly coincided, that no measures should be taken for the permanent occupation of the city, and that a small garrison only should be left at Kolingsoo, while the remainder of the expedition should move further northward with the least possible delay. It was necessary, however, to wait a day or two for favourable winds, and measures were taken for the destruction of the numerous works which had been constructed upon the outer islands.
The Nemesis was employed on this important service on the 30th and 31st. Having been joined by two launches and other boats, with a party of seamen and marines from the Wellesley, Blenheim, and Druid, under Commander Fletcher, she proceeded to destroy some forts and guns, principally on the south-west side of the bay, all of which had been abandoned by the Chinese. On this occasion, five forts or field-works and forty-two guns were taken possession of and destroyed, and on the following day several others of the same description were also disabled. A body of Chinese soldiers, who shewed themselves near a small fort on the island of Quemoy, at the eastern entrance of the bay, were dispersed, and several guns, matchlocks, ginjals, &c., together with a quantity of gunpowder, were destroyed. Altogether seventy-seven guns and four forts were destroyed in this day's work, and the admiral publicly spoke of the "very commendable zeal" which had been displayed.
At Amoy, for the first time, the so-called tiger soldiers shewed themselves—that is, men dressed up in yellow-coloured clothes, with black spots or stripes upon them, and a covering for the head, intended to be a rude representation of a tiger's head, supposed to look very fierce, and to strike terror into the minds of the enemy.
The island of Kolingsoo, which had been retained in our possession ever since its capture, deserves a few remarks. It is about a mile and a half in length, and about three quarters of a mile broad, but is very irregular in its shape. It principally consists of rocky broken ground, the greater part of which is barren, but interspersed with unwholesome rice-grounds, which have contributed to render the place extremely unhealthy; indeed at one period the mortality among the troops stationed there was dreadful, scarcely even a single officer having escaped sickness, which proved fatal to many. The Chinese, however, seemed to have suffered little from it, for there were several neat and even elegant country-houses upon the island, ornamented with handsome carved wood-work, &c. It seemed to have been used as a place of retirement for some of the wealthier citizens of Amoy, and our retention of a place so conveniently situated for giving us the command of the harbour and trade of the city was a source of great annoyance, both to the authorities and to the inhabitants.
For a considerable time, very little communication was kept up with the town, and it was scarcely safe to venture into it; but since the peace, every disposition has been shewn to receive us in a friendly manner, and the knowledge which many of the Chinese merchants have acquired of our character and habits, by trading with Singapore, will tend materially to facilitate our future commercial intercourse.
Several American missionaries have resided at Kolingsoo, and without doubt will, at no distant period, succeed in winning the attention and good-will of many of the inhabitants of Amoy. A boundless field has at length been opened for missionary enterprise in the benighted empire of China; for, although it cannot be said that the country has been made completely accessible to the foreigner, still the hostility of the government has been materially modified.
It rests with the Christian nations to profit as Christians, by the opportunities which cannot fail to offer. Among a people so fond of reading and thinking, and so given to study and inquiry as the Chinese generally are, the best possible results are to be expected from the judicious teaching of Christianity, and, above all, of Christian practices. If China is really to be opened, it is to be effected by missionary enterprise cautiously and judiciously, and, above all, not too hastily applied.
The most valuable of all aids to these undertakings, is that of medical knowledge, which may be considered as almost indispensable to the proper character of a missionary in China. The relief of bodily suffering (above all, in a country where the medical art is so low as it is in China) softens the feelings of our nature, and paves the way for kinder influences over the mind itself. It will open the family mansion of the most secluded and prejudiced Chinese, when words or doctrines first propounded would meet an unwilling or perhaps a hostile listener. Religious teaching and the practice of the healing art, the comfort of the suffering mind, and the solace of the tortured body, must go hand in hand in effecting the good work of "opening" China.
Why is it that the Americans have taken precedence of the English in this great and glorious work, since the commencement of the war in particular? For many years, a talented medical missionary, Dr. Parker, has dispensed his double blessing upon the Chinese at Canton, and can testify the gratitude of the people, from the highest to the lowest, and the readiness with which they have accepted his counsel and his teaching in both capacities. At Macao, Hong-Kong, Kolingsoo, and Chusan, the Americans have alike preceded us.
There is, however, one great and fatal error to be avoided; and that is, the rivalry of religious sects among each other, and the attempt to gain followers at the expense of each other's tenets. It was this want of unanimity which in some measure produced the decline of the influence of Roman-catholic missionaries in China.