In the commencement, the principal inhabitants of the interior shewed a great disinclination to have any dealings with us, and the common people frequently proved themselves decidedly hostile to us. The kidnapping of our soldiers will be alluded to hereafter; but that was more frequently attempted by men sent expressly over for the purpose, from the mainland, than by the peasantry of the island itself. Gradually, however, all classes improved in their tone and bearing; and, during an excursion which I myself made, in company with a missionary, at the close of the war, we found the people commonly civil and obliging, and rarely disinclined to hold intercourse with us. In several instances, we were invited into the houses of respectable individuals, who invariably turned the conversation upon mercantile matters.
It must not be supposed that there can be an unlimited production of tea in China; its cultivation is limited to almost two districts, and it requires peculiar conditions of soil and of climate to enable it to be cultivated to advantage. A great sudden increase in the demand for tea would lead to an enormous increase in the adulteration of the article by all kinds of spurious leaves; and nothing is more easy than to fabricate a mixture which will resemble in all its external appearances any description of tea which may be most in demand; and this fabricated mixture can be added to the real tea, in greater or lesser quantity, so as not easily to be detected, except by very experienced persons. The tea-plant requires three years' growth before it will produce leaves fit to be plucked for tea. At Chusan, the plant appeared to grow wild, or nearly so, upon some of the mountains, but of inferior quality, and only fit for native use.
As the season for active measures, before the complete setting in of winter, was already far advanced, little time was to be lost in carrying into execution the proposed movement upon Chinhae and Ningpo. The latter city, from its size and situation, would afford excellent winter quarters for the main body of our troops; and the moral effect upon the Chinese government and people, of the continued occupation of so important a place, and the interruption of their valuable trade, could not fail to make an impression calculated to facilitate our future negotiations.
In the meantime, the expected reinforcements would have arrived, both from England and from India, and the next campaign would be opened with vigour, and would suffice, it was hoped, to conclude the war. Ningpo, which is a city of the first class, and therefore called Foo, (Ningpo-Foo,) is the chief city of a department, and the second city in the province of Che-keang, of which the capital is Hang-Chow-Foo. The population of the province, according to Chinese documents, numbers upwards of 26,000,000 souls, or very nearly as much as the whole of Great Britain and Ireland together.
The town of Ningpo is situated twelve miles up the Tahea, or Ningpo river, at the mouth of which is the small town of Chinhae, at the base of a high hill, which commands the entrance of the river. The possession of Chinhae, therefore, and its citadel, would give us complete command of the approach to Ningpo; just as the capture of Chapoo (which was effected in the subsequent campaign) would lay open the road to Hang-Chow-Foo, the capital; and that of Woosung, which was soon afterwards taken, would give us free access to the valuable trading city of Shang-hae. It could not be doubted that the interruption of trade, and the stoppage of imperial revenues derived from it, would make far deeper impression upon the cabinet of Pekin, than sweeping off thousands and tens of thousands of the people, whose lives are so quaintly said to be "very tenderly cherished in the paternal bosom of the Emperor."
A small garrison only was to be left in possession of Chusan, but the embarkation of the rest of our force was delayed for some days, by the continuance of contrary winds. The exposed situation of Chinhae also made it hazardous to approach it with a fleet, until the weather should assume a more settled appearance. At length, on the 8th of October, the greater part of the transports were moved to the anchorage at "Just in the Way," nearly half way across to the mouth of the Ningpo river. At the same time, the General and the Admiral, accompanied by Sir Henry Pottinger, who was never absent when active operations were going on, proceeded in the Nemesis and Phlegethon steamers to reconnoitre the Chinese positions, and to form their plans for the intended attack. Everything was now extremely favourable for this purpose, considering the advanced season; and the Chinese allowed the steamers to approach quite close, within short range, without firing a shot.
The city of Chinhae lies at the foot of a hill, upon a tongue of land, on the left bank of the river, or upon the northern side of its entrance; and its castellated walls are not much less than three miles in circumference, connected with a substantial stone embankment which runs up the coast for a distance of full three miles, for the protection of the land from the encroachments of the sea. The chief strength of the position, however, lies in the precipitous, rocky height, which, rising abruptly from the sea, at the extremity of the peninsula, and throwing out a rugged spur, completely commands the entrance of the river. Upon its summit, which may be about two hundred and fifty feet high, a sort of citadel had been formed, having a large temple for its commanding point, connected by loop-holed walls with various other buildings, which had been put in a state of preparation for defence.
The outer wall had two iron-plated gates; but the only direct communication between the citadel and the city was on the west, or land side, where a steep but tolerably regular causeway led to a barrier gate at the bottom of the hill, whence it was continued by a wooden bridge over a gorge to the gates of the city itself. In front of the other, or eastern gate of the citadel, there was a newly-constructed battery, formed partly of sand-bags, and partly of masonry, mounting, altogether, twenty-one guns.
Adjoining the suburbs of the city, on the river side, there were also two flanking batteries for the protection of the river, mounting, respectively, twenty-two and nineteen guns; while, on the opposite side of the isthmus, lying between the hill and the city walls, there was a small battery of five guns pointing towards the sea, with a row of piles driven into the beach in front of it, in order to impede the landing of an enemy. For further protection on that side, a number of guns and a large quantity of ginjals were mounted upon the city walls, principally fronting the sea. The information obtained led the General to suppose that there were about three thousand soldiers in the city and upon the works outside of it, while about seven hundred garrisoned the citadel; but the Chinese official returns were afterwards found, in which the details were minutely given. The actual number was about five hundred less than supposed. The Chinese had by no means limited their defences to the northern side of the river only. On the contrary, there was good reason to believe that the great body of their troops and their strongest positions were upon the other or southern side of the river, where there was a range of steep hills, overlooking the citadel hill and the city itself.
On this side there were several strong batteries facing the entrance to the river, mounting altogether thirty-one guns, while the line of heights above was strongly fortified, having a chain of entrenched camps along the points most difficult of approach, with several field redoubts, armed with guns and ginjals; in short, neither expense nor labour had been spared to defend, as far as Chinese ingenuity and art could avail, the approach to the important city of Ningpo.