Soon after the works were all in our possession, the Nemesis was sent some way up the river to explore the navigation, having cleared for herself a passage through the stakes; and, on her return to the Wellesley, late in the day, the admiral, accompanied by Sir Henry Pottinger, proceeded in her to examine the river again.
If we may judge from the various memorials presented to the Emperor, after the fall of Chinhae, and his Majesty's replies to some of them, we must at once perceive how great a sensation the loss of this important place had made upon the people throughout the entire province. They were now alarmed for the safety even of Hang-chow-foo, the capital city. Nevertheless, the emperor, far from shewing any inclination to yield, continued to urge on more strenuously than ever the most extensive preparations for the defence of the province.
Before the fighting at Chinhae commenced, Yu-keen delivered his seals of office to a faithful officer, to be carried back to the provincial capital; and when, at length, he saw the day was lost, he coolly walked down to the river's bank, and there, having performed the ceremony of the Kotow, looking towards the imperial city, he threw himself into the water. It was afterwards ascertained that about fourteen more Chinese officers were either killed, or destroyed themselves.
The death of the imperial commissioner, Yu-keen, seems to have awakened a feeling of compassion in the imperial bosom. His Majesty called to mind the death of the commissioner's grandfather, in the same manner, during the reign of Kien-lung, and directed that his departed servant, "who gave his life for his country," should receive funeral honours of a high class, in the same temple of "faithful ministers" in which his ancestor had already found a place. The local officers were to pay every honour to his remains, in all the towns through which his body might pass on its way to Pekin.
It is an error to suppose that the Chinese are altogether averse to change any of their established practices, however opposed the government may be, as a matter of policy, to every kind of innovation in the usages of the people. In the strictly mechanical arts, no people are more ready to adopt, or more expert in applying any new methods which they can comprehend, and which appear better adapted than their own, to attain the desired object; but their imitations of things are notoriously ludicrous. At Chinhae, four newly-cast guns were found, precisely after the model of some carronades which had been recovered from the wreck of the Kite, and they were not by any means bad specimens.
In the construction of their new gun-carriages, several striking improvements had been copied from ours, and, in this and other instances, it was thought that they must have employed people to take sketches for them. The most remarkable innovation, however, and one which points out their extreme ingenuity, was the discovery of some machinery intended to be applied to the propulsion of their junks, resembling paddle-wheels. This curious invention has been alluded to in the early part of the work, but the actual machinery used for the purpose was now first discovered. There were two long shafts, to which were to be attached the paddle-wheels, made of hard wood, about twelve feet in diameter; there were also some strong, wooden cog-wheels nearly finished, which were intended to be worked by manual labour inside the vessel. They were not yet fitted to the vessels; but the ingenuity of this first attempt of the Chinese, so far north as Chinhae, where they could only have seen our steamers during their occasional visits to Chusan, when that island was before occupied by us, cannot but be admired.
A walk round the ramparts of Chinhae, was sufficient to give a good idea of Chinese towns in general, and of the construction of their walls, which, in some parts, could not be less than forty feet thick. Beyond the town, the long sea-wall was a remarkably fine specimen of masonry, composed entirely of large blocks of hewn granite, sloping upwards. The whole of China, in fact, appears to present to view astonishing instances of mixed civilization and barbarism, of advancement and of stagnation, in all the relations of life. Civilization appears to float upon the surface; you observe so much of social order and sobriety, and hear so much of paternal care and filial obedience, that you are half inclined to think they must be a very moral, humane, and happy people. Again, you witness such proofs of ingenuity, such striking results of industry and of combination of labour, in their public works and buildings, canals, embankments, &c., that you are inclined to believe their institutions must have something good in them at bottom.
But, when you look a little deeper below the surface, you are astonished at the many evidences of barbarism and cruelty which militate against your first impressions. The use of torture in the hands of government officers is less striking, not only because it has been in use in Christian Europe within the last half century, but also because the obligation of an oath being unknown in China, as well as a future state of reward or punishment, there is in some cases, no other mode of extracting evidence, than this cruel, unjust, and much-abused instrument of violence. It is more difficult, however, to perceive why they should have exerted their ingenuity to produce revolting cruelty in their modes of inflicting death.
The manner in which the unfortunate Capt. Stead and Mr. Wainwright were put to death at Chinhae, as it was afterwards discovered, (for they were only wounded and captured at Keeto Point,) affords strong evidence of their cruel love for human suffering. The burial-place of these persons was pointed out outside the city wall, beyond a little moat which skirted them. It seemed to be the common burial-place for criminals after execution, and there was an archery-ground, with a target near at hand, for the practice of their favourite weapon. The bodies of our countrymen were found rolled up in stout mats, such as are commonly used for covering their floors. It was difficult to obtain from the Chinese, anything like correct information as to the precise mode in which the unfortunate sufferers were put to death; for, although both of them were at last beheaded, there is too much reason to believe that they were first of all most barbarously tortured.
The infliction of the punishment of death in China, by any mode which shall cause the mutilation of the body, is considered much more severe and degrading, than death by strangulation, or without the shedding of blood; and the more the body is mutilated, the greater is the punishment considered. The putting to death by "cutting in pieces," in which horrible operation, decapitation is the climax, is, perhaps, never at present carried into effect. It is reserved, I believe, exclusively for rebellion and high treason. But the Chinese seem to take pleasure in inventing various cruel modes by which death may be inflicted, although, probably, they are not now used, if, indeed, they ever were. The most original and disgusting of all these methods, (of which, however, there was no evidence of its being used,) was illustrated by the discovery, either at Chinhae or at Ningpo, of the model of a machine for pounding women to death. The original model was found in a temple, together with various others of a very extraordinary kind. It was very small, and represented a large, oblong, stone vase, in which the woman was to be placed, with the back of her head resting upon one extremity, (the long hair hanging over the side, and fastened to it,) while her legs were to be secured to the other extremity. The horrible pounding process was to be effected by means of a huge stone pestle, large at the base and conical at the apex, similar to those which they use for pounding rice. The pestle, or cone, was fixed to the extremity of a long pole, the pole itself being fastened by a pin in the centre to an upright support, something in the manner of a pump-handle. The extremity of the handle being depressed by a man's weight, of course raised the cone, and, the pressure being removed, the heavy cone or pestle descended by its own weight, which was quite sufficient to pound one to pieces.