The Emperor appears to be an amiable but weak man, well intentioned towards his people, sensible of the difficulties of his country, but, at the same time, blinded and misinformed by the favourites about him, and retaining too many early prejudices to be able thoroughly to cope with all the difficulties which have from time to time beset him.
The next most important character who figured at the period which has been already alluded to was Commissioner Lin, of whom so much has been said. The principal features of his character have been already delineated. He is described as having been stout in person, with a vivacious but not unpleasant manner, unless highly excited; with a keen, dark, penetrating eye, which seemed to indicate that he could assume two opposite characters, according as it might suit his interest or his ambition. He had a clear, distinct voice, and is said to have rarely smiled. His countenance indicated a mind habituated to care. In the course of his proceedings at Canton, he seems never to have permitted himself to adopt the character of a "negotiator," but invariably to have assumed that of a "dictator," which was more natural to him. His word was law. He was not dismayed by sudden difficulties, and appears to have been quite sincere in all his wishes to arrest the progress of the evils he complained of, and to reform the morals of the people. With this object, he closed all the gaming-houses at Canton, which were as numerous as the opium-shops, or more so, and were generally maintained in conjunction with the latter; so much do vices court each other's company.
In reality, Lin feared the foreigners as much as he hated them. But the intercourse he now had with them led him to value their knowledge more highly, and probably he knew full well that knowledge is power. He had portions of English works translated for his own use, such as Thelwall's pamphlet against opium, Murray's geography, (parts,) &c.; and he had in his employ three or four young Chinamen, who knew something of English, and of English habits, having visited the straits' settlements, and one of them the United States.
Lin was by no means wanting in energy to meet the great crisis which he had contributed so much to produce. In addition to the enlisting of troops, the preparation of defences, the casting of guns, building of fire-vessels and gun-boats, &c., he directed that many passages of the river should be blocked up with stones, and others staked across with piles.
In short, Lin was a bold, uncompromising, and specious man. He tried to console the Emperor, by assuring him that he was quite certain that, along the northern coast, sickness and cold would carry off all the barbarian forces, even if the want of food, and the exhaustion of their powder and shot, did not reduce them to extremities; but he never once alluded to any probability of being able to beat off the barbarians in fair fight.
With regard to his successor, Keshen, his character will be better developed as we proceed. But it is worth while here to remark, that Keshen appears to have been one of the few about the court who began to apprehend serious consequences from Lin's measures. He had always been cautious in committing himself, and though no friend of the foreigners, he had feared their power, and felt the weakness of his own country, as well as the necessity of trying some other measures than those means hitherto employed, to put a stop to the perpetual disturbances which took place in several parts of the empire, and threatened rebellion even within the capital.
Keshen was an astute courtier, a polished and well-mannered man, and all those who were present at either of his two interviews with Captain Elliot were struck with his courteous and gentlemanlike manner. Although he made every preparation for resistance, he seems to have thought he could gain more by diplomacy, and he resolved to take advantage of the disposition for negotiation rather than dictation on Captain Elliot's part, to play his cards with tact and cunning, in the hope of gaining time. But he saw his weakness, and the impossibility of contending with success against our forces, and, having distinctly reported thereon to the Emperor, he was, of course, set down as a coward, and, consequently, as a traitor. He had the boldness to tell the Emperor the actual weakness of his strongest points of defence; whereas, Lin only stated how much stronger they would have been, had the government made it a rule to have devoted ten per cent. of the whole customs' revenue of Canton to the improvement of their means of defence, the building of ships, and the casting of cannon.
In one thing, however, Lin and Keshen were both of a mind—namely, as to the importance of the foreign trade of Canton to the imperial revenue. They ventured to correct the Emperor's notion that the customs' duties of Canton were "unimportant, and not worth a thought," by telling him that they "already" produced upwards of thirty millions of taels, or ten millions sterling, and that, as the revenue of Canton far exceeded that of any other province, a portion of this considerable sum, which was obtained from foreigners, should have been applied to defending themselves against foreigners.[18]
Much has at various times been said about Keshen's treachery and bad faith. But it will be seen, as we proceed, that he was driven into these acts by the distinct orders of the Emperor, and that keeping faith with us was to be viewed as treachery to his master. Indeed, the severity of Keshen's punishment at the Emperor's hands proves not so much how ill he served his master, as how unfortunate he was in having a much more profound head than Lin, in being able to see farther into futurity, and to catch the shadows of coming events; in short, how much too far in advance of his countrymen he was, in being able to appreciate their position in the face of the foreigner, and how unfortunate in presuming to attempt to ward off the dreaded blow by timely concession.