The War in the East: Japan, China, and Corea

by Trumbull White

CHINESE MANDARIN.

As soon as he was sufficiently powerful he advanced northward into Honan and Hoopih, and captured Woo-chang Foo, the capital of the last named province, and a city of great commercial and strategical importance, situated as it is at the junction of the Han river with the Chiang. Having made this place secure he advanced down the river and made himself master of Gan-ting and the old capital of the empire, Nanking. Here in 1852 he established his throne, and proclaimed the commencement of Taiping dynasty. For himself he adopted the title of Teen-wang, or “heavenly king.” For a time all went well with the new dynasty. The Tai-ping standard was carried northward to the walls of Tien-tsin and floated over the towns of Chin-keang Foo and Soochow Foo.

Meanwhile the imperial authorities had by their stupidity raised another enemy against themselves. The outrage on the English flag perpetrated on board the Chinese lorcha “Arrow,” at Canton in 1857, having been left unredressed by the mandarins, led to the proclamation of war by England. Canton fell to the arms of General Straubenzee, and Sir Michael Seymour in December of the same year, and in the following spring the Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho having been taken, Lord Elgin, who had in the meantime arrived as plenipotentiary minister, advanced up the river to Tien-tsin on his way to the capital. At that city, however, he was met by imperial commissioners, and yielding to their entreaties he concluded a treaty with them which it was arranged should be ratified at Peking in the following year.

But the evil genius of the Chinese still pursuing them, they treacherously fired on the fleet accompanying Sir Frederic Bruce, Lord Elgin’s brother, proceeding in 1860 to Peking, in fulfillment of this agreement. This outrage rendered another military expedition necessary, and in conjunction with the French government, the English cabinet sent out a force under the command of Sir Hope Grant, with orders to march to Peking. In the summer of 1861 the allied forces landed at Peh-tang, a village twelve miles north of the Taku forts, and taking these intrenchments in the rear captured them with but a trifling loss. This success was so utterly unexpected by the Chinese, that leaving Tien-tsin unprotected they retreated rapidly to the neighborhood of the capital. The allies pushed on after them, and in reply to an invitation sent from the imperial commissioners at Tung-chow, a town twelve miles from Peking, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, accompanied by an escort and some few friends, went in advance of the army to make a preliminary convention. While so engaged they were treacherously taken prisoners and carried to Peking.

This act precipitated an engagement in which the Chinese were completely routed, and the allies marched on to Peking. After the usual display of obstinacy the Chinese yielded to the demand for the surrender of the An-ting gate of the city. From this vantage point Lord Elgin opened negotiations, and having secured the release of Sir Harry Parkes and the other prisoners who had survived the tortures to which they had been subjected, and having burnt the summer palace of the emperor as a punishment for their treacherous capture and for the cruelties perpetrated on them, he concluded a treaty with Prince Kung, the representative of the emperor. By this instrument the Chinese agreed to pay a war indemnity of $8,000,000 and to open six other ports in China, one in Formosa, and one in the island of Hainan to foreign trade, and to permit the representatives of the foreign governments to reside at Peking.

GATE AT PEKING.

Having thus relieved themselves from the presence of a foreign foe, the authorities were able to devote their attention to the suppression of the Tai-ping rebellion. Fortunately for themselves, the apparent friendliness with which they greeted the arrival of the British legation at Peking enlisted for them the sympathies of Sir Frederic Bruce, the British minister, and inclined him to listen to their request for the services of an English officer in their campaign against the rebels. At the request of Bruce, General Staveley selected Major Gordon, since generally known as Chinese Gordon, who was killed a few years ago at Khartoom, for this duty. A better man or one more peculiarly fit for the work could have been found. A numerous force known as “the ever victorious army,” partly officered by foreigners, had for some time been commanded by an American named Ward and after his death by Burgevine, another American. Over this force Gordon was placed, and at the head of it he marched in conjunction with the Chinese generals against the Tai-pings. With masterly strategy he struck a succession of rapid and telling blows against the fortunes of the rebels. City after city fell into his hands, and at length the leaders at Soochow opened the gates of the city to him on condition that he would spare their lives. With cruel treachery, when these men presented themselves before Li Hung Chang to offer their submission to the emperor, they were seized and beheaded. On learning how lightly his word had been treated by the Chinese general, Gordon armed himself, for the first time during the campaign with a revolver, and sought out the Chinese headquarters intending to avenge with his own hand this murder of the Tai-ping leaders. But Li Hung Chang having received timely notice of the righteous anger he had aroused took to flight, and Gordon, thus thwarted in his immediate object, threw up his command feeling that it was impossible to continue to act with so orientally-minded a colleague.

After considerable negotiation however, he was persuaded to return to his command and soon succeeded in so completely crippling the power of the rebels that in July 1864, Nanking, their last stronghold, fell into the hands of the imperialists. Teen-wang was then already dead, and his body was found within the walls wrapped in imperial yellow. Thus was crushed out a rebellion which had paralyzed the imperial power in the central provinces of the empire and which had for twelve years seriously threatened the existence of the reigning dynasty.