CHAPTER XIII. COMMUNICATION FROM THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT-LORD ELGIN'S REPLY SIR JOHN BOWRING'S VISIT TO THE PEIHO-COURSE PURSUED ON THAT OCCASION-LORD ELGIN'S APPLICATION FOR GUNBOATS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION OF SICCAWAY-SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 66 BARREN RESULTS OF MISSIONARY LABOUR- TENDING MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE-NON-ARRIVAL OF THE ADMIRAL THE MIATOU STRAITS-AGROUND ON A SANDBANK-ARRIVAL IN ARRIVAL OF THE ADMIRAL-THE THE BAR-EXPIRY OF THE DELAY-POSTPONEMENT OF ATTACK THE day after our arrival at Shanghai, Lord Elgin received from Pekin the reply of the Imperial Government to the despatches which I had delivered for transmission at Soo-chow, a month before. Although by the Treaty of Nankin the right is secured to Her Majesty's representative in China, to correspond direct with the highest Imperial authority in the Empire, the prime-minister Yu, to whom the com 248 LORD ELGIN'S REPLY. munications of his Excellency had been addressed, did not condescend to respond, but instructed the authorities of the Two Kiangs to make a communication to the British Plenipotentiary, in which, after adverting to the recent proceedings at Canton, it was stated that Yeh was in consequence degraded, and superseded by Hwang, who alone was authorised to manage barbarian affairs at that city, whither we were enjoined to return, and at no other place. The prime-minister went on to state, that "there being a particular sphere of duty allotted to every official on the establishment of the Celestial Empire, and the principle that between them and the foreigner there is no intercourse being one ever religiously adhered to by the servants of our government of China, it would not be proper for me to reply in person to the letter of the English Minister. Let your Excellencies (the authorities of the Two Kiangs) therefore transmit to him all that I have said above, and his letter will no way be left unanswered." This letter was returned to the authorities of the Two Kiangs, as an unjustifiable disregard of that clause of the treaty of Nankin which states, "That it is agreed that her Britannic Majesty's chief high officer in China shall correspond with the Chinese high officers, both in the capital and in the provinces, under the term, 'communication.' Under these circumstances, Lord Elgin, after quoting the above clause in reply, states that it is his intention to "proceed at once to the north, in order that SIR JOHN BOWRING'S VISIT TO THE PEIHO. 249 he may place himself in more direct communication with the high officers of the Imperial Government at the capital." As this was a measure which the Ambassador had always considered the most likely to be productive of successful results, so far as negotiation was concerned, he did not regret that the unwarrantable course taken by the prime-minister rendered the step imperative. The French, Russian, and American ministers received communications more or less to the same effect, except that Count Poutiatine was directed to repair to the Amour, instead of to Canton; and they all agreed with Lord Elgin that the proper, and indeed only course to be pursued, was to appear with as little delay as possible with a sufficiently strong force at the mouth of the Peiho, to enforce that compliance with treaty obligations. which the Government so pertinaciously refused. It was interesting, in connection with the determination thus arrived at by the allied Plenipotentiaries, to refer to the document found in Yeh's yamun, relating to the visit of Sir John Bowring, and Mr Maclane the United States Commissioner, to the Peiho in 1854. They too had endeavoured, but with even less success, to communicate with the Imperial Government through the authorities of the Two Kiangs. Sir J. Bowring had been refused an audience altogether, and Mr Maclane stopped at Kwan-shan, outside Soochow, as already described, and there remonstrated with on the impropriety of his proceeding to the north. At first Iliang, the governor-general, seemed 250 COURSE PURSUED ON THAT OCCASION. to think these remonstrances had proved effectual; but he afterwards had misgivings on the subject, for, alluding to Sir John Bowring's complaint against Yeh for want of politeness, and the visit he threatens to the Peiho in consequence, he says: "It is, however, a standing device of the barbarians to make particular circumstances the plea of demands to be insisted on; whatever these chiefs may insinuate (or whisper) against Yeh-Ming-Chin, it is evident that Yeh-Ming-Chin is he whom they are used to fear. They say they are going to Tientsin. This may be, notwithstanding, an assertion made to compel acquiescence in their demands. Your slave has commanded them with affectionate earnestness to stay ; and the ships of their chief have not as yet departed. Still there is no certainty, so inconsistent and capricious is the barbarian character, that they will not after all sail north, and thereby attempt to constrain the Imperial authority, and the high provincial authorities of the coast jurisdictions." To which the Emperor replies that it is quite true that "it is the nature of barbarians to be cunning and malicious;" and he further directs Iliang to inform them that "a force is assembled at Tientsin as the clouds in number " -all clearly showing how much the presence of foreigners was dreaded in the neighbourhood of the capital, and how effectual in all probability any pressure applied there would be. It was only to be regretted that this very expedition, to which the above papers refer, had gone to the LORD ELGIN'S APPLICATION FOR GUNBOATS. 251 north and returned re infecta. This circumstance in itself was calculated to diminish the effect of another; and indeed, as we afterwards discovered, the same Commissioners were sent to meet us at Takoo, as had met the English and American Commissioners on the former occasion, and no doubts seemed to have been entertained at headquarters that they were endowed with a special faculty for dealing with barbarians, and that we should be as easily disposed of as our predecessors. The decision in favour of an early move northward was arrived at on the 1st of April, the nonappearance of any Imperial Commissioner before the last day of March, the period appointed for the commencement of negotiations at Shanghai, having released the allied Plenipotentiaries from their engagements upon this head. In view of this contingency, which Lord Elgin had before leaving HongKong anticipated as probable, he had upon the 2d of March addressed to the Admiral a letter, stating that he was about to proceed to Shanghai, in the hope of meeting there a properly qualified plenipotentiary ; but his Lordship went on to say: "If I should be disappointed in this hope, it may be necessary, in pursuance of the policy prescribed by her Majesty's Government, to bring pressure to bear at some point near the capital. With a view to this contingency, I think it desirable that your Excellency should collect at Shanghai, towards the end of March, or as soon after as may be convenient, as large a fleet, more |