CHAPTER XXIII. Progress of the War, and Opening of China. THE advance of the English forces arrived off Macao, June 22d, 1841, when Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer published a notice of the blockade of the port of Canton. The Americans had already informed Lin of this intention, and requested that all their ships arriving before it was laid on, might be allowed to come directly into port; he replied in his edict, granting their petition, “that it was an egregious mistake, analogous to an audacious falsehood, that the English contemplate putting on a blockade." Captain Elliot also issued a manifesto to the people generally, setting forth the grievances suffered by the English at the hands of Lin and his colleagues during the past year, and stating that no harm would come to them while pursuing their peaceful occupations, for the quarrel was entirely between the two governments, and the Queen had deputed high officers to make known the truth to the Emperor. Sir Gordon moved northward in the Wellesley, 74, his fleet consisting of five ships, three steamers, and twenty-one transports; and on anchoring in the harbor of Tinghai, July 4th, sent a summons to surrender the town and island, stating the grounds of the attack. The Chinese officers in command of the place and its defences, though confessing their inability to cope with such a force, declared they should do their best; and during the night placed the town and shipping in the best position for defence. They complained of the hardship of being made answerable for wrongs done at Canton, upon which the blow should properly fall, and not upon those who had never injured the English. It was a sad interview for them, and the peril of their position was more fully seen when they had gone aboard the Wellesley. On Sunday, July 5th, the Commodore's ship fired at the tower, which was answered by the junks and batteries, when the broadsides from all the vessels opened, and in a few minutes silenced them; about 3000 men then landed, and took up a posi CAPTURE OF TINGHAI. 529 tion commanding the town, whose walls were seen to be filled with troops. A few shells were thrown into it, but the attack was delayed till the next morning, by which time most of the citizens and troops had evacuated it, and possession was taken without resistance. Many of the principal Chinese officers were killed, which disheartened their troops, already sufficiently dispirited at seeing the force brought against them; the English had few or none wounded. The respectable inhabitants went across to Ningpo, or scattered themselves over the island. General Burrell was appointed governor. On the 6th, Admiral G. Elliot, and Captain Elliot, joint plenipotentiaries, arrived at Chusan, in the Melville, 74. They sent a copy of Lord Palmerston's letter to the emperor, setting forth the grounds of complaint, to the authorities at Amoy and Ningpo, for them to forward it to Peking; both of whom declined taking the responsibility. The visit to these two cities showed that the Chinese were preparing for defence, by arming the forts, making rafts, and posting troops. The prefect of Ningpo, within whose jurisdiction Tinghai lies, took measures to prevent the people of Chusan from "aiding and comforting" their conquerors, by sending police-runners to the various villages to mark those who supplied them, who seized a purveyor from Canton. An erroneous idea, that the Chinese people wished to throw off the Manchu yoke, and a desire to conciliate the islanders, led the English to take less stringent measures for supplying themselves with provisions, than they otherwise would. A small party was sent to recapture the purveyor, but its unsuccessful trip over the island showed the unwillingness of the people to have anything to do with their invaders, while their dread was increased by the arrest of several village elders. Mr. Gutzlaff was stationed at Chusan, and did his best to reassure the people, stating the peaceful desires of the English; but they, judging European warfare by their own usages, knew no alternative between complete subjugation by force, and continued hostilities as they had power and opportunity. As he went around exhorting them to act peaceably, some of them asked him, "If you are so desirous of peace, why did you come here at all?" After arranging the government of the island, stationing the troops on shore, and blockading Amoy and Ningpo, and the mouths of the Min and Yangtsz' kiang, the two plenipotentiaries 24 VOL, II, sailed for the Pei ho, where they anchored, August 11th, and Captain Elliot went ashore to deliver the letter. It was immediately taken to Taku, where Kishen, the governor-general of the province was waiting, by an aid, known to the English as Captain White (this being a translation of Shaupi Peh), who returned with a request for ten days' delay to lay it before the emperor. During this interval, the ships dispersed to visit the coast of Liautung to procure provisions, which they obtained with some difficulty, and returned on the 27th. No message coming off, a strong boat-force was sent ashore next day with a menacing letter to Kishen, when it was ascertained that a reply had gone off, and no A meeting was now ships were at the anchorage to receive it. arranged at Taku between Kishen and Captain Elliot, which took place on Sunday, the 30th of August, in a large tent; the number of attendants on both sides was large, but the interview was nearly a personal one. Kishen argued his side of the question with great tact and ability, bringing forward in the sincerest manner the argument that his master had the most unquestionable right to treat the English as he had done, for they were, and had enrolled themselves, his tributary subjects. He could not treat definitely on all the points in dispute, and after a second meeting requested a further delay of six days in order to refer again to Peking, which was granted. The conclusion of the negotiations was the reasonable arrangement that Kíshen should meet the English plenipotentiaries at Canton, where the truth of the treatment their countrymen had received could be better examined; the season was too far advanced, moreover, to admit much longer tarrying in the Gulf, and on the 15th of September the squadron returned to Chusan. While these things were going on at Taku, a few skirmishes had taken place elsewhere. Several prisoners had fallen into the hands of the Chinese at Ningpo, among whom were the surviving crew of the Kite transport, lost on the quicksands off the mouth of the Tsientang river. The prisoners, among whom was Mrs. Noble, the captain's widow, were carried to Ningpo in small cages, according to the usual practice of the Chinese; and although this was both cruel and unnecessary, there was no peculiar hardship exercised towards them more than to common prisoners. Two or three captures were also made at Tinghai; and a foraging party from the Conway on Tsungming I. was roughly handled. INTERVIEW BETWEEN ELLIOT AND KÍSHEN. 531 At Amoy, an attack was made upon one of the blockading ships, and every effort made to increase the efficiency of the forts and defences. Large rewards were early offered by Lin for the capture of English ships and people, which incited some heroes among his followers to attempt to take such defenceless persons as they could seize, and one Englishman, Mr. Stanton, was carried off by a party from Macao. A force of about 1200 men was at this time stationed in and around the Barrier, and several sand batteries thrown up near it. Accordingly Captain Smith, the senior naval officer, moved two sloops and a steamer near their position, and soon drove the soldiers away, and silenced the guns; a detachment then landed and set fire to the buildings used as barracks. This service was attended with little loss of life to the Chinese troops, and rid the settlement of a grievous nuisance to both natives and foreigners. Mr. Stanton was carried prisoner to Canton; and the commissioner had it in his mind at one time to immolate him as a sacrifice to the god of War, to insure the success of the imperial troops, but learning that he had never been engaged in the opium trade, he wisely delayed. Lin was busy during the summer in enlisting volunteers and preparing the defences of Canton, but he was soon after ordered to return "with the speed of flames" to Peking. His majesty, judging his measures by their results, was unnecessarily severe upon his servant: "You have not only proved yourself unable to cut off their trade," he says, “but you have also proved yourself unable to seize perverse natives. You have but dissembled with empty words, and so far from having been any help in the affair, you have caused the waves of confusion to arise, and a thousand interminable disorders are sprouting; in fact you have been as if your arms were tied, without knowing what to do: it appears, then, you are no better than a wooden image. When I think to myself on all these things, I am filled with anger and melancholy.” Trade was carried on notwithstanding the blockade, by sending tea and goods through Macao; and many ships loaded for England and the United States. Admiral Elliot entered into a truce with Ílípu, governor-general of Chehkiang, by which each party agreed to observe certain boundaries. Sickness and death had made sad inroads into the health and numbers of the troops stationed at Tinghai, more than 400 out of the 4000 landed in July having died, and three times that number being in the hospitals; the European regiments suf fered much more than the Indian troops. This mortality was ascribed to malaria, heat, and improper provisions. The people did not recover their confidence sufficiently to reopen their shops till after the truce, when the intercourse was more frank, and provisions more abundant. Doct. Lockhart's missionary hospital was resorted to by hundreds; and the visits paid to various parts of the island better informed the inhabitants of the personal character of their temporary rulers, and a profitable trade in provisions encouraged them to still farther acquaintance. The two plenipotentiaries arrived off Macao, Nov. 20th, and immediately sent a steamer to the Bogue with a dispatch from Ílípu to Kishen, which was fired upon; an apology was immediately made by Kishen, and there was reason for believing the act to have been done by an officer unacquainted with the meaning of a white flag, whose intent and privileges were after this understood. Admiral Elliot resigned his office at this time in consequence of ill health, and returned home, leaving the management of affairs to Captain Elliot. Negotiations were resumed during the month of December, but the determination of the Chinese to resist rather than grant full indemnity and security was more and more apparent. Kishen probably found more zeal among the people for a fight than he had supposed, but his own desires were to settle the matter "more soon, more better." What demands were made as a last alternative are not known, but one of them, the cession of the island of Hongkong, he refused to grant, and broke off the discussion. Commodore Bremer thereupon moved his forces up the bay, and on the 7th of January attacked and took the forts at Chuenpí and Taikoktau. Further progress was stayed by the Chinese proposing an armistice, for Kishen, who was present, saw enough to convince him of the folly of resistance, resumed the negotiations, and memorialized his master, stating the ineffectiveness of the defences. On the 20th of January they had proceeded so far that Captain Elliot issued a notice to British subjects announcing the conclusion of preliminary arrangements upon four points. These were the cession of the island and harbor of Hongkong to the British crown, an indemnity of six millions of dollars in annual instalments, direct official intercourse upon an equal footing, and the |