Volume I—A To Elba (continued 29)

The Growing Power of the Republic of Chile (Atlantic Monthly, July, 1884).

ALSO IN: H. Birkedal, The late War in South America (Overland Monthly, January, February, and March, 1884).

C. R. Markham, The War between Peru and Chile.

R. N. Boyd, Chile, chapters 16-17.

Message of the President of the United States, transmitting Papers relating to the War in South America, January 26, 1882.

T. W. Knox, Decisive Battles since Waterloo; chapter 23.

See, also, PERU: A. D. 1826-1876.

CHILE: A. D. 1885-1891. The presidency and dictatorship of Balmaceda. His conflict with the Congress. Civil war.

"Save in the one struggle in which the parties resorted to arms, the political development of Chili was free from civil disturbances, and the ruling class was distinguished among the Spanish-American nations not only for wealth and education, but for its talent for government and love of constitutional liberty. The republic was called 'the England of South America,' and it was a common boast that in Chili a pronunciamiento or a revolution was impossible. The spirit of modern Liberalism became more prevalent, … As the Liberal party became all-powerful it split into factions, divided by questions of principle and by struggles for leadership and office. … The patronage of the Chilian President is enormous, embracing not only the general civil service, but local officials, except in the municipalities, and all appointments in the army and navy and in the telegraph and railroad services and the giving out of contracts. The President has always been able to select his successor, and has exercised this power, usually in harmony with the wishes of influential statesmen, sometimes calling a conference of party chiefs to decide on a candidate. In the course of time the more advanced wing of the Liberals grew more numerous than the Moderates. The most radical section had its nucleus in a Reform Club in Santiago, composed of young university men, of whom Balmaceda was the finest orator. Entering Congress in 1868, he took a leading part in debates. … {415} In 1885 he was the most popular man in the country; but his claim to the presidential succession was contested by various other aspirants—older politicians and leaders of factions striving for supremacy in Congress. He was elected by an overwhelming majority, and as President enjoyed an unexampled degree of popularity. For two or three years the politicians who had been his party associates worked in harmony with his ideas. … At the flood of the democratic tide he was the most popular man in South America. But when the old territorial families saw the seats in Congress and the posts in the civil service that had been their prerogative filled by new men, and fortunes made by upstarts where all chances had been at their disposal, then a reaction set in, corruption was scented, and Moderate Liberals, joining hands with the Nationalists and the reviving Conservative party, formed an opposition of respectable strength. In the earlier part of his administration Balmaceda had the co-operation of the Nationalists, who were represented in the Cabinet. In the last two years of his term, when the time drew near for selecting his successor, defection and revolt and the rivalries of aspirants for the succession threw the party into disorder and angered its hitherto unquestioned leader. … In January, 1890, the Opposition were strong enough to place their candidate in the chair when the House of Representatives organized. The ministry resigned, and a conflict between the Executive and legislative branches of the Government was openly begun when the President appointed a Cabinet of his own selection. … This ministry had to face an overwhelming majority against the President, which treated him as a dictator and began to pass hostile laws and resolutions that were vetoed, and refused to consider the measures that he recommended. The ministers were cited before the Chambers and questioned about the manner of their appointment. They either declined to answer, or answered in a way that increased the animosity of Congress, which finally passed a vote of censure, in obedience to which, as was usual, the Cabinet resigned. Then Balmaceda appointed a ministry in open defiance of Congress, with Sanfuentes at its head, the man who was already spoken of as his selected candidate for the presidency. He prepared for the struggle that he invited by removing the chiefs of the administration of the departments and replacing them with men devoted to himself and his policy, and making changes in the police, the militia, and, to some extent, in the army and navy commands. The press denounced him as a dictator, and indignation meetings were held in every town. Balmaceda and his supporters pretended to be not only the champions of the people against the aristocracy, but of the principle of Chili for the Chilians."

Appleton's Annual Cyclop., 1891, pages 123-124.

"The conflict between President Balmaceda and Congress ripened into revolution. On January 1, 1891, the Opposition members of the Senate and House of Deputies met, and signed an Act declaring that the President was unworthy of his post, and that he was no longer head of the State nor President of the Republic, as he had violated the Constitution. On January 7 the navy declared in favour of the Legislature, and against Balmaceda. The President denounced the navy as traitors, abolished all the laws of the country, declared himself Dictator, and proclaimed martial law. It was a reign of terror. The Opposition recruited an army in the Island of Santa Maria under General Urrutia and Commander Canto. On February 14 a severe fight took place with the Government troops in Iquique, and the Congressional army took possession of Pisagua. In April, President Balmaceda … delivered a long message, denouncing the navy. … The contest continued, and April 7, Arica, in the province of Tarapaca, was taken by the revolutionists. Some naval fights occurred later, and the iron-clad Blanco Encalada was blown up by the Dictator's torpedo cruisers. Finally, on August 21, General Canto landed at Concon, ten miles north of Valparaiso. Balmaceda's forces attacked immediately and were routed, losing 3,500 killed and wounded. The Congress army lost 600. On the 28th a decisive battle was fought at Placilla, near Valparaiso. The Dictator had 12,000 troops, and the opposing army 10,000. Balmaceda's forces were completely routed after five hours' hard fighting, with a loss of 1,500 men. Santiago formally surrendered, and the triumph of the Congress party was complete. A Junta, headed by Señor Jorge Montt, took charge of affairs at Valparaiso August 30. Balmaceda, who had taken refuge at the Argentine Legation in Santiago, was not able to make his escape, and to avoid capture, trial, and punishment, committed suicide, September 20, by shooting himself. On the 19th November Admiral Jorge Montt was chosen by the Electoral College, at Santiago, President of Chili, and on December 26 he was installed with great ceremony and general rejoicings."

Annual Register, 1891, page 420.

CHILIARCHS.

Captains of thousands, in the army of the Vandals.

T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, book 3, chapter 2.

CHILLIANWALLAH, Battle of (1849).

See INDIA: A. D. 1845-1849.

CHILPERIC I.

King of the Franks (Neustria), A. D. 561-584.

Chilperic II., King of the Franks, A. D. 715-720.

CHILTERN HUNDREDS, Applying for the Stewardship of the.

A seat in the British House of Commons "cannot be resigned, nor can a man who has once formally taken his seat for one constituency throw it up and contest another. Either a disqualification must be incurred, or the House must declare the seat vacant." The necessary disqualification can be incurred by accepting an office of profit under the Crown,—within certain official categories. "Certain old offices of nominal value in the gift of the Treasury are now granted, as of course, to members who wish to resign their seats in order to be quit of Parliamentary duties or to contest another constituency. These offices are the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds [Crown property in Buckinghamshire], of the manors of East Hendred, Northstead, or Hempholme, and the escheatorship of Munster. The office is resigned as soon as it has operated to vacate the seat and sever the tie between the member and his constituents."

Sir W. R. Anson, Law and Custom of the Const., volume 1, page 84.

CHIMAKUAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHIMAKUAN FAMILY.

CHIMARIKAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHIMARIKAN FAMILY.

{416}

CHINA: The names of the Country.

"That spacious seat of ancient civilization which we call China has loomed always so large to western eyes, … that, at eras far apart, we find it to have been distinguished by different appellations according as it was regarded as the terminus of a southern sea-route coasting the great peninsulas and islands of Asia, or as that of a northern land route traversing the longitude of that continent. In the former aspect the name applied has nearly always been some form of the name Sin, Chin, Sinæ, China. In the latter point of view the region in question was known to the ancients as the land of the Seres; the middle ages as the Empire of Cathay. The name of China has been supposed, like many another word and name connected with trade and geography of the far east, to have come to us through the Malays, and to have been applied by them to the great eastern monarchy from the style of the dynasty of Thsin, which a little more than two centuries before our era enjoyed a brief but very vigorous existence. … There are reasons however for believing that the name of China must have been bestowed at a much earlier date, for it occurs in the laws of Manu, which assert the Chinas to have been degenerate Kshatryas, and in the Mahabharat, compositions many centuries older than the imperial dynasty of Thsin. … This name may have yet possibly been connected with the Thsin, or some monarchy of like dynastic title; for that dynasty had reigned locally in Shensi from the 9th century before our era; and when, at a still earlier date, the empire was partitioned into many small kingdoms, we find among them the dynasties of the Tcin and the Ching. … Some at least of the circumstances which have been collected … render it the less improbable that the Sinim of the prophet Isaiah … should be truly interpreted as indicating the Chinese. The name of China in this form was late in reaching the Greeks and Romans, and to them it probably came through people of Arabian speech, as the Arabs, being without the sound of 'ch,' made the China of the Hindus and Malays into Sin, and perhaps sometimes into Thin. Hence the Thin of the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, who appears to be the first extant author to employ the name in this form; hence also the Sinæ and Thinæ of Ptolemy. … If we now turn to the Seres we find this name mentioned by classic authors much more frequently and at an earlier date by at least a century. The name is familiar enough to the Latin poets of the Augustan age, but always in a vague way. … The name of Seres is probably from its earliest use in the west identified with the name of the silkworm and its produce, and this association continued until the name ceased entirely to be used as a geographical expression. … It was in the days of the Mongols … that China first became really known to Europe, and that by a name which, though especially applied to the northern provinces, also came to bear a more general application, Cathay. This name, Khitai, is that by which China is styled to this day by all, or nearly all, the nations which know it from an inland point of view, including the Russians, the Persians, and the nations of Turkestan; and yet it originally belonged to a people who were not Chinese at all. The Khitans were a people of Manchu race, who inhabited for centuries a country to the north-east of China." During a period between the 10th and 12th centuries, the Khitans acquired supremacy over their neighbours and established an empire which embraced Northern China and the adjoining regions of Tartary. "It must have been during this period, ending with the overthrow of the dynasty [called the Leao or Iron Dynasty] in 1123, and whilst this northern monarchy was the face which the Celestial Empire turned to Inner Asia, that the name of Khitan, Khitat, or Khitaï, became indissolubly associated with China."

H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither: Preliminary Essay.

CHINA: The Origin of the People and their early History.

"The origin of the Chinese race is shrouded in some obscurity. The first records we have of them represent them as a band of immigrants settling in the north-eastern provinces of the modern empire of China, and fight their way amongst the aborigines, much as the Jews of old forced their way into Canaan against the various tribes which they found in possession of the land. It is probable that though they all entered China by the same route, they separated into bands almost on the threshold of the empire, one body, those who have left us the records of their history in the ancient Chinese books, apparently followed the course of the Yellow River, and, turning south-ward with it from its northernmost bend, settled themselves in the fertile districts of the modern provinces of Shansi and Honan. But as we find also that at about the same period a large settlement was made as far south as Annam, of which there is no mention in the books of the northern Chinese, we must assume that another body struck directly southward through the southern provinces of China to that country. The question then arises, where did these people come from? and the answer which recent research [see BABYLONIA PRIMITIVE] gives to this question is, from the south of the Caspian Sea. … In all probability, the outbreak in Susiana of, possibly, some political disturbance, in about the 24th or 23rd century B. C., drove the Chinese from the land of their adoption, and that they wandered eastward until they finally settled in China and the countries south of it. … It would appear also that the Chinese came into China possessed of the resources of Western Asian culture. They brought with them a knowledge of writing and astronomy, as well as of the arts which primarily minister to the wants and comfort of mankind. The invention of these civilising influences is traditionally attributed to the Emperor Hwang-te, who is said to have reigned from B. C. 2697-2597. But the name of this sovereign leads us to suppose that he never sat on the throne in China. One of his names, we are told, was Nai, anciently Nak, and in the Chinese paleographical collection he is described by a character composed of a group of phonetics which read Nak-kon-ti. The resemblance between this name and that of Nak-hunte, who, according to the Susian texts, was the chief of the gods, is sufficiently striking, and many of the attributes belonging to him are such as to place him on an equality with the Susian deity. {417} In exact accordance also with the system of Babylonian chronology he established a cycle of twelve years, and fixed the length of the year at 360 days composed of twelve months, with an intercalary month to balance the surplus time. He further, we are told, built a Ling tai, or observatory, reminding us of the Babylonian Zigguratu, or house of observation, 'from which to watch the movements of the heavenly bodies.' The primitive Chinese, like the Babylonians, recognised five planets besides the sun and moon, and, with one exception, knew them by the same names. … The various phases of these planets were carefully watched, and portents were derived from every real and imaginary change in their relative positions and colours. A comparison between the astrological tablets translated by Professor Sayce and the astrological chapter (27th) in the She ke, the earliest of the Dynastic Histories, shows a remarkable parallelism, not only in the general style of the forecasts, but in particular portents which are so contrary to Chinese prejudices, as a nation, and the train of thought of the people that they would be at once put down as of foreign origin, even if they were not found in the Babylonian records. … In the reign of Chwan Hu (2513-2435 B. C.), we find according to the Chinese records, that the year, as among the Chaldeans, began with the third month of the solar year, and a comparison between the ancient names of the months given in the Urh ya, the oldest Chinese dictionary, with the Accadian equivalents, shows, in some instances, an exact identity. … These parallelisms, together with a host of others which might be produced, all point to the existence of an early relationship between Chinese and Mesopotamian culture; and, armed with the advantages thus possessed, the Chinese entered into the empire over which they were ultimately to overspread themselves. But they came among tribes who, though somewhat inferior to them in general civilisation, were by no means destitute of culture. … Among such people, and others of a lower civilisation, such as the Jungs of the west and the Teks, the ancestors of the Tekke Turcomans, in the north, the Chinese succeeded in establishing themselves. The Emperor Yaou (2356-2255 B. C.) divided his kingdom into twelve portions, presided over by as many Pastors, in exact imitation of the duodenary feudal system of Susa with their twelve Pastor Princes. To Yaou succeeded Shun, who carried on the work of his predecessor of consolidating the Chinese power with energy and success. In his reign the first mention is made of religious worship. … In Shun's reign occurred the great flood which inundated most of the provinces of the existing empire. The waters, we are told, rose to so great a height, that the people had to betake themselves to the mountains to escape death. The disaster arose, as many similar disasters, though of a less magnitude, have since arisen, in consequence of the Yellow River bursting its bounds, and the 'Great Yu' was appointed to lead the waters back to their channel. With unremitting energy he set about his task, and in nine years succeeded in bringing the river under control. … As a reward for the services he had rendered to the empire, he was invested with the principality of Hea, and after having occupied the throne conjointly with Shun for some years, he succeeded that sovereign on his death, in 2208 B. C. With Yu began the dynasty of Hea, which gave place, in 1766 B. C., to the Shang Dynasty. The last sovereign of the Hea line, Kieh kwei, is said to have been a monster of iniquity, and to have suffered the just punishment for his crimes at the hands of T'ang, the prince of the State of Shang, who took his throne from him. In like manner, 640 years later, Woo Wang, the prince of Chow, overthrew Chow Sin, the last of the Shang Dynasty, and established himself as the chief of the sovereign state of the empire. By empire it must not be supposed that the empire, as it exists at present, is meant. The China of the Chow Dynasty lay between the 33rd and 38th parallels of latitude, and the 106th and 119th of longitude only, and extended over no more than portions of the provinces of Pih chih-li, Shanse, Shense, Honan, Keang-se, and Shan-tung. This territory was re-arranged by Woo Wang into the nine principalities established by Yu. … Woo is held up in Chinese history as one of the model monarchs of antiquity. … Under the next ruler, K'ang (B. C. 1078-1053), the empire was consolidated, and the feudal princes one and all acknowledged their allegiance to the ruling house of Chow. … From all accounts there speedily occurred a marked degeneracy in the characters of the Chow kings. … Already a spirit of lawlessness was spreading far and wide among the princes and nobles, and wars and rumours of wars were creating misery and unrest throughout the country. … The hand of every man was against his neighbour, and a constant state of internecine war succeeded the peace and prosperity which had existed under the rule of Woo-wang. … As time went on and the disorder increased, supernatural signs added their testimony to the impending crisis. The brazen vessels upon which Yu had engraved the nine divisions of the empire were observed to shake and totter as though foreshadowing the approaching change in the political position. Meanwhile Ts'in on the northwest, Ts'oo on the south, and Tsin on the north, having vanquished all the other states, engaged in the final struggle for the mastery over the confederate principalities. The ultimate victory rested with the state of Ts'in, and in 255 B. C., Chaou-seang Wang became the acknowledged ruler over the 'black-haired' people. Only four years were given him to reign supreme, and at the end of that time he was succeeded by his son, Heaou-wan Wang, who died almost immediately on ascending the throne. To him succeeded Chwang-seang Wang, who was followed in 246 B. C. by Che Hwang-te, the first Emperor of China. The abolition of feudalism, which was the first act of Che Hwang-to raised much discontent among those to whom the feudal system had brought power and emoluments, and the countenance which had been given to the system by Confucius and Mencius made it desirable—so thought the emperor—to demolish once for all their testimony in favour of that condition of affairs, which he had decreed should be among the things of the past. With this object he ordered that the whole existing literature, with the exception of books on medicine, agriculture, and divination should be burned. The decree was obeyed as faithfully as was possible in the case of so sweeping an ordinance, and for many years a night of ignorance rested on the country. The construction of one gigantic work—the Great Wall of China—has made the name of this monarch as famous as the destruction of the books has made it infamous. {418} Finding the Heung-nu Tartars were making dangerous inroads into the empire, he determined with characteristic thoroughness to build a huge barrier which should protect the northern frontier of the empire through all time. In 214 B. C. the work was begun under his personal supervision, and though every endeavor was made to hasten its completion he died (209) leaving it unfinished. His death was the signal for an outbreak among the dispossessed feudal princes, who, however, after some years of disorder, were again reduced to the rank of citizens by a successful leader, who adopted the title of Kaou-te, and named his dynasty that of Han (206). From that day to this, with occasional interregnums, the empire has been ruled on the lines laid down by Che Hwang-te. Dynasty has succeeded dynasty, but the political tradition has remained unchanged, and though Mongols and Manchoos have at different times wrested the throne from its legitimate heirs, they have been engulfed in the homogeneous mass inhabiting the empire, and instead of impressing their seal on the country have become but the reflection of the vanquished. The dynasties from the beginning of the earlier Han, founded, as stated above, by Kaou-te, are as follows:

The earlier Han Dynasty B. C. 206-A. D. 25; the late Han A. D. 25-220; the Wei 220-280; the western Tsin 265-317; the eastern Tsin 317-420; the Sung 420-479; the Ts'e 479-502; the Leang 502-557; the Ch'in 557-589. Simultaneously with these— the northern Wei A. D. 386-534; the western Wei 535-557; the eastern Wei 534-550; the northern Ts'e 550-577; the northern Chow 557-589. The Suy 589-618; the T'ang 618-907; the later Leang 907-923; the later T'ang 923-936; the later Tsin 936-947; the later Han 947-951; the later Chow 951-960, the Sung 960-1127; the southern Sung 1127-1280; the Yuen 1280-1368; the Ming 1368-1614; the Ts'ing 1644. Simultaneously with some of these— the Leaou 907-1125; the western Leaou 1125-1168; the Kin 1115-1280.

R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 1.

ALSO IN D.C. Boulger, History of China, volumes 1-2.

CHINA: The Religions of the People. Confucianism. Taouism. Buddhism.

"The Chinese describe themselves as possessing three religions, or more accurately, three sects, namely Joo keaou, the sect of Scholars; Fuh keaou, the sect of Buddha; and Taou keaou, the sect of Taou. Both as regards age and origin, the sect of Scholars, or, as it is generally called, Confucianism, represents pre-eminently the religion of China. It has its root in the worship of Shang-te, a deity which is associated with the earliest traditions of the Chinese race. Hwang-te (2697 B. C.) erected a temple to his honour, and succeeding emperors worshipped before his shrine. … During the troublous times which followed after the reign of the few first sovereigns of the Chow Dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew indistinct and dim, until, when Confucius [born B. C. 551] began his career, there appeared nothing strange in his atheistic doctrines. He never in any way denied the existence of Shang-te, but he ignored him. His concern was with man as a member of society, and the object of his teaching was to lead him into those paths of rectitude which might best contribute to his own happiness, and to the well-being of that community of which he formed part. Man, he held, was born good, and was endowed with qualities which, when cultivated and improved by watchfulness and self-restraint, might enable him to acquire godlike wisdom and to become 'the equal of Heaven.' He divided mankind into four classes, viz., those who are born with the possession of knowledge; those who learn, and so readily get possession of knowledge; those who are dull and stupid, and yet succeed in learning; and, lastly, those who are dull and stupid, and yet do not learn. To all these, except those of the last class, the path to the climax reached by the 'Sage' is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, understand, and obey the moral sense implanted in him by Heaven, and the highest perfection is within his reach. … In this system there is no place for a personal God. The impersonal Heaven, according to Confucius, implants a pure nature in every being at his birth, but, having done this, there is no further supernatural interference with the thoughts and deeds of men. It is in the power of each one to perfect his nature, and there is no divine influence to restrain those who take the downward course. Man has his destiny in his own hands, to make or to mar. Neither had Confucius any inducement to offer to encourage men in the practice of virtue, except virtue's self. He was a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who was quite content to occupy himself with the study of his fellow-men, and was disinclined to grope into the future or to peer upwards. No wonder that his system, as he enunciated it, proved a failure. Eagerly he sought in the execution of his official duties to effect the regeneration of the empire, but beyond the circle of his personal disciples he found few followers, and as soon as princes and statesmen had satisfied their curiosity about him they turned their backs on his precepts and would [have] none of his reproofs. Succeeding ages, recognising the loftiness of his aims, eliminated all that was impracticable and unreal in his system, and held fast to that part of it that was true and good. They were content to accept the logic of events, and to throw overboard the ideal 'sage,' and to ignore the supposed potency of his influence; but they clung to the doctrines of filial piety, brotherly love, and virtuous living. It was admiration for the emphasis which he laid on these and other virtues which has drawn so many millions of men unto him; which has made his tomb at Keo-foo heen to be the Mecca of Confucianism, and has adorned every city of the empire with temples built in his honour. … Concurrently with the lapse of pure Confucianism, and the adoption of those principles which find their earliest expression in the pre-Confucian classics of China, there is observable a return to the worship of Shang-te. The most magnificent temple in the empire is the Temple of Heaven at Peking, where the highest object of Chinese worship is adored with the purest rites. … What is popularly known in Europe as Confucianism is, therefore, Confucianism with the distinctive opinions of Confucius omitted. … But this worship of Shang-te is confined only to the emperor. The people have no lot or heritage in the sacred acts of worship at the Altar of Heaven. … Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou, under the influence of Confucius, grew up a system of a totally different nature, and which, when divested of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the practically-minded Chinamen to a code of morals, was destined in future ages to become affiliated with the teachings of the Sage. {419} This was Taouism, which was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a contemporary of Confucius. An air of mystery hangs over the history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know nothing, and the historians, in their anxiety to conceal their ignorance of his earlier years, shelter themselves behind the legend that he was born an old man. … The primary meaning of Taou is 'The way,' 'The path,' but in Laou-tsze's philosophy it was more than the way, it was the way-goer as well. It was an eternal road; along it all beings and things walked; it was everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. All things originated from Taou, conformed to Taou, and to Taou at last returned. … 'If, then, we had to express the meaning of Taou, we should describe it as the Absolute; the totality of Being and Things; the phenomenal world and its order; and the ethical nature of the good man, 'and the principle of his action.' It was absorption into this 'Mother of all things' that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be attained to by self-emptiness, and by giving free scope to the uncontaminated nature which, like Confucius, he taught was given by Heaven to all men. … But these subtleties, like the more abstruse speculations of Confucius, were suited only to the taste of the schools. To the common people they were foolishness, and, before long, the philosophical doctrine of Laou-tsze of the identity of existence and non-existence, assumed in their eyes a warrant for the old Epicurean motto, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' The pleasures of sense were substituted for the delights of virtue, and the next step was to desire prolongation of the time when those pleasures could be enjoyed. Legend said that Laou-tsze had secured to himself immunity from death by drinking the elixir of immortality, and to enjoy the same 'privilege became the all-absorbing object of his followers. The demand for elixirs and charms produced a supply, and Taouism quickly degenerated into a system of magic. … The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiarised the Chinese mind with philosophical doctrines, which, whatever were their direct source, bore a marked resemblance to the musings of Indian sages, served to prepare the way for the introduction of Buddhism. The exact date at which the Chinese first became acquainted with the doctrines of Buddha was, according to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial Encyclopædia, the thirtieth year of the reign of She Hwang-te, i. e., B. C. 216. The story this writer tells of the difficulties which the first missionaries encountered is curious, and singularly suggestive of the narrative of St. Peter's imprisonment."

R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 17.

ALSO IN: R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism.

"Buddhism … penetrated to China along the fixed route from India to that country, round the north-west corner of the Himalayas and across Eastern Turkestan. Already in the 2nd year B. C., an embassy, perhaps sent by Huvishka [who reigned in Kabul and Kashmere] took Buddhist books to the then Emperor of China, A-ili; and the Emperor Ming-ti, 62 A. D., guided by a dream, is said to have sent to Tartary and Central India and brought Buddhist books to China. From this time Buddhism rapidly spread there. … In the fourth century Buddhism became the state religion."

T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, chapter 9.

ALSO IN J. Legge, The Religions of China.

J. Edkins, Religion in China.

J. Edkins, Chinese Buddhism.

S. Beals, Buddhism in China.

S. Johnson, Oriental Religions: China.

CHINA: A. D. 1205-1234. Conquest by Jingis Khan and his son.

"The conquest of China was commenced by Chinghiz [or Jingis Khan], although it was not completed for several generations. Already in 1205 he had invaded Tangut, a kingdom occupying the extreme northwest of China, and extending beyond Chinese limits in the same direction, held by a dynasty of Tibetan race, which was or had been a vassal to the Kin. This invasion was repeated in succeeding years; and in 1211 his attacks extended to the Empire of the Kin itself. In 1214 he ravaged their provinces to the Yellow River, and in the following year took Chungtu or Peking. In 1219 he turned his arms against Western Asia; … but a lieutenant whom he had left behind him in the East continued to prosecute the subjection of Northern China. Chinghiz himself on his return from his western conquests renewed his attack on Tangut, and died on that enterprise, 18th August. Okkodai, the son and successor of Chinghiz, followed up the subjugation of China, extinguished the Kin finally in 1234 and consolidated with his Empire all the provinces north of the Great Kiang. The Southern provinces remained for the present subject to the Chinese dynasty of the Sung, reigning now at Kingssé or Hangcheu. This kingdom was known to the Tartars as Nangkiass, and also by the quasi-Chinese title of Mangi or Manzi, made so famous by Marco Polo and the travellers of the following age."

H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither. Preliminary Essay, sections 91-92.

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1153-1227.

CHINA: A. D. 1259-1294. The Empire of Kublai Khan.

Kublai, or Khubilai Khan, one of the grandsons of Jingis Khan, who reigned as the Great Khan or Supreme lord of the Mongols from 1259 until 1294, "was the sovereign of the largest empire that was ever controlled by one man. China, Corea, Thibet, Tung-King, Cochin China, a great portion of India beyond the Ganges, the Turkish and Siberian realms from the Eastern Sea to the Dnieper, obeyed his commands; and although the chief of the Hordes of Jagatai and Ogatai refused to acknowledge him, the Ilkhans of Persia … were his feudatories. … The Supreme Khan had immediate authority only in Mongolia and China. … The capital of the Khakan, after the accession of Khubilai, was a new city he built close to the ancient metropolis of the Liao and Kin dynasties."

H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, volume 1, pages 216-283.

"Khan-Bálig (Mong., 'The Khan's city'), the Cambalu of Marco, Peking … was captured by Chinghiz in 1215, and in 1264 Kublai made it his chief residence. In 1267 he built a new city, three 'li' to the north-east of the old one, to which was given the name of Ta-tu or 'Great Court,' called by the Mongols Daïdu, the Taydo of Odoric and Taidu of Polo, who gives a description of its dimensions, the number of its gates, etc., similar to that in the text. The Chinese accounts give only eleven gates. This city was abandoned as a royal residence on the expulsion of the Mongol dynasty in 1368, but re-occupied in 1421 by the third Ming Emperor, who built the walls as they now exist, reducing their extent and the number of the gates to nine. This is what is commonly called the 'Tartar city' of the present day (called also by the Chinese Lau-Chhing or 'Old Town'), which therefore represents the Taydo of Odoric."

H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, volume 1, page 127, footnote.

ALSO IN Marco Polo, Travels, with Notes by Sir H. Yule, book 2.

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294, and POLO, MARCO.

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CHINA: A. D. 1294-1882. Dissolution of the Empire of Kublai Khan. The Ming dynasty and its fall. The enthronement of the present Manchu Tartar Dynasty, of the Tsings or Ch'ings. The appearance of the Portuguese and the Jesuit Missionaries.

"The immediate successors of Kublai, brought up in the luxuries of the imperial palace, the most gorgeous at that time in the world, relied upon the prestige with which the glory of the late emperor invested them, and never dreamed that change could touch a dominion so vast and so solid. Some devoted themselves to elegant literature and the improvement of the people; later princes to the mysteries of Buddhism, which became, in some degree, the state religion; and as the cycle went round, the dregs of the dynasty abandoned themselves, as usual, to priests, women, and eunuchs. … The distant provinces threw off their subjection; robbers ravaged the land, and pirates the sea; a minority and a famine came at the same moment; and in less than ninety years after its commencement, the fall of the dynasty was only illumined by some few flashes of dying heroism, and every armed Tartar, who could obtain a horse to aid his flight, spurred back to his native deserts. Some of them, of the royal race, turning to the west, took refuge with the Manchows, and in process of time, marrying with the families of the chiefs, intermingled the blood of the two great tribes. The proximate cause of this catastrophe was a Chinese of low birth, who, in the midst of the troubles of the time, found means to raise himself by his genius from a servile station to the leadership of a body of the malcontents, and thence to step into the imperial throne. The new dynasty [the Ming] began their reign with great brilliance. The emperor carried the Tartar war into their own country, and at home made unrelenting war upon the abuses of his palace. He committed the mistake, however, of granting separate principalities to the members of his house, which in the next reign caused a civil war, and the usurpation of the throne by an uncle of the then emperor. The usurper found it necessary to transfer the capital to Peking, as a post of defence against the eastern Tartars, who now made their appearance again on this eventful stage. He was successful, however, in his wars in the desert, and he added Tonquin and Cochin China to the Chinese dominions. After him the fortunes of the dynasty began to wane. The government became weaker, the Tartars stronger, some princes attached themselves to literature, some to Buddhism or Taoism: Cochin China revolted, and was lost to the empire, Japan ravaged the coasts with her privateers; famine came to add to the horrors of misrule."

Leitch Ritchie, History of the Oriental Nations, book 7, chapter 1 (volume 2).

"From without, the Mings were constantly harassed by the encroachments of the Tartars; from within, the ceaseless intriguing of the eunuchs (resulting in one case in the temporary deposition of an Emperor) was a fertile cause of trouble. Towards the close of the 16th century the Portuguese appeared upon the scene, and from their 'concession' at Macao, some time the residence of Camoens, opened commercial relations between China and the West. They brought the Chinese, among other things, opium, which had previously been imported overland from India. They possibly taught them how to make gunpowder, to the invention of which the Chinese do not seem, upon striking a balance of evidence, to possess an independent claim. About the same time [1580] Rome contributed the first instalment of those wonderful Jesuit fathers, whose names may truly be said to have filled the empire 'with sounds that echo still,' the memory of their scientific labours and the benefits they thus conferred upon China having long survived the wreck and discredit of the faith to which they devoted their lives. And at this distance of time it does not appear to be a wild statement to assert that had the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Dominicans, been able to resist quarrelling among themselves, and had they rather united to persuade Papal infallibility to permit the incorporation of ancestor worship with the rites and ceremonies of the Romish church—China would at this moment be a Catholic country, and Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism would long since have receded into the past. Of all these Jesuit missionaries, the name of Matteo Ricci [who died in 1610] stands by common consent first upon the long list. … The overthrow of the Mings [A. D. 1644], was brought about by a combination of events, of the utmost importance to those who would understand the present position of the Tartars as rulers of China. A sudden rebellion had resulted in the capture of Peking by the insurgents, and in the suicide of the Emperor who was fated to be the last of his line. The Imperial Commander-in-chief, Wu San-kuei, at that time away on the frontiers of Manchuria, engaged in resisting the incursions of the Manchu Tartars, now for a long time in a state of ferment, immediately hurried back to the capital, but was totally defeated by the insurgent leader, and once more made his way, this time as a fugitive and a suppliant, towards the Tartar camp. Here he obtained promises of assistance, chiefly on condition that he would shave his head and grow a tail in accordance with Manchu custom, and again set off with his new auxiliaries towards Peking, being reinforced on the way by a body of Mongol volunteers. As things turned out Wu San-kuei arrived at Peking in advance of these allies, and actually succeeded, with the remnant of his own scattered forces, in routing the troops of the rebel leader before the Tartars and the Mongols came up. He then started in pursuit of the flying foe. Meanwhile the Tartar contingent arrived; and on entering the capital, the young Manchu prince in command was invited by the people of Peking to ascend the vacant throne. So that by the time Wu San-kuei re-appeared he found a new dynasty [the Ch'ing or Tsing dynasty of the present day] already established, and his late Manchu ally at the head of affairs. His first intention had doubtless been to continue the Ming line of Emperors; but he seems to have readily fallen in with the arrangement already made, and to have tendered his formal allegiance on the four following conditions:

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(1.) That no Chinese woman should be taken into the Imperial seraglio.

(2.) That the first place at the great triennial examination for the highest literary degrees should never be given to a Tartar.

(3.) That the people should adopt the national costume of the Tartars in their everyday life; but that they should be allowed to bury their corpses in the dress of the late dynasty.

(4.) That this condition of costume should not apply to the women of China, who were not to be compelled either to wear the hair in a tail before marriage (as the Tartar girls do) or to abandon the custom of compressing' their feet.

The great Ming dynasty was now at an end, though not destined wholly to pass away. A large part of it may be said to remain in the literary monuments which were executed during its three centuries of existence. The dress of the period survives upon the modern Chinese stage; and when occasionally the present alien yoke is found to gall, seditious whispers of 'restoration' are not altogether unheard. … The age of the Ch'ings is the age in which we live; but it is not so familiar to some persons as it ought to be, that a Tartar, and not a Chinese sovereign, is now seated upon the throne of China. For some time after the accession of the first Manchu Emperor there was considerable friction between the two races, due, among other natural causes, to the enforced adoption of the peculiar coiffure in vogue among the Manchus—i. e., the tail, or plaited queue of hair, which now hangs down every Chinaman's back. This fashion was for a long time vigorously resisted by the inhabitants of southern China, though now regarded by all alike as one of the most sacred characteristics of the 'black-haired people.' … The subjugation of the empire by the Manchus was followed by a military occupation of the country, which has survived the original necessity, and is part of the system of government at the present day. Garrisons of Tartar troops were stationed at various important centres of population. … Those Tartar garrisons still occupy the same positions; and the descendants of the first battalions, with occasional reinforcements from Peking, live side by side and in perfect harmony with the strictly Chinese populations. These Bannermen, as they are called, may be known by their square, heavy faces, which contrast strongly with the sharper and more astute physiognomies of the Chinese. They speak the dialect of Peking, now recognised as the official language par excellence. They do not use their family or surnames—which belong rather to the clan than to the individual—but in order to conform to the requirements of Chinese life, the personal name is substituted. Their women do not compress their feet, and the female coiffure and dress are wholly Tartar in character. Intermarriage between the two races is not considered desirable, though instances are not unknown. In other respects, it is the old story of 'vida victrix;' the conquering Tartars have been themselves conquered by the people over whom they set themselves to rule. They have adopted the language, written and colloquial, of China. … Manchu, the language of the conquerors, is still kept alive at the Court of Peking. By a State fiction, it is supposed to be the language of the sovereign. … Eight emperors of this line have already occupied the throne, and 'become guests on high;' the ninth is yet [in 1882] a boy less than ten years of age. Of these eight, the second in every way fills the largest space in Chinese history. K'ang Hsi (or Kang Hi) reigned for sixty-one years. … Under the third Manchu Emperor, Yung Cheng [A. D. 1723-1736], began that violent persecution of the Catholics which has continued almost to the present day. The various sects—Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans—had been unable to agree about the Chinese equivalent for God, and the matter had been finally referred to the Pope. Another difficulty had arisen as to the toleration of ancestral worship by Chinese converts professing the Catholic faith. … As the Pope refused to permit the embodiment of this ancient custom with the ceremonies of the Catholic church, the new religion ceased to advance, and by-and-by fell into disrepute."

H. A. Giles, Historic China, chapters 5-6.

ALSO IN S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapters 17, and 19-20 (volume 2).

C. Gutzlaff, Sketch of Chinese History, volume 1, chapter 16, volume 2.

J. Ross, The Manchus.

Abbé Hue, Christianity in China, volumes 2-3.

CHINA: A. D. 1839-1842. The Opium War with England. Treaty of Nanking. Opening of the Five Ports.

"The first Chinese war [of England] was in one sense directly attributable to the altered position of the East India Company after 1833. [See INDIA: A. D. 1823-1833.] Up to that year trade between England and China had been conducted in both countries on principles of strict monopoly. The Chinese trade was secured to the East India Company, and the English trade was confined to a company of merchants specially nominated for the purpose by the Emperor. The change of thought which produced the destruction of monopolies in England did not penetrate to the conservative atmosphere of the Celestial Empire, and, while the trade in one country was thrown open to everyone, trade in the other was still exclusively confined to the merchants nominated by the Chinese Government. These merchants, Hong merchants as they were called, traded separately, but were mutually liable for the dues to the Chinese Government and for their debts to the foreigners. Such conditions neither promoted the growth of trade nor the solvency of the traders; and, out of the thirteen Hong merchants in 1837, three or four were avowedly insolvent. (State Papers, volume 27, page 1310.) Such were the general conditions on which the trade was conducted. The most important article of trade was opium. The importation of opium into China had, indeed, been illegal since 1796. But the Chinese Government had made no stringent efforts to prohibit the trade, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons had declared that it was inadvisable to abandon an important source of revenue to the East India Company. (State Papers, volume 29, page 1020.) The opium trade consequently throve, and grew from 4,100 chests in 1796 to 30,000 chests in 1837, and the Chinese connived at or ignored the growing trade. (Ibid., p. 1019). … In 1837 the Chinese Government adopted a fresh policy. {422} It decided on rigourously stopping the trade at which it had previously tacitly connived. … Whether the Chinese Government was really shocked at the growing use of the drug and the consequences of its use, or whether it was alarmed at a drain of silver from China which disturbed what the political arithmeticians of England a hundred years before would have called the balance of trade, it undoubtedly determined to check the traffic by every means at its disposal. With this object it strengthened its force on the coast and sent Lin, a man of great energy, to Canton [March, 1839] with supreme authority. (State Papers, volume 29, page 934, and Autobiography of Sir H. Taylor, volume 1, appendix, page 343.) Before Lin's arrival cargoes of opium had been seized by the Custom House authorities. On his arrival Lin required both the Hong merchants and the Chinese merchants to deliver up all the opium in their possession in order that it might be destroyed. (State Papers, volume 29, page 936.) The interests of England in China were at that time entrusted to Charles Elliot. … But Elliot occupied a very difficult position in China. The Chinese placed on their communications to him the Chinese word 'Yu,' and wished him to place on his despatches to them the Chinese word 'Pin.' But Yu signifies a command, and Pin a humble address, and a British Plenipotentiary could not receive commands from, or humble himself before, Chinese officials. (State Papers, volume 29, pages 881, 886, 888.) And hence the communications between him and the Chinese Government were unable to follow a direct course, but were frequently or usually sent through the Hong merchants. Such was the state of things in China when Lin, arriving in Canton, insisted on the surrender and destruction of all the opium there. Elliot was at Macao. He at once decided on returning to the post of difficulty and danger; and, though Canton was blockaded by Chinese forces and its river guarded by Chinese batteries, he made his way up in a boat of H. M. S. 'Larne,' and threw himself among his imprisoned countrymen. After his arrival he took the responsibility of demanding the surrender into his own hands, for the service of his Government, of all the British opium in China, and he surrendered the opium which he thus obtained, amounting to 20,283 chests, to the Chinese authorities, by whom it was destroyed. (Ibid., pages 945, 967.) The imminent danger to the lives and properties of a large number of British subjects was undoubtedly removed by Elliot's action. Though some difficulty arose in connection with the surrender, Lin undertook gradually to relax the stringency of the measures which he had adopted (ibid., page 977), and Elliot hoped that his own zealous efforts to carry out the arrangement which he had made would lead to the raising of the blockade. He was, however, soon undeceived. On the 4th of April Lin required him, in conjunction with the merchants, to enter into a bond under which all vessels hereafter engaged in the opium traffic would have been confiscated to the Chinese Government, and all persons connected with the trade would 'suffer death at the hands of the Celestial Court.' (Ibid., page 989.) This bond Elliot steadily refused to sign (ibid., page 992); and feeling that 'all sense of security was broken to pieces' (ibid., page 978), he ordered all British subjects to leave Canton (ibid., page 1004), he himself withdrew to the Portuguese settlement at Macao (ibid., page 1007), and he wrote to Auckland, the Governor-General of India, for armed assistance. (Ibid., page 1009.) These grave events naturally created profound anxiety. A Select Committee of the House of Commons had formally declined to interfere with the trade. The opium monopoly at that time was worth some £1,000,000 or £1,500,000 a year to British India (ibid., page 1020); and India, engaged in war with Afghanistan and already involved in a serious deficit, could not afford to part with so large an amount of its revenue (ibid., page 1020). Nine-tenths of the British merchants in China were engaged in the illegal trade (ibid., page 1030), while Elliot, in enforcing the surrender of the opium, had given the merchants bonds on the British Government for its value, and the 20,000 chests surrendered were supposed to be worth from 600 to 1,200 dollars a chest (ibid., page 987), or say from £2,400,000 to £4,800,000. … As the summer advanced, moreover, a fresh outrage increased the intensity of the crisis. On the 7th July some British seamen landed near Hong Kong, and engaged in a serious riot. A native was unfortunately killed on the occasion, and though Elliot, at his own risk, gave the relations of the victim a large pecuniary compensation, and placed the men engaged in the riot on their trial, Lin was not satisfied. He moved down to the coast, cut off the supplies of British subjects, and threatened to stop the supplies to Macao if the Portuguese continued to assist the British. (Ibid., pages 1037-1039.) The British were in consequence forced to leave Macao; and about the same time a small schooner, the 'Black Joke,' was attacked by the Chinese, and a British subject on board of her seriously wounded. Soon afterwards, however, the arrival of a ship of war, the 'Volage,' in Chinese waters enabled Elliot to assume a bolder front. He returned to Macao; he even attempted to procure supplies from the mainland. But, though he succeeded in purchasing food, 'the Mandarin runners approached and obliged the natives to take back their provisions,' and Elliot, exasperated at their conduct, fired on some war junks of the Chinese, which returned the fire. A week afterwards Elliot declared the port and river of Canton to be in a state of blockade. (Ibid., page 1066.) The commencement of the blockade, however, did not lead to immediate war. On the contrary, the Chinese showed considerable desire to avert hostilities. They insisted, indeed, that some British sailor must be surrendered to them to suffer for the death of the Chinaman who had fallen in the riot of Hong Kong. But they showed so much anxiety to conclude an arrangement on this point that they endeavoured to induce Elliot to declare that a sailor who was accidentally drowned in Chinese waters, and whose body they had found, was the actual murderer. (State Papers, volume 30, page 27.) And in the meanwhile the trade which Lin had intended to destroy went on at least as actively as ever. Lin's proceedings had, indeed, the effect of stimulating it to an unprecedented degree. The destruction of vast stores of opium led to a rise in the price of opium in China. The rise in price produced the natural consequence of an increased speculation; and, though British shipping was excluded from Chinese waters, and the contents of British vessels had to be transferred to American bottoms for conveyance into Chinese ports, British trade had never been so large or so advantageous as in the period which succeeded Lin's arbitrary proceedings. {423} Elliot was, of course, unable to prevent war either by the surrender of a British sailor to the Chinese, or by even assuming that a drowned man was the murderer; and war in consequence became daily more probable. In January, 1840, operations actually commenced. Elliot was instructed to make an armed demonstration on the northern coasts of China, to take possession of some island on the coast, and to obtain reparation and indemnity, if possible by a mere display of force, but otherwise to proceed with the squadron and thence send an ultimatum to Pekin. In accordance with these orders the Island of Chusan was occupied in July, and the fleet was sent to the mouth of the Peiho with orders to transmit a letter to Pekin. But the sea off the Peiho is shallow, the ships could not approach the coasts, and the Chinese naturally refused to yield to an empty demonstration. The expedition was forced to return to Chusan, where it found that the troops whom they had left behind were smitten by disease, that one out of every four men were dead, and that more than one-half of the survivors were invalided. Thus, throughout 1840, the Chinese war was only attended with disaster and distress. Things commenced a little more prosperously in 1841 by the capture of the Chinese position at the mouth of the Canton river. Elliot, after this success, was even able to conclude a preliminary treaty with the Chinese authorities. But this treaty did not prove satisfactory either to the British Government or to the Chinese. The British saw with dismay that the treaty made no mention of the trade in opium which had been the ostensible cause of the war. The Whig Government accordingly decided on superseding Elliot. He was recalled and replaced by Henry Pottinger. Before news of his recall reached him, however, the treaty which had led to his supersession had been disavowed by the Chinese authorities, and Elliot had commenced a fresh attack on the Chinese force which guarded the road to Canton. British sailors and British troops, under the command of Bremer and Gough, won a victory which placed Canton at their mercy. But Elliot, shrinking from exposing a great town to the horrors of an assault, stopped the advance of the troops and admitted the city to a ransom of £1,250,000. (Sir H. Taylor's Autobiography, volume 1, appendix, pages 353-363.) His moderation was naturally unacceptable to the troops and not entirely approved by the British Government. It constituted, however, Elliot's last action as agent in China. The subsequent operations were conducted under Pottinger's advice."

S. Walpole, History of England from 1815, Note, volume 5, pages 287-291.

"Sir Henry Pottinger, who arrived as Plenipotentiary on the 10th of August, took the chief direction of the affairs. … To the end of 1841 there were various successes achieved by the land and naval forces, which gave the British possession of many large fortified towns, amongst which were Amoy, Ting-hai, Chin-hai, Ning-po, and Shang-hai. The Chinese were nevertheless persevering in their resistance, and in most cases evinced a bravery which showed how mistaken were the views which regarded the subjection of this extraordinary people as an easy task. … The British fleet on the 13th of June [1842] entered the great river Kiang, and on the 6th of July advanced up the river, and cut off its communication with the Grand Canal, by which Nanking, the ancient capital of China, was supplied with grain. The point where the river intersects the canal is the city of Chin-Kiang-foo. … On the morning of the 21st the city was stormed by the British, in three brigades. The resistance of the Tartar troops was most desperate. Our troops fought under a burning sun, whose overpowering heat caused some to fall dead. The obstinate defence of the place prevented its being taken till six o'clock in the evening. When the streets were entered, the houses were found almost deserted. They were filled with ghastly corpses, many of the Tartar soldiers having destroyed their families and then committed suicide. The city, from the number of the dead, had become uninhabitable."

C. Knight, Popular History of England, volume 8, chapter 25.

"The destruction of life was appalling. … Every Manchu preferred resistance, death, suicide, or flight, to surrender. Out of a Manchu population of 4,000, it was estimated that not more than 500 survived, the greater part having perished by their own hands. … Within twenty-four hours after the troops landed, the city and suburbs of Chinkiang were a mass of ruin and destruction. … The total loss of the English was 37 killed and 131 wounded. … Some of the large ships were towed up to Nanking, and the whole fleet reached it August 9th, at which time preparations had been made for the assault. … Everything was ready for the assault by daylight of August 15th;" but on the night of the 14th the Chinese made overtures for the negotiation of peace, and the important Treaty of Nanking was soon afterwards concluded. Its terms were as follows: "1. Lasting peace between the two nations. 2. The ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuhchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai [known afterwards as the Treaty Ports] to be opened to British trade and residence, and trade conducted according to a well-understood tariff. 3. 'It being obviously necessary and desirable that British subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and refit their ships when required,' the island of Hongkong to be ceded to her Majesty. 4. Six millions of dollars to be paid as the value of the opium which was delivered up 'as a ransom for the lives of H. B. M. Superintendent and subjects,' in March, 1839. 5. Three millions of dollars to be paid for the debts due to British merchants. 6. Twelve millions to be paid for the expenses incurred in the expedition sent out 'to obtain redress for the violent and unjust proceedings of the Chinese high authorities.' 7. The entire amount of $21,000,000 to be paid before December 31, 1845. 8. All prisoners of war to be immediately released by the Chinese. 9. The Emperor to grant full and entire amnesty to those of his subjects who had aided the British." Articles 10 to 13 related to the tariff of export and import dues that should be levied at the open ports; to future terms of official correspondence, etc. The Treaty was signed by the Commissioners on the 29th of August, 1842, and the Emperor's ratification was received September 15th.

S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapters 22-23.

ALSO IN D. C. Boulger, History of China, volume 3, chapters 5-7.

E. H. Parker, Chinese Account of the Opium War.

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CHINA: A. D. 1850-1864. The Taiping Rebellion.

"The phrase 'Taiping Rebellion is wholly of foreign manufacture; at Peking and everywhere among those loyal to the government the insurgents were styled 'Chang-mao tseh,' or 'Long-haired rebels,' while on their side, by a whimsical resemblance to English slang, the imperialists were dubbed 'imps.' When the chiefs assumed to be aiming at independence in 1850, in order to identify their followers with their cause they took the term 'Ping Chao,' or 'Peace Dynasty,' as the style of their sway, to distinguish it from the 'Tsing Chao,' or 'Pure Dynasty' of the Manchus. Each of them prefixed the adjective 'Ta' (or 'Tai,' in Cantonese), 'Great,' as is the Chinese custom with regard to dynasties and nations; thus the name Tai-ping became known to foreigners."

S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapter 24 (volume 2).

"This remarkable movement, which at one time excited much interest in Western lands, originated with a man named Hung Sew-tseuen [or Hung Siu-tseuen], son of a humble peasant residing in a village near Canton. On the occasion of one of his visits to the provincial city, probably in the year 1833, he appears to have seen a foreign Protestant missionary addressing the populace in the streets, assisted by a native interpreter. Either then or on the following day he received from some tract-distributor a book entitled 'Good Words for Exhorting the Age,' which consisted of essays and sermons by Leang A-fah, a well-known convert and evangelist. Taking the volume home with him, he looked it over with some interest, but carelessly laid it aside in his book-case. A few years afterward he attended for the second time the competitive literary examination with high hopes of honor and distinction, having already passed with much credit the lower examination in the district city. His ambitious venture, however, met with severe disappointment, and he returned to his friends sick in mind and body. During this state of mental depression and physical infirmity, which continued for some forty days, he had certain strange visions, in which he received commands from heaven to destroy the idols. These fancied revelations seem to have produced a deep impression on his mind, and led to a certain gravity of demeanor after his recovery and return to his quiet occupation as a student and village schoolmaster. When the English war broke out, and foreigners swept up Canton River with their wonderful fire-ships, … it is not surprising that Hung should have had his attention again attracted to the Christian publication which had lain so long neglected in his library. … The writings of Leang A-fah contained chapters from the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which he found to correspond in a striking manner with the preternatural sights and voices of that memorable period in his history [during his sickness, six years before]; and this strange coincidence convinced him of their truth, and of his being divinely appointed to restore the world, that is China, to the worship of the true God. Hung Sew-tseuen accepted his mission and began the work of propagating the faith he had espoused. Among his first converts was one Fung Yun-san, who became a most ardent missionary and disinterested preacher. These two leaders of the movement traveled far and near through the country, teaching the people of all classes and forming a society of God-worshippers. All the converts renounced idolatry and gave up the worship of Confucius. Hung, at this time apparently a sincere and earnest seeker after truth, went to Canton and placed himself under the instructions of the Reverend Mr. Roberts, an American missionary, who for some cause fearing that his novitiate might be inspired by mercenary motives, denied him the rite of baptism. But, without being offended at this cold and suspicious treatment, he went home and taught his converts how to baptize themselves. The God-worshippers rapidly increased in numbers, and were known and feared as zealous iconoclasts. … For a year after Hung Sew-tseuen had rejoined the God-worshippers that society retained its exclusively religious nature, but in the autumn of 1850 it was brought into direct collision with the civil magistrates, when the movement assumed a political character of the highest aims." It was soon a movement of declared rebellion, and allied with a rebel army of bandits and pirates which had taken arms against the government in south-eastern China.

L. N. Wheeler, The Foreigner in China, chapter 13.

"The Hakka schoolmaster proclaimed his 'mission' in 1850. A vast horde gathered to him. He nominated five 'Wangs' or soldier sub-kings from out of his clan, and commenced his northward movement from Woosewen in January, 1851. Through the rich prosperous provinces his desultory march, interspersed with frequent halts, spread destruction and desolation. The peaceful fled shudderingly before this wave of fierce, stalwart ruffianhood, with its tatterdemalian tawdriness, its flaunting banners, its rusty naked weapons. Everywhere it gathered in the local scoundrelism. The pirates came from the coast; the robbers from the interior mountains rallied to an enterprise that promised so well for their trade. In the perturbed state of the Chinese population the horde grew like an avalanche as it rolled along. The Heavenly King [as Hung now styled himself] met with no opposition to speak of, and in 1853 his promenade ended under the shadow of the Porcelain Tower, in the city of Nanking, the second metropolis of the Chinese Empire, where, till the rebellion and his life ended simultaneously, he lived a life of licentiousness, darkened further by the grossest cruelties. The rebellion had lasted nearly ten years when the fates brought it into collision with the armed civilization of the West. The Imperialist forces had made sluggishly some head against it. Nanking had been invested after a fashion for years on end. 'The prospects of the Tai-pings,' says Commander Brine, 'in the early spring of 1860, had become very gloomy.' The Imperialist generals had hemmed Tai-pingdom within certain limits in the lower valley of the Yantsze, and the movement languished further 'from its destructive and exhausting nature, which for continued vitality constantly required new districts of country to exhaust and destroy.' But in 1859 China and the West came into collision. … The rebellion had opportunity to recover lost ground. For the sixth time the 'Faithful King' relieved Nanking. The Imperialist generals fell back, and then the Tai-pings took the offensive, and as the result of sundry victories, the rebellion regained an active and flourishing condition. … Shanghai, one of the treaty ports, was threatened."

A. Forbes, Chinese Gordon, chapter 2.

{425}

"Europe … has known evil days under the hands of fierce conquerors, plundering and destroying in religion's name; but its annals may be ransacked in vain, without finding any parallel to the miseries endured in those provinces of China over which 'The Heavenly King,' the Tai-ping prophet, extended his fell sway for ten sad years. Hung Sew-tsuen (better known in China by his assumed title, Tien Wang) … had read Christian tracts, had learnt from a Christian missionary; and when he announced publicly three years afterwards that part of his mission was to destroy the temples and images, and showed in the jargon of his pretended visions some traces of his New Testament study, the conclusion was instantly seized by the sanguine minds of a section set upon evangelizing the East, that their efforts had produced a true prophet, fit for the work. Wedded to this fancy, they rejected as the inventions of the enemies of missions the tales of Taiping cruelty which soon reached Europe: and long after the details of the impostor's life at Nankin, with its medley of visions, executions, edicts, and harem indulgence, became notorious to the world, prayers were offered for his success by devotees in Great Britain as bigoted to his cause as the bloodiest commander, or 'Wang,' whom he had raised from the ranks of his followers to carry out his 'exterminating decrees.' The Taiping cause was lost in China before it was wholly abandoned by these fanatics in England, and their belief in its excellence so powerfully reacted on our policy, that it might have preserved us from active intervention down to the present time, had not certain Imperialist successes elsewhere, the diminishing means of their wasted possessions, and the rashness of their own chiefs, brought the Taiping arms into direct collision with us. And with the occasion there was happily raised up the man whose prowess was to scatter their blood-cemented empire to pieces far more speedily than it had been built up."

C. C. Chesney, Essays in Military Biography, chapter 10

"The Taiping rebellion was of so barbarous a nature that its suppression had become necessary in the interests of civilization. A force raised at the expense of the Shanghai merchants, and supported by the Chinese government, had been for some years struggling against its progress. This force, known as the 'Ever Victorious Army,' was commanded at first by Ward, an American, and, on his death, by Burgevine, also an American, who was summarily dismissed; for a short time the command was held by Holland, an English marine officer, but he was defeated at Taitsan 22 February, 1863, Li Hung Chang, governor-general of the Kiang provinces, then applied to the British commander-in-chief for the services of an English officer, and Gordon [Charles George, subsequently known as 'Chinese Gordon'] was authorised to accept the command. He arrived at Sung-Kiong and entered on his new duties as a mandarin and lieutenant-colonel in the Chinese service on 24 March 1863. His force was composed of some three to four thousand Chinese, officered by 150 Europeans of almost every nationality and often of doubtful character. By the indomitable will of its commander this heterogeneous body was moulded into a little army whose high-sounding title of 'ever-victorious' became a reality, and in less than two years, after 33 engagements, the power of the Taipings was completely broken and the rebellion stamped out. The theatre of operations was the district of Kiangsoo, lying between the Yang-tze-Kiang river in the north and the bay of Hang-chow in the south." Before the summer of 1863 was over, Gordon had raised the rebel siege of Chanzu, and taken from the Taipings the towns of Fushan, Taitsan, Quinsan, Kahpoo, Wokong, Patachiaow, Leeku, Wanti, and Fusaiqwan. Finally, in December, the great city of Soo-chow was surrendered to him, Gordon was always in front of all his storming parties, "carrying no other weapon than a little cane. His men called it his 'magic wand,' regarding it as a charm that protected his life and led them on to victory. When Soo-chow fell Gordon had stipulated with the Governor-general Li for the lives of the Wangs (rebel leaders). They were treacherously murdered by Li's orders. Indignant at this perfidy, Gordon refused to serve any longer with Governor Li, and when on 1 Jan, 1864 money anti rewards were heaped upon him by the Emperor, declined them all. … After some [two] months of inaction it became evident that if Gordon did not again take the field the Taipings would regain the rescued country," and he was prevailed upon to resume his campaign, which, although badly wounded in one of the battles, he brought to an end in the following April (1864), by the capture of Chan-chu-fu, "This victory not only ended the campaign but completely destroyed the rebellion, and the Chinese regular forces were enabled to occupy Nankin in the July following. The large money present offered to Gordon by the emperor was again declined, although he had spent his pay in promoting the efficiency of his force, so that he wrote home: 'I shall leave China as poor as when I entered it.'"

Colonel R. H. Veitch, Charles George Gordon (Dictionary of Nat. Biog.)

ALSO IN: A. E. Hake, The Story of Chinese Gordon, chapters 3-8.

W. F. Butler, Charles George Gordon, chapter 2.

S. Mossman, General Gordon in China.

Private Diary of General Gordon in China.

Mm. Callery and Yvan, History of the Insurrection in China.

CHINA: A. D. 1856-1860, War with England and France. Bombardment and capture of Canton. The Allies in Pekin. Their destruction of the Summer Palace. Terms of peace.

The speech from the throne at the opening of the English Parliament, on February 3, 1857, "stated that acts of violence, insults to the British flag, and infractions of treaty rights, committed by the local authorities at Canton, and a pertinacious refusal of redress, had rendered it necessary for her Majesty's officers in China to have recourse to measures of force to obtain satisfaction. The alleged offences of the Chinese authorities at Canton had for their single victim the lorcha 'Arrow.' The lorcha 'Arrow' was a small boat built on the European model. The word 'Lorcha' is taken from the Portuguese settlement at Macao, at the mouth of the Canton river. It often occurs in treaties with the Chinese authorities. On October 8, 1856, a party of Chinese in charge of an officer boarded the 'Arrow,' in the Canton river. They took off twelve men on a charge of piracy, leaving two men in charge of the lorcha, The 'Arrow' was declared by its owners to be a British vessel. {426} Our consul at Canton, Mr. Parkes, demanded from Yeh, the Chinese Governor of Canton, the return of the men, basing his demand upon the Treaty of 1843, supplemental to the Treaty of 1842. This treaty did not give the Chinese authorities any right to seize Chinese offenders, or supposed offenders, on board an English vessel. It merely gave them a right to require the surrender of the offenders at the hands of the English. The Chinese Governor, Yeh, contended, however, that the lorcha was a Chinese pirate vessel, which had no right whatever to hoist the flag of England. It may be plainly stated at once that the 'Arrow' was not an English vessel, but only a Chinese vessel which had obtained by false pretences the temporary possession of a British flag. Mr. Consul Parkes, however, was fussy, and he demanded the instant restoration of the captured men, and he sent off to our Plenipotentiary at Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, for authority and assistance in the business. Sir John Bowring … ordered the Chinese authorities to surrender all the men taken from the 'Arrow,' and he insisted that an apology should be offered for their arrest, and a formal pledge given that no such act should ever be committed again. If this were not done within forty-eight hours, naval operations were to be begun against the Chinese. The Chinese Governor, Yeh, sent back all the men, and undertook to promise that for the future great care should be taken that no British ships should be visited improperly by Chinese officers. But he could not offer an apology for the particular case of the 'Arrow,' for he still maintained, as was indeed the fact, that the 'Arrow' was a Chinese vessel, and that the English had nothing to do with her. Accordingly Sir John Bowring carried out his threat, and had Canton bombarded by the fleet which Admiral Sir Michael Seymour commanded. From October 23 to November 13 naval and military operations were kept up continuously. Commissioner Yeh retaliated by foolishly offering a reward for the head of every Englishman. This news from China created a considerable sensation in England. On February 24, 1857, Lord Derby brought forward in the House of Lords a motion, comprehensively condemning the whole of the proceedings of the British authorities in China. The debate would have been memorable if only for the powerful speech in which the venerable Lord Lyndhurst supported the motion, and exposed the utter illegality of the course pursued by Sir John Bowring. The House of Lords rejected the motion of Lord Derby by a majority of 146 to 110. On February 26 Mr. Cobden brought forward a similar motion in the House of Commons. … Mr. Cobden had probably never dreamed of the amount or the nature of the support his motion was destined to receive. The vote of censure was carried by 263 votes against 247—a majority of 16. Lord Palmerston announced two or three days after that the Government had resolved on a dissolution and an appeal to the country. Lord Palmerston understood his countrymen." In the ensuing elections his victory was complete. "Cobden, Bright, Milner Gibson, W. J. Fox, Layard, and many other leading opponents of the Chinese policy, were left without seats. Lord Palmerston came back to power with renewed and redoubled strength." He "had the satisfaction before he left office [in 1858] of being able to announce the capture of Canton. The operations against China had been virtually suspended … when the Indian Mutiny broke out. England had now got the cooperation of France. France had a complaint of long standing against China on account of the murder of some missionaries, for which redress had been asked in vain. There was, therefore, an allied attack made upon Canton [December, 1857], and of course the city was easily captured. Commissioner Yeh himself was taken prisoner, not until he had been sought for and hunted out in most ignominious fashion. He was found at last hidden away in some obscure part of a house. He was known by his enormous fatness. … He was put on board an English man-of-war, and afterwards sent to Calcutta, where he died early in the following year. Unless report greatly belied him he had been exceptionally cruel, even for a Chinese official. The English and French Envoys, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, succeeded in making a treaty with China. By the conditions of the treaty, England and France were to have ministers at the Chinese Court, on certain special occasions at least, and China was to be represented in London and Paris; there was to be toleration of Christianity in China, and a certain freedom of access to Chinese rivers for English and French mercantile vessels, and to the interior of China for English and French subjects. China was to pay the expenses of the war. It was further agreed that the term 'barbarian' was no longer to be applied to Europeans in China. There was great congratulation in England over this treaty, and the prospect it afforded of a lasting peace with China. The peace thus procured lasted in fact exactly a year. … The treaty of Tien-tsin, which had been arranged by Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, contained a clause providing for the exchange of the ratifications at Pekin within a year from the date of the signature, which took place in June 1858. Lord Elgin returned to England, and his brother, Mr. Frederick Bruce, was appointed in March 1859 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. Mr. Bruce was directed to proceed by way of the Peiho to Tien-tsin, and thence to Pekin to exchange the ratifications of the treaty. Lord Malmesbury, who was then Foreign Secretary … impressed upon Mr. Bruce that he was not to be put off from going to the capital. Instructions were sent out from England at the same time to Admiral Hope, the Naval Commander-in-Chief in China, to provide a sufficient force to accompany Mr. Bruce to the mouth of the Peiho. The Peiho river flows from the highlands on the west into the Gulf of Pecheli, at the north-cast corner of the Chinese dominions. The capital of the Empire is about 100 miles inland from the mouth of the Peiho. It does not stand on that river, which flows past it at some distance westward, but it is connected with the river by means of a canal. The town of Tien-tsin stands on the Peiho near its junction with one of the many rivers that flow into it, and about forty miles from the mouth. The entrance to the Peiho was defended by the Taku forts. On June 20, 1859, Mr. Bruce and the French Envoy reached the mouth of the Peiho with Admiral Hope's fleet, some nineteen vessels in all, to escort them. They found the forts defended; some negotiations and inter-communications took place, and a Chinese official from Tien-tsin came to Mr. Bruce and endeavoured to obtain some delay or compromise. {427} Mr. Bruce became convinced that the condition of things predicted by Lord Malmesbury was coming about, and that the Chinese authorities were only trying to defeat his purpose. He called on Admiral Hope to clear a passage for the vessels. When the Admiral brought up his gunboats the forts opened fire. The Chinese artillerymen showed unexpected skill and precision. Four of the gunboats were almost immediately disabled. All the attacking vessels got aground. Admiral Hope attempted to storm the forts. The attempt was a complete failure. Admiral Hope himself was wounded; so was the commander of the French vessel which had contributed a contingent to the storming party. The attempt to force a passage of the river was given up and the mission to Pekin was over for the present. It seems only fair to say that the Chinese at the mouth of the Peiho cannot be accused of perfidy. They had mounted the forts and barricaded the river openly and even ostentatiously. … It will be easily imagined that the news created a deep sensation in England. People in general made up their minds at once that the matter could not be allowed to rest there, and that the mission to Pekin must be enforced. … Before the whole question came to be discussed in Parliament the Conservatives had gone out and the Liberals had come in. The English and French Governments determined that the men who had made the treaty of Tien-tsin—Lord Elgin and Baron Gros—should be sent back to insist on its reinforcement. Sir Hope Grant was appointed to the military command of our land forces, and General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards Count Palikao, commanded the soldiers of France. The Chinese, to do them justice, fought very bravely, but of course they had no chance whatever against such forces as those commanded by the English and French generals. The allies captured the Taku forts [August, 1860], occupied Tien-tsin, and marched on Pekin. The Chinese Government endeavoured to negotiate for peace, and to interpose any manner of delay, diplomatic or otherwise, between the allies and their progress to the capital. Lord Elgin consented at last to enter into negotiations at Tungchow, a walled town ten or twelve miles nearer than Pekin. Before the negotiations took place, Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, some English officers, Mr. Bowlby, the correspondent of the 'Times,' and some members of the staff of Baron Gros, were treacherously seized by the Chinese while under a flag of truce and dragged off to various prisons. Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with eleven of their companions, were afterwards released, after having been treated with much cruelty and indignity, but thirteen of the prisoners died of the horrible ill-treatment they received. Lord Elgin refused to negotiate until the prisoners had been returned, and the allied armies were actually at one of the great gates of Pekin, and had their guns in position to blow the gate in, when the Chinese acceded to their terms. The gate was surrendered, the allies entered the city, and the English and French flags were hoisted side by side on the walls of Pekin. It was only after entering the city that Lord Elgin learned of the murder of the captives. He then determined that the Summer Palace should be burnt down as a means of impressing the mind of the Chinese authorities generally with some sense of the danger of treachery and foul play. Two days were occupied in the destruction of the palace. It covered an area of many miles. Gardens, temples, small lodges, and pagodas, groves, grottoes, lakes, bridges, terraces, artificial hills, diversified the vast space. All the artistic treasures, all the curiosities, archaeological and other, that Chinese wealth and Chinese taste, such as it was, could bring together, had been accumulated in this magnificent pleasaunce. The surrounding scenery was beautiful. The high mountains of Tartary ramparted one side of the enclosure. The buildings were set on fire; the whole place was given over to destruction. A monument was raised with an inscription in Chinese, setting forth that such was the reward of perfidy and cruelty. Very different opinions were held in England as to the destruction of the Imperial palace. To many it seemed an act of unintelligible and unpardonable vandalism. Lord Elgin explained, that if he did not demand the surrender of the actual perpetrators, it was because he knew full well that no difficulty would have been made about giving him a seeming satisfaction. The Chinese Government would have selected for vicarious punishment, in all probability, a crowd of mean and unfortunate wretches who had nothing to do with the murders. … It is somewhat singular that so many persons should have been roused to indignation by the destruction of a building who took with perfect composure the unjust invasion of a country. The allied powers now of course had it all their own way. England established her right to have an envoy in Pekin, whether the Chinese liked it or not. China had to pay a war indemnity, and a large sum of money as compensation to the families of the murdered prisoners and to those who had suffered injuries, and to make an apology for the attack by the garrison of the Taku forts. Perhaps the most important gain to Europe from the war was the knowledge that Pekin was not by any means so large a city as we had all imagined it to be, and that it was on the whole rather a crumbling and tumble-down sort of place."

J. McCarthy, Short History of our own Time, chapters 12, 15, 17 (chapters 30 and 42, volume 3, of larger work).

ALSO IN: L. Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission, volume 1.

H. B. Loch, Personal Narrative.

S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapter 25 (volume 2).

Colonel Sir W. F. Butler, Charles George Gordon, chapter 3.

CHINA: A. D. 1857-1868. Treaty with the United States. The Burlingame Embassy and the Burlingame Treaties.

"The government of the United States viewed with anxiety the new breaking out of hostilities between Great Britain, supported by France as an ally, and China, in the year 1856. President Buchanan sent thither the Honorable William B. Reed to watch the course of events, and to act the part of a mediator and peacemaker when opportunity should offer. In this he was sustained by the influence of Russia. Mr. Reed arrived in Hong Kong, on the fine war steamer Minnesota, November 7, 1857. He at once set himself to remove the difficulties between the English and Chinese, and save if possible the future effusion of blood. He endeavored in vain to persuade the proud and obstinate governor Yeh to yield, and save Canton from bombardment. {428} He proceeded to the north, and made on behalf of his government a treaty of peace with China which was signed June 18. The first article of the treaty contains a significant reference to the posture of the United States in relation to the war then in progress, as well as to any which might thereafter arise. The article says: 'There shall be, as there have always been, peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Ta-Tsing Empire, and between their people respectively. They shall not insult or oppress each other for any trifling cause, so as to produce an estrangement between them; and if any other nation should act unjustly or oppressively, the United States will exert their good offices, on being informed of the case, to bring about an amicable arrangement of the question, thus showing their friendly feelings.' A subsequent article of this treaty is to be interpreted by keeping in view the bitter root of the difficulties between Great Britain and China which led to the previous war of 1839 to '42, and to this war. After stating the ports where Americans shall be permitted to reside and their vessels to trade, it continues in the following language: 'But said vessels shall not carry on a clandestine and fraudulent trade at other ports of China not declared to be legal, or along the coasts thereof; and any vessel under the American flag violating this provision shall, with her cargo, be subject to confiscation to the Chinese government; and any citizen of the United States who shall trade in any contraband article of merchandise shall be subject to be dealt with by the Chinese government, without being entitled to any countenance or protection from that of the United States; and the United States will take measures to prevent their flag from being abused by the subjects of other nations as a cover for the violation of the laws of the empire.'… The development of the foreign trade with China during the brief time which has passed [1870] since the last war has been very great. … The American government has been represented most of the time by the Honorable Anson Burlingame, who has taken the lead, with remarkable ability and success, in establishing the policy of peaceful co-operation between the chief treaty-powers, in encouraging the Chinese to adopt a more wise and progressive policy in their entercourse with foreign nations and in the introduction of the improvements of the age. … Mr. Burlingame, who had been in China six years, determined [in 1867] to resign his post and return to America. The news of it excited much regret among both Chinese and foreign diplomatists. The former endeavored in vain to dissuade him from his purpose. Failing to accomplish this, he was invited by Prince Kung to a farewell entertainment, at which were present many of the leading officers of the government. During it they expressed to him their gratitude for his offices to them as an intelligent and disinterested counselor and friend. And they seem to have conceived at this time the thought of putting the relations of the empire with foreign countries upon a more just and equal basis, by sending to them an imperial embassy of which he should be the head. They promptly consulted some of their more reliable friends among the foreign gentlemen at the capital, and in two days after they tendered to Mr. Burlingame, much to his surprise, the appointment of minister plenipotentiary of China to the Western powers. … Mr. Burlingame left the Chinese capital on the 25th of November, 1867. The embassy consisted, besides the principal, of Chih-kang and Sun Chia-ku, a Manchu and a Chinese officer, each wearing the red ball on his cap which indicates an official of a rank next to the highest in the empire; J. McLeary Brown, formerly of the British legation, and M. Deschamps, as secretaries; Teh Ming and Fung I as Chinese attachés, and several other persons in subordinate positions. … It went to Shanghai, thence to San Francisco, where it was most cordially welcomed by both the American and Chinese mercantile communities. It reached Washington in May, 1868. The embassy was treated with much distinction at the American capital. No American statesman was so capable and disposed to enter cordially into its objects as the Secretary of State at that time, the Honorable William H. Seward, whose mind had long apprehended the great features of the policy which American and foreign nations should pursue in relation to the Chinese empire. On the 16th of July the Senate of the United States ratified a treaty which he had made in behalf of this country with the representative of the Chinese government. The treaty defines and fixes the principles of the intercourse of Western nations with China, of the importance of which I have already spoken. It secures the territorial integrity of the empire, and concedes to China the rights which the civilized nations of the world, accord to each other as to eminent domain over land and waters, and jurisdiction over persons and property therein. It takes the first step toward the appointment of Chinese consuls in our seaports—a measure promotive of both Chinese and American interests. It secures exemption from all disability or persecution on account of religious faith in either country. It recognizes the right of voluntary emigration and makes penal the wrongs of the coolie traffic. It pledges privileges as to travel or residence in either country such as are enjoyed by the most favored nation. It grants to the Chinese permission to attend our schools and colleges, and allows us to freely establish and maintain schools in China. And while it acknowledges the right of the Chinese government to control its own whole interior arrangements, as to railroads, telegraphs and other internal improvements, it suggests the willingness of our government to afford aid toward their construction by designating and authorizing suitable engineers to perform the work, at the expense of the Chinese government. The treaty expressly leaves the question of naturalization in either country an open one. … It is not necessary to follow in detail the progress of this first imperial Chinese embassy. In England it was received at first very coldly, and it was some months before proper attention could be secured from the government to its objects. At length, however, on November 20, it was presented to the queen at Windsor Castle. … What heart is there that will not join in the cordial wish that the treaties made by the embassy with Great Britain, France, Prussia and other European powers may be the commencement of a new era in the diplomatic and national intercourse of China with those and all other lands of the West!"