"(1) That the reign of force, without any real moral antagonism, is now established throughout all the four quarters of the globe.
"(2) That Great Britain is no longer honoured and trusted as she was, her statesmen having lost that moral influence which, quite as much as physical fear, serves to restrain unscrupulous governments in a career of wrong-doing."
He will indeed be a bold casuist who can dispute the truth of the above propositions, or the fact that they are the natural consequence of such acts as the intervention against the Ti-pings, &c., which have been perpetrated for the sole object of forwarding our own interests and "commercial transactions," without the slightest regard for the principles of right, justice, and international law.
The history of the world proves that every great nation which has been founded by aggression and the sword has ultimately fallen, notwithstanding its power and grandeur, through the exercise of the same illegal violence against itself. Now those who utterly condemn any political action having for its basis expediency, temporary interest, commercial extension, place-holding, or any other mercenary or selfish motives, at the sacrifice of rigid equity and honour, believe that under Providence England will never fall from her exalted position while adhering unchangeably to the eternal principles of right and justice. If the future and the ultimate fate of a nation be not preordained, but are really dependent upon itself, let us believe that its destiny will be determined by an immutable law which only rewards or punishes according to deserts. Then will all who love their country be jealous of its honour, whilst those who are rather intent upon immediate and personal aggrandizement will imitate the acts of the robber, who cares not for the crime so long as he can enrich himself.
Mingled with the more serious parts of this work, the reader will find much information regarding the vast Chinese empire; the character, customs, and position of its interesting people, especially so far as the Ti-pings are concerned. As these are subjects which have come largely under my personal observation, I have connected them with my own travels and adventures in the form of a narrative, so that each alternate chapter should treat exclusively of the history of the Ti-ping Revolution until both could be combined together.
At present civil war is raging in every part of China, and if the natives—as represented by the Ti-ping, Nien-fie, or other insurrectionists—should succeed in overthrowing their Manchoo oppressors, a vast field will be thrown open to European enterprise, and the opportunity that will exist for civilizing and Christianizing the largest country in the world cannot be exaggerated.
A. F. L.
London, 3rd February, 1866.
ERRATA.
P. 546, For the word "whom" read "with."
P. 689, read last paragraph, commencing at the twenty-seventh line, as follows:—"Yet, on the other hand, there are people who have the obstinacy to review this and similar affairs, and observe that in other parts of the world a very different policy has been enacted, where it could be done with impunity, which affords sufficient evidence that the pretended adoption of a non-interfering policy is neither more nor less than an unprincipled truckling to strong powers, and an aggressive bullying of the weak."
FOOTNOTE:
1. "Intervention and Non-intervention," by A. G. Stapleton.
CHAPTER I.
Arrival in Victoria.—The Happy Valley.—Hong-Kong.—Tanka Boat Girls.—Chinese Boatmen: their evil propensities.—Captain Mellen's Adventure.—Canton Girls.—Amusements in China.—Cafés Chantant.—The Exhibition.—Temple of Lanterns.—Chinese Character.—Piracy in China.—The "North Star."—Fate of the Crew.—Tartar Cruelty.—Adventure with Pirates.—Sporting.—Duck-shooting.—Chinese Hospitality.—Mandarin Barbarity.—Whampoa.—Marie the Portuguese.—Marie's History: her Escape.—Description of Marie: her Excitability: her Jealousy.
In the summer of 1859, I arrived before the town of Victoria, on board the good ship Emeu, and cast anchor in the blue waters of its shaded harbour. Victoria is the only town in the island of Hong-Kong, and, viewed from the bay, presents a very imposing appearance, in many respects resembling Gibraltar.
Like the city of the "Sentinel of the Straits," it is built from the very edge of the sea to some considerable distance up the mountains which constitute the principal portion of the island, and is almost entirely hemmed in by towering masses of time-worn granite, that constitute a grand and effective background to its princely buildings. Many of these noble edifices—the dwellings of European merchants and officials, and the British Government works—in the higher parts of the town are well ornamented by gardens; which, with several verdant little valleys in the hollows of the mountains, some low hills covered with a feathery semi-tropical foliage—Green Island, with its dense bushes on one hand, and Jardine's, crowned with a noble mansion of that firm, on the other—together with the multitude of junks and European shipping at anchor, and those under weigh crossing and enlivening the scene, afford a charming and picturesque tone to what would otherwise be the unrelieved massiveness and sterility of the place.
There is one particularly beautiful spot in the "Island of Sweet Waters," as it is poetically termed by the Chinese, that well repays the trouble of a visit. It is situated some five or six miles from the town, and is named Happy Valley. It is surrounded with luxuriant Asiatic foliage, from the midst of which occasional farm-houses peep out. A fine grassy level forms the centre of the valley, around which is constructed the Hong-Kong racecourse, and this is bounded by a broad carriage-road completely encircling the whole plain; while on the edges of the distant rising ground the burial-place of those Europeans who never return to their home rears above the surrounding evergreens its monumental sculpture.
Happy Valley is surrounded by mountains whose sloping sides are thickly clothed with vegetation; the trees, although of a stunted species, are thickly interlaced with undergrowth and an innumerable variety of evergreen bushes, through which murmur many mountain springs, that become in the rainy months swollen into torrents. Although a favourite resort of European residents, I hardly consider Happy Valley a good sanatorium; for, when visiting it at early sunrise, I invariably found thick, damp vapours shrouding it, slow to be dispelled by the morning sun, and strongly significant of fever, and "Hong-Kong fever" in particular.
The colony of Hong-Kong represents most perfectly the success of British enterprise in commercial matters; and, what is far more important, points to the true mode by which Christian and civilized nations may communicate with the Pagan and semi-civilized ones of Asia.
The less said about the cession of the island to England the better; for, although in the year 1841 the Imperial Commissioner, Keshen, coerced by the presence of British troops, agreed to cede it, his Government repudiated this unauthorized agreement, and yet the British made that a casus belli, and afterwards compelled them to sanction and endorse the concession. Many people will, doubtless, say that England was compelled to make war upon the Chinese at that time, in order to defend her subjects and protect their trade and property; but it does not appear that either trade or property had ever been threatened, except through the nefarious opium traffic. The Chinese Government took the best measures to prevent the introduction of this injurious drug into their empire, but the British Government laid themselves open to the charge of wishing to protect the smugglers and forward the lawless trade.
The colony of Hong-Kong is in many respects to be admired, and it is to be regretted that the ministers of the present day do not appreciate its many advantages. In former days England possessed more statesmen and fewer politicians than now. Of all the blunders which have recently marked her foreign policy, the late intervention in China is the worst; there we find