"Hermes, off Nankin, April 30, 1853.
"I received yesterday your message conveyed through the ministers sent on board for that purpose, to the effect that you were willing to receive me in the city, in the event of my being desirous of paying you a visit. It was at first my intention to see you on shore, but the weather and other circumstances prevent my doing so, and therefore I have to convey to you in writing the sentiments I should have communicated to you verbally, had I visited you. These sentiments are to the following effect."
After stating the position of the British nation with regard to the Manchoo government, the existence of the treaty and trading regulations, &c., the dispatch goes on to say:—
"Recently, however, it came to my ears that a contest was going on between the native Chinese and the Manchoos, and that you, the Eastern Prince, had taken Nankin. A variety of reports connected with the subject were in circulation, and certain of the Manchoo authorities had issued a proclamation to the effect that they had borrowed the services of ten or more steamers of Western nations, which would proceed up the Yang-tze to attack your forces. This is altogether false. It is the established custom of our nation in nowise to interfere with any contests that may take place in the countries frequented by our subjects for commercial purposes. It is therefore totally out of the question that we should now in China lend the services of our steamers to give assistance in the struggle. Of the lorchas hired by the Manchoo authorities, and the square-rigged vessels purchased by them, I know nothing. British merchant vessels are not allowed to hire out their services for such contest; but I cannot prevent the sale of vessels, the private property of British subjects, any more than I can prevent the sale of cotton manufactures or other merchandise."
Again the dispatch states:—
"In short, it is our desire to remain perfectly neutral in the conflict between you and the Manchoos."
This guarantee of neutrality would have effected much good, and avoided much evil, had it been acted up to; but unfortunately such was not the case—it did not suit the policy of England to act on that occasion in the same manner as when the Confederate steam rams were seized in the Mersey.
Sir George Bonham's dispatch was carried ashore by Captain Fishbourne, who was received by several chiefs, whom he thus describes:17—
"The appearance and bearing of all those men gave me the idea that they were clever, decided, and determined; and from the constant solemn appeal to heaven to witness their assertion, or in reference to their belief, they showed themselves to be under a settled conviction that their mission was from thence."
The following dispatch is the reply of the Ti-ping chiefs to Sir George Bonham's:—
"We, Prince of the East, Yang, the Honae teacher, and the master who rescues from calamity (an ecclesiastical title), Principal Minister of State, and Generalissimo; and
"Prince of the West, Seaou, Assistant Minister of State, and also Generalissimo, both subjects of the Celestial dynasty, now under the sway of T'aí-ping, truly commissioned by Heaven to rule; hereby issue a decree to the distant English, who have long recognized the duty of worshipping Heaven (God), and who have recently come into the views of our royal master, especially enjoining upon them to set their minds at rest and harbour no unworthy suspicions.
"The Heavenly Father, the Supreme Lord, the Great God, in the beginning created heaven and earth, land and sea, men and things, in six days; from that time to this the whole world has been one family, and all within the four seas brethren; how can there exist, then, any difference between man and man? or how any distinction between principal and secondary birth? But from the time that the human race has been influenced by the demoniacal agency which has entered into the heart of man, they have ceased to acknowledge the great benevolence of God the Heavenly Father in giving and sustaining life, and ceased to appreciate the infinite merit of the expiatory sacrifice made by Jesus, our Celestial Elder Brother, and have, with lumps of clay, wood, and stone, practised perversity in the world. Hence it is that the Tartar hordes and Elfin Huns so fraudulently robbed us of our celestial territory (China). But, happily, our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother have from an early period displayed their miraculous power amongst you English, and you have long acknowledged the duty of worshipping God the Heavenly Father and Jesus our Celestial Brother, so that the truth has been preserved entire, and the Gospel maintained. Happily, too, the Celestial Father, the Supreme Lord and Great God, has now of His infinite mercy sent a heavenly messenger to convey our royal master the Heavenly King up into heaven, and has personally endowed him with power to sweep away from the thirty-three heavens demoniacal influences of every kind, and expel them thence into this lower world. And, beyond all, happy is it that the Great God and Heavenly Father displayed His infinite mercy and compassion in coming down into this our world in the third month of the year Mowshin (1848),18 and that Jesus our Celestial Elder Brother, the Saviour of the world, likewise manifested equal favour and grace in descending to earth during the ninth month of the same year, where, for these six years past, they have marvellously guided the affairs of men, mightily exhibited their wondrous power, and put forth innumerable miraculous proofs, exterminating a vast number of imps and demons, and aiding our Celestial Sovereign in assuming the control of the whole empire.
"But now that you distant English have not deemed myriads of miles too far to come and acknowledge our sovereignty, not only are the soldiers and officers of our celestial dynasty delighted and gratified thereby, but even in high heaven itself our Celestial Father and Elder Brother will also admire this manifestation of your fidelity and truth. We therefore issue this special decree, permitting you, the English chief, to lead your brethren out or in, backwards or forwards, in full accordance with your own will or wish, whether to aid us in exterminating our impish foes, or to carry on your commercial operations as usual; and it is our earnest hope that you will, with us, earn the merit of diligently serving our Royal Master, and, with us, recompense the goodness of the Father of Spirits.
"Wherefore we promulgate this new decree of (our sovereign) T'aí-ping for the information of you English, so that all the human race may learn to worship our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother, and that all may know that, wherever our Royal Master is, there men unite in congratulating him on having obtained the decree to rule.
"A special decree, for the information of all men, given (under our seals) this 26th day of the 3rd month of the year Kweihaou (1st May, 1853), under the reign of the Celestial dynasty of T'aí-ping."
With a faithfulness above all praise, the Ti-pings have never broken their promises, and although the British government have thought fit to repudiate theirs, still, with an integrity really wonderful, the Ti-pings, although they might fairly have done so, have never retaliated. Had ministers of enlightened mind, or even ministers of honour, taken advantage of that clause of the Ti-pings' line of conduct—and which in spite of the British hostilities has remained unaltered—to go "out or in, backwards or forwards," how great a result would have been attained for themselves, and how glorious a future of freedom and Christianity for the Chinese!
Sir George Bonham, it appears, took umbrage at some imaginative want of respect in the dispatch of the Ti-ping chiefs; still, the following extracts from a communication received from Lo-thai-kang, commander of Ti-ping forces at Chin-kiang, the Triad chief who joined the society of "God-worshippers" in Kwang-si, should have appeased his indignation:—
"We humbly conceive that when the will of Heaven is fixed, man cannot oppose; and when views and feelings are correct, corrupt imaginations cannot interfere therewith; hence it is that honest birds select the tree on which they roost, and that virtuous ministers choose the sovereign whom they intend to serve. But, alas! these false Tartars have displayed their unruly dispositions, in fraudulently depriving us of our lawful patrimony; at home they have injured the subjects of our state, and abroad they have warred against foreign states. On a former occasion your honourable nation, with upright views, marched into our territory, for which you had doubtless good and sufficient reason;