They Seized The Taotai's Official Residence, And As His Guard Deserted
Him, That Officer Barely Escaped With His Life.
Other officials were not
so fortunate, but on the whole Shanghai was acquired by the rebels with
very little bloodshed.
In a few hours this important Chinese city passed
into the hands of a lawless and refractory mob, who lived on the plunder
of the townspeople, and who were ripe for any mischief. The European
settlement was placed meantime in a position of efficient defense, and
although the Triads wished to have the spoil of its rich factories, they
very soon decided that the enterprise would be too risky, if not
impossible.
After some weeks' inaction the imperialist forces, gathering from all
quarters, proceeded to invest the marauders in Shanghai, and had the
attack been conducted with any degree of military skill and vigor they
must have succumbed at the first onset. But, owing to the pusillanimity of
the emperor's officers and their total ignorance of the military art, the
siege went on for an indefinite period, and twelve months after it began
seemed as far off conclusion as ever.
While the imperialists laboriously constructed their lines and batteries
they never ceased to importune the Europeans for assistance, and as it
became clearer that the persons in possession of Shanghai were a mob
rather than a power, the desire increased among the foreigners generally
to put an end to what was an intolerable position. On this occasion the
French took an initiative which had previously been left to the English.
The French settlement at Shanghai consisted at this time of a consulate, a
cathedral, and one house, but as it was situated nearest the walls of the
Chinese city it was most exposed to the fire of the besiegers and
besieged. In consequence of this the French admiral, Laguerre, determined
to take a part in the struggle, and erecting a battery in the French
settlement, proceeded to bombard the rebels on one side of the city while
the imperialists attacked it on another. Although the bombardment was
vigorous and effective, the loss inflicted on the insurgents was
inconsiderable, because they had erected an earthwork behind the main wall
of the place, and every day the Triads challenged the French to come on to
the assault. At last a breach was declared to be practicable, and 400
French sailors and marines were landed to carry it, while the
imperialists, wearing blue sashes to distinguish them from the rebels,
escaladed the walls at another point. But the assault was premature, for,
although the assailants gained the inside of the fortification, they could
not advance. The insurgents fought desperately behind the earthworks and
in the streets, and after four hours' fighting they put the whole
imperialist force to flight. The French were carried along by their
disheartened allies who, allowing race hatred to overcome a temporary
arrangement, even fired on them, and when Admiral Laguerre reckoned up the
cost of his intervention he found it amounted to four officers and sixty
men killed and wounded. Such was the result of the French attack on
Shanghai, and it taught the lesson that even good European troops cannot
ignore the recognized rules and precautions of war. After this engagement
the siege languished, and the French abstained from taking any further
part in it. But the imperialists continued their attack in their own
bungling but persistent fashion, and at last the insurgents, having failed
to obtain the favorable terms they demanded, made a desperate sortie, when
a few made their way to the foreign settlement, where they found safety,
but by far the greater number perished by the sword of the imperialists.
More than 1,500 insurgents were captured and executed along the highroads,
but the two leaders of the movement escaped, one of them to attain great
fortune as a merchant in Siam. The imperialists unfortunately sullied
their success by grave excesses and by the cruel treatment of the
unoffending townspeople, who were made to suffer for the original
incapacity and cowardice of the officials themselves. At Canton, which was
also visited by the Triads in June, 1854, matters took a different course.
The Chinese merchants and shopkeepers combined and raised a force for
their own protection, and these well-paid braves effectually kept the
insurgents out of Canton. They, however, seized the neighboring town of
Fatshan, where the manufacturing element was in strong force, and but for
the unexpected energy of the Cantonese they would undoubtedly have seized
the larger city too, as the government authorities were not less apathetic
here than at Shanghai. The disturbed condition of things continued until
February, 1855, when the wholesale executions by which its suppression was
marked, and during which a hundred thousand persons are said to have
perished, ceased.
The events have now been passed in review which marked the beginning and
growth of the Taeping Rebellion, from the time of its being a local rising
in the province of Kwangsi to the hour of its leader being installed as a
ruling prince in the ancient city of Nankin. But from the growing Taeping
Rebellion, which we have now followed down to the year 1856, our attention
must be directed to the more serious and important foreign question which
had again reached a crisis, and which would not wait on the convenience of
the Celestial emperor and his advisers.
CHAPTER XIX
THE SECOND FOREIGN WAR
The events which caused the second foreign war began to come into evidence
immediately after the close of the first; and for the sake of clearness
and brevity they have been left for consideration to the same chapter,
although they happened while Taoukwang was emperor. After the departure of
Sir Henry Pottinger, who was succeeded by Sir John Davis, and the arrival
of the representatives of the other European powers, who hastened to claim
the same rights and privileges as had been accorded to England, the main
task to be accomplished was to practically assert the rights that had been
theoretically secured, and to place the relations of the two nations on
what may be called a working basis.
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