His Patience During The Two Months Of Doubt
And Anxiety While The Emperor Remained At Jehol Was Matched By The Vigor
And Promptitude That He Displayed On The Eventful 2d Of November.
That his
success was beneficial to his country will not be disputed by any one, and
Prince Kung's name must be permanently remembered both for having
commenced, and for having insured the continuance of, diplomatic relations
with England and the other foreign powers.
The increased intercourse with Europeans not merely led to greater
diplomatic confidence and to the extension of trade, but it also induced
many foreigners to offer their services and assistance to the Pekin
government, during the embarrassment arising from internal dissension. At
first these persons were, as has been seen, encouraged and employed more
in consequence of local opinion in the treaty-ports than as a matter of
State policy. But already the suggestion had been brought forward in more
than one form for the employment of foreigners, with the view of
increasing the resources of the government by calling in the assistance of
the very agency which had reduced them. A precedent had been established
for this at an earlier period - before, in fact, the commencement of
hostilities - by the appointment of Mr. Horatio N. Lay to direct and assist
the local authorities in the collection of customs in the Shanghai
district. Mr. Lay's experience had proved most useful in drawing up the
tariff of the Treaty of Tientsin, and his assistance had been suitably
acknowledged. In 1862, when the advantages to be derived from the military
experience of foreigners had been practically recognized by the
appointment of Europeans to command a portion of the army of China, and in
pursuance of a suggestion made by the present Sir Robert Hart in the
previous year, it was thought desirable for many reasons that something
should also be done to increase the naval resources of the empire, and Mr.
Lay was intrusted with a commission for purchasing and collecting in
Europe a fleet of gunboats of small draught, which could be usefully
employed for all the purposes of the Pekin government on the rivers and
shallow estuaries of the country. Mr. Lay, who undertook the commission,
said, "This force was intended for the protection of the treaty-ports, for
the suppression of piracy then rife, and for the relief of this country
from the burden of 'policing' the Chinese waters"; but its first use in
the eyes of Prince Kung was to be employed against the rebels and their
European supporters of whom Burgevine was the most prominent. Captain
Sherard Osborn, a distinguished English naval officer, was associated with
Mr. Lay in the undertaking. An Order of Council was issued on August 30,
1862, empowering both of these officers to act in the matter as delegates
of the Chinese. Captain Osborn and Mr. Lay came to England to collect the
vessels of this fleet, and the former afterward returned with them to
China in the capacity of their commodore. The transaction was not well
managed from the very commencement. Mr. Lay wrote in August, 1862, to say
that he had chosen as the national ensign of the Chinese navy "a green
flag, bearing a yellow diagonal cross," and he wrote again to request that
an official notification should appear in the "Gazette." Had his request
been complied with, there would have been very strong reason for assuming
that the English government was prepared to support and facilitate every
scheme for forcing the Chinese to accept and submit to the exact method of
progress approved of and desired by the European servants of their
government, without their taking any part in the transaction save to
ratify terms that might be harsh and exorbitant. Fortunately, the
instinctive caution of our Foreign Office was not laid aside on this
occasion. Mr. Lay was informed that no notice could appear in the "London
Gazette" except after the approval of the Pekin authorities had been
expressed; and Prince Kung wrote, on October 22, to say that the Chinese
ensign would be of "yellow ground, and on it will be designed a dragon
with his head toward the upper part of the flag." Mr. Lay preceded the
vessels - seven gunboats and one store-ship - and arrived at Pekin in May,
1863.
Prince Kung had been most anxious for the speedy arrival of the flotilla;
and the doubtful fortune of the campaign in Kiangsu, where the gunboats
would have been invaluable, rendered him extremely desirous that they
should commence active operations immediately on arrival. But he found, in
the first place, that Mr. Lay was not prepared to accept the appointment
of a Chinese official as joint-commander, and in the second place, that he
would not receive orders from any of the provincial authorities. Such a
decision was manifestly attended with the greatest inconvenience to China;
for only the provincial authorities knew what the interests of the State
demanded, and where the fleet might co-operate with advantage in the
attacks on the Taepings. Unless Captain Osborn were to act on the orders
of Tsen Kwofan, and particularly of Li Hung Chang, it was difficult to see
of what possible use he or his flotilla could be to China. The founders of
the new Chinese navy claimed practically all the privileges of an ally,
and declined the duties devolving on them as directing a department of the
Chinese administration. Of course, it was more convenient and more
dignified for the foreign officers to draw their instructions and their
salaries direct from the fountain-head; but if the flotilla was not to be
of any practical use to China it might just as well never have been
created. The fleet arrived in safety, but remained inactive. The whole
summer and autumn of 1863, with its critical state of affairs round
Soochow, passed away without anything being done to show what a powerful
auxiliary Mr. Lay's ships might be. The ultimate success of those
operations without the smallest co-operation on the part of Captain Osborn
or his flotilla virtually sealed its fate.
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