The
Important City Of Kanchang, The Capital Of The Province Of Kiangsi, Was
Besieged By Them For Four Months, And After Many Attempts To Carry It By
Storm The Taepings Were Compelled To Abandon The Task.
They were more
successful at Hankow, which they recovered after a siege of eighty days.
They again evacuated this town, and yet once again, in 1855, wrested it
from an imperial garrison.
The establishment of Taeping power at Nankin and the rumor of its rapid
extension in every direction had drawn the attention of Europeans to the
new situation thus created in China, and had aroused opposite opinions in
different sections of the foreign community. While the missionaries were
disposed to regard the Taepings as the regenerators of China, and as the
champions of Christianity, the merchants only saw in them the disturbers
of peace and the enemies of commerce. To such an extent did the latter
anticipate the ruin of their trade that they petitioned the consuls to
suspend, if not withhold, the payment of the stipulated customs to the
Chinese authorities. This proposed breach of treaty was emphatically
rejected, and the consuls enjoined the absolute necessity of preserving a
strict neutrality between the Taepings and the imperial forces. But at the
same time it became necessary to acquaint the Taeping ruler with the fact
that he would be expected to observe the provisions of the Treaty of
Nankin as scrupulously as if he were sovereign of China or a Manchu
viceroy. Sir George Bonham, the superintendent of trade and the governor
of Hongkong, determined to proceed in person to Nankin, in order to
acquaint the Taepings with what would be expected from them, and also to
gain necessary information as to their strength and importance by personal
observation. But unfortunately this step of Sir George Bonham tended to
help the Taepings by increasing their importance and spreading about the
belief that the Europeans recognized in them the future ruling power of
China. It was not intended to be, but it was none the less, an unfriendly
act to the Pekin government, and as it produced absolutely no practical
result with the Taepings themselves, it was distinctly a mistaken measure.
Its only excuse was that the imperial authorities were manifesting an
increasing inclination to enlist the support of Europeans against the
rebels, and it was desirable that accurate information should be obtained
beforehand. The Taotai of Shanghai even presented a request for the loan
of the man-of-war at that port, and when he was informed that we intended
to remain strictly neutral, the decision was also come to to inform the
Taepings of this fact. Therefore in April, 1853, before the army had left
for the northern campaign, Sir George Bonham sailed for Nankin in the
"Hermes" man-of-war. On the twenty-seventh of that month the vessel
anchored off Nankin, and several interviews were held with the Taeping
Wangs, of whom the Northern King was at this time the most influential.
The negotiations lasted a week, and they had no result.
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Words from 114616 to 115127
of 191255
