In A Letter To The Prince Regent, Kiaking Suggested
That It Would Not Be Necessary For The British Government To Send Another
Embassy To China.
He took some personal satisfaction out of his
disappointment by depriving Ho Koong Yay of all his offices, and mulcting
him in five years of his pay as an imperial duke.
The cause of his
disgrace was expressly stated to be the mismanagement of the relations
with the English embassador and the suppression of material facts from the
emperor's knowledge. Sung Tajin, who had been specially recalled from his
governorship in Ili to take part in the reception of the Europeans, and
whose sympathy for them was well known, was also disgraced, and did not
recover his position until after the death of Kiaking. The failure of the
Amherst mission put an end to all schemes for diplomatic intercourse with
Pekin until another generation had passed away; but the facts of the case
show that its failure was not altogether due to the hostility of the
Chinese emperor. No practical results, in all probability, would have
followed; but if Lord Amherst had gone somewhat out of his way to humor
the Chinese autocrat, there is no doubt that he would have been received
in audience without any humiliating conditions.
Long before the Amherst mission reached China evidence had been afforded
that there were many elements of disorder in that country, and that a
dangerous feeling of dissatisfaction was seething below the surface. The
Manchus, even in their moments of greatest confidence, had always
distrusted the loyalty of their Chinese subjects, and there is no dispute
that one of their chief reasons for pursuing an excluding policy toward
Europeans was the fear that they might tamper with the mass of their
countrymen.
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Page 327 of 704
Words from 88560 to 88855
of 191255
