The Chinese,
Plainly Speaking, Had Sought To Maintain Their Exclusiveness And To Live
Outside The Comity Of Nations, And They Had Not The Power To Attain Their
Wish.
Therefore they were compelled to listen to and to accept the terms
of the English plenipotentiary, which were as follows:
- The emperor was
first of all to appoint a high officer with full powers to negotiate and
conclude arrangements on his own responsibility, when hostilities would be
suspended. The three principal points on which these negotiations were to
be based were compensation for losses and expenses, a friendly and
becoming intercourse on terms of equality between officers of the two
countries, and the cession of insular territory for commerce and for the
residence of merchants, and as a security and guarantee against the future
renewal of offensive acts. The first step toward the acceptance of these
terms was taken when an imperial commission was formed of three members,
Keying, Elepoo, and Niu Kien, viceroy of the Two Kiang; and to the last
named, as governor of the provinces most affected, fell the task of
writing the first diplomatic communication of a satisfactory character
from the Chinese government to the English plenipotentiary. This letter
was important for more reasons than its being of a conciliatory nature. It
held out to a certain extent a hand of friendship, and it also sought to
assign an origin to the conflict, and Niu Kien could find nothing more
handy or convenient than opium, which thus came to give its name to the
whole war.
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of 191255
