Thus, After An Interval Of
Fourteen Years, Was The First Blow Struck In What May Be Called The Third
Act Of Anglo-Chinese Relations, But It Would Be A Mistake To Suppose That
The "Arrow" Case Was The Sole Cause Of This Appeal To Arms.
A blue book,
bearing the significant title of "Insults to Foreigners," gives a list and
narrative of the many outrages and indignities inflicted on Europeans
between 1842 and 1856.
The evidence contained therein justifies the
statement that the position of Europeans in China had again become most
unsafe and intolerable. Those who persist in regarding the "Arrow" affair
as the only cause of the war may delude themselves into believing that the
Chinese were not the most blameworthy parties in the quarrel; but no one
who seeks the truth and reads all the evidence will doubt that if there
had been no "Arrow" case there would still have been a rupture between the
two countries. The Chinese officials, headed by Yeh, had fully persuaded
themselves that, as the English had put up with so much, and had
acquiesced in the continued closing of the gates of Canton, they were not
likely to make the "Arrow" affair a casus belli. Even the capture of the
Barrier forts did not bring home to their minds the gravity of the
situation.
After dismantling these forts, Sir Michael Seymour proceeded up the river,
capturing the fort in Macao Passage, and arriving before Canton on the
same day. An ultimatum was at once addressed to Yeh, stating that unless
he at once complied with all the English demands the admiral would
"proceed with the destruction of all the defenses and public buildings of
this city and of the government vessels in the river." This threat brought
no satisfactory answer, and the Canton forts were seized, their guns
spiked and the men-of-war placed with their broadsides opposite the city.
Then Yeh, far from being cowed, uttered louder defiance than ever.
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