At This Point There Reappeared Upon The Scene A Man Whose
Previous Experience And High Position Entitled Him To Some
Consideration.
Less than a week after his first interview with the imperial
representatives, Lord Elgin received a letter from Keying,
Who, it was
soon found, had come on a self-appointed mission to induce the English by
artifice and plausible representation to withdraw their fleet from the
river. His zeal was increased by the knowledge that the penalty of failure
would be death, and as his reputation had been very great among Europeans
there is no saying but that he might have succeeded had there not been
discovered in Yeh's yamen at Canton some of his papers, which showed that
he had played a double part throughout, and that at heart he was bitterly
anti-foreign. When he found that the English possessed this information he
hastened back to Pekin, where he was at once summoned before the Board of
Punishment for immediate judgment, and, being found guilty, it was ordered
that as he had acted "with stupidity and precipitancy" he should be
strangled forthwith. As an act of extreme grace the emperor allowed him to
put an end to his existence in consideration of his being a member of the
imperial family.
After the departure of Keying, negotiations proceeded very satisfactorily
with Kweiliang and Hwashana, and all the points were practically agreed
upon, excepting the right to have a resident minister at Pekin. This claim
was opposed on several grounds.
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Page 465 of 704
Words from 126437 to 126687
of 191255
