186 



CHINA. 



the emperor's person, and in the defence of the 

 principal towns. These troops are, moreover, 

 badly armed, badly officered, badly organized 

 and devoid of all military enthusiasm. They 

 are quite incapable of resisting the Taepings, 

 who would have possessed themselves of Pekin 

 long since hud it not been for the European 

 troops. Prince Kunsr, perceiving at length that 

 snch a state of things cannot longer be con- 

 tinued, and being confirmed in that view by 

 the empress-mother, who comprehends that the 

 safety of her son is identified with that of the 

 dynasty, has resolved to create an active army, 

 while retaining the one under arms. The new 

 army is to be organized and armed after the 

 European fashion, and commanded by European 

 officers, or by natives educated at the military 

 school by French professors. This school, to 

 which none are admitted but young Chinese 

 who show a disposition for a military life, will, 

 it is expected, produce officers capable of con- 

 tending with the Taepings. 



Great concessions continued to be made to 

 the foreign communities in the large commer- 

 cial cities. The British community at Hang- 

 chow, on the river Yang-tse, obtained from the 

 Government a grant of 90 acres of ground. 

 Thirty English commercial firms, three or four 

 French manufactories, one Russian, and one 

 American, are established there. Fifteen large 

 business houses are in the course of construc- 

 tion for English subjects. A municipal council 

 has been, established, to conduct the affairs of 

 the European community, aud it pays great at- 

 tention to the construction of roads. At Shang- 

 hai, these concessions to foreign communities 

 gave rise to an interesting question. The ex- 

 emption of the ''foreign concessions" from 

 Chinese authority has long been claimed, and 

 practically acted on, by the foreign communi- 

 ties resident in them, with the sanction and 

 concurrence of the consular body the Chinese 

 tacitly yielding the right. In the autumn of 1862 

 it was proposed to extend the powers of the 



E resent municipality, and the British consul, 

 aving submitted certain proposals in that sense 

 to her Majesty's minister at Pekin, received a 

 reply, dated September 8th, 1862, that totally 

 npsets the rights hitherto assumed. Sir F. 

 Bruce clearly lays down that " there is great 

 misapprehension of the position of these so-call- 

 ed foreign concessions. The British concession 

 at Shanghai was neither a transfer nor a lease 

 of the land in question to the British crown. 

 It was simply an agreement that British sub- 

 jects should be allowed to acquire land for their 

 personal accommodation within a certain space, 

 in order that they might have the advantage 

 of living together. The land BO acquired re- 

 mains Chinese territory; it is subject to the 

 land-tax ; and if the jurisdiction -of the Chinese 

 Government over it is denied, it is done, be- 

 cause in China it was deemed essential, for the 

 FK'eurity of British trade, that the person and 

 establishment of the trader should be secured 

 from molestation." The English minister then 



goes on to describe the present position of the 

 settlement as entirely altered in its character, 

 and to remind the consul that "the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment has never formally abandoned its right 

 over its own subjects, nor has her Majesty's 

 Government ever claimed or expressed any de- 

 sire to exercise a protectorate over them." 



In October 22d, 1862, Prince Kung informed 

 the representatives of the foreign Governments 

 at Pekin, that the Imperial Government had 

 adopted a national flag, to be triangular in 

 shape, and ten feet broad for the largest ves- 

 sels, and bet ween seven and eight feet for smaller 

 vessels. The ground color is yellow, and a dra- 

 gon is painted on it, the head pointing upward. 



At the close of 1863, a meeting of the Impe- 

 rial Council for Foreign Affairs was held, to con- 

 sider the translation and publication of a sys- 

 tem of international law. Mr. Burlingame, the 

 minister of the United States at Pekin, called 

 attention to the translation of Wheaton's work, 

 which has become an authority in the cabinets 

 of Europe. He requested an interview with one 

 of the members, and four of them appeared 

 and evinced by their intelligent interest, as well 

 as by their presence, that they deemed the sub- 

 ject one of great national importance. It is 

 remarkable that one of the reasons adduced by 

 the Chinese authorities for the translation, was 

 that it would serve as a guide to future em- 

 bassies to foreign Powers. This implies a de- 

 parture from the ancient disdainful policy of 

 the Chinese Government toward " outside bar- 

 barians," which indicates that the torpidity for 

 which it was notorious is at last giving way 

 under the influence of new ideas and liberal 

 sentiments. 



On July 10th, 1863, the envoy of Denmark, 

 Col. Raaslof, succeeded in concluding with the 

 Chinese Government a most favorable treaty. 

 The Chinese at first intended that the treaty re- 

 cently concluded with the Belgians should be 

 tendered to the Danish envoy on the coast, or 

 at Tien-tsin, and that he should have nothing 

 more. Col. Eaaslof, however, penetrating this 

 design, determined to proceed at once to Pekin, 

 where, after three months of earnest negotia- 

 tions, he succeeded in obtaining much more 

 favorable conditions. The Danish treaty is sub- 

 stantially the British treaty, with this advan- 

 tage for all the foreign nations, that those 

 changes which have been yielded to the solici- 

 tations of the foreign Powers from time to time 

 since that treaty was signed, have been placed 

 in the Danish treaty, and are therefore not 

 liable to be changed. Article xvi. of the treaty 

 mentions sixteen ports as being opened, and 

 among them Nankin, Kiukiang, Chinkiang and 

 Hangchow, on the river Yang-tse, although the 

 first named city is in the hands of the rebels. 

 For the present the trade is carried on at these 

 ports under river regulations, to which foreign 

 legations have agreed. Article xii. declares 

 the coasting trade of China open to foreign na- 

 tions, a stipulation which no former treaty con- 

 tained. In the tariff, the clause prohibiting the 



