CHINA. 



101 



spending instructions to the admiral in the China 

 Seas. 



The overbearing and insulting policy pursued 

 by some English officials and navy commanders 

 in China met with an emphatic rebuke not 

 only on the part of the Government, but also of 

 the English people. The Times said : 



It is the duty, recognized not merely in theory but 

 in practice, of our minister at Peking to be the me- 

 dium for the assertion of the rights of British sub- 

 jects in China. A British commander would be 

 bound to protect his countrymen against actual or 

 threatened violence, just as it is the duty of individ- 

 uals in this' country, though they be not police con- 

 stables, to prevent murder. But he has no more title 

 to set on foot an armed negotiation with Chinese 

 officials on his countrymen's behalf than an individ- 

 ual at home has, after witnessing a murder, to put 

 the murderer to death. If he would have had those 

 functions formerly, the appointment by his Govern- 

 ment of a resident plenipotentiary to the court of 

 Pekin must be taken to have amounted to an abdica- 

 tion by his Government of such a right for the future. 

 It cannot be disguised, too, that conduct like that 

 referred to might, in times of international agitation, 

 lead to grave embarrassments in the relations also 

 between Great Britain and the other nations inter- 

 ested in China. France, the United States, and 

 Russia, we are told, would claim it as a fair inference 

 from English acts and declarations of the past few 

 years, that this country had given up the system of 

 isolated interference in tho affairs of China. It may 

 be doubted how far, if at all, we can be considered to 

 have pledged ourselves to any such policy of " co- 

 operation;" but it is, at all events, inexpedient to 

 countenance a course or action on the part of our 

 naval officers which, imitated as it would be by those 

 of our allies, might put the peace, not of China alone, 

 but of Europe and America, at the mercy of the dis- 

 cretion of any two captains who might find their 

 theories at variance as to the right and duty of pun- 

 ishing some offending Chinese mandarin for his con- 

 duct to the countrymen of one of them. 



Another serious collision took place in Janu- 

 ary, very soon after the Yang-Chow difficulty, 

 at Swatow, between the Chinese inhabitants 

 and the crew of the British gunboat Grasshop- 

 per. The fight appears to have been obstinate 

 and bloody. The sailors fought desperately, 

 but were overwhelmed by the natives, whose 

 numbers constantly increased, and they were 

 compelled to retire to their ship with eleven 

 of their number wounded. Many Chinese 

 were killed and wounded in the affray. The 

 Chinese, immediately on the boats retiring, as- 

 sisted by the inhabitants of the surrounding 

 villages, began to build substantial mud forts 

 and armed to the number of six thousand men. 

 Placards were posted all through the city of 

 Swatow offering a reward of fifty dollars for 

 every European head. Lieutenant Kerr imme- 

 diately sent notice of these proceedings to the 

 admiral at Hong-Kong, and the British ships- 

 of-war Rinaldo, Perseus, Leven, and Bouncer, 

 were sent up to the scene of the trouble. On 

 the morning of the 29th, at four o'clock, a force 

 of four hundred and fifty men, consisting of the 

 Rodney's marines and blue-jackets from all the 

 other vessels, started* under the command of 

 Commodore Jones, and landed at daylight near 

 Swatow. They then marched into the country 

 and burned three villages, one of them being 



the place where the men of the Cockchafer 

 were fired upon. The natives offered a bold 

 resistance, and the work of firing and de- 

 stroying the villages was not accomplished 

 without some considerable loss on the part 

 of the natives and two casualties on the Eng- 

 lish side. 



There was another though less serious trou- 

 ble at Foo-Chow, originating, according to some 

 accounts, in an indiscreet zeal of the mission- 

 aries. Another very serious difficulty occurred 

 between the English subjects on the island of 

 Formosa and the Chinese residents there. 

 There is considerable trade between the island 

 and the main -land in 'camphor, one of the prod- 

 ucts of the island, and principally collected in 

 that portion of the island occupied by the 

 aborigines. Some English traders purchased a 

 quantity of camphor in the interior, which was 

 seized, by order of the mandarins, in transitu 

 to the port of shipment, under some flimsy pre- 

 text. In addition to this, some English mis- 

 sionaries were insulted and improperly treated. 

 A demand was made by the English consul for 

 redress and the immediate delivery of the cam- 

 phor, which was refused. Some English ships- 

 of-war went there, and landed troops in the 

 face of a large Chinese force, and killed a num- 

 ber of them, when the Chinese came to terms, 

 paid damages, and apologized. 



The hostility of the Chinese to the mission- 

 aries seems to be on the increase. A placard, 

 extensively posted up throughout the empire, 

 denounced the missionaries in violent terms. 



The people of the United States have in- 

 creasing interests in China. The establishment 

 of direct steamship lines connecting the west- 

 ern coasts of the United States with China, 

 and the completion of the Pacific Railroad, 

 have contributed largely to extend all the ram- 

 ifications of trade with Eastern Asia. The in- 

 crease of this international trade, which prom- 

 ises for the future grand results, imparts a 

 special importance to the treaty ports, and we 

 therefore subjoin a brief geographical and sta- 

 tistical statement * of their condition in 1869 : 



1. Foo-Choio is the capital of the province of 

 Fo-Kien, and situated on the left bank of the 

 river Min, quite a distance inland from its 

 mouth. The population of the province of 

 Fo-Kien is estimated at twenty million. It is 

 one of the most important sections of China, 

 and is politically united with the province 

 of Tse-Kiang, under a governor whose official 

 residence is at Foo-Chow. Fo-Kien has an 

 extent of coast-line of one hundred and thirty 

 geographical miles, and includes, besides the 

 principal port named, the following other 

 treaty-ports : Amoy, Ningpo, Tamsin, and 

 Tai-Wan-Foo. The last two are on the island 

 of Formosa, which forms a part of the prov- 

 ince of Fo-Kien, and extends along the coast, 

 from which it is separated by the Formosa 

 Channel. The .inhabitants of Fo-Kien and 



* Condensed from a very full account in the New York 

 Herald. 



