126 PREJUDICES OF FOREIGN RESIDENTS. Chap. VII. 



than probable such an attack would never have 

 been attempted. But a course very different from 

 this was pursued. The sympathies of foreigners 

 generally were all enlisted on the side of the 

 rebels and against the government of the country. 

 It was no secret that we as a body, instead of 

 opposing an attack upon the city, would hail it 

 with pleasure, and wish it success, although we 

 would otherwise remain neutral. Civil and naval 

 officers, missionaries, merchants, and shopkeepers, 

 all — with a few honourable exceptions — were in 

 favour of the debauched band of robbers who took 

 the city of Shanghae on the 7th of September. 

 The unprejudiced observer of these events had 

 now to witness a most extraordinary and anoma- 

 lous proceeding, namely, that of our men-of-war 

 gallantly putting down the hordes of pirates 

 which were infesting the coast, while the land 

 pirates, such as those who took the city of Shang- 

 hae, were encouraged and applauded. And why ? 

 Because the latter spent their days and nights in 

 smoking opium, in drunkenness, and in all kinds 

 of debauchery, and gave out they were followers 

 of Tai-ping-wang, or, as he was called, the Chris- 

 tian King ! 



It would be too sweeping an assertion to place 

 the whole of these men in the same class. Some 

 perhaps were patriots anxious for the good of their 

 country, but I am afraid these characters were 

 comparatively rare. And yet the good ones were 

 probably amongst those who held out to the last. 



