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GUNPOWDER IN CHINA,
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INCONSISTENTLY EIGHT.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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T HE Taku forts are captured ; the British soldiers and Bailors behaved as they always do when well led , and were ably assisted by tlieir French Allies . The Armstrong gun has proved a splendid success ; its solid shot answers expectations ^ its shells , breaking into about forty angular pieces , blow artillerymen to shivers , and disperse cavalry a mile and arhalf off . All this is satisfactory in its way , and the resulting civility of the Chinese Court looks as if peace could be obtained without further employment of the means of war . Lord J £ : lgin and Baron Gkos will receive abundant compliments if they succeed in arranging a lasting peace , and meanwhile they are subject to a cross-fire of criticism from opponents of two sorts . The bellicose critics are angry that the ambassadors should go to Pekin without the entire force at their command . Nothing would satisfy these gentry but a triumphant entry into the surrendered capital of China , which may yet have to take place , but which certainly should be avoided if possible , as it would he excessively awkward if the court and officials , instead of joining the procession , should simply run away , and leave us the task of governing a huge city , whose inhabitants would be frightened out of their wits , and which is not the vital centre of an industrial or political system , but a place that would lose its importance if the sovereign , went away . The other set of hostile critics blame the capture of the forts altogether , as involving a wanton and unnecessary waste of life , and they ground this assertion upon the fact that the Chinese proposed to negotiate before the fighting commenced . We should certainly join in condemning a ~ war that had for its entire object a recovery of the military prestige lost through the folly of Mr . Bruce and Admiral Hope ; but we do not feel entitled to assume that the Chinese were prepared to accede to satisfactory terms while they fancied themselves able to resist our arms . The question has , however , been mooted by the press , and is likely to come up in Parliament , and should t > e met , Avh en that time comes , with all the explanation the Government pan afford , as public opinion desires to be convinced of the justice of every conflict in which we are engaged . The published despatches pay the French abundant compliments , but there are some points of less pleasing notice , which are strongly brought out in private letters , by which it appears that the French commander was forced against his will into the arrangements of Sir Hope Geant . It is said that he protested strongly against the British dispositions for attack , and only acceded to them when informed that our general woxild undertake the business alone , if our Allies thought proper to be merely spectators of the scene , This , of course , -would not suit them ,-so they joined their forces with purs , and won their fair share of the honours of the affray . Unfortunately their disci pline is very lax , and their notions of the rights of war little modified by modern ideas , so they plunder the Chinese at eve ! ry "" step , and thus afford , little inducement to the Celestials to look favourably upon the pretensions of European civilization . As for the Chinese , they fought with devoted bravery , and exhibited an odd mixture of modern science and ancient barbarism . They opposed us with lux'gc and beautifully constructed brass cannon , and also with clumsy matchlocks , and even bricks and stones . Their forts were constructed with considerable engineering knowledge , but appear to havo been deficient in protection fo . their men , and when some of their chief oncers were killed , the subordinates seem to have boon xmablo to fill their place . On the whole , it is evident that they are learning the science of war , and that a few more foolish treatios , followed by bungling ambassadors and fresh , conflicts , will teach them " the noble art of self-defence" to nn extent that will bo very ineonvenient , unless we aro prepared to keep up an army and navy for the especial purpose of breaking China and mending it a ^ ain . The real difficulty of our enterprizo now begins , and Lord Elgin will find all his powers tasked to the utmost to place our intercourse upon a satisfactory footing . If the Government of China were stronger , it would probably be advisable to havo a resident ambassador at Pekin , with * constant and direct intercourse on equal terms with the Empkwor nnd his ministers ; but in tho existing Btato of affairs it will not do to risk making Felcin into a second Constantinople , whero rival diplomatists back up rival { tuitions , and do their best to render progress an impossible thing , It would , therefore , seem as if the right of visiting Pokin and being received at the Court of China , should be conceded to our envoys * and thus lay the foundation for satisfactory
negotiations when difficulties occur . We want intercourse , not only with the Court but Avith the people , and our Government should make a knowledge of tlieir difficult language j an indispensable qualification of all resident employes . Very j few . of the merchants who make fortunes at Chinese ports can speak to the people in their own tongue ; and the Europeans live as enemies rather than as guests or visitors among the people with whom they trade . We also need a simple magisterial system , to protect the natives against insult and petty robberies , which now make them afraid to see an English or American sailor walk through their villages or roads . An arrogant assumption of superiority , and a contempt for native customs , cannot tend to an interchange of civilities or ideas ; and instead of living in a state of isolation , our local residents should endeavour to make their presence agreeable , and conciliate good-will . The practical question is , can we behave like gentlemen to an Asiatic race ? Hitherto we have failed to answer this in the affirmative ; and until we can do so we may conquer , but we shall not reform .
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Noy . 10 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 923
Gunpowder In China,
GUNPOWDER IN CHINA ,
Inconsistently Eight.
INCONSISTENTLY EIGHT .
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LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S last despatch on the Italian question is at once a masterpiece of liberal reasoning , and a glaring contradiction to the strange document by which it was preceded . It is only a few weeks since his Lordship wrote , in the name of England , an epistle that might have been dictated by Count Rechberg , and adopted by the Emperor of All the Russtas . From beginning to end it was a protest against free principles and the rights of nations to : emancipate ; themselves from evil rulers . . "Victor Emmaxtjel was bullied and rebuked as if he had committed some heinous offence ; when his only crimp , was anxiety to be a William of Oraxce to the suffering Venetians . Then , Lord John could see nothing but the necessity of bolstering up treaties , and supporting the House of the Hapsbuegs against all assaixlts . Now , he is in a wiser moodj and throws down the gauntlet to the absolutist Powers , France included , and boldly declares that Her Majesty ' s Government can find nothing to justify the diatribes with which France , Russia , and Prussia have assailed Victor Emmanuel for entering the territories of those charming specimens of legitimacy , the Popio and the Neapolitan King . In the most rational manner his Lordship contends that the people are the best judges of their own affairs . That they must decide where submission should end , and insurrection begin . He qtiotes Vattel . to show that it is a good and generous thing for any power to help . a nation struggling for liberty ; compares , Victob Emmanuel to that Whig hero , the phlegmatic Dutchman ; praises the moderation of the Garibaldian movements , and , instead of finding in the efforts of the Italhins for liberty and unity anything worthy of blame , he prays heartily for the success of their noble cause . The Tones is very sore with , this despatch , for the obvious reason that it was first published iti the Daily News ; and it has excited the wrath of the Tories , and provoked half hostile comments from the pacific Star . Nevertheless , it does speak tho view of England , and will exercise a powerful influence in determining our future relations to the popular and despotic parties in Continental States . There is nothing new in a Whig praising IG 88 , and the principles then triumphant , but the Whigs have been very unwilling to let other countries adopt the course of our forefathers , if so doing would disturb the neat little arrangements , for balancing powers in which their party delights . When the Hungarians resorted to the right of insurrection against a worse tyranny than England ever suffered under the Stuarts , our " liberal Government" consented to the Russian intervention , nnd flatly refused to supply a William of O hang is when the brave Magyars applied to England to see if one could be obtained . So . likewise , while Victor Emmanuel was moving towards the liberation of his country he was the object of Whig- animadversions , but now the game succeeds he is greeted with praise . We do not intend to blomo Lord John for not being consistently wronff , because to our minds it is better for him lo bo inconsistently right ; but after this last solomn deoluration of wise nnd liberal piinciplcs , ho will find it vory awkward to play tho gunrdinn angel to Austria , and robuko Victor Jlmmanuk ? , for doing in Venetiu what Boomed so excellent p in Naples or the Papal States . Tl . cro is nn indecency of inconsistency , we might say a dishonesty , of winch Ins Lordship will hardly be guilty , and that would be » nvoIvee * hi going book to the principles of the penultimate deepatch . What has caused him to move on we cannot divine , . but wo are too grate-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1860, page 923, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2373/page/3/
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