Historic Shanghai

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HISTORIC SHANGHAI

IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY LOCAL MEMORIAL,

AT LEAST THIS WORK

IS HUMBLY DEDICATED AS A TRIBUTE

TO

THE IMPERISHABLE MEMORY

OF

CHARLES GEORGE GORDON,

WHOSE VALOUR, HUMANITY, AND SELF-DENIAL

IN DAYS OF GREAT PERIL AND TRIALS

SHED GLORY ON FOREIGN PRESTIGE IN CHINA,

AND WHOSE CHIVALROUS DEEDS ARE

EVER CONSPICUOUS

AMONG THE PROUDEST RECORDS

OF SHANGHAI.

HISTORIC SHANGHAI

BY

C. A. MONTALTO DE JESUS

Author of Historic Macao, etc.

— >-&<> - > he ~~*£<o-i —

Shanghai

The Shanghai Mercury, Limited

1909

All rights reserved.

PREFACE.

It has long been an anomaly, if not
a reproach, that such an important city
as Shanghai should have had its history
neglected and unwritten in spite of its
having been the starting point of many an
epoch-making movement in the remoulding
of China's foreign intercourse.

From an international point of view
Shanghai may well be regarded as the
most interesting exponent of the system
whereby foreign communities at the treaty
ports are constituted into exterritorial
and municipal settlements, — quaint little
republics fraught with significance not
only as pledge of concerted action among
foreign powers, but also as an object-lesson
of modern civilisation among the benighted
millions of China.

Through Shanghai the trade of China's
richest regions found a direct outlet to the
world, and foreign enterprise fought its way

2<

11 PREFACE

into the very heart of the empire. It was
Shanghai, too, that ushered in that admirable
reform which has rendered the Imperial
Maritime Customs one of the grandest
foreign achievements in China, evolved out
of a chaotic state of affairs and amidst the
throes of a revolution.

The pride of Shanghai, however, rests
more upon the memorable struggle which
proved to be an empire's deliverance from
its most terrible scourge, the Taiping
rebellion. In this glorious liberation Shanghai
figured as the central point only to remain
unpardonably unhonoured and unsung.
It is precisely from this central point that
a history is most needed, inasmuch as the
great influence which the reign of terror
had upon the destinies of Shanghai, for good
and for evil, can never be adequately gauged
without full light being thrown upon local
conditions at that stirring epoch. Thence
dated the marvellous growth of the foreign
settlements, in the midst of golden but
unprofited opportunities for solving the
international problems now so complex.

It is mainly from this standpoint that
the writer has striven to meet a long-felt

PREFACE 111

need in presenting a faithful picture of what
will ever be regarded as the most historical
and interesting period in the annals of
Shanghai. Rich, scattered materials lay for
long neglected, or at most utilised for narra-
tives invariably too sketchy to do justice
either to Shanghai or to the mine of informa-
tion available. Thanks to the interest which
vital China questions roused in Parliament,
important documents otherwise dispersed
among diplomatic, naval, and military
archives, are felicitously preserved together
in the blue-books of that epoch, invaluable
for historical researches over episodes
imperfectly related elsewhere, or almost
buried in oblivion despite their fascinating
interest and appealing significance.

What with a most eventful period and
the impressiveness of its extraordinary traits,
an uncommon glamour pervades the early
history of the foreign settlements at Shang-
hai. The spirit of the times is well expressed
in that touch of the heroic which charac-
terised Consul Alcock's master-strokes no
less than the chivalrous attitude of the
French in coming to the rescue of foreign
prestige when it stood lowest in Chinese

IV PREFACE

estimation. Nowadays it seems almost like
a dream to recollect that, in the midst of
crises fraught with grand possibilities,
Shanghai once aspired in vain to the reins
of a free-city, and a soldier of fortune even
plotted to form an independent state of his
own in China ; while set in relief by some of
the darkest features of oriental treachery,
the chivalry of Gordon shone forth in epic
grandeur.

It is only when such soul-stirring traits
are brought to mind with the impressive,
tragic scenes and the epoch-making episodes
of those days, that one is apt to realise
the historic importance of Shanghai from a
higher and more picturesque standpoint
than that of an all-absorbing commercial
greatness from which it is generally viewed
thus far.

C. A. MONTALTO DE JESUS.

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

These lines record the author's indebted-
ness to Monsieur L. Ratard, Consul General
for France, and Chairman of the Conseil
d'Administration Municipale, for the kind
support accorded to this work by the French
Municipality ; to Messrs. T. W. Kingsmill
and J. D. Clark for their strenuous efforts to
ensure similar co-operation on the part of
the Municipal Council, and in particular to
the last-named of these venerable citizens for
generous facilities afforded to the publication
of this work under hi? auspices ; and also for
the kindly interest taken by several other
friends in the illustration of the book ; to
each and all of whom once more the author
hereby expresses his heartfelt thanks.

CONTENTS

Introductory

Chapter I
The Opening of Shanghai
Early British efforts to trade at Shanghai — The
Lindsay mission : its hostile reception and dismal
failure — Chusan and its attractions — The War —
Defences of Shanghai — Battle of Wusung — Capture
and occupation of Shanghai — Peace negotiations
— Treaty of Nanking— Projected acquisition of
Chusan : its bearing upon Shanghai — How Chusan
was abandoned — Outcome of British moderation
and Manchu diplomacy.

Chapter II
Rise of the Foreign Settlements

The early settlers and their hardships — Foreign
residence in the native city — An attempted trade
monopoly — The land tenure — The British settle-
ment— Shortcomings of the Land Regulations —
The French concession — The American settlement
— Early international complications — The Tsingpu
affair and its influence on the settlement — Silk, tea
and opium — Famous clippers — The golden age of
trade — The tael currency.

Chapter III
Shanghai under the Rebels

The Taiping rebellion — Fall of Nanking, panic
at Shanghai — A policy of non-intervention — The

VI CONTENTS

settlement's defensive measures — Surprise and
capture of the city — The siege — Violation of
neutrality — The so-called battle of Muddy Flat — A
scandalous state of affairs — Withdrawal of British
naval support — Hostilities between the French and
insurgents — The city stormed — The insurgents'
last sortie — Appalling horrors.

Chapter IV
Fiscal Reform and Municipal Shortcomings

First effects of the Taiping rebellion on Shanghai
— Stagnation of trade and fiscal disorganisation —
The Shanghai custom-house : its destruction by the
insurgents and substitution by a provisional foreign
regime — Friction between British officials and
merchants — Shanghai a free-port — Origin of the
Imperial Maritime Customs — Revision of the Land
Regulations— The foreign settlements amalgamated
— The Municipal Council — An uncontrolled Chinese
influx — The municipality's dereliction — Loss of
the foreign reservation — A lamentable lack of civic
considerations.

Chapter V
The Taipings at Shanghai
Fall of Soochow — Advance upon Shanghai — The
viceroy's plight and wiles — Anglo-French defence
of Shanghai — Repulse of the Taipings — Manchu
mendacity and Taiping delusions — The thirty-mile
radius — Another descent on Shanghai — Conspiracy
within the settlement — A sensational secession —
Raids on Wusung and Pootung — Trade ruined —
Horrors of the rebellion— Shanghai invested at all
points — The defences — Inadequacy of a merely
defensive policy.

COXTEN'TS Vll

chapter vi
The Thirty-mile-Radius Campaign

Origin of the Ever Victorious Army — Ward's
early exploits — Anglo-French support — Expedition
to Pootung and destruction of rebel strongholds —
Admiral Hope and the thirty-mile radius — The
campaign — Admiral Protet's death — Apathy of the
Chinese government — Inefficacy of the campaign —
Withdrawal of the forces — Russian offers of
support — Unrestricted traffic in arms — Skirmishes
near Shanghai— Death of Ward — Burgevine and
his great victory — Atrocities of the Imperialists.

Chapter VII

From burgevine's fall to Gordon's
Master-stroke

The Ever Victorious Army under Burgevine —
His dismissal from the command — His successor's
serious reverses-Influential efforts to reinstate
Burgevine — Gordon's appointment and exploits —
Taiping treachery — The storming of Taitsang —
More imperialist atrocities — Gordon's first difficul-
ties : mutiny and reorganisation — The capture of
Kwenshan.

Chapter VIII
The Fall of Soochow

Capture of strategical points — Gordon's troubles
— Burgevine in the rebel service-A critical situation
— Desperate fighting — A providential escape—
Burgevine and his foreign contingent — Their
surrender — Generous conduct of Mo Wang —
Burgevine's plots — His tragic and mysterious fate —
— Investment of Soochow — Stubborn encounters —

Viil CONTENTS

Death of a staunch foe — Capitulation of Soochow
— Treacherous execution of the Wangs— Gordon's
attitude — Li Hung Chang's justifications — Last
desperate struggle of the Taipings— The fall of
Nanking — Dissolution of the Ever Victorious
Army — Gordon's honours.

chapter ix
Municipal Evolution

The Chinese influx — Inadequacy of the
municipal system— A projected new regime— The
free-city scheme — Sir Frederick Bruce : his attitude
towards Shanghai and his pro-Chinese policy-
Withdrawal of the French concession from the
municipal system of 1854-The Burlingame scheme-
Proposed Chinese element in the Municipal Council
—A sensible counter-proposal— The blighted hopes
of Shanghai — Creation of an international Babel —
The Mixed Court— Legal status of the Municipal
Council— The American settlement— The new
regime at the French concession — Revision of the
Land Regulations— The council and the consuls
— The new municipal code.

Chapter X
Halcyon Times

Exodus of refugees after the Taiping rebellion
—A great commercial crisis— First-fruits from the
opening of Japan. — The Yangtze opened to trade
—The first railway in China — Progress and
expansion — Riots — Anglo-French rivalry and
cross-purposes— Shanghai's increasing prosperity
—The modern Babel— Anomalies of the Model
Settlement— Neglected opportunities— The future
of Shanghai.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Historical Map of Shanghai

X

Siu Kuang Ki

.. xxviii

Battle of Wusung

12

A Souvenir of 1842

1G

Selling loot at the City wall

22

Signing of the Treaty of Nanking

26

Consul Alcock

46

A Famous Tea-Clipper

50

Imperialist Attack on Nanking

56

Shanghai Insurgents

60

Imperialists

68

A View of the Bund

84

The British Consulate

94

Taipings

104

Taipings in Action

108

Taipings at Church

118

Foreign Drilled Troops

128

Chung Wang's Council of War

142

Ward's Memorial Tablet

148

Ward's Grave

154

Repulse of Manchu Cavalry

162

Pao-tai-chiao

180

Encounter in the Taihu

188

Chung Wang's Tent

192

Stockaded Camp at Soochow

196

The Porcelain Pagoda

204

General Gordon

232

Gordon's Map s

it the end

INTRODUCTORY.

A peculiar feature in the early history of
Shanghai is that the native writers, evidently
blinded by their love of antiquity, seek to incorpo-
rate the locality in one after another neighbouring
state of an era when the alluvial Shanghai plain
was in all probability under water, — an instance
of the proverbial mountains in labour to produce
a sorry mouse, considering the humble origin of
Shanghai long after those states were amalgamated
some twenty-two centuries ago. Naturally at a
period when it stood in closer proximity to the
sea, the locality was known for its manufacture of
salt, mentioned in an old historical sketch of
Soochow. The earliest authentic record, however,
points to Shanghai having been originally a fishing
station called Hu-tuh, or "fishing stake estuary."*

Another notable trait of the native writers is
their questionable account of the waterways of
Shanghai. The Wusung-kiang — known as the
Soochow Creek — is said to have been one of the
ancient courses of the Yangtze-kiang, traced down
to Wusung, whose accretion is comparatively new.
The Huang-pu and Wusung-kiang first appear
as flowing into the sea quite apart. Then the
Huangpu, diverted from its former north-eastern

* An historical sketch of Shanghai from the Shangkai-hien chi
is to he found in the Chinese Repository of 1849, Vol. XVIII. For a
iinore detailed description see the Chinese Miscellany of 1850.

X INTRODUCTORY.

embouchure, is made to flow past the old fishing-
station by means of a canal called Van-ka-pang,
and thus turned into a confluent of the Wusung-
kiang. What seems stranger is that the mouth
of the Wusung-kiang could have been twenty li
broad. From a more reliable account — of the
imperial and other canals south of the Yangtze-
kiang — it appears that the Soochow Creek was
originally neither a river nor a creek, but the
Hutuh Canal : in the 22nd year of Yuen-Kia
(A.D. 446) Prince Siun, Viceroy of Yangchow,
ordered the cutting of this canal up to Kwenshan.*

This waterway, evidently intended as the
maritime outlet of Soochow, destined Hu-tuh for a
seaport of that famous emporium. For many a
century, however, the fishing-station missed its
destiny; whilst on the canal, some twenty miles
to the west, there rose and thrived the mart of
Tsing-lung, which in the early days of the Sung
dynasty was said to be frequented by foreign
vessels, probably the Arab traders of that epoch.

The Huang-pu proved as unpropitious to the
fishing-station. Amidst the changes of jurisdiction
through which it passed, Hu-tuh changed its name
to Huating-hai when under the sub-prefecture of
Sung-kiang, then known as Huating-hien, whose
seaport it became, as implied by the name. In one
respect, however, the place remained unchanged :
still it was at most a favourite rendezvous of fisher-
men, and an unimportant mart.

But in course of time, when the silting canal
became too shallow at Tsing-lung, sea-going vessels
began to gather at Huating-hai, so that in 1075 an

* Pere Tschepe's Ifixtoire du Royautne de Ou, Appendix II.,
p. 165. Variete Sinologicjue No. 10.

INTRODUCTORY.

XI

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it was much later that the social refinement of
Soochow and Hangchow exerted its influence of

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HISTORICAL MAP OF SHANGHAI— under the htjating peefectcbe

c

JXTRODUCTORY. XI

official was stationed there in charge of the ship-
ping and customs ; and eventually the superinten-
dent of trade at Tsing-lung removed his office to
Huating-hai, then known as Shanghai-chin, or
" mart upon the sea." According to another version
the new name was coined from an expression often
used when trading vessels began to resort thither :
" coming up from the sea." In a sketch of the
waterways it is said that the Huang-pu also went
by the name of Shanghai-pu.

The maritime activity which characterised the
early years of the Yuen dynasty fostered the rise
of Shanghai. The historians of this dynasty were
the first to recognise the importance of the geogra-
phical position of Shanghai from a commercial
standpoint. Kublai's great expedition for the
conquest of Japan, which started from Hangchow
Bay, might have had, in its preparations, no incon^
siderable influence on the development of the
resources of Shanghai. The Bund was now used
as the historical towing-path for junks laden with
tribute rice, conveyed by sea route when the capital
was transferred from Hangchow to Peking. Trade
now flourished at Shanghai ; in various products
the district yielded tribute in abundance; and with
wealth grew a sense of self-importance which led
Shanghai in 1279 to disregard the authority of the
Sung-kiang prefecture in proposing to remit taxes
and duties direct to Peking. Together with five
suburban villages Shanghai was in 1288 created a
district styled Shang-hien as well as Shanghai-hien.
But still the place was too unimportant to deserve
Marco Polo's notice.

It was much later that the social refinement of
Soochow and Hangchow exerted its influence of

Ml INTRODUCTORY.

environment upon Shanghai. In the sixteenth
century the flourishing district was described as
replenished with poets and musicians; and it could
pride itself on being the birthplace of great men,
of the famous writers Wang Ke and Lu Tsih, of
Siu Kuang-ki, so famous as a scholar, scientist,
and statesman, * as well as of many a talented
official appointed to various parts of the empire, so
that Shanghai came to be regarded as one of the
most celebrated spots south of the capital, noted
too for the many ladies recorded in history as
models of virtue and filial piety. It was at this
epoch that Wang Ke's charming pleasure resort,
known as Mei-huo-yuen, flourished in the northern
suburb of Shanghai, near Ya-ke-tun. Thousands
of plumtrees were planted there, around which
wended a canal ; and when the garden was in full
blossom, its beauty and fragrance attracted crowds
of pleasure-seekers, who in gorgeously bedecked
boats came by the Soochow Creek to sing their
praise with pipe and lute. Later, the picturesque
environs of Shanghai attracted a famous imperial
visitor, Kang-hsi, who in the course of a tour
along the canals stayed awhile at the Hills, where
a fine stone landing-place built for him is still to
be seen near Zo-se ; and for this hill he coined a
name — Lan Suen Shan, or Fragrant Bamboo-shoot
Hill.

Long before the rise of Shanghai, the locality
could boast of some interesting and legendary
spots. Marshy as the place was, the temple of
Ching-ngan (tranquil repose) is said to have been
built as early as A.D. 250; its celebrity was due to

* For an account of their works, see Wylie's Notes on Chinese
TAtei iture.

INTRODUCTORY. Xlll

the Bubbling Well, whose ebullition is caused by a
gas susceptible of ignition, probably carbureted
hydrogen from some substratum of coal or peat.
The well originally stood on a canal, and the
water near by is said to have been quite warm
about three feet beneath the surface. Formerly
there was a pavilion over the well, inscribed — "the
fountain that bubbles towards heaven." Not far
away, amidst the ponds and rockeries of the
Yue-yuen, is the " pearly grotto," yue ling lung, built
in A.D. 1120, with the "Hall of Pearly Splendour,"
and five famous and quaintly-shaped old rocks, the
woo lao feng ("Peaks of the Five Ancients"). The
most prized of all local edifices, the Lung Hua
Pagoda is said to date from the After Han dynasty
(A.D. 22l); but according to another version it was
in the Tang dynasty, A.D. 800, that the pagoda
and temple were built, the legend being that, along
the river near by, a prince one night saw a brilliant
light ascending from among the reeds on the
riverside, and to commemorate this "dragon's
splendour," he had the structure built and named
accordingly. The temple received many a superb
imperial gift — all sacked by pirates.

Exposed to the sea, the Shanghai plain
suffered not only from piratical incursions, but also
from inundation caused by typhoons; and no less
disastrous were the floods after heavy rain. The
destruction of crops led to famine and riot, the
granaries being sometimes stormed, and once
even children were devoured by parents. In the
annals of Shanghai an interesting trait is the record
of phenomenal occurrences. In some instances
land is known to have sunk into pools, and a
town suddenly subsided during a flood. Earth-

XIV INTRODUCTORY.

quakes were invariably slight and harmless.
Waterspouts, which the chroniclers in all serious-
ness call dragons fighting in the air and water,
were regarded with superstitious awe, enhanced by
fabulous stories. Instances of intense cold are
recorded, when the Huang-pu was frozen and the
city almost buried in snow, when all traffic ceased
for a fortnight, while men and animals were frozen
to daath. Hailstorms and even aerolites are men-
tioned. Once there was a fall of yellow sand so
poisonous that vegetables tainted by it proved
deadly to many. The most terrible calamities on
record were the inundations from the sea, when
thousands upon thousands usually perished ; and
on one occasion the simultaneous alarm that the
dreaded Japanese pirates were coming caused a
stampede in which thousands more were trampled
to death. *

The most stirring episodes in the history of
Shanghai were in connection with piratical raids,
so frequent along the China coast in the olden
times. Shortly after the accession of the first
Ming emperor, a Japanese pirate-chief seized the
island of Tsung-ming and settled there, but is said
to have been eventually compelled to restrain his
subjects and pay tribute to the emperor. A series
of raids, however, ensued on the maritime
provinces. At first the raiders met with little
resistance, but when their depredations spread to
the vicinity of Nanking, then the Ming capital, a
powerful fleet was equipped by Tsing-hai, at whose
approach the Japanese retreated ; but they were

* Oosmical Phenomena of Shanghai, by Dr. D. J. Macgowan, in
the Journal of the North China Branch, Royal Asiatic Society,
Vol. II., old series.

INTRODUCTORY. XV

chased as far as the Loo-choo Islands, where, it is
alleged, they suffered a reverse, many of their
vessels being captured and taken to Nanking.

A projected descent on Shanghai was foiled in
1419, when the Japanese landed to the south, at
Kin-shan. Troops were immediately despatched
under the command of How Tuan, who, after a
stubborn fight, is reported to have routed the
invaders and burned most of their vessels. Never-
theless alarm prevailed and trade suffered greatly
at Shanghai, partially blockaded by the enemy.

Trade was completely paralysed at Shanghai
in 1513, consequent upon the ascendancy of Chinese
pirates who in defiance of both army and navy
carried on their depredations to an alarming extent.
A redoubtable chieftain named Lin Tsih blockaded
Wusung as well as the Yangtze, and eventually
mustered his fleet at Lang-shan for a meditated
raid on Shanghai, where another chieftain's horde
in disguise awaited his arrival. At the news of his
approach, the imperial troops and fleet, the officials
and people, all panic-stricken, abandoned the city
to the disguised horde. Lin Tsih arrived, and was
on the point of landing when a typhoon compelled
his fleet to seek better anchorage down the river.
As the storm abated, the imperial fleet sallied forth
and managed to invest the enemy without daring,
however, to come to close quarters, so that the
pirates by a combined move broke through the line
and escaped. Under another leader named She
Tsung-li the pirates preyed upon the shipping a
few years later, but the chieftain was captured and
beheaded at Wusung.

Silk being in great demand among Japanese
princes, they occasionally sent an emissary to China

XVI INTRODUCTORY.

with gold and silver to purchase this commodity —
the principal staple of the Portuguese trade with
Japan.* After the advent of the Portuguese at
Ningpo, a Japanese envoy in 1539 sought to
establish commercial relations there, but met with
a scornful rebuff from the officials. This was
amply avenged, and ultimately the Japanese
secured the privilege of sending yearly three
trading vessels, whose crew was not to be allowed
on shore. The agent of a Japanese prince, de-
frauded of his money paid in advance for silk,
failed to obtain redress, whereupon he compensated
his loss by means of a raid, on returning from which
his men were nearly cut off. Such was the prelude
to a reign of terror, when large Japanese forces in
concert with Chinese pirates ravaged the coast
from Shantung to Chekiang, penetrating as far
inland as Soochow, and even besieging Nanking.

What befell Shanghai is fully recorded. In
the twenty-first year of Kia-tsing (1543) the Japa-
nese in great force landed to the north of Shanghai,
at Pao-shan, whither the imperial troops at Wusung
were sent only to be repulsed with the loss of their
commander. Forces despatched from Shanghai
were likewise routed. North of the Wusung-kiang,
the country was ravaged right and left. After
capturing many richly-laden vessels the Japanese
withdrew. But southward they landed at Nan-wei,

* Mendez Pinto describes the mad rush of the Portuguese from
Ningpo to Japan with their first shipment of silk, the price of which
rose in eight days from 40 to 160 taels per picul. The shipment
went against the monsoon, in badly equipped junks, some even
without pilots. Beset by a storm, most of the vessels were wrecked
at Goto, and over 600 persons perished, including 140 Portuguese
merchants of good standing, the loss being estimated at 300,000-
crusados. Shortly after, silk could with difficulty be sold in Japan
even at heavy losses.

INTRODUCTORY. XVTl

advancing upon Shanghai under the leadership of
Hsiang Hien, when General Li Foo and his son Li
Hiang organised an expedition and crossed the
Huang-pu to perish in a crushing defeat after a
pitched battle. In two divisions led by Hsiang Hien
and Teng Wen Kun the invaders now approached
Shanghai. General Liu Pen-yuen's troops and
vessels did their utmost to prevent them from
crossing the Huang-pu, but the tidings of Li Foo's
fate had such a demoralising effect that the defence
soon gave way, the Japanese landing at Ma-tow.
In the stampede which ensued, the officials were
the first to disappear, followed by the troops and
people, so that the raiders were left to sack the city
to their hearts' content. But not satisfied with the
rich booty carried away, the dreaded horde again
advanced from the south when the people had
scarcely returned home. The imperial forces suffered
another rout. On the arrival of reinforcements
from Kiang-yen, the Japanese left laden with riches.
A fortnight later again they came in full force,
their fleet of three hundred sail forming a line from
the sea up the Huang-pu to the village of Chow-pu,
thirty li south of Shanghai. Two generals, Wu
Shang-wen and Sung Ngan, fought desperately,
and not until both were slain and their forces cut
down did the Japanese succeed in landing. Most
of the people, relying on the considerable reinforce-
ment from Kiang-yen as well as from the province
of Kiang-si, had not taken to flight this time ; and
terrible was their fate, old and young being alike
massacred. Thoroughly gutted, Shanghai was set
on fire and burnt to the ground. In an ode the
place is depicted as a haunt of robbers, where still-
ness was broken only by heart-rending moans, and

Will INTRODUCTORY.

where foxes roamed about gnawing the bleached
bones of the slaughtered multitude. Shanghai,
however, did not lay long in ruins, as in 1544 the
city walls were constructed, the place having pre-
viously been unfortified. The success of the Japa-
nese is mainly ascribed to "black slaves and
white devils in their service," the blacks being
described as fearless of death, fiendish, most
dexterous in handling swords, spears, and fire-arms,
and retained at high prices in gold.*

That there were European as well as Indian
pirates on the China coast at that epoch is evident
from the narratives of Mendez Pinto, who, together
with other Portuguese adventurers, started for
China in quest of a powerful horde of Turks and
Indians, under a famous Guzerat leader named
Coja Acem, by whom the envoy Antonio de Faria
had been robbed in Siam. Vowing revenge, Faria
organised an expedition which, after clearing the
China coast of many a dreaded gang, came to grief
through shipwreck. With the assistance of Chinese
pirates, however, Faria traced the whereabouts of
Coja Acem, whom he at last met and vanquished
in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle. Part of the
fleet was then lost in a typhoon, with the rich
spoils taken from Coja Acem ; and as some ship-
wrecked men were known to languish in captivity
at a place Mendez Pinto calls Nou-day, Faria sent
a petition for their release, with presents for the
mandarin, whose haughty and uncompromising
attitude, however, so exasperated Faria that, as a
last resort, he landed his men, slew the mandarin

* Extracts from the History of Shanghai, by Rev. C. Schmidt, in

the Journal of the North China Branch, Royal Asiatic Society,
Vol. VIII., new series.

INTRODUCTORY.

and his troops, released the captives, and after
sacking the town, set it on fire, carrying off pretty-
damsels all in tears amidst their revelries. Faria
at first hesitated to winter at Ningpo, not far away,
lest his presence should compromise the peaceful
and flourishing settlement the Portuguese had
there — a municipality deemed the finest and richest
among the colonial establishments of Portugal,
with a foreign community of twelve hundred Portu-
guese and eighteen hundred orientals. The victory
achieved over such a terror of the sea as Coja
Acem, however, led to Faria being welcomed at
Ningpo with triumphal and princely fetes, after
which, tempted by a Chinese pirate, he started to
rifle the imperial tombs near Nanking, believed to
contain fabulous treasures ; and on the way back
Faria was drowned on the river, and Mendez Pinto
became a captive. All this is said to have taken
place in 1542; and after extensive digression in
which his notorious mendacity runs riot, Mendez
Pinto casually relates how in the same year a raid
on some villagers in the neighbourhood of Ningpo
caused the provincial government to order the
destruction of the Portuguese settlement ; and as
an eye-witness he narrates that in five hours a
force of sixty thousand men and over three hund-
red vessels reduced the establishment to a heap of
ruins — a catastrophe which cost the lives of twelve
thousand Christians, including eight hundred
Portuguese who perished in flames on board thirty-
five ships and forty-two junks, the loss amounting
to two and a half million gold crusados.*

Vestiges of the settlement were some fifty
years ago traced out at Ningpo — ruins of a fort at
* Peregrmagao de Femao Mendez Pinto, chaps. 39-77 and 221.

XX INTRODUCTORY.

Chin-hai of decidedly European construction, the
national arms of Portugal carved on a gate, and
the very temple near the Bridge Gate which in 1528
was assigned to the Portuguese as the " Welcome
Strangers' Guild-house," whence a neighbouring
street derives its name.

The preservation of this temple is not the only
eloquent proof against Mendez Pinto's assertions ;
in the annals of Ningpo there is no mention what-
soever of the catastrophe he relates.* But it is
recorded that in the twenty-sixth year of Kia-tsing,
the Japanese raided Ningpo, and that in the
preceding year, 1547, foreign intercourse was
interdicted under penalty of decapitation by the
provincial governor Chu Huan who thereby became
so unpopular and subject to so many charges that
eventually he was stripped of all rank, — from which
it may perhaps be inferred that after all the Portu-
guese did not incur such mortal hatred among the
people of Ningpo as Mendez Pinto pretends.

Nevertheless the catastrophe recorded by this
"prince of liars," stereotyped in almost every work
on China, remains the unchallenged version of the
mysterious fate which befell the first European
settlement in China, regardless of any possible
connection with the fact that at about the same
time a piratical fleet of three hundred sail laid
Shanghai in ruins.

*An English missionary of Ningpo writes of his vain researches
thus: " In consulting the annals of Ningpo I have nowhere been
able to find any hint of any snch a calamity. Snch a catastrophe as
the destruction of a town with its churches, hospitals, and a large
fleet, and the massacre of so many thousands, the just retribution
brought down on the heads of obstinate and lawless foreigners who
had enjoyed the favour and smiles of the Flowery Land, could not
have escaped the attention of the court annalist. But there is the
most perfect silence on the subject." — Rev. W. C. Milne: Seven
Months Residence at Ningpo, in the Chinese Repository of 1844,
Vol. XIII., p. 342.

INTRODUCTORY. XXI

Mendez Pinto maintains a strange reticence as
to the Japanese raids of that epoch — raids which
would have had less telling effect on China but for
the fact that at Tanegushima he and his friends
initiated the Japanese in the use of firearms, the
manufacture of which soon began there with
feverish activity and marvellous workmanship.
This finds a significant though grotesque contrast
in the rout at Shanghai being ascribed by a
chronicler to disaffection arising from the city
magistrate's inability to provide the Kiang-si
braves with snakes and dogs for their usual ration.

Foreign intercourse, instead of leading to any
improvement as in Japan, had only a deleterious
influence on the Chinese. It was remarked at
Shanghai that manners and customs underwent a
great change there through contact with foreigners
in the reign of Kiatsing. The gentry was flouted
by common families who outvied one another in
luxuries and ostentation, in the number of sedans
and horses, of retainers by the hundred all arrayed
in fineries. The people grew quarrelsome, greedy,
and given to pleasures. Life was in jeopardy,
character ruined by scheming villains with charges
of murdering relatives and robbing tombs. Truth
and honesty became almost unknown, and in
law-suits perjury was the order of the day even in
cases involving death. It was not long before
another chronicler noticed a reform, attributed to
the example set by those in power.

From the ashes of Shanghai there rose with the
new city its most gifted and renowned native — Siu
Kuang-ki. Lifted by his brilliant talent to the
highest academic and official position in the empire,
he inaugurated a new era by the introduction

XXII INTRODUCTORY.

of Western learning. He availed himself of
the services of several Jesuit savants to improve
China's knowledge of astronomy and mathematics,
diffusing among the literati lucid, admirably written
treatises on these subjects. The elegance of his
style is not confined to his own writings ; it is
reflected in the masterpieces of Ricci and Pantoja,
composed under his guidance ; and such is their
felicitous blending of Western eloquence with the
polish of Chinese diction, that these works, though
on religious subjects, are included among the
classics chosen by an anti-Christian emperor of the
following dynasty, the scholarly Kien-lung. With
Terrenz and Des Ursis, Rho and Schall in the
imperial observatory, the calendar ceased to be
faulty and unreliable. Among the achievements
of Siu Kuang-ki was what may be termed the
golden age of Christianity in China, for in his
wake scholars and officials, nay, an empress and a
prince amongst others of the court, embraced the
faith he professed and in critical days championed.
Conscious of China's perils, Siu Kuang-ki urged
military reform ; and when the Manchus began to
threaten the frontier, the defence of the empire
preoccupied him heart and soul. From Macao a
contingent of four hundred well-trained Portuguese
and Chinese musketeers proceeded by the inland
route to Peking, but as a result of court intrigues
received orders at Nanchang to return. To the
artillery obtained from Macao, however, and to
the well chosen military officers, was due the
stubborn defence of Ning-yuen, impregnable
against repeated, desperate onsets which cost the
Manchus dearly. But the imbecility, corruption,
and intrigues of the imperial court, the tragic fate

INTRODUCTORY. XXI11

of the loyal and brave Chung Wan, who fell a prey
to Manchu diplomacy, thwarted defensive measures
which might otherwise have saved the empire from
untold calamities. Siu Kuang-ki did not live to
see the fall of the Mings; born in 1562, he breathed
his last at the ripe age of seventy-one, and in the
arms of Schall, as befitted the savant that he was.
The love of pelf was not in him ; his emoluments
he gave away to those in distress and to charitable
institutions; and his official integrity was eulogised
by a censor when it was found that though risen to
the rank of premier and chancellor of the privy
council, the Wen-ting-kung ( " the learned and
resolute duke " ) died so poor that the imperial
treasury besides defraying the expenses of his
funeral found it necessary to bestow its munificence
upon his family. To the people he left a legacy in
his famous Thesaurus of Agriculture, published
by imperial behest a few years after his demise ;
and a trait bespeaking his sympathy for the poor
is that, out of sixty volumes, no less than eighteen
deal with measures to be provided against famine.*
Among the posthumous honours conferred upon
Siu Kuang-ki was a title which in more than one
way befitted him — that of Pillar of the State.

In the southern part of Shanghai, Emperor
Tsung-ching had a memorial arch built ; and not
far off, the ancestral hall, likewise due to imperial
recognition, bears the following inscription among
others : " Abroad a general, at home a privy council-
lor, the same minister was a courageous warrior
and skilful politician. In the use of numbers and
the elucidation of husbandry the teacher of a

*The importance of this work may be gauged from a trans-
lation of the chapters concerning silk, to be found in the Chinese
Miscellany of 1849.

XMV INTRODUCTORY.

hundred generations could span the heavens and
embrace the earth." As another instance of muni-
ficence from the last of the Mings, the tomb of
Siu Kuang-ki at Sikawei was originally ornamented
with a long double row of stone figures of various
animals up to a sculptured arch, whilst at a con-
siderable distance in front the path was indicated
by a massive structure. About a mile from the
south gate of Shanghai stood Siu Kuang-ki's villa
called "The Shady Willow Hall," now the cemetery
of the Jesuit fathers, where was found the stone
altar of which an engraving appears in Williams'
Middle Kingdom ; also the stone tablet with Siu
Kuang-ki's eloquent defence of Christianity,
removed to the cathedral at Tong-ka-du. Under
his auspices was built the first church in Shanghai,
afterwards converted into the temple of the war
god. Close by, in a literary institute, the Jesuits
installed a small observatory, leading to which was
a quaint-looking flight of red stone steps with the
ecliptic and equinoctial lines depicted thereon.
Along the Soochow Creek, at the site of the present
Chinese Garden, stood a villa known as Siu Wen-
ting's Library, in a peach garden with rockeries,
arcades, and ponds surrounded by a hedge of
cypress.*

In foreign works on China the memory of Siu
Kuang-ki is perpetuated only by Jesuit historians,
mainly from a religious point of view.t Scarcely

*An exhaustive description of these places as well as of the
works of Siu Kuang-ki is to found in the North China Jferalrf, Nos.
72-82, December 1851— February 1852.

tThey call him Doctor Paid as well as Paul Siu, his Christian
name. To a Portuguese father, Joao da Rocha, belongs the honour
of receiving into the church at Nanking this most illustrious and
influential of Chinese converts, who ever after regarded him as his
spiritual father, and on his demise went into mourning with the
w!k le household as for the head of the family.

INTRODUCTORY XXV

any other standard writer shows a due appreciation
of this truly great man of genius who may justly
be styled the paragon of Chinese statesmen, through
whose influence Western prestige in the empire
•shone with an unwonted splendour, which paled
not even amidst the subsequent political upheaval.
In his revelation of a new world of letters and
science to the literati lay the promise of a most
auspicious era — blighted, alas, because in the
reaction of conservatism it lacked the influential
support of another Maecenas endowed with his rare
enlightenment. To have brought forth such a
master-mind is perhaps the greatest distinction of
Shanghai.

A statesmanlike policy guided the destinies of
Kiang-su at this epoch. It is evident from the
measures adopted by the provincial lieutenant-
governor Chow Kung-kiao after a disastrous inunda-
tion and consequent famine early in the seventeenth
century. Whilst affording the distressed people
every possible relief, that remarkable official
sought a radical cure for the evils. The expansion
of trade was advocated as tending by the influx of
merchants with goods to increase the supply of
grain and lower the price thereof; and this being
an inexhaustible source of relief, every facility for
the development of trade was desired from the
officials. As another economic expedient, the
cultivation of rice-fields received special attention
from the district magistrate with the view of
equalising labour and production as well as of
improving the drainage system ; while the districts
in distress were exempted from taxation, and the
poor employed in repairing ajid raising the embank-
ment to prevent further inundation from the sea,

XXVi INTRODUCTORY.

which had a most injurious effect in salting the soil,,
besides destroying the crops.*

The improved embankment had a most salutary-
effect. From the record of phenomenal occurrences
previously quoted it appears that thenceforth in-
undations from the sea were no longer the cause of
any famine, which in every instance was now due
either to drought or freshet, mostly the former;
while nature began to compensate her visitations
with the blessing of abundant harvests, when gran-
aries overflowed, and rice could be had for eighty
cash per picul. In course of time this happjr change
became more manifest. It was fostered by the
generosity of the Manchu emperors, notably of
Yung-ching, who graciously waived taxes outstand-
ing for half a century, and after the following-
incident, other claims amounting to close upon a
million taels. In his reign the provincial governor
reported to the throne what the chronicler terms a
fall of "sweet dew" as a signal manifestation of
heaven's favour, which was attributed to the em-
peror's virtues ; but the Son of Heaven gracefully
replied that as this revelation did not happen at

*It was evidently during a famine that arose the curious local
legend of the "fairy meeting pavilion," where a Taoist priest is said
to have given a man named Sung some stuff which instantly after
being eaten was ejected with the result that Sung never after felt
hungry though he lived up to a hundred years, in commemoration
of which the pavilion was raised, near Ming-hong.

The following is a significant clause among the regulations for
the congee-stalls supplied to the starving people by Chow Kung-
kiao : '" Priests of the Buddhist and Taoist religions, as they have
been in the habit on common occasions of employing pernicious
doctrines to delude the multitude and thus devour the substance of
the people, as silk-worms do the mulberry-leaves, are in themselves
a grievance of no small magnitude; when the soup-kitchen are set
up, therefore, should this sort of people get admission among the
starving poor, the officers in charge should drive them oat of the
establishments, and not allow them to eat anything; in this way
the spread of heretical doctrine may be stopped and discouraged.
— Chinese Miscellany, 1850.

INTRODUCTORY. XXVli

the palace, it was due to the goodness of the local
officials and people, whose duty it was to acknow-
ledge this heavenly favour by proving themselves
worthy thereof. In truth the smile of heaven was
now reflected upon the fertile plain of Shanghai ;
and the scene of former desolation became one of
the most smiling regions in the province so aptly
called the Garden of China.

The growth of population can hardly be traced
with precision, as the returns were originally in
families, then in vassals exclusive of women and
children, and eventually in the total number of
inhabitants. In the Yuen dynasty the district had
scarcely 72,000 families, with a seafaring population
of under 6,000 merchants and sailors. In the Ming-
dynasty, the number of families rose to 110,000;
part of the district was transferred to other
jurisdiction ; and towards the close of that dynasty
there were over 80,000 vassals owning land and
paying tribute in rice. In the reign of the first
Manchu emperor, the door-tablets registered about
the same number of vassals ; it rose to 87,000 in the
51st year of Kang-hsi, and to 93,000 in the days
of Yung-ching, when Nan-wei was placed under
separate jurisdiction, which considerably reduced
the area of the Shanghai district, further lessened
by another delimitation in the reign of Kia-king.
Thus, at the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the district was but a third of its original extent;
and yet, in 1812, its population, given as 528,000
inhabitants, was represented as having multiplied
many folds since the reign of Kang-hsi — a sure sign
of agricultural and commercial development.

Before the fishing-station of yore, there now
rose a forest of masts — over a thousand junks

XXVIII INTRODUCTORY.

thronging the commodious anchorage, laden with
the products of almost every province, for Shanghai
now flourished not only as the seaport of the rich
and populous Yangtze regions, but also as the
centre of an extensive maritime trade between the
southern and northern provinces, junks from the
south not being allowed to sail north of the
Yangtze estuary. To a great extent the vast
commercial possibilities inherent to Shanghai's
geographical position were thus realised, during
a long period of comparative uneventfulness,
conspicuous by the absence of foreigners.

It is nevertheless remarkable how important a
part foreign influence played on the destinies of
Shanghai. The prosperity of the place dated from
the advent of an alien dynasty, under whose
auspices the mart became a city. It was a
statesman imbued with Western ideas who shed
lustre on the city as his birth-place. Laid in ruins
by foreign raiders, Shanghai was three centuries
after saved by foreign defenders from desolation
at the hands of the Taipings. Lastly, under
foreign impulse this most pro-foreign of Chinese
cities has attained an enviable position as the
commercial metropolis of the empire, as the centre
of intellectual activities whose aim destines
Shanghai for a higher position in history.

:.-*» <» <C H.- «-

M

P

x

CHAPTER I.

The Opening of Shanghai.

THE commercial importance of Shanghai did
not escape the notice of British merchants even in
that dismal epoch when, confined within their
Canton factory, they panted in vain for freedom
of trade in China. As far back as 1756, Mr. Pigou,
of the East India Company, suggested Shanghai as
a desirable entrepot; and at his instance the Flint
mission was sent to the northern ports a few years
after, only to prove an unavailing struggle against
the concerted measures of Chinese officials and
merchants to retain the foreign trade at Canton. The
embassy of Lord Macartney, strange to say, over-
looked Shanghai altogether while striving for the
opening of Ningpo and Tientsin and the acquisition
of Chusan. It was only when the intolerable situa-
tion at Canton began to assume a critical turn that
the East India Company, in 1832, sought once more
to effect an opening in the northern ports, des-
patching thither the Lord Amherst from Macao in

2 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

charge of Mr. Hugh Hamilton Lindsay, with the
Rev. Charles Gutzlaff as interpreter.-" Such was
then the attitude of the Canton officials that, to
minimise the risks involved, the Company deemed
it advisable for Mr. Lindsay to proceed in disguise,
he assuming the name of Hoo-hea-me, and the
vessel passing as bound for Japan. Yet, wherever
he called along the coast Mr. Lindsay experienced
but a series of rebuffs — quite in keeping with the
vexations undergone by the envoy whose ill-
omened name the ship bore. Undaunted by his
dismal failure at Amoy, Foochow and Ningpo, Mr.
Lindsay at last proceeded to Shanghai, where the
authorities had been informed of his whereabouts
by the Ningpo and Chusan officials.

As the Lord Amherst approached Wusung on
June 2 1 st, war-junks and forts opened a vigorous
but blank fire ; while to crown this blustering-
deception the field-glass revealed that what looked
like a vast encampment was for the most part
composed of whitewashed heaps of mud shaped
like tents. At Wusung, mandarins in boats sought
to prevent further ingress, but out-distancing them
Mr. Lindsay with a small party sailed up the river
in a boat, and landed unopposed in front of a city
temple dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, on the

* The latter had already visited Shanghai while voyaging
in a junk as far as Tientsin in the preceding year.

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI O

very walls of which was posted an offensively
worded edict prohibiting commercial intercourse
with the expected foreigners. Followed by a
huge crowd, they proceeded at once to the taotai's
yamen, whose doors were hastily closed as they
approached. After repeated knocking, however,
the pressure of two sturdy barbarians proved too
heavy for the hinges of the central door; and as it
came clattering down, the unceremonious visitors
stepped into a spacious hall where stood the
state chair of the taotai. That official, they were
blandly told, had gone to receive them at Wusung.
But the district magistrate, Wan Lun-chan, soon
appeared in a towering passion, yelling as he
scolded them for venturing into the city without
permission. "You cannot trade here, you must go
to Canton," shouted he, as with dignified com-
posure Mr. Lindsay explained the object of his
visit, and announced that he brought a petition for
the taotai. Toning down, Wan took a seat while
listening to a tale of woes undergone at Canton,
but as Mr. Lindsay ventured to sit down too, Wan
Instantly rose and with a fiery look of indignation
swept out of the hall. Soon he came back bidding-
Mr. Lindsay to return at once to the temple, where
the taotai would grant the desired audience. On
leaving, the unwelcome visitors rendered the
Chinese obeisance due to equals ; and the

4 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

magistrate disdainfully ignored it, whereupon Mr,
Lindsay addressed him thus: "In my country the
government officers are civil to strangers ; you, it
appears, act differently, and return the courtesy of
strangers with rudeness ; but still, in order to show
to you and all the present company that we
understand the rules of propriety and decorumr
we again salute you before we depart" — and as-
again Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Gutzlaff bowed with
the hands joined, the supercilious official, stung
and disconcerted, returned the salute, though with
manifest reluctance, while the crowd enjoyed
the little comedy, to his further chagrin.

The taotai as well as the magistrate repaired
to the temple with unusual celerity, so that shortly
after arrival there Mr. Lindsay was invited to the
promised audience. Before going, he pointed out
that he expected chairs to be provided for himself
and Mr. Gutzlaff if the mandarins were to be seated.
Such unheard of equality was deemed quite out of
the question ; but after a long harangue it was-
agreed that the taotai would receive the petition
standing like the rest. Mr. Lindsay was then con-
ducted to the audience hall. Six mandarins seated
in a semicircle budged not as he approached, and
he withdrew protesting against the paltry trick
played on him. But on being assured that this-
would not happen again, he returned. The taotai

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI O

now rose, stepped forward, and received the peti-
tion. It descanted on the commercial progress of
that epoch, and on the advantages derivable from
a direct trade, which would encourage industries,
increase the customs revenue, and promote friendly
intercourse — advantages which the taotai was
requested to submit to the favourable consideration
of the higher authorities with the petitioner's wish
to trade at Shanghai. But without listening to one-
word, Woo, the taotai, upbraided the petitioner
just as passionately as Wan had done, and almost
in the very same words. The remark that British
ports were open to Chinese vessels failed to call
forth any but the most unfriendly reciprocity: "If
the Shanghai vessels frequent your port," retorted
Woo with increasing vehemence, "let your govern-
ment drive them away ; they are not sanctioned
by ours in so doing." In vain Mr. Lindsay pointed
out that his government treated strangers kindly,
and that he had thus a right to expect the same
treatment. Woo waxed fiercer, and was told that
he would find Englishmen equally susceptible to-
civility or insult. A copy of the petition having
been made, the original was now returned to Mr..
Lindsay. As he positively declined to receive it,,
five or six times it went and came back before
being eventually taken away by the taotai, who^
left behind military mandarins with orders to-

b HISTORIC SHANGHAI

detain the party for the night in the temple,
whence he would himself see them on board the
next morning. The guards, however, raised no
difficulty on being told not to enforce detention if
they valued the hinges of the temple doors, so
that while an excellent supper was being prepared,
the party went out for a stroll and met with a
cordial greeting from the people, all eager for
the pamphlet — on the advantages derivable by
Chinese from foreign trade — freely distributed
among them.

Before proceeding on board, Mr. Lindsay
visited the city, and nowhere in China did he
notice a greater display of foreign goods, dis-
posed of at exorbitant rates. No less surprising
was the courtesy now shown him by the officials,
the magistrate in particular. But when the party
had returned on board the Lord Amherst, a man-
darin again brought back the petition, folded up
in a sheet of paper on which was written what
purported to be an edict from the taotai, without
any official seal, and insulting beyond measure.
It served to " throw back " the petition — a most
contemptuous expression ; and it insisted on in-
stant departure, neither foreign trade nor reference
to the higher authorities being permissible by law.
Once more the petition went back, with the reply
that, pending the decision of the viceroy at

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 7

Nanking, for whose consideration it was intended,
Mr. Lindsay would stay at Shanghai in the hope
that the expected reply might be couched in terms
befitting a high-graded mandarin's usual urbanity;
and as to the taotai's conduct, it was an outrage not
to be borne in silence, unbecoming a nation fore-
most in power, dignity, and dominions, and ever
known to repay kindness with gratitude and insult
with resentment.

The taotai was evidently scared ; he next sent
for the edict that it might be substituted by a pro-
perly worded and sealed document. But while
gratified that the impropriety was duly acknow-
ledged, Mr. Lindsay declined to comply with the
request, even when it was reiterated with an
apology, coupled with the explanation that the
military preparations going on were merely for the
purpose of a review, which was hardly credible in
face of a proclamation ordering them for the
expulsion of the barbarians. Anyhow Mr. Lindsay
witnessed a review of five hundred braves with
wicker shields, swords of flat iron-bars, and rusty
matchlocks, intended no doubt to terrify him.

In determining to stay, Mr. Lindsay hoped
that, to hasten his departure, the taotai might after
all allow him to trade; or if the case was referred
to the viceroy it might be reported to Peking and
thus lead to an enquiry as to the grievances at

8 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Canton. In the course of a fortnight he had
the satisfaction of observing everywhere a most
friendly disposition on the part of the people.
The merchants were quite eager for business, but
the ever-watchful officials prevented every transac-
tion, and, as a deterrent, seized one of the
wealthiest residents on the false charge of having
invited the barbarians to Shanghai. So rigid was
the interdict on foreign trade that the people were
debarred from calling on board ; officials persist-
ently offered to supply provisions to the ship free
of cost, which were as persistently refused ; and
the magistrate, now the most friendly of all the
mandarins, could with difficulty be led to sanction
the purchase of a few hundred dollars' worth of
silk, and this on the distinct understanding that the
goods were only for private use. He explained
that, howsoever welcome to both officials and
people, foreign trade was impracticable so long as
it remained forbidden by imperial laws ; and he
promised, as desired, to have this set forth in
writing by the mandarins of rank now gathered at
Shanghai.

At the temple of the Queen of Heaven, Pao
Ta-jin, a deputy from the provincial governor,
received Mr. Lindsay most cordially, and informed
him that, as the viceroy was then in Kiangsi, it
would be long before the expected reply to the

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 9

petition could be received ; and in offering the
explanation given by the magistrate, he suggested
that an embassy should approach the emperor for
a repeal of the law prohibiting foreign trade, there
being otherwise no alternative but to carry it on as
hitherto at Canton.

The taotai then sent a duly sealed edict, com-
passionate and paternal in tone, and quite devoid
of offensive expressions. It once more urged a
return to Canton as the wisest course to be adopted ;
and naval mandarins who followed Mr. Lindsay
like his own shadow repeatedly implored him on
their knees to depart and save their buttons.

Trade being quite out of the question, Mr.
Lindsay resolved to leave for the still more exclusive
Land of the Morning Calm ; and as the Lord
Amherst reached the open sea, the Wusung war-
junks took to the farce of "expelling the barbarians"
by firing six miles away.

Besides disappointing, the mission proved a
thankless task, for it did not meet with the approval
of the East India Company's directors. But the
era of free trade was now close at hand, and not
in vain did the worthy pioneer pen his glowing
impressions of Shanghai's wealth and prospects as
well as a full record of the ordeals he underwent
with such admirable self-possession and perse-
verance— a work which exercised no inconsiderable

]y HISTORIC SHANGHAI

influence on the future of Shanghai. Nay, in its
revelation of the important northern trade, the
epoch-making report proved to be the link between
the old and modern history not only of Shanghai
but of many another port in China.*

It was to Chusan, however, that Sir James
Urmston, of the East India Company, looked for-
ward when urging in 1833 the removal of the trade
from Canton. The vigorous policy which followed
the Company's dissolution augured no better for
Shanghai at the outset, for shortly after the out-
break of hostilities Chusan was, in 1840, captured
and occupied, so that to all intents and purposes
that charming island seemed destined for a centre
of British trade in lieu of Shanghai.

Meanwhile the Chinese authorities were quite in
earnest as to the defence of Shanghai. At an arsenal
within the city, hundreds of guns were cast ; and
an English 12-pounder subsequently found there
served as model for many brass carronades which,
instead of the crown and "G.R. 1826" on the
pattern, bore significant Chinese inscriptions, such
as "Tamer and Subduer of the Barbarians," and
"The Robbers' Judgment," while the heaviest of
all, a fine piece over twelve feet long, was dignified
with the terse but eloquent appellation of "The

* Report of Proceedings on a Voyage to the Northern JFbrts of < 'hi mi
in the .-hip Lord Amherst, printed by order of the House of Commons.

THE OPINING OK SHANGHAI 11

Barbarian," all on pivot carriage and with bamboo
sights. By way of field pieces, jingals were
mounted on wheel-barrows with locker, drawer,
and shovel for ammunition. In imitation of the
paddle steamers then in vogue, the largest war-
junks were fitted with paddle-wheels, two aside,
propelled somewhat like tread-mills by relays of
men in the tween-deck at the rate of three and a
half knots an hour — curious boats highly prized
by the mandarins, and equipped with two or three
brass "tamers " and a large number of jingals*

The strategic position of the Wusung forts was
now adapted to the double purpose of defending
Shanghai as well as the entrance to the Yangtze.
The two crumbling forts with some twelve un-
mounted guns were replaced by extensive earth-
works raised on granite embankments. The main
battery extended over three miles from Paoshan to
Wusung, with a hundred and thirty-four guns in a
continuous line of embrasures protected by stakes.
From the Wusung Creek a crescent- shaped battery
of ten 24 pounders of brass also commanded the
approach to the river, further guarded by a tower
with flanking batteries mounting twenty-one guns
on the opposite shore.

* Sir John Davis attributes this paddle-boat to the ingenuity
of a Chusan mechanic, who first tried to propel the wheels with
smoke from below.

12 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Amidst the preparations, on 18th April, 1842,
the magazine at Shanghai blew up. Admiral Chin
Hua-ching, who suspected treachery, hastened to
examine the magazine at Wusung, where he found
combustibles already piled outside the walls.* The
garrison there, over five thousand strong, included
the choicest Manchu troops ; and the command
was intrusted to the gallant old admiral, who had
seen half-a-century's fighting with smugglers and
pirates.

When at last a fleet under Sir William Parker
approached Wusung, Niu Ta-jin, the viceroy of
Nanking, confidently bade the people to prepare
fetes wherewith to celebrate the glorious sacrifice of
barbarian "eyes," or leaders, shortly to be captured
in battle, and he ventured to assume command at
the outworks, issuing bombastic proclamations.
There the garrison displayed such confidence that
only its derisive cheers hailed a reconnoitring
party sent to sound and buoy the channel.

On the 16th June, 1842, at 6 a.m., the action
began, the ships being towed into position by
armed paddle steamers of the East India Company,
one lashed alongside each ship — this way of towing
being found best adapted to the intricacies of the
channel shoals. The frigate Blonde (42) led the

* Admiral Chin's Memoirs, in the Chinese Repository of 1844
Vol. XIII., pp. 251-2.

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 13

way, followed by the ship of the line Cornwall is (72)
flying the vice-admiral's flag, their position being
in front of the main line of defence to the west;
and under cover of these two ships, the sloops
Modeste (18), Columbine (16) and Clio (16) proceeded
up the river to engage the inner batteries at
Wusung, the Blonde ready to support them if
necessary, as was also the North Star (26) which
arrived in time to take part in the action. Under
a brisk fire from both banks of the river the ships
advanced without returning a shot until they took
up their allotted positions, when they started a
terrific cannonade as well as fusillade. That the
shots from the batteries were not of the usual
random sort may be gauged from the fact that the
Blonde was hulled no less than fourteen times, and
early in the action Lieut. Hewitt, of the Marines,
was killed on board by a round shot ; while the
Sesostris, which towed the Comwallis, was hit eleven
times, all the other vessels suffering too more or
less. Embrasure after embrasure at the main
battery crumbled away ; yet one of the defenders
stood up waving a banner defiantly in face of the
withering broadsides.

The Modeste, towed by the Nemesis, led the way
to Wusung Creek under a heavy fire. Leaving her
at the creek entrance hotly engaged with the ten
24 pounder battery within musket shot, the .Nemesis

14 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

went forward to attack a fleet of war-junks, her
after gun playing on the battery all the while.
The junks, nineteen in all, opened on her, but the
canister and grape shot of her forward gun soon
set them flying after their flagship, the crew taking
to sampans and jumping overboard on the way.
In giving chase, the Nemesis ran aground, when a
sister-ship, the Phlegetlwn, came to her rescue and
completed the destruction of the junks, only two of
which escaped, the rest being set on fire, with the
exception of three or four paddle junks retained as
curiosity. The Modeste, now made fast to a jetty in
the creek, stood so close to the battery that its
guns, high-ranged, could not be trained on her,
while her larboard guns as well as musket-fire
proved so effective that the battery was abandoned.
The Columbine and Clio, having silenced the guns
on the opposite shore, now came up firing upon the
retreating column from the deserted battery, whose
guns, the heaviest in the whole outworks, were
soon spiked. *

At last, after a heavy, incessant fire for almost
two hours, the Cornwallis, Blonde, and North Star
succeeded in disabling the main battery, whence

* The prowess of the Modeste — very briefly narrated in the
admiral's report — met with ample justice at the hands of the com-
mander of her gallant little escort, Captain Hall, in whose Voyages
of the Nemesis in China is to be found one of the best accounts of the
action, in which he himself pi ayed a conspicuous part.

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 15

large bodies of troops issuing forth in various
directions were dispersed by shells and rockets.
Niu, the disillusioned viceroy, went among them,
being, it is said, forcibly carried away by his
officers from the thick of the fray : "Cannon-balls
innumerable, flying in awful confusion through
the expanse of heaven, fell before, behind, and on
either side of him ; while in the distance he saw
the ships of the rebels standing erect, lofty as the
mountains. The fierce daring of the rebels was
inconceivable ; officers and men fell at their posts ;
every effort to resist and check the onset was in
vain, and a retreat became inevitable."

As the fire slackened, the bluejackets and
marines of the three sloops landed at Wusung, and
led by Captain Watson, of the Modestc, rushed
forward in the direction of the main battery to
turn the flank and cut off the retreat. They were
met with such a stubborn front that bayonets
crossed spears repeatedly on the way to the
embankment, the path before them bristling with
jingals. With ten wounded, Captain Watson
rallied his straggling men, now beset by overwhelm-
ing numbers ; while Captain Bourchier of the
Blonde, landing in front of the battery with the
bluejackets and marines of his vessel as well as of
the flagship, dashed forward and, effecting a
junction with Captain Watson's men and another

1 6 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

small party from the brig Algerine, carried the
whole line in spite of a most determined stand
by Admiral Chin, who held on to the debris of
the battery, inspiriting the demoralised officers,
himself firing the jingals until he was mortally
wounded, bowing in the direction of Peking as he
fell like a hero.

On the other side of the river the Sesostris,
though aground, silenced the tower's fire; and
under Captain Ormsby her bluejackets with those
of another paddle steamer, the Tenasserim, landed
and occupied the batteries.

In the absence of landing facilities, the military
forces under Sir Hugh Gough could not leave the
troopships in time to take part in the storming of
the batteries. It was past noon when the troops
landed and moved on Paoshan, whither the viceroy
with some fifteen hundred men had retreated. To
intercept him, Major-General Schoedde's brigade
was sent to the rear of the town, while Sir Hugh
Gough with the rest of the troops went forward
along the embankment only to meet the brigade in
possession of Paoshan, which had been hastily
abandoned with all stores and seventy-eight guns,
the retreating force falling back ten miles off, where
a portion disbanded, and the remainder fled with
the viceroy to Soochow.

TARTAR AND ENGLISH SOLDIERS FIGHTING

ENGLISH FORAGING PARTY.
CHINESE CARICATURES.

A SOUVENIR OF 1842.

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 17

The British casualties were only two killed
and twenty-five wounded, all in the naval force ;
while the Chinese had about a hundred killed, the
number of wounded not being ascertainable.

Niu Ta-jin's report to the throne was like a
telegram in its brevity: "The rebels forced their
way to Wusung; Chin, the admiral, is dead;
Paoshan is lost." Then he added some imaginary
prowess: "The military commander maintained
his ground for seven days ; he sunk three ships,
and wounded or killed several tens of barbarians.
They fired from their masts down upon our
intrenchments, and the position was no longer
tenable." Subsequently he reported more fully,
that relying upon Chin's bravery and invulner-
ableness, he retired to his quarters only to be
roused in the morning by the roaring cannonade :
"I immediately took the command of the forces,
and the soldiers observing me at their head, fought
with desperation. I saw the shots falling on every
side, and the rockets of the enemy spreading a
sheet of fire over the ground, so that houses and
forts and barracks were soon a mass of ruins. How
happy should I have been to effect with my death
the defeat of the invaders ! Fortunately I reached
the town of Paoshan, which was already abandoned.
Nothing remained for me but flight, and I repaired
to the nearest post to reorganise the scattered

18 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

forces. Having done my utmost to raise the whole
people against the enemy, I stood ashamed at the
issue of my efforts. With ten thousand deaths I
could not expiate my fault, specially when I place
before my eyes the noble Chin who died for his
country." *

On the 17th the Nemesis and Medusa proceeded
up the Huangpu to reconnoitre the inner defences,
and about seven miles up the river were fired upon
at an ineffective range from either bank ; but as
they neared, both forts were abandoned, the
barracks being set on fire. The Modeste, Columbine
and Clio were next morning towed to a position
beyond the range of these forts, and a landing
party under Captain Watson took the guns,
fifty-five altogether; while the vessels set some more
war-junks in flames. No further reconnaisance
being ordered, the vessels returned to Wusung,
unaware of a powerful line of defence further up
the river which subsequently placed the expedition
in great danger while on the way to the city.

* By imperial command a shrine was built in Chin's honour at
the spot where he fell so gallantly; and at the Ching-huang-miao in
the city, homage is still rendered to a life-size effigy of his in state
dress. The hero was buried in the military temple. The wadded
cotton garment lie wore, where several shots were found embedded,
at last gave out the secret of his reputed invulnerability in many a
fight. A legend arose to the effect that shorty after his death the
oracle at Sungkiang learnt of his having been promoted in heaven
to an important commission in the Board of Thunder, so that he
could still be of service to his country though on earth he failed to
crush the enemy.

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 19

Before a shot was fired at Wusung, the manda-
rins at Shanghai were preparing for flight ; and the
people, tired of exactions in the name of defensive
measures, stood on the verge of revolt, declaring
that if the officials fled they would not be permitted
to return. But the fate of Wusung led to a wide-
spread panic, and for days the upper waterways
swarmed with boats full of refugees with their
valuables, bound mostly for Soochow, whither the
government treasure also went with the officials.

It was early on the 19th that the forces at
Wusung started for Shanghai by land and water.
Under Lieut.-Colonel Montgomerie went overland
a column of about a thousand men from the 18th
Royal Irish, the 49th, the Madras Horse Artillery,
the Royal Artillery, and a detachment of sappers
and miners — with orders to intercept troops and
treasures supposed to be on the way from Shanghai.

The 55th Regiment at the same time embarked
with the rest of the troops in the Tenasserim, Nemesis,
Phlegetlwn and Pluto, which also brought in tow
the Nortli Star, Modcste, Columbine and Clio, the
Medusa conveying the admiral and general with
their staff, and several naval officers with the
marines.

On nearing the city, they were fired upon by a
range of batteries on the site now occupied by the
British consulate. The situation was rather critical,

20 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and the danger should have been averted by a
reconnaisance. As remarked by a military officer
present, a well-directed fire from this commanding
position would have raked every vessel as it
approached, and the effect would have been
particularly terrific on board the paddle-steamers
teeming with troops. But the fleet pased unscathed,
a broadside or two from the North Star and Modeste
with a few shells from the Nemesis and Tenasserim
sufficing to silence this strong line of defence with
its forty-nine guns, precipitately abandoned with
large stores of arms, and as promptly occupied by
a landing party of bluejackets and marines under
Captain Bourchier.

At the same time, after an uneventful march,
Lieut.-Colonel Montgomerie's column passed
close to the rear, sent a few rockets after a
retreating force, and with bugles sounding entered
the city by the north gate unopposed, before the
55th disembarked from the Nemesis at the temple
jetty where Mr. Lindsay landed ten years ago ;
and once more Mr. Gutzlaff now stepped ashore
there as interpreter. How significant the name of
the Nemesis must have been to him ! No further
opposition was met, though before the city stood
another battery with fifty-six guns facing the river.

For headquarters Lieut.-General Sir Hugh
Gough chose a pavilion at the temple of the tutelary

THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 21

deity of Shanghai, the picturesque Ching-huang-
miao. Its adornments suffered much at the hands
of the three regiments stationed there, even
exquisite wood carvings being torn down for fuel.
At a vast pawn-broker establishment serving as
the artillery's quarters, its store of gold and silver
ware disappeared, and the troops revelled in furs
and silk, which also found way over the city wall
to a native crowd engaged in a roaring traffic
with soldiers on the ramparts/' Stringent orders
repressed further looting ; and as a check on native
plunderers, respectable residents were placed
in charge of deserted establishments containing
valuable property. Meanwhile the poor feasted on
the granaries opened for them. Public buildings,
according to Sir Henry Pottinger, did not escape
destruction. More artillery was found at the
arsenal, together with newly-made designs for a
Paixhan gun. Since the fall of Wusung, some
four hundred guns were captured and destroyed
with the military stores, save all brass guns — about
a hundred altogether — retained as prize. t Sentries
placed at every city gate checked further exodus,

*See Captain Loch's Closing Events of the Campaign in Cfiina
and Lieutenant Ouchterlony's Chinese War for graphic details of
such doings.

t There is a discrepancy as to the total number of guns
captured. The general's report gives it as 406, and the admiral's
088; while only .T64 is mentioned in the circular issued by Sir
Henry Pottinger, dated Wusung, 24th Juue, 1842.

22 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and for the same purpose the Columbine and Medusa
went further up the river, as did the Nemesis and
Phlegethon for a reconnaisance.

Considerable reinforcements were preceded by
the arrival of Sir Henry Pottinger who, as pleni-
potentiary, issued a proclamation in Chinese much
after the florid native style, as may be seen from
its pompous exordium : " Under the canopy of
heaven, and within the circumference of the earth,
manjr are the different countries ; of the multitude
of these not one is there that is not ruled by the
supreme Heavenly Father, nor are there any that
are not brethren of one family. Being then of one
family, very plain is it that they should hold
friendly and brotherly intercourse together, and
not boast themselves one above the other." It set
forth the grievances undergone by Britons in China,
and concluded with the declaration that hostilities
would be carried on until some high functionary
vested by the emperor with full powers should
proceed to negotiate peace on the basis of an
indemnity, of equality in official intercourse, and
the cession of "insular territory" for commercial
purposes and as guarantee for the future.

From the secret state papers captured during
the war it transpires that, before the capture of
Shanghai, the imperial high commissioners Ki-ying
and Ilipu had instructions to negotiate for the city's

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THE OPENING OF SHANGHAI 23

immunity, but they were delayed on the journey
and only their emissaries proceeded to Shanghai. *
Ilipu now wrote that he was surprised at the fleet
having sailed up the river "firing guns and stirring
up a quarrel," he deprecated further hostilities in
view of untold miseries ; and as a peace offering he
restored several British subjects who had been
kidnapped at Chusan and caged like wild beasts.

While thankful for the release of these men,
the admiral and general courteously declined to
enter into informal peace negotiations. Neverthe-
less a petty mandarin known at the headquarters
as "Corporal White" was again sent thither with
similar overtures, to which the plenipotentiary
attached no importance. The city was eventually
ransomed for three hundred thousand dollars, it is
said, as part of the indemnity.

The whole force left Shanghai on June 23rd,
and with the considerable naval as well as military
reinforcements just arrived, sailed for the Yangtze
in an imposing fleet of seventy-three sail. The
terrible fate of Chinkiang at last placed beyond
•doubt the futility of further resistance ; and yet, at
Nanking it was only when the ships had trained
their guns upon the famous city that the imperial
high commissioners at last produced their creden-

* Sir John Davis China during the War and since the Peace,
Vol. I., p. 259.

24 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

tials and set to negotiate the treaty that was to
mark a new era in China.

To Shanghai as a treaty port these momentous
negotiations were of the most vital concern, in
view of the expected cession of Chusan, which
implied the rise of a rival port infinitely superior
in every respect, superb alike for residential, trading,
and strategic purposes — the key of China, accord-
ing to the Duke of Wellington. Instead of an
improved factory on a muddy stream, the sorely-
tried China residents looked fondly to an English
home at Chusan, with charming villas and gardens
amidst picturesque valleys and crystalline cascades,
with orchards and pasturage on the exuberant
plains, and on the noble harbour an emporium that
was to assume towards Shanghai the grand role of
Hongkong towards Canton.

But Ki-ying and Ilipu were as fully alive to
the importance of Chusan ; and Sir Henry Pottinger
seemed quite satisfied with the acquisition of
Hongkong, although in the draft treaty there were
these words : "cession of the islands of . . . . "
In the course of the negotiations, however, the
plenipotentiary sent the draft ashore with the
"s" struck off the "islands," and "Hongkong"
alone inserted in the blank space. The terms
having been read out, Ilipu paused, and at length
enquired whether that was all, when Mr. Morrison,.

THE OPENING CF SHANGHAI 25

the interpreter, consulted the secretary, Lieut.-
Colonel Malcolm, who replied in the negative ; but
with consummate tact Ilipu closed the negotiations
with the remark : " all shall be granted ; it is settled,
it is finished."*

Although they had instructions to secure peace
on any terms, the wily high commissioners at first
demurred even to the temporary occupation of
Chusan pending the payment of the indemnity and
opening of the treaty ports, to which they ultimately
acceded. On the final payment of the indemnity,
Sir John Davis, then governor of Hongkong, held
discretionary powers to negotiate the purchase of
•Chusan, but was persuaded at the outset that no
price would be acceptable for what was considered
an integral part of the empire, t Apprehensions
as to French designs were eventually set at rest
by a diplomatic understanding on the point,
which relegated to bufferdom the beautiful and
coveted island once pledged for twenty-one million
■dollars.

Thus vanished the long cherished dream of an
ideal colony at Chusan, while British moderation
and Manchu diplomacy combined to found on
Chinese soil an unique little republic and to centre

* R. M. Martin's China, Vol. II., p. S4.

t Sir John Davis' China during lh>- War nmt aince (he Peace,
Yol. II.. p. 136.

26 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

thereon the foreign wealth and enterprise which
have won for Shanghai the sceptre of a commerce
richer than that of Venice in her proudest days of
splendour.

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CHAPTER II.

Rise of the Foreign Settlements.

A NOTABLE point in the treaty of Nanking is that,
while the trade and shipping, of the treaty ports
received every possible consideration, the question
of foreign residence was very sparingly touched
upon ; and even amidst the amplifications of the
supplementary treaty there is not one word as to-
the settlement projected at Shanghai since the very
outset of the negotiations.

On the way from Nanking, Sir Henry Pottinger
called at Shanghai for the ransom of the city as
well as to choose a site for the settlement ; but
beyond the mere choice of ground, nothing seems
to have been done: no lease was made, no regulation
framed for the benefit of future foreign residents.

The locality chosen was then mostly under
cultivation, intersected by several small creeks,
with a quiet hamlet nestled here and there among
its shady trees, while far and wide the turf heaved
in many a mouldering heap over generations, of

28 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

peasants there resting for ever on the very scene
of their former toils. Along the foreshore lay the
dilapidated towing path of old, where a cheering
throng used to urge on the immense fleet of tribute-
laden junks as each glided down the river. But
for the bustle on such occasions, the future Bund
lay undisturbed save by some lonely fisherman
with his net or some busy boatman scouring his
sampan at the outskirt of verdant fields, where rice,
corn, and cotton were grown.

Such was the rustic landscape which greeted
the eyes of the founders of the settlement as at
sunset on the 9th November 1843, they passed by in
a small steamer from Chusan ; and being then at
dinner they raised a toast to the future greatness
and glory of the place. Among them was Captain
Balfour of the Madras Artillery, appointed Consul
for Shanghai, * and his interpreter, Dr. W. H.
Medhurst, to whom the settlement is indebted for
an amusing account of its birth and infancy.!

Although the treaty had been ratified, the
local mandarins pretended that it was hardly yet
time to expect the opening of the port; but their
emissaries brought back the notice that an
immediate interview with the taotai was necessary;

* Afterwards Sir George Balfour, M.P.

t Reminiscences of the Open'my of Shanghai lo Foreign Trade in the
Chine*? and Japanese Repository. Vol. II. No. XV, of 12th October
1834.

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 29

and shortly after, on the morning of the 10th, Consul
Balfour landed with his staff, and followed by an
immense crowd, proceeded to the yamen in sedan
chairs sent for their conveyance. The reception,
though cool, was far from uncivil. But at the
proposal to establish the consulate within the city,
the taotai and his retinue all warmed up. They
were perfectly sure no house was to be had for
love or money ; but outside the city walls one might
perhaps be found, though they knew of none being
vacant even there. Consul Balfour assured them
that he would look into the matter himself, and in
case no house was available he would either pitch
his tents at one of the temples or accommodate
himself at the residence of some of the mandarins.
But no sooner had the consul left the yamen
than a well-dressed man offered to show him a
house he was sure to like. In fact, it was a suitable
building, spacious and elegantly furnished, the
residence of a private gentleman in one of the
main streets. The guide proved to be the owner
himself, and closing with him on the spot the
consul and his party soon found themselves
comfortably lodged there, not without wondering
at their unexpected success. The little mystery
was soon cleared up. Yao, the landlord, partner of
a Hongkong firm, was bent on securing the consul's
good graces for a projected monopoly of the trade

30 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

with foreigners at Shanghai. The mandarins
were of course privy to his views; and they vested
him not only as keeper of the " White Devils," but
as the sole responsible medium of all foreign
transactions. But Yao soon found the consul less
complaisant than he expected, even in lesser
concerns than a revival of the hong-merchant
regime of Canton.

The first attempt at housekeeping in the native
city was not without its droll incidents. As related
by Dr. Medhurst, the servants struck up the usual
"hee-haw" chant even when carrying dishes to
table, and were astonished at the variety and
quantity of provisions required. The party came
well provided with stores ; but fresh milk was not
to be had except of the kind given to babies, and
as this did not suit adult palates, the "dairyman"
supplied what was found to be the compressed
juice of water-chestnuts. A gaping crowd
wandered all over the house as in a museum,
prying at the strangers at table, at work, and even
when asleep. Yao was far from disposed to
secure the needed privacy for his tenants, but as
they grew restive he restricted the show to his
relatives ; and the nuisance continuing unabated,
every intruder was bundled out of the premises.
Yao himself was bidden to leave, but he positively
refused as the house was his, and to look after the

RISE CF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 31

property he must have a small room near the door.
This room, it transpired, served as a police station
where every native on entering had to report the
object of his visit, and whence a close espionage
was kept on the consular staff. Yao was then given
the option of being seen outside the premises or of
being bundled out, whereupon he left, appearing
thenceforth only to collect his handsome rent with
a rather long face.

Shanghai was declared open to foreign trade
on the 17th November 1843. The mandarins then
devised means to ensure the revenue derived from
transit dues hitherto levied on goods sent to
Canton for shipment ; and for the collection of
these clues some of the wealthiest merchants, with
Yao at their head, were licensed to establish
warehouses where every native trader was under
heavy penalties bound to store his cargo and
register the sale thereof. Opposed as this measure
was to the treaty rights, it evoked a strong protest
from Consul Balfour ; but though the question was
submitted to the higher authorities for settlement,
nothing short of the vitality and expansion of the
trade succeeded in eventually shaking off the
trammels laid by the licensed monopolists.*

* Under instructions from the plenipotentiary, Consul Balfour
sought to establish bonded warehouses, for which, however, he
failed to obtain the consent of the Chinese government.

32 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The arrival of British merchants led to difficul-
ties concerning the projected settlement. It was
easy enough to define the locality, but the land-
owners either demanded exorbitant prices or fought
shy of intending purchasers ; while the mandarins,
on being appealed to by the consul, declined to
interfere on the ground that they were unable to
coerce "their poor ignorant children." Before any
lot of land could be secured, long and harassing
were the pourparlers which the consul and
merchants had with the mandarins and
landowners. The trouble ceased not even when
the owners had parted with their land, for under
the most frivolous pretexts they refused to quit, and
only when on the point of being forcibly ejected
they would go, leaving behind some old vixen
who invariably proved irresistible to all persuasive
power save that of money. One old termagant
thus waxed rich by buying and selling lots on her
own account while raising trouble right and left :
"if abused, she retorted in language far more ex-
pressive and violent ; if touched, she shrieked to
such extent that there was no staying near her; and
at last when the consul managed to persuade the
highest mandarin of the place to call with him on
the old lady, she cooly spat at and defied them."
In short, the acquisition of the settlement proved
far more difficult than the capture of Wusung.

RISE OF THE FOREIGN* SETTLEMENTS 33

The mandarins, moreover, regarded the
purchase of land by foreigners as an alienation of
imperial property not sanctioned by law. A
loophole, however, was not wanting ; and the
holdings were leased in perpetuity subject to an
annual payment of land-tax equal to about twenty-
eight shillings per acre. On these terms the
mandarins issued title-deeds for property said
to be rented, but virtually bought at rates varying
from fifty to eighty thousand cash per mow, or £46
to £74 per acre, while to the natives the market
value of the land was from fifteen to thirty-five
thousand cash per mow, for the finest lots along
the Bund.*

It was originally proposed that all the lots
within the settlement should be secured by the
British Government instead of being separately
purchased by the merchants.'!* But such was the
irony of fate that Consul Balfour failed in his
negotiations for the very site subsequently acquired
for the British Consulate, then known as Li-kia-
chang, on which stood a naval yard at the rear
of the dismantled battery.

That Consul Balfour meant to establish a
British settlement under his control is evident

* Some of the*e lots realised from £8,000 to £12,000 per acre
but twenty years later.

t Magellan's Story of Shanghai, p. 10.

34 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

from the understanding arrived at with the
taotai that, if individuals of other than British
nationality proposed to rent land, house, or
godown within the settlement, such proposal must
first be submitted to the British consul in order to
prevent misunderstanding, it being for him to say
whether such proposal could be acceded to.

This stipulation is one of the most notable
features of the Land Regulations enacted by
Consul Balfour and Kung Mow-ken, the taotai, on
the 29th November 1845, that is to say, over two
years since the opening of the port — an interval
suggestive enough of the regulations having been
submitted by the consul for the approval of the
home government. Anyhow, it is surely a matter
for regret that the settlement was not then vested
with a legal status and a carefully digested code of
municipal laws, which would have obviated much
subsequent difficulties due to the shortcomings of
the original Land Regulations — undoubtedly the
most curious agreement ever entered into by a British
official in China, so informal and unconventional
that the English version is but a translation bearing
only the signature of Dr. Medhurst as interpreter,
the original being manifestly drafted by the taotai
after his own sweet will and in a style rather
unbecoming the importance of the document, which
served as the basis of all subsequent regulations.

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 35

For boundaries Captain Balfour is credited
with having had in view waterways which could
be rendered easily defensible on emergency. In
the regulations, however, the settlement was
merely defined as being situated " north of the
Yang-king-pang and south of the Li-kia-chang."
For the western boundary Captain Balfour is said to
have placed a stone at the corner of the Yang-king-
pang and Defence Creek.* The Huangpu was not
given as the eastern boundary evidently because
the sunken foreshore, though repaired at the
expense of the land-renters for an embankment and
thoroughfare, was still reserved by the taotai for
the towing path of tribute-laden junks as of yore.

This reservation, however, proved a blessing in
disguise, as by precluding the proposed construction
of warehouses there, it eventually secured a noble
frontage for the settlement. Public jetties were
provided for in the regulations, as well as roads of
a standard width of twenty-five feet, which some
land-renters were narrow-minded enough to deem
too broad for the requirements of the place. To
the same illiberal spirit is attributable the impress
of pre-settlement days left upon the curves of
Nanking Road, which was shabbily constructed
upon the windings of a creek, to the perpetual

* Debates and Proceeding* of Shanghai Ratepayers on the Revision
of Municipal Regulations, 1881.

36 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

execration of the Committee of Roads and Jetties
then entrusted with the municipal administration.

The taotai's sweet will is most evident in the
stipulations concerning the upkeep of graves
within the settlement under construction, and the
ancestral rites to be there observed without
hindrance at stated periods in spring, summer,
autumn, and winter ; and the Chinese were entitled
to remove the graves therefrom if it suited their
convenience, but they were debarred from further
burials in the cemetery-like settlement, while it
was stipulated, too, that should foreigners die in the
settlement they might be buried there according to
their own rites, without any hindrance.

The unconventional simplicity which charac-
terised the whole tenour of the regulations may be
seen from the stipulation that, after renting land,
merchants might build houses and godowns,
churches and hospitals, charitable institutions,
schools and " houses of concourse ;" they might
cultivate flowers, plant trees, and have places of
amusement. But they must not store contrabands,
nor fire muskets or guns at unseasonable periods ;
still less might they fire shots or shoot arrows or
act in such a disorderly manner as might endanger
people, to the terror of the inhabitants.

Instead of any defensive works for the settle-
ment, barriers were stipulated for; instead of at

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 37

least a police force, watchmen were to be engaged
by foreigners and natives conjointly, subject to
the approval of the city officials, who undertook to
make a deterrent of such cases in which natives
proved a nuisance to foreigners, on complaint being
lodged by the consul to this effect.

Native domicile was interdicted within the
settlement and future extension thereof; while
land-renters were debarred from owning more than
ten mow of ground each, so as to ensure an equitable
distribution of land as well as to guard against
traffic in landed property.

No precaution was spared for the legalisation
of land purchase and collection of land-taxes. On
the other hand, sanitary laws were quite overlooked.
But with the view of affording peace and comfort
to the merchants, and of rendering property
insurable, the accumulation of filth and such-like
nuisances as well as the storage of combustibles
were prohibited within residential quarters.

The land-renters as a body were responsible for
the municipal upkeep of the settlement ; its revenue
was to consist of contributions from them ; and for
assessment the consul nominated three merchants
of recognised integrity, who constituted the
Committee of Roads and Jetties. The land-renters
were vested with the control of the revenue and
expenditure; and in case of there being a deficit,

3"8 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

they might at a public meeting resolve to cover it
by contributions on exports and imports, subject,
however, to the decision of the consul, who was
also vested with the adjudication of any cases
involving a breach of the regulations in like manner
as that concerning treaty stipulations ; while
foreigners of other than British nationality were
alike amenable to the regulations, the revision
whereof might be effected only with the consent
of the British and Chinese authorities.

Such was the code of regulations which
Captain Balfour, in a note to the taotai, accepted
as conducive to the good order, peace, and comfort
of British subjects. However crude and quaint in
some respects, it certainly contained some salutary
measures ; it had at least the merit of aiming to
establish a thoroughly foreign settlement, free from
that intermixture of jurisdictions which in later
days has proved to be the curse of Shanghai.

Nevertheless in the Land Regulations lay the seed
of dissensions ; for as foreigners of various nation-
alities with their consuls resorted to Shanghai, the
question arose as to the validity of the regulations in
cases where such foreigners were concerned ; and it
soon became evident that the French and Americans
were also bent in having settlements of their own.

Ever since the capture of Shanghai, — when the
bishop of Nanking visited the British headquarters —

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 39

the French were close in the wake of the Britons.
In a junk with a picked French crew Captain
Cecille of the Erigone followed the expedition to
Nanking, and almost insisted on being present at
the signing of the treaty on board the Cornwallis.
The French treaty soon ensued ; but even before
the appointment of a French consul to Shanghai,
Monseigneur de Besi, of Nanking, deputed Pere
Lemaitre to claim, under the auspices of the
British and Danish consuls, the recovery of the
first Christian church raised at Shanghai in the
seventeenth century and converted into the
war-god's temple since the reign of Yung-ching.*
The taotai roundly refused to comply with the
demand, which he deemed tantamount to a request
for his resignation ; but in the end he compensated
the claim with lands at Tongkadu, and outside the
north gate as well as within the city; and later
on, in 1848, the Jesuit mission further secured by
purchase a site memorable to the fathers — Sikawei,
where lay buried their glorious Maecenas of olden
days, the celebrated Siu Kuang-ki, the hamlet
there being the home of his ancestors, whence the
name of the place, properly Siu-kia-wei.f

* In 1860 General de Montauban succeeded in securing for the
Jesuit mission this historical structure, now known as the Lao
Dang (old church).

tit was later, in 18G4, that the mission bought the hill visited
by Emperor Kang-hsi and generally known as Zo-se, where now
stands the finest observatory in the Far East.

40 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

By virtue of the Franco-Chinese treaty-
Consul de Montigny sought to establish the French
concession in 1848; while the American and
Belgian consuls were also known to entertain
designs on the same plot of ground. In the course
of negotiations with Wu Taotai, Consul de Montigny
had occasion to lodge a strong protest, as in lieu
of the ground south of the Yang-king-pang, part
of the adjoining settlement was offered, subject to
the British consul's approval. Eventually, however,
the desired concession was granted by Lin Taotai
on the 6th April 1849, the boundaries being
clearly defined — on the south the creek along the
city wall, on the north the Yang-king-pang, on the
east the riverside from the Canton guild to the
Yang-king-pang, on the west the creek named
after the war-god's temple, Kuan-ti-miao, up to the
Chou-kin-chao bridge — subject to future extension
if desired. The acquisition was attended with
comparatively less difficulty than what beset Consul
Balfour — every grave and even trees as well as
building within the locality disposed of being paid
for at fixed rates, one lot secured, of two mow,
costing $457 altogether. Over the concession
Consul de Montigny claimed territorial jurisdiction.

The American settlement was unobstrusively
founded in 1848 by Bishop Boone north of the
Soochow Creek, the eastern portion of Hongkew

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 4 L

being for the most part swampy ground with the
present Broadway as the foreshore. On the other
hand the American consul, Mr. Griswold, of Messrs.
Russell & Co., warred against the principle of
exclusive privileges as one of the worst features
of Chinese policy. The British consul as well as
the taotai objected in vain to the American flag
being hoisted on what was then considered the
British settlement. Then Mr. Griswold protested
in turn against the French concession, which, it
was alleged, was precisely the ground offered in
1846 to his predecessor. It was remarked that
nowhere but in China would consuls be permitted
to claim exclusive jurisdiction over large tracts
marked off by them for settlement quite beyond all
actual requirements.

The French consul, however, maintained that
concessions were necessary in order to avoid
conflict in consular jurisdiction amidst international
complications. Not inapposite was the remark that
he lived upon a volcano : in the very hotel where
he stayed on arrival, a Frenchman stored two
hundred barrels of gunpowder, whereupon the
British consul came to the rescue of his colleague
and with due approval enforced upon the Frenchman
the observance of the Land Regulations as to the
storage of dangerous goods.

42 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The American minister upheld Mr. Griswold's
protest regarding the French concession, while M.
de Montigny appealed to the French minister for
support, in face of Shanghai's tendency to become
a hotbed of dissensions, which rendered it advisable
for each consul to be solely responsible for his own
acts towards the Chinese authorities.*

Out of the French concession the taotai
evidently sought to rear an apple of discord : in a
confidential despatch to the plenipotentiary, Consul
Alcock, who succeeded Captain Balfour, alluded to
the international difficulties thus raised by Chinese
officials, who profited thereby to set the Land
Regulations at naught, while pretending to uphold
them officially — an antagonism evidently due to
the uneasiness with which they viewed the rapid
growth of the settlement.!

The zeal displayed by Consul de Montigny
found a ready response on the part of the French
missionaries only, who at once started to build
the Tongkadu cathedral and the establishment at
Sikawei. But no French merchant took advantage
of the opening of the silk districts, even in view of
the inadequate supply of silk in France owing to the
pest which at this period wrought havoc among

*See Cordier's Les Origines de Deux Etablis*eiae>it$ Frangais dans
t'Kclrane Orient : Changha i-Ningpo.

tMichie's lite Englishman in Otina, Vol. I., pp. 434— 5.

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 43

the silkworms in Europe. The French concession'
lay quite neglected, and for years nothing was to
be seen there but the consulate and a Parisian
watchmaker's establishment; while the Americans,
too, made little or no progress at Hongkew.

Quite different was the case with the British
settlement. But ere it was ready for occupation,
life at Shanghai was an unmitigated hardship for the
foreigners residing at the city foreshore known as
Namtao, close to the establishments of leading
native merchants. The river water, clarified with
alum for ordinary use, yielded a twentieth part of
sediment. The houses were so uncomfortable that
often in the morning the tenants found themselves
drenched with rain ; and through the windows
snow drifted in, forming wreaths on the floor, as
related by Mr. Robert Fortune, the celebrated
botanist. To crown the hardships, a ramble in
the picturesque country — then restricted to twenty-
four hours' journey — served only to annoy the
sorely-tried foreigners.*

One of these rambles ended almost tragically.
Three missionaries, Dr. Medhurst, Dr. Lockhart,
and Mr. Muirhead, while distributing tracts at
Tsingpu in March 1848, were assailed by a crowd

* As remarked by Dr. W. C. Milne, they invariably met on the
way dung boats, dung tanks, dung buckets, dung carriers, ■wherever
they went — revolting nuisances due to the extensive use of human
excrement for manuring purposes.

44 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

of Fokien junkmen, who after belabouring them
with poles and rakes, proposed carrying them off
to their junks with the view of having them
ransomed or killed ; but they were rescued and
brought by police runners back to Shanghai,
bruised, robbed, and badly shaken. It was the first
serious outrage on foreign residents of Shanghai;
and much depended on the way it was dealt with.

Consul Alcock proved equal to the occasion.
From the taotai he immediately demanded full
redress, which, it was pointed out, should be
prompt, as the grain junks might be leaving at any
moment with the delinquents on board. In face of
nothing but promises from the taotai, Consul
Alcock, five days later, announced that, pending
redress for the outrage, no British ship would pay
customs duties, nor was a single grain junk to
leave the port, and if within forty-eight hours the
ringleaders of the mob were not arrested further
measures would be taken.

The ten-gun sloop Childers, just in, took up a
position before the fleet of fourteen hundred junks
laden with tribute rice for Peking, with another
fleet of fifty war-junks hard by. In vain the
taotai sought to intimidate Consul Alcock by
pointing out the danger incurred in face of
thousands of malcontents amongst whom the
foreign community stood quite defenceless. In

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 45

vain was the departure of the fleet ordered by the
taotai : after the first shot, not one junk stirred
under the guns of the Childers. Another sloop,
the Espiegle, arrived shortly after, and by her
the vice-consul proceeded to lay the case before
the viceroy at Nanking. The provincial judge
soon appeared at Shanghai. Ten of the ringleaders
were captured, identified, and cangued on the Bund,
whereupon the Childers raised the blockade, and
the immense fleet sailed away in peace. The taotai
was censured and replaced. Fortune truly favoured
the bold.

In thus establishing British prestige at
Shanghai, Consul Alcock on his own responsibility
set aside the instructions given him as to the line
of action to be adopted on emergency ; and for this
he was blamed by Sir George Bonham, the
plenipotentiary, who, however, eventually recog-
nised the expediency of the bold and brilliant as
well as thoroughly successful master-stroke, which
had a salutary influence on the destinies of the
rising settlement. One deed of heroism inspired
another: the Childers, under Captain Pitman,
accomplished the most stupendous task ever
assigned to a tiny sloop, while the high-spirited
official staked his position, if not the community,
to ensure the respect since then enjoyed by
foreigners at Shanghai.

46 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

By an agreement with Lin Taotai dated 27th
November 1848, Consul Alcock obtained an exten-
sion of the settlement to the Soochow Creek, and
the boundaries were therein defined : to the south-
east, the Yang-king-pang bridge; to the north-
east, the first ferry on Soochow Creek ; to the
south-west, the outlet of the Chow-king Creek ;
and to the north-west, the dwellings of the Seu
family along the Soochow Creek.* Consul
Alcock also succeeded in securing the desired site
for the consulate, notwithstanding its being
government property which the mandarins had
positively refused to part with, f They now
learnt to be condescending, thanks to the prestige
which the worthy consul and his young interpreter,
Mr. (afterwards Sir Harry) Parkes, acquired after
the Tsingpu affair.

Thus it was under auspicious circumstances
that the foreign residents of Namtao gradually
removed to their newly finished and comfortable
establishments in the settlement, well built though
sportively described as of the " compradoric " style
of architecture, from the designs of some being, it

* This agreement, never published, is referred to in a proclama-
tion by Wu Taotai, to be found in the Xorth China Herald of 29th
March 1851.

t Originally the consulate ground was more than double its
present area; during the land mania of 18G2 the greater part was
injudiciously disposed of.

CONSUL ALCOCK

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 47

is said, left to the discretion of the compradores ;
and yet some were not altogether devoid of
elegance, being in the Italian villa style orientalised
by the addition of verandahs, and generally with
gardens where, amidst thriving home flowers,
pheasants were to be seen sometimes.

The community, which one year after the
opening of the port consisted of but twenty-three
foreigners representing eleven mercantile houses,
now numbered over a hundred residents including
a few ladies, while the number of firms rose to
about thirty, mostly branches of old Canton houses
— a community constantly increasing, but still quite
out of proportion to the vast commercial interests
represented in the forest of masts at the foreign
anchorage — then in front of the settlements —
where as many as from two to three hundred ships
were sometimes to be seen.

A most remarkable outcome of the opening of
Shanghai was the development early effected in
the silk trade, what with the proximity of the rich,
famous silk regions now brought into direct touch
with the outer world, and the well-regulated supply
which insured handsome returns alike to foreign
and native merchants, so that it was not long ere
the shipment of silk from Shanghai in one year
attained the value of ten million sterling.

48 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Tea stood next in importance. But even then
the fate of China tea was being sealed by Mr.
Robert Fortune, of the Chelsea Physic Gardens,
who on behalf of the East Indian Company as well
as of the London Horticultural Society carried on
extensive researches in the tea-growing regions of
Central China, whence he brought away no less
than some twenty thousand tea plants for cultiva-
tion in India, with every possible detail of the
industry.

Of imports the most important was opium, and
it served to adjust the balance of trade. The revenue
of three million sterling derived by the Indian
exchequer from this nefarious traffic stood above
every.other consideration, although it was manifest
that but for the financial drain which opium
entailed on China — to say nothing of the anti-foreign
feelings it aroused in high quarters — the prospects of
foreign merchants could not but improve, even if
they had to import bullion to meet the balance of
trade at the outset, the foreign currency of Carolus
dollar being then very popular in China.

Foremost among the importers of the drug
stood Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., in this
respect true to traditions, the firm's founder being
an opium merchant of Canton who in twenty years
cleared a million sterling. There was also the
premier house of Dent & Co., whose appellation of

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 4'J

princely merchants was quite in keeping with their
aristocratic traits, sumptuous, lavish ways, and state-
ly establishments amidst extensive gardens. The
Americans, too, were well represented by Russell &
Co., very popular among leading Chinese merchants.
Of all the Canton firms that had pledged their word
before the high commissioner Lin to give up the
opium traffic, only one remained true thereto, and
that was Wetmore & Co., an American firm. For
some time Dent & Co. also formed this honourable
exception.

Wusung was in those days one of the most
important opium stations along the coast. There
lay the opium hulks, sometimes as many as twelve ;
and into them the clippers discharged their precious
freight before proceeding up the river with the rest
of the cargo, of which alone due cognisance was
taken by the Chinese custom-house established on
the Bund, opium being then exempt of duty, as it
was the avowed policy of Emperor Tao-kuang not
to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of his
people.

The richly-laden opium clippers recall to
mind the historical buccaneers of the Spanish Main.
The commanders were generally experienced,
skilful navigators, of gentlemanly education, and
dauntless in face of danger. Heavily armed and
well manned, the clippers were at the same time

50 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

the fastest sailers, some of them being considered
the finest vessels in the world and more than a
match for any man-of-war as to sailing on the
monsoon, usually with royals on when a frigate
would have deemed it well to go with reefed
top-sails. These clippers were invariably tiny
craft of between a hundred and three hundred
tons, and carried cargo worth over a million
dollars. Their uncommon speed served special
purposes, and such was the keen rivalry among
them that each voyage was a race of great
consequence to the merchants. To be the first in
getting news of rates and prospects, and operate
accordingly ahead of others, was a vital concern
for the owners, whose mail alone the clippers
brought, while officials and naval commanders
complained of belated despatches. The clippers'
mail, landed at Wusung, was immediately
conveyed by mounted couriers, whose approach
was announced by frantic cries as they raced
along the Bund at break-neck speed and flung
the mail-bag at the office door amidst a general
flutter.

British clippers were once surpassed both in
size and speed by American clippers engaged in
the tea trade — beautiful argosies gliding under
such a lavish and graceful expanse of snowy sails
as the sea had never borne before. The sceptre of

A FAMOUS TEA-CLIPPER —

THE "LORD OF THE ISLES/

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 51

the waves being thus contested, a Blackwall ship-
builder was nobly roused to the duty of vindicating
Britannia ; the art of ship-building attained
perfection in the seven-hundred ton clipper — the
Challenger — built by him to the order of Lindsay
& Co., the China firm founded by the pioneer of
Shanghai. Intense excitement prevailed and heavy
betting was the order of the day, as in 1852 this
British rival met at Shanghai the finest of American
clippers, the Nightingale, more than twice her size ;
and a race to London ensued for the blue ribbon
of the deep, which the Challenger won by two days.*
So keen was the interest roused by the contest
that, on the high seas, passengers were constantly
on the lookout for the racers, and the general
excitement waxed feverish as a clipper hove in
sight almost buried under her sails.

Finer than the Challenger, and of about the
same tonnage, the Greenock clipper Lord of the
Isles, in 1856, made her first trip from Shanghai to
London in eighty-seven days, beating two of the
fastest American racers and delivering her cargo
of tea in perfect condition. That year, too, the
Challenger accomplished another memorable
voyage, laden with six thousand bales of silk
worth three quarters of a million sterling, the most

*This episode is recorded in Lindsay's History of Merchant
■Shipping.

52 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

valuable freight ever borne by a clipper. Just on
leaving Shanghai she touched the Wusung bar;
and what with unloading, surveying and reloading
she was detained for a month or two, to the great
chagrin and anxiety of the shippers, who, however,
were fortunate enough to find eventually that they
had no cause for regret. Consequent on the delay,
the Challenger reached London just when an
unforeseen scarcity of silk in Europe had become
accentuated, so that Captain Killick received an
ovation as well as handsome gratuities, while the
shippers reaped a richer harvest than was expected,
several fortunes being made out of the venture.
This windfall, due to the silkworm pest in France
and Italy, gave such an impetus to the trade that
in the course of the following year no less than
ninety thousand bales of silk were shipped from
Shanghai, to the value of some ten million sterling ;
but in consequence of the financial crises of 1857"
the outcome was ruinous.

In those days, however, reverses had not the
dismal significance of later times. It was not so-
hard then to woo back the smiles of fortune.
Amidst passing clouds and sunshine, there was a
well-spring of hope, which, in the words of an old
resident, carried "the freshness of spring even into-
the snows of winter."

RISE OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS 58

Those were days of romance and of true
oriental magnificence in commercial life, without
the tell-tale telegraph, the fractioned farthing, and
the humdrum, the surfeit of an inglorious competi-
tion ; those were days when, however keen the
rivalry, foreign merchants knew how to maintain a
solidarity among themselves which was something
to be reckoned with by native merchants. And
the spirit of those times was generous to the point
of pampered mercantile assistants enjoying
prerogatives which led them on to competence if
not to fortune in return for their devotion at the
shrine of Mammon — befitting which was a constant
musical tinkling of coins varied by a grand crash,,
silvery and cheering, of bullion poured out of its
boxes, for bank-notes were not then in vogue and
the merchant-princes were their own bankers*
The Carolus dollar served for the main currency ;
but in 1857 such was the demand for the silk trade
that the dollar and the tael stood at par, whereupon
the banks and firms adopted the tael as currency.

* In the early days the firms relied on one another for buying
and selling bills; and banks, instead of allowing interest on current
account, charged a commission thereon. The Oriental Bank was the
first at Shanghai.

CHAPTER IIJ.

Shanghai Under the Rebels.

REBELLION in China seldom if ever had the
redeeming feature of a well-directed impulse which
through fire and sword sought the people's deliver-
ance from oppression and misrule. Notwithstand-
ing the helplessness of the government, invariably
the disorganised rebel horde achieved no reform,
leaving in its trail only ruin and desolation.
Typically so and of unprecedented magnitude
was the Taiping rebellion. Yet, in its mad and
ruthless career from the southernmost provinces to
the fair Yangtze regions, this rebellion with its
pro-foreign and puritanical pretensions succeeded
not only in deluding foreigners with the expected
regeneration of China but likewise in eluding
foreign intervention for long. To crown her
misfortunes, China had not the sympathy of foreign
powers in the dire days when Nanking fell amidst
• appalling atrocities.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 55

The advance of the rebels thither led to a
panic at Shanghai. In the name of the provincial
governor, Wu Taotai* appealed to the consuls
for naval aid to check the scourge, if only in view
of threatened foreign interests at Shanghai, valued
officially at twenty-five million sterling, and
protected by a solitary British gunboat about to
be recalled. In the midst of consternation a
clipper was promptly sent with confidential
despatches to the plenipotentiary at Hongkong,
delivered in the nick of time, so that the withdrawal
of the Lily from Shanghai was countermanded ; and
the sloop Hermes, about to leave for the south,
started at once for Shanghai with Sir George
Bonham, the plenipotentiary, and all available force.

Reaching Shanghai on the 21st March 1853,
Sir George Bonham soon found the situation not
only critical but complicated ; and the over-cautious
doctrinaire who had blamed Consul Alcock for his
bold front in the Tsingpu affair was evidently not
the diplomat for that psychological moment. Non-
intervention was hardly a safeguard against a
savage horde bent on pillage and devastation.
Yet, such was the policy adopted by the plenipoten-
tiary, who jealously resented as an infraction
thereof any foreign measure tending to strengthen

* Formerly a famous and popular hong merchant of Canton
known as Sam qua.

56 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

the cause of the imperialists, which, to all appear-
ances, he considered doomed.

On the other hand, the taotai did his best to
create a false impression among the rebels that the
foreigners at Shanghai were all partisans of the
imperialists. From the American vice-consul, Mr.
Cunningham, of Russell & Co., Wu chartered for
fifty thousand dollars per month an old receiving
ship which together with a flotilla of well-armed
Portuguese lorchas, then employed as convoys,
proceeded to check the rebels on the Yangtze. The
ship grounded off Chinkiang and was abandoned,
while the lorchas did good service in several
engagements.

In vain the taotai sought to place the city under
the protection of the consuls and naval force in
port : he was informed that no promise could be held
out as to the defence of the city, but the settlement
would be defended if attacked.* At the same
time there appeared what purported to be a rebel
proclamation, most anti-foreign in tone, attributed
by some to the taotai's diplomatic machinations.!
It referred to the foreigners at Shanghai as ignoble
beings unworthy of being regarded as men, and
pretended it was difficult to affirm that there would
be no fighting even at Shanghai.

*See Blue Book of 1853: Civil War in China.
t Gallery and Ivan's L? Insurrection en Chine.

"...

J

m

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 57

To contradict the rumour spread by the taotai
of his having secured British co-operation, and to
ascertain the foreign policy of the rebels, Sir
George Bonham personally went to Nanking in
the Hermes, which on the way had the unique
experience of repeatedly receiving without return-
ing the fire of rebels as well as imperialists, what
with the plenipotentiary's mortal dread of com-
plications and his punctilious theory of neutrality
towards lawless belligerents. The honour of the
visit or rather mission to the rebel court was not
lost upon the infatuated rebel chief, who, besides
arrogating for himself a personality in the Holy
Trinity as well as the title of emperor, now declared
England a vassal of his throne, to the indignation
of the plenipotentiary.* On the other hand, while
enjoining a reciprocal policy of non-intervention
towards foreigners, Sir George imposed the obliga-
tions of the treaty of Nanking on the rebels, as if
they were the constituted authorities. The rebel
force was estimated at from twenty-five to thirty
thousand strong only. From what he saw and
described to the Foreign Office, the plenipotentiary
must have been sadly disillusioned as to the
expected Taiping dynasty and the regenerative

* Among other questions, the Tien "Wang asked Sir George
Bonham whether Virgin Mary had a pretty sister to marry him, the
King of Heaven.

58 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

qualities of the rebels so glowingly eulogised by
Dr. Medhurst as well as by the consular interpreter
Mr. Meadows, a still warmer admirer of the
Taipings.*

M. de Bourboulon, the French minister, next
started in the Cassini for the rebel court and
met with a bad reception. The American minister,
Colonel Marshall, also proceeded to Nanking in the
frigate Susquehanna, on whose approach, it is
said, the rebels became so defiant that, executing
the governor of Nanking who had thus far been
spared, they displayed his head on the ramparts
as a trophy, f

For the adoption of defensive measures at
Shanghai, public meetings were held on the 8th,
9th, and I2th April 1853, under the auspices of
Consul Alcock, who remarked that what he most
apprehended was a surprise ; but he had faith in
British blood and scorned the idea that by a coup
de main either rebels or imperialists could prevail
over the settlement. Among the foreigners, he
pointed out, there could be no divided national
interests ; and it was essential that there should be
no divided action in measures of defence. Consul
de Montigny assured the co-operation of French
naval forces on emergency. British and American

*For interesting details see the Blue Book of 1S53.

t Callery and Ivan's work previously referred to, Chap. XVI.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 59

volunteer corps were organised without delay. A
Defence Committee was elected to co-operate with
the civil and naval authorities. The Defence
Creek — whose name originated at this stirring
epoch— was extended northward ; and besides field
works, permanent defences were projected, one of
the proposals being to enclose the settlement
within a ring fence protected by ditch and
embankment as an outer line of defence. On the
other hand no preparations appear to have been
made in the defenceless city, where several
dangerous secret societies connected with the
Taipings were known to exist, notably the Triad
Society, some of whose chiefs, however, had
recently seceded from the great rebel horde.

Nothing extraordinary happened at Shanghai
until the 7th September 1853, when like a bolt
from the blue an insurgent horde, entering by the
north gate at daybreak, slew the guard and with
perfect impunity proceeded to depose the taotai,
destroy the yamens and pillage the city. The
district magistrate was killed on his way to the
Confucian temple for the sacrificial offerings
there that morning. Several officials, in despair,
committed suicide. Wu, the taotai, managed to
escape with the connivance of some Cantonese
chiefs, while over the captured imperial treasure a
feud arose between the Fokien and Canton factions.

60 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

In disguise Wu fled, being let down the north
wall on a sling by two foreigners and sheltered
in the settlement by his American friends.*

Within the very settlement, swarming with
refugees, a red-turbaned gang proceeded to wreck
the Chinese custom-house on the Bund, carrying
away several guns therefrom shortly after the
outbreak in the city. From the men-of-war
landing parties were sent to patrol the settlement,
and a rumour spread that the French concession
was menaced.

The insurgent horde consisted mainly of
Canton and Fokien junkmen and a good sprinkling
of Ningpo braves. There were several foreign
mercenaries, deserters from ships ; also several
Straits-born Chinese speaking English fluently.
For headquarters the chiefs chose the house
formerly serving as the British consulate. Lew,
the commanding chief, once a sugar-broker of
Canton, was the founder of the Triad Society at
Shanghai, whose adherents formed the main part
of the horde, the next in importance being the
Small Sword Society. Another leader had been
a tea broker. The most warlike of them was a
former mafoo of the British consul and other local

*A11 who could also fled, so that shortly after the outbreak
the population was reduced from 270,000 to about 40.000, including
the insurgents.

Jmm

SHANGHAI CNDER THE REBELS 61

residents, Chin Alin. Among the petty chiefs,
figured a rich woman who herself equipped and
led a gang out of revenge for an injustice whereby
the mandarins had bereft her of a relative. The
insurgents all obeyed the law of the Triad Society
implicitly. They were gaudily dressed and wore
their long unshaven hair tied up in a knot after
the ancient Chinese fashion as a token of their
hatred for the Manchus. For an insignia they
wore red sashes and turbans, whence their
designation of Hung Tou. In their proclamations
they announced the revival of the Ming dynasty,
declared adherence to the Taipings and promised
immunity to foreigners. Lew, the chieftain, even
made a state visit to various consuls and was most
friendly to foreigners in general.

In the absence of recognised authorities, the
British and American consuls announced the
adoption of provisional rules for clearing ships
irrespective of the Chinese custom-house ; and the
North China Herald pointed to the excellent
opportunity for rendering Shanghai a freeport
and leaving to Chinese merchants the onus of
arranging duties with their venal authorities.

It was not long before mandarins with war
junks and troops flocked to Shanghai. A fleet of
Ningpo junks, after repeated repulse, made a
supreme effort and in fine style boarded and with

62 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

stink-pots set ablaze two armed foreign vessels
owned by the insurgents, and next destroyed a
commanding battery on the riverside, where a con-
flagration swept away the whole suburb, whence
more refugees crowded into the settlement. To
the west, imperial troops pitched their camp and
delivered assault after assault upon the north gate,
stubbornly defended in spite of fire arrows which
passed like a shower of meteors. The insurgents
in turn razed the northern suburb, which afforded
shelter to the besieging army.

There were successful ruses on both sides.
The east gate was left open, and a musician on the
rampart lured the imperialists singing "Oh come
along, the soldiers have all fled !" Entering, the
imperialists rushed up the street, when the gate
was closed and the insurgents, raking the street
with their guns, wrought havoc among the flying
dupes. On the other hand an old woman enticed
insurgents into her opium den, where in the midst
of their bliss an armed party sprang upon them
giving no quarter.

A remarkable feature in the siege was that
from under the creek the city walls were mined in
various directions, underground water being
ingeniously welled and drained by means of chain
pumps at a heavy cost in lives. When discovered
these works were flooded with chain pumps, too,

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 63

from within. On other occasions the insurgents
drove back the sappers, capturing large quantities
of gunpowder. Yet, six breaches were effected by
the mines ; but they were staunchly defended, and
the besiegers suffered heavily whenever they
attempted to carry the walls by storm. Once some
Cantonese braves rushed over the moat on to a
breach in the rampart, but the rest of the troops
were such arrant poltroons that they instantly
removed the bridge thrown over and ran away,
leaving their comrades to expiate their gallant
dash ! The south gate was so well mined that
huge rents were made in the wall, whereupon the
defenders raised breastworks whence they checked
every onset with deadly effect. To no purpose the
besiegers constructed earthworks as high and even
higher than the ramparts, and tower-like scaffold-
ings with inclined planes for storming purposes,
and pitfalls bristling with spikes. The insurgents,
who numbered but three thousand strong, not
only repulsed every attack, but in their sorties des-
troyed isolated camps, retreating only when large
forces were mustered against them.*

In the midst of their triumphs the insurgents
experienced a deep humiliation at the hands of the
French, who had no sympathy for their cause.

*One of the best accounts of the siege is to be found in Scarth's
Twelve Years in China.

64 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

On the 2lst December 1853 two native catechists
of the French mission were arrested by Fokien
insurgents, tortured in the presence of their chief,
and condemned to have their hearts plucked out — a
human heart being actually shown them. On being
apprised of this, Monseigneur Maresca sent a
priest to demand their release, which he secured
on the threat of having them rescued by the force
of arms. As a reparation for the outrage, Consul
Edan then demanded that the Fokien chief should
be brought to the French consulate and punished
with fifty blows at the foot of the flagstaff, in
default of which, on the 26th at noon, the French
naval force would open fire upon the city. In
dismay several British residents urged Consul
Alcock to use his kind offices with the view of
preventing, if possible, matters being carried too
far, to the peril of the settlement. Under a French
escort the Fokien chief was at the appointed hour
brought before Consul Edan and Admiral Laguerre
at the foot of the flagstaff and severely admonished.
On acknowledging his guilt, he received a free
pardon with due warning as to the future, and after
kowtowing to the consul he was escorted back to
the city with his officers.

One of the most thrilling episodes of the period
was in connection with the seizure of a lot of silk
by the insurgents. To recover it, Mr. Wetmcre

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 65

ventured into Lew's headquarters accompanied
solely by a friend with a gang of coolies. It being
nightfall, the den was lit up by torches, whose
luried flare added a weird touch to the sullen
horde gathered there around the chieftain, a wan
and haggard opium-smoker, with a sinister and
nonchalant air which augured ill for the venture.
Having listened with indifference to the claim put
forth, Lew briefly refused to comply; and this
attitude manifestly pleased the villainous-looking
crowd. When told then that the case was to be
laid before the consul, Lew simply replied "My no
fear that American consul." But he did not relish
at all a hint as to joint action on the part of the
consular corps. So he issued orders to restore the
silk, which was forthwith produced amidst the
fierce scowls of his retinue ; and to guard against
contingencies on the way, he furnished an escort
to conduct the party quietly back to the north
gate. Out of all danger, the coolies began their
hee-haw, which after the uncanny adventure
sounded with unwonted cadence and cheer in the
stillness of night. The pluck and tact displayed
by Mr. Wetmore had a most salutary effect, there
being no further seizure of foreign property on
record since the incident, which happened shortly
after the capture of the city. By another daring
feat, supported by the American consular and naval

Ob HISTORIC SHANGHAI

authorities, Mr. Wetmore saved his compradore
from execution by the imperialists.*

Prior to this, several British firms in a
representation to the plenipotentiary dated 7th
July 1853 iaid stress on the insecurity of property
at Shanghai, where goods were accumulating,
trade being almost at a standstill. In his reply,
Sir George Bonham expressed surprise that steps
should not have been taken to remove the
property at stake to Hongkong or some other
place of safety.

On capturing the city, the insurgents compelled
all able-bodied men to enlist in their service;
but some of them managed to escape into the
settlement. On the other hand, the imperialists
kept a close watch there, waylaid even supposed
native partisans of the insurgents, and summarily
decapitated them at the headquarters on Soochow
Creek. Thus many natives in the settlement
were in constant terror of being visited with the
vengeance of either insurgents or imperialists.

To make matters worse, among the refugees,
herded in squalid shanties there were many of
questionable character who added another element
of danger to the settlement, then without a police
force, and insufficiently patrolled by naval parties ;
so that the community laboured under constant

* See his Recollections of Life in the Far East.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 67

apprehension of incendiarism as well as incursion
from both belligerents.

Hardly a day passed without some engagement,
usually early in the morning and at night ; and
amidst the booming cannonade intense excitement
prevailed in the settlement, where sometimes the
demoniac yells of the combatants could be heard,
while shots fired from the north wall fell at the
Foochow and Honan Roads damaging property
and imperilling lives in several instances of hair-
breadth escape.

In the midst of these dilemmas, the position of
foreigners was critical indeed, residing as they did
on Chinese soil, with immense interests at stake,
which the imperialists could not well protect. As
defined by Consul Alcock at a public meeting,
there were but two courses open : to defend the
settlement on the basis of an armed neutrality or
to haul down the consular flags and leave to the
community the alternative of quitting the place or
remaining at its own risk. It was resolved to
-defend the settlement as this involved no sacrifice
■of property and commercial interests. But dictated
solely by the law of self-preservation, the situation
was untenable from the standpoint of international
law, still more so when at the head of the troops
appeared the constituted authorities, before whom
a foreign force on Chinese soil assumed a false

68 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

position, though more needed now than ever for
self-defence.

The situation was aggravated by the friendly-
disposition shown by foreigners towards the
insurgents, in whose favour the neutrality was
openly violated, even as to the supply of arms and
ammunition. This the imperialists manifestly
resented, and the outcome was a series of outrages
by the reckless soldiery. On one occasion they
crept into the settlement at dusk to seize some
guns which were being removed from a godown,
but volunteers came to the rescue and in concert
with a naval picket drove them back — an incident
which exasperated the taotai, who shortly after
went so far as to demand a list of British residents
and their native servants for an inquiry.

The encampment of some twenty thousand
imperialists extended from Tongkadu along the
city walls up the western bank of Defence Creek
on to the headquarters at Soochow Creek near the
stone bridge. At that epoch the settlement was
built up to Honan Road, and on the open country
westward the race-course faced an imperialist
camp on the other side of Defence Creek, whence
foreigners were often insulted with impunity.

On the afternoon of 3rd April 1854, several
parties were set upon by the lawless soldiery let
loose there. A gentleman escorting a iady was

H
W

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 69

badly wounded with swords and spears, their
escape being almost miraculous. This outrage
roused the chivalrous indignation of the community,,
and with another on Dr. Medhurst, who was mobbed
while riding, led to instant reprisal.

While the naval commanders were being
communicated with, a picket of eight men with an
officer, on reaching the scene of the outrage, found
the western part of the settlement in possession of
the imperialists, who fired upon every foreigner
coming within view. Several volunteers joined the
picket, and from a mound at the present site of
Lloyd Road they exchanged shots with the
imperialists, who in overwhelming numbers moved
forward with the evident purpose of cutting off a
retreat. In this they would have succeeded but for
the timely approach of a detachment of bluejackets
and marines with Consul Alcock, followed by
American volunteers, who brought a howitzer,
whereupon the imperialists withdrew towards head-
quarters. The camp was then shelled until night-
fall, when the force returned to the settlement.

Late in the evening Consul Alcock received a
note from Wu Taotai : it acknowledged lack of
discipline among the troops, and promised to have,
the culprits punished.

In a brief semi-official despatch sent on the
spur of the moment to Keih, the provincial judge.

70 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

acting as special commissioner, Consul Alcock
demanded the immediate removal of the camp,
failing which, at four o'clock on the following
afternoon, steps would be taken to enforce this
measure as a duty imposed upon foreigners in
self-defence ; and it was declared,1 too, that as
security against further aggression on the part of
the troops, the naval officer in command would
hold the imperial fleet mustered close to the
entrance to the Soochow Creek.

Early on the 4th, however, the fleet in fine
style sailed up the creek notwithstanding a
brisk fire from H.M.S. Encounter, moored abreast
of the P. & O. jetty to guard that waterway.

In the forenoon the consuls and naval
commanders met and approved the action of
Consul Alcock, whereupon an official despatch
was sent to Keih confirming the previous demand
and exposing the situation in due form.

Business was entirely suspended for the day;
and an hour before the appointed time the naval
forces, the volunteers, and all able-bodied men,
including seamen from trading vessels, mustered
before the cathedral. At half past three the force
marched up Nanking Road with rattling drums
and flying colours. Under Captain O'Callaghan
of the Encounter, accompanied by Consul Alcock,
went the bluejackets of the Encounter, and Grecian

Native City

North

a

Gate

A

First American Position

A

Second do. do.

■

British Position

do. Devour

cs

Imperialist Trenches

■ — do. Line of Retreat

Ul ILI

Ul do. Fleet

• •

4 Rebels

After the Diagram given in Wetmore's Recollection of JAfe in the Far EaM.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 71

with a field-piece, and the volunteers led by Vice-
Consul Wade, altogether about two hundred men.
Captain Kelly, of U.S.S. Plymouth, and Consul
Murphy followed with the American detachment
of sailors and marines with one gun, and volun-
teers and seamen with two howitzers, in all about
one hundred men.

A halt was made near the race-course pending
a reply from the special commissioner. A courier
soon brought it : Keih alleged that strict orders
had been given to have the delinquents punished,
but attributed the outrage to vagrants, not to
soldiers. The camp, he pointed, stood on Chinese
soil. He deprecated a precipitate resort to arms,
and promising measures to prevent a recurrence
of disturbances, he proposed an interview to
this effect.

For a reply, the force received orders to move
forward ; and precisely at four o'clock the action
began. There was no concerted plan of operation
between the British and American detachments.
Turning to the left, the Americans crossed the
race-course, and under cover of several grave
mounds near the junction of the Yang-king-pang
and Defence Creek, shelled and skirmished right
in front of the camp, where countless banners gaily
fluttered as if on a fete day ; but no troops were
to be seen at the trenches. Eager to reach the

IZ HISTORIC SHANGHAI

camp first, the American commander ordered a
charge, — followed by a halt as the creek was
reached, there being in that direction no means
of crossing its four feet of mud and water. In face
of a deadly fire the detachment once more went
under cover of the mounds before re-crossing the
race-course to join the main force.

Meanwhile the British force went straight on,
shelled the camp, and crossing a bridge to the
right the main naval force with the volunteers by a
bold detour flanked the retreating enemy, and after
an effective fire took the camp from the rear.

Hardly had the action begun when to the
south of Yang-king-pang the expanse of grave
mounds was observed to be studded with moving red
dots, and it soon became evident that red-turbaned
insurgents were rapidly advancing towards the
camp, waving their swords and flags and dis-
charging their muskets as yelling they bounded
from mound to mound until they stood flank to
flank with the American position on the other side
of the creek.

All banners now vanished from the camp, and
the imperialists, estimated at ten thousand, were
soon in full retreat towards the Soochow Creek,
whence the junks fired several broadsides of
shotted guns which swept the ground as far as the
American position. The imperialists are said to

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 73

have lost three hundred men, and left ten guns as
well as numerous jingals at the camp, which was
forthwith destroyed, while the insurgents made for
the camps to the south.

The casualties among the British and American
forces amounted to two killed and fifteen wounded
— one killed in each detachment, eight wounded
among the British and seven among the Americans,
three of the latter being volunteers, of whom
two succumbed soon after and the other was
maimed for life.*

A correspondent in the North China Herald of
15th April 1854 affirms that when the Americans
stood fifty yards from the camp, "the imperialists
showed themselves above the breastworks and
delivered a fire which would have done honour to
European arms."

In one of the most graphic accounts of the
fray, a member of the Defence Committee, Mr.
Wetmore, who as an American volunteer was at
the scene of action on both days, ventures to
surmise, however, that most of the casualties might
be due to the cross-fire of the detachments. The
imperialists are said to have been less in evidence
on the second than on the first day ; and the easy

*Mr. G. G. Gray, of Russell & Co., Mr. J. E. Brine and Captain
Pearson of the American ship Rose Standish, who both succumbed,
were accorded full military honours — even the insurgents firing a
salute of three sruns at the funeral, from their east gate battery.

74 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

victory is mainly attributed to the simultaneous
advance of the insurgents in large numbers.*

Such was the so-called battle of Muddy-
Flat — an unaccountable misnomer inasmuch as the
action took place on perfectly dry ground.

The fray over, Consul Alcock sent his reply to
Keih. He saw no cause for regret at having been
constrained to act, as it was high time the soldiery
were taught that there was no measure necessary
for the safety of foreigners that would not be
undertaken, and that what they undertook they
were prepared to accomplish. They had no desire
for further bloodshed but would brook no encamp-
ment being re-established at the race-course.

The imperialists vowed revenge. Amidst con-
siderable misapprehensions the consuls issued on
the 15th a proclamation setting forth the whole
case and justifying their attitude in face of the
indifference shown by the Chinese authorities to
all representations concerning a series of outrages
by the lawless soldiery.

On the other hand, in a despatch to Captain
O'Callaghan dated April 28tht Rear-Admiral
Sir James Stirling pointed out that acts of hostility
against the forces of a state not only at peace with
the Crown, but towards whom the utmost

* W. S. Wetmore's Recollections of Life in the Far East, pp. 9-10.
t Reproduced in the Norlh-Qiim Herald of 26th August 1854.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 75

consideration was enjoined, could not be justified
on the ground of being recommended or called for
by any consular officer, the only justification in
this instance being the immediate and unavoidable
necessities of the situation.

Whilst the British plenipotentiary and naval
commander-in-chief discussed with the American
minister the serious question involved in the
collision with imperial troops, another conflict was
avoided only through undue forbearance. In the
course of a sharp encounter between the imperialists
and insurgents on the 2lst of June, a naval picket
at the race-course, while trying to prevent the
imperialists from crossing the Defence Creek and
carrying on the action within the settlement, was
repeatedly fired upon by them, not however with-
out returning the compliment. To prevent further
complications, Captain O'Callaghan, who happened
to be on the spot, ordered the picket to withdraw — a
movement which called forth a more vigorous fire,
fortunately unattended by any casualty. For this
outrage full satisfaction was obtained from the
Chinese authorities in the form of an apology.

Shortly after, on July nth, while inaugurating
the municipal council, Consul Alcock set forth
certain startling views expressed by the naval
commander-in-chief, Sir James Stirling, in a memo-
randum concerning defensive measures: that the

76 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

protection of the settlement rested properly with the
Chinese authorities, and failing them with the com-
munity itself; that no other party had either the right
or the power to act except in aid ; and it was further
pointed out that naval aid might be expected on
emergencies, but not for the occupation of Chinese
territory and exercise of martial law on Chinese
subjects, nor for permanent patrol or police duties,
which were open to the most serious objections.

These views, which called forth galling
strictures from the community so thoroughly anti-
imperialist, gathered further significance in face of
the subsequent utterance of the French commander-
in-chief when, consequent upon the outbreak of
hostilities with the insurgents, he proclaimed the
city in a state of siege; in his note of 14th
December 1854, to the French consul, Admiral
Laguerre remarked that the obstinate resistance on
the part of the insurgents was due to foreign
instigation, and it was desirable that British and
American residents should be duly warned of the
danger they incurred in continuing their relations
with the besieged.

Consul Edan, in his note of the 13th to Consul
Alcock, expressed the hope that the British naval
commander would at least put an end to the scandal
of supplies being furnished to the besieged
insurgents under the aegis of the British flag and

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS il

in the very presence of an outpost. Thereupon
Captain O'Callaghan, as senior naval officer,
reiterated Rear-Admiral Stirling's declarations,
and announced not only the withdrawal of the
outpost but the reduction of the naval force in port.

At a public meeting held on the 16th, Consul
Alcock pointed to the absolute need of a strict
neutrality, and animadverted on the settlement
being converted into an open market for pillaged
goods from the city and for the purchase of
provisions and munitions of war to an extent which
justified the frequent reproach of Chinese officials ;
while the desolating strife was protracted through
the moral and material support derived by the
insurgents from the so-called neutral settlement — a
disgrace, a reproach which could not be suffered to
continue, because on the one hand the imperial
government would no longer tolerate such a state of
affairs, and on the other an allied power had within
the rights of war demanded the observance of a
true neutrality ; and moreover such disregard of in-
ternational law and treaty obligations jeopardised
the safety of the community as well as the pros-
pective interests of Western powers.

The imperialists meanwhile carried on their
operations with unusual vigour. On the night of
December 3rd they opened a heavy fire upon the
city with shells and red-hot shots from a battery to

78 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

the north-west, from the south side, as well as from
Pootung, the cannonade being kept up by both
parties till daylight. On the 5th, the insurgents
made a sortie to the north-west, but were repulsed ;
and on the 7th after a stubborn encounter, they
retreated with the loss of a leader. But they
succeeded in repairing Taylor's Bridge * and in
demolishing part of a wall which was being built
by the imperialists along the northern bank of the
Yang-king-pang to cut off their supplies from the
settlement. Having thus restored communication
in face of the British outpost, the insurgents
proceeded to raise a battery — near where Rue
Tourane now is — to cover their sorties in that
direction from the north gate.

Admiral Laguerre now found the longed-for
casus belli. On the 6th, he ordered the battery to
be demolished, failing which he would resort to
arms. As soon as this became known, a deputation
hastened to expose to Consul Alcock how injurious
the meditated action might prove to British property
by drawing the insurgents' fire upon the settlement.
Admiral Laguerre's orders being ignored, a landing
party from the Colbert proceeded to destroy the
battery, with the result that several insurgents were
killed and two French sailors wounded, one mortally.

* Close to the present bridge between Fokien Road and Rue
Tourane.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 79

Thereupon the admiral proclaimed the siege,
anyone approaching the city being instantly shot
down. The Colbert next opened fire upon the
city; and under cover of a dense fog a landing
party captured a battery on the riverside, killing
every one of the gunners and spiking the guns.
Again the city was shelled by the Jeanne (V Arc
and Colbert; but in spite of a crashing fire the
insurgents defied the besiegers to dislodge them
from the city.

The admiral now resolved to breach and storm
the rampart. Close to the present site of St.
Joseph's Church, and within a hundred yards from
the city wall, a battery of 32-pounders was planted
under cover of a constant fusillade ; and a breach
having been effected, a combined assault was
delivered by the French and imperialists on the
morning of 6th January 1855. The French force
consisted of four hundred marines and sailors, of
whom two hundred and fifty were told off for the
storming party. From the camp came some fifteen
hundred imperialists, all wearing a blue sash so
that they might be recognisable in the fray.

The insurgents on the other hand prepared for
the worst. Opposite the breach they placed a
heavy gun charged up to the muzzle with grape-
shot. Behind this stood a masked battery, while
the adjoining buildings were loop-holed and very

80 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

effectively adapted for an inner line of defence,
among these buildings being the establishment
which served as the artillery's quarters during the
British occupation.

Under cover of La Jeanne a" Arc and Colbert's
guns, the storming party dashed forward and
scaling the breach met with a deadly fire.
Lieutenant Durun, Ensigii Petit, and three of
their men were killed right away, and several
other officers and men wounded. Yet, planting
the tricolour on the rampart, a detachment rushed
along and cleared the way up to the north gate,
which was forthwith opened for the imperialists.
From the narrow street leading to that gate the
insurgents made a desperate charge, which the
French repelled with a brisk fire and a howitzer
they brought ; it burst after the third shot. But
though now reduced to musket fire only, that handful
of men held their ground and repulsed a stubborn
attempt to bring guns to the front. From the
inner line of defence the sheltered insurgents
kept up a telling fire from which scarcely one
French officer escaped.

The imperialists proved of no avail. Spread
along the wall and streets, some threw down their
muskets, and with their short-swords proceeded to
behead old men, women and even corpses ; and
one, holding up a head, displayed this ghastly

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 81

trophy to the French, who shot down some of
these wretches to check further atrocities. The
very war-cry of the insurgents struck terror among
the imperialists. In vain the French sought to rally
them; they even fired at their chivalrous leaders;
while over the ramparts the insurgents hurled down
huddled masses of the cowardly, barbarous horde.

For over three hours the breach was the
scene of desperate fighting until the French found
their ammunition exhausted and the imperialists
completely demoralised. Yet the French made
good use of their bayonets before they withdrew
sadder and wiser for the unavailing feat of arms,
which cost them dearly— the casualties being two
officers killed and four wounded, seven men killed
and thirty-two wounded.

Allies of the French in Crimea at that time,
the Britons stood aloof from them at Shanghai ;
but Consul Alcock was heart and soul with them
at that historical moment, and even went up the
breach towards the end of the struggle.

In the only local paper of those days there
was morbid criticism, amidst which, however, there
appeared a fine homage for the dead heroes :
"They mounted the breach as soldiers of France
are wont to do, and vindicated in their death the
ancient prestige of their country's chivalry. All
tribute to their courage ! "

82 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The insurgents, sheltered as they were, suffered
comparatively little, while the imperialists perished
by the hundred ; and after the fray the insurgents
proceeded to heap the dead imperialists in a
temple, which was then set on fire.

The fate of the insurgents, however, was now-
sealed. The siege was closely maintained by the
French and imperialists; and ere long it grew
evident that the beleaguered city was being
reduced to extremity. All its supplies being cut
off, Keih, now provincial governor, first sought to
exhaust the insurgents' stock of gunpowder, and
accordingly daily feints were made, the insurgents
replying with their artillery, on which they relied
most. Among the prowess of the imperialists
reported by Keih in a despatch to the throne,
it is related that on February 13th a report
reached him that the insurgents projected an
onset from Taylor's Bridge for the purpose of
rifling the foreign settlements, whereupon the
imperialists were put on the alert, so that at
daybreak on the 14th they repelled a large body
moving in that direction.""" As the insurgents
now used muskets only, Keih concluded it was
time to order a general assault. Anyhow, on the

*See Governor Keih's despatch to the emperor on the
downfall of the insurgents, in the North China Herald of 10th
March 1855. The despatch is said to have gone at the rate of
two hundred miles a day by special couriers.

SHANGHAI UNDER THE REBELS 83

night of 17th February 1855 — the eve of the
Chinese New Year— the insurgents made their final
sortie in the midst of a terrific conflagration.

The imperialists, who attributed the flight to a
dexterous onset of theirs, immediately regained the
ravaged city, which, alas, ceased not to be a scene
of horrors, being, like the suburbs, strewn all over
with mutilated corpses amidst pools of blood. Many
of the insurgents found shelter in the settlement,
while those who surrendered to the French admiral
were handed over to the Chinese authorities,
whose excesses, like those of the insurgents toward
them, knew no bounds. Some of the horde having
been found concealed in coffins, the mandarins
ordered all unburied coffins to be opened and
the corpses decapitated. Dreadful must have been
the fate of the inhabitants, for, compelled by the
insurgents to grow their hair like them, inoffensive
people were hardly distinguishable in the reign of
terror which followed the entry of the imperialists.

Lew, the chieftain, fled in the direction of
Sikawei, but is said to have been captured after
desperate resistance and beheaded with some of
his retinue at Hungkiao. The most redoubtable
among the leaders, Chin Alin, managed to escape
with the help of a foreign merchant.* Weeks

*From Hongkong he tried in vain, through foreign agency,
to acquire a piece of land at Shanghai, where, lie alleged, lav
buried a hundred thousand dollars at a spot known only to himself.
Sir Rutherford Alcock's Capital of the Tycoon, Vol. I., p. 33.

8-i HISTORIC SHANGHAI

after the fall of the city, insurgents were still being
hunted out of their hiding places and dragged to
execution ; and even women suspected of being
wives of insurgents were condemned to harrowing
tortures and lingering death; whilst in celebration
of the recovery of the city, Governor Keih invited
the foreign officials and naval officers to a sumptuous
lunch, at which British officials were conspicuous
by their absence.

In ruins and desolation, the ensanguined city
stood as a monument of perversity, for it cannot be
gainsaid that the terrible calamity and thousands
of lives might have been spared if, in response to
the timely appeals, the threatened city had been
placed under foreign protection.* But the fateful
policy or rather impolicy of non-intervention,
eventually turned in favour of desperadoes,
brought bloodshed and untold miseries to the very
threshold of the settlement, leaving upon its
escutcheon a blot which only the chivalry of
Gordon succeeded in effacing.

*"A11 this misery and destruction of property could have been
prevented by two men, Sir George Bonham and Mr. Humphrey
Marshall," writes a plain-spoken American resident of the British
and American ministers, whose " mutual jealousy and personal
dislike broke up the intention, which had become so nearly an
agreement, that the papers were drawn up, approved and only
awaited signature." R. B. Forbes: Personal Reminiscences, p. 362.

n s

CHAPTER IV.

Fiscal Reform and Municipal
Shortcomings.

THE Taiping rebels had scarcely captured Nanking
when a commercial panic ensued at Shanghai ; and
consequent upon the withdrawal of native capital,
trade was for some time at a standstill. While the
British plenipotentiary turned a deaf ear to the
appeals of Chinese officials for naval aid to check
the rebels, British import merchants, who suffered
most from the stagnation, found a grievance in the
helplessness of the Chinese government, which,
they pointed out, placed them in a novel position
quite unprovided for in the treaty. On the ground
that they should not suffer for Chinese incapacity
to cope with the rebellion, they sought, as a relief,
temporary exemption from cash payment of custom
duties on their accumulating stock of goods until
such time as a revival of business placed them on
easier circumstances, — in other words, they
advocated the bonded warehouse system, which

86 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Captain Balfour had vainly tried to establish. To
this Consul Alcock acceded on his own responsi-
bility; and in less than three months the duties in
arrear amounted to a hundred and sixty-eight
thousand taels, which the Chinese government
claimed, pressed as it was for funds to meet the
exigencies of the rebellion. On the other hand,
Sir George Bonham, as chief superintendent of
trade, declined to sanction the measure adopted by
Consul Alcock ; when appealed to by thirteen firms,
he contended that, however affected in their
interests, British merchants had no right to demand
the abrogation of one of the principal treaty
stipulations because China was then embroiled
in a civil war. Vainly the merchants pointed out in
reply that their aim had been misunderstood. Sir
George Bonham with scant courtesy reiterated his
inability to withhold the deferred duties, remarking
that nowhere but in China would such an attempt
be entertained.

In those days Shanghai was to a serious extent
a smuggling centre ; and the custom-house on the
Bund, as everywhere in China, was notorious for
the venality of its officials, which placed respectable
merchants at a disadvantage in face of their
unscrupulous rivals — a state of affairs which
Consul Alcock was determined to see ameliorated.
His opportunity soon came when the local

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS bi

insurgents, after capturing the city, pillaged and
wrecked the custom-house in question.

The situation then assumed a peculiar phase.
All native authorities being locally overthrown,
the foreign mercantile community regarded the
treaty as then in abeyance, inasmuch as there were
no officials to carry out its stipulations ; and it was
argued that where no custom-house existed there
could be no obligation to observe its rules and pay
its duties. Nevertheless, in his notification of the
9th September 1853, Consul Alcock declared that
the capture of a port could in no way abrogate a
solemn treaty with the empire ; that the treaty
obligations remained binding in spite of one of the
contracting parties being for the time incapacitated
from giving full effect thereto ; and that this
incapacity, arising as it did from that contracting
party being beset by calamities, was no reason
why its rights should be ignored, but on the
contrary constituted the strongest argument for the
honest recognition of such rights. It was hoped
that by this recognition no undue disadvantage
would be entailed on British trade through
dissentient proceedings on the part of other
consular authorities as to treaty obligation in face
of measures calculated to reconcile the rights of
one party with the trade of the other.

88 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

On this equitable basis Consul Alcock
announced provisional rules for clearing ships in
the absence of Chinese customs officials, the
amounts shown to be due on imports and exports
to be paid into the British Consulate either in silver
or in promissory notes, subject to the approval of
the British government.

Similar measures were adopted by Mr.
Cunningham, the American vice-consul. But
unlike him, several other consular representatives,
who were at the same time merchants, evidently
consulted their own interests in withholding their
support, and following the lead of Consul Edan,
who declared that he held himself at liberty to
clear French ships free of duty in the absence of
a regularly constituted custom-house with the
usual guarantee for the observance of treaty
stipulations.

In vain the taotai sought to establish a
customs-station first amidst the debris of the
establishment, at the Bund, then on board a
war-junk ; and to little purpose he succeeded in
locating a custom-house on the north side
of Soochow Creek. While Danish, Hamburg,
Prussian, Austrian, Spanish and Siamese vessels
were exempted from duty by their consuls, British
merchants contended that Consul Alcock had no
authority either from the British or Chinese

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS &9

government to act as he did; and their formal
protests against his measures were refused or
returned. At the same time British and American
firms shipped their silk and tea fromWusung in order
to enjoy immunity from the vicarious fiscal system.

The taotai was now content with half duties,
and sometimes with a mere douceur ; while contrary
to treaty stipulations, inland customs-stations
levied duties on goods for exportation without any
control whatsoever. Under these circumstances
Colonel Marshall, the American minister, declared
Shanghai a free port for American ships as long
as other vessels were exempted from duty. Thus,
Consul Alcock, too, could not but discard the
provisional regime but five months after its
promulgation, since it entailed undue hardship on
British trade alone.

On the other hand, the promissory notes thus
far collected being unpaid, the Chinese authorities
laid their claim in the hands of Sir John Bowring,
the new plenipotentiary. To him, too, thirty firms
addressed a strongly-worded representation on the
subject, alluding to the attitude of Consul Alcock
in far from complimentary terms. The plenipo-
tentiary, in a reply no less trenchant, expressed his
sense of pain at the weight and respectability of
the signatures attached to such a communication ;
he pointed out that the successful evasion of duties

90 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

by any unscrupulous person in no way released
Britist subjects from their treaty obligations; and
while vindicating the worthy consul, he confirmed
the measure which prompted the tirade against
him — that the consular court of Shanghai should
investigate and adjudicate the claims of the
Chinese government as to the arrears of duties.

Under instructions from the Foreign Office,
however, the promissory notes, to the value of a
million dollars, were eventually returned to the
merchants as not valid under the terms attached
thereto. Likewise the promissory notes given by
American firms were handed back to them by
Consul Murphy, less one third the value, amounting
to a hundred and eighteen thousand taels, awarded
by Minister McLane in settlement of the claims
presented by the Chinese government.

Meanwhile the native officials were in a
quandary. The taotai's attempt to station a
customs official at the wrecked establishment on
the Bund was repelled by the naval guard there as
an infraction of neutrality which exposed the
settlement to reprisals by the insurgents. The
location of the official on a war-junk served no-
purpose as shippers alleged they could not find the
vessel among the imperial fleet. The customs
office established on the Soochow Creek, though
officially recognised by the British, French and

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS £1

American consuls as in force since the 9th
February 1854, proved of little or no avail,
counteracted as it was by the freeport measures on
the part of the American and British authorities, so
that, two months after, Shanghai was virtually a
freeport, on the eve of a momentous fiscal reform.

From his despatches to the plenipotentiary it
appears that, notwithstanding serious difficulties,
Consul Alcock did not despair of evolving a
satisfactory arrangement out the chaotic state of
affairs by placing the Chinese customs under
foreign control so as to ensure integrity in the
administration. It was originally proposed to start
this new regime under the supervision of a
gentleman in the French consular service. But
after consulting Wu Taotai, Consuls Alcock,
Murphy and Edan resolved to nominate each a
delegate for the proposed foreign inspectorate, the
nominees being Mr. T. F. Wade of the British
consular staff, Mr. L. Carr of the American
diplomatic service, and Monsieur A. Smith, the last
named being the official originally proposed by
Consuls Alcock and Murphy.

This auspicious regime was formally estab-
lished on the I2th July 1854, at a godown on the
corner of Nanking and Kiangsi Roads.* From the

* At the present site of Brewer's establishment.

02 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

very outset the working of this triumvirate realised
every expectation. To the Chinese government
the outcome of foreign probity therein manifest
was nothing short of a revelation as to the past
corruption of native administration. Recalled to
his vice-consular duties, Mr. (afterwards Sir
Thomas) Wade was replaced by the official
interpreter, Mr. H. N. Lay, who received from the
Chinese government the appointment of inspector-
general with autocratic powers to control the
successful fiscal system.*

Thus arose at Shanghai the imperial maritime
customs, which under the subsequent masterly
guidance of Sir Robert Hart has constituted itself
the most telling Western leaven ever introduced
into the official administration of the empire— a
veritable imperium in imperio, of inestimable
benefit to the Chinese government as well as to the
foreign trade, not only in its fiscal but in its
financial and even diplomatic achievements.

Yet, at Shanghai one looks in vain for a statue,
for any memorial raised in honour of the originator
of this historical institution, who by a master-
stroke thus turned to advantage the calamitous

*It is noteworthy that from St. Petersburg the French
ambassador in 1801 reported a British proposal to farm the
maritime customs from the Chinese government for two hundred
million francs. See Cordier's Histoire det Relations de la Chine,
Vol. I., p. 160.

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 93

times amidst which China learnt by stern necessity
to set aside her anti-foreign prejudices.

Such was but part of the monumental work
of Sir Rutherford Alcock at Shanghai, for his
was the ruling spirit that, out of commotion and
chaos, evolved a municipal system, too, adequate to
the requirements of the times. Of broad views, of
imperious volition, Consul Alcock ill brooked the
unconventional ] land regulations dictated to his
predecessor by the taotai, the more so in face of
great changes which rendered a revision absolutely
necessary.

In concert with his American and French
colleagues, therefore, Consul Alcock framed a new
code of municipal regulations with the sanction of
the respective ministers as well as the cognisance
of Chinese officials ; and notwithstanding the
international differences so characteristic of
Shanghai, the three foreign settlements were
welded under the same municipal administration.

On the 5th July 1854 Consuls Alcock, Murphy
and Edan formally announced this auspicious
measure, placing at the same time the new code
in the hands of the foreign community. The
regulations consisted of but fourteen clauses
dealing with the boundaries of the settlement, the
mode of acquiring land, the final settlement and
title-deeds, deeds of agreement or sale, land

94 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

surrendered to public use, boundary stones, Chinese
land-tax, transfer of lots, extent of lots and usages
to which applied, roads, jetties, land assessment
and wharfage, foreign cemeteries and native
graves, sale of spirits, breach of regulations, and
revision thereof — based more or less upon the
previous land regulations, and completely divested
of all unconventional features.

At a public meeting held on July nth at the
British consulate and under the auspices of the
three consuls, the Committee of Roads and Jetties
was dissolved, and the new regime inaugurated by
Consul Alcock, the Municipal Council elected
consisting of Mr. W. Kay, Mr. E. Cunningham,.
Dr. W. H. Medhurst, Mr. D. O. King, Mr. C. A.
Fearon, Mr. J. Skinner and Mr. W. S. Brown.

In his inaugural address Consul Alcock dwelt
upon the imperative need of laws whereto the
whole foreign community should be equally
amenable, of some authority whereby the cosmo-
politan elements might be welded so as to ensure
unity in constitution, purpose and government.
No difficulty was to be apprehended on this point
so far as it concerned the British authorities, who
never regarded the settlement originally assigned
to British merchants together with any rights or
privileges there acquired by the government as a
means of excluding other foreigners therefrom. On

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 95

the contrary, such acquisition only tended to solve
by anticipation the difficulties since experienced
in connection with the exercise of a municipal
government over a cosmopolitan community owning
no particular sovereignty or jurisdiction collectively.
Though involving international considerations of
no small moment, the question was now solved in
a carefully digested code of land and municipal
regulations adapted to local requirements and
binding upon all foreigners alike. It expressly
ensured to the foreign community the right
of self-government and taxation, the means of
providing for its own security and welfare. The
views entertained by the consular representatives
in this respect could hardly be misapprehended
inasmuch as the pressing need for a municipality
arose from the impossibility by any exercise of
consular authority to provide permanently for the
security of the settlement without a municipal
constitution. There must be some organisation in
the shape of a representative council vested with
municipal authority in order that the community
might have a legal status as a body capable of
taking legal action and lending legal sanction to
measures necessary fcr its safeguard.

In face of the critical situation, with insurrec-
tion and civil strife at the threshold, with thousands
of refugees in the settlement, the functions of the

96 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

council, besides those of ordinary municipalities,
involved the protection of life and property from
sources of disquiet and danger within and without
the settlement, where a large native population bid
fair to dispute possession with foreigners for every
mow of land. One of the primary concerns of the
municipality would be the legalisation of measures
hitherto forced by stern necessity upon the naval
and civil authorities, but which could not be
justified on any principle of legality ; and foremost
among the pressing requirements was the organisa-
tion of a police force to meet the exigencies of the
situation, the more so in view of naval pickets
being no longer available for police duty.

As this would involve heavy outlay, it was but
equitable that the Chinese should contribute to the
revenue of the settlement. For this purpose it was
proposed that the assessment, instead of being as
hitherto on land and wharfage, should be made on
houses as well, hundreds of tenements having been
built to accommodate the refugees. Moreover,
foreign and native assessments on land only could
not be equitably carried out on the same basis.
The foreign community's holdings represented
some fifteen hundred mow with but a hundred and
fifty houses ; the Chinese owned at most two
hundred mow with no less than eight hundred

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 97

tenements. The foreign population numbered
about three hundred residents with their families ;
the Chinese — barely five hundred before the
insurrection — now exceeded twenty thousand,
including many wealthy families.

As estimated by the Municipal Council, * the
revenue for the year was expected to be twenty-five
thousand dollars — wharfage dues yielding fourteen
thousand, taxes on foreign and native-owned land
and houses representing the balance in about equal
proportion ; while the expenditure in connection with
the police force absorbed over twenty thousand,
so that with less than five thousand for roads and
jetties, a loan was necessary for barracks to accom-
modate the force of two superintendents and
twenty-eight policemen — the subject of a haggling
squabble characterised by a captious spirit,
illiberal views, and crude notions as to municipal
responsibilities, at an epoch fraught with difficulties
and dangers which, as remarked by Consul Alcock,
the community for the most part happily ignored,
for the simple reason that the threatened injury
was averted.

How far the municipal regime answered the
worthy consul's expectations was shown by the pro-
ceedings at a public meeting held on November 24th,

* In Mr. Fearon's letter of 9th November 1854 to Consul Alcock.

98

HISTORIC SHANGHAI

when among other demands the council was
asked to render a full statement of accounts. In a
manly reply, Mr. Fearon, chairman of the council,
declined to comply with this unusual requisition
before the expiry of the term of office, although
prepared to furnish every requisite information as
to the council's intended proceedings. In face of
the want of confidence displayed, the council
offered to resign if desired ; but by a majority of
four votes only, they retained office notwithstanding
the opinion that they could not do so under a vote
of censure. *

Amidst the acrimonious discussions of the day
there was hardly any allusion to the serious question
of the council's indifference to the uncontrolled
influx of Chinese, attended as it was by recognised
evils of great magnitude. From a purely foreign
reservation, the settlement became a native Alsatia,
the southern portion being blocked with abominably
overcrowded and filthy hovels, fraught with the
danger of fire and pestilence, rife with brothels,
opium shops, and gambling dens.

To the consuls' representations on this subject
the taotai replied that, according to the original
land regulations, native domicile was interdicted
within the settlement ; now, however, tenements

* Messrs. Kay, Cunningham, Fearon and Skinner resigned
before the term of office was over.

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 99

were built by foreigners to accommodate natives,
regardless even of the risk incurred in harbouring
people of bad character indiscriminately, and of the
difficulties this unregulated state of affairs would
entail in criminal cases.

After deliberating with the consuls, the
taotai issued a proclamation prohibiting native
residence in the settlement, although there was no
such provision in the new land regulations. The
consuls, on the other hand, instructed the municipal
council as to the disposal of native tenements,
animadverting upon the illegality and impolicy
of departing from the original regulations in
this respect. The council, however, deemed such
matters beyond its control, and limited its action to
the suppression of brothels and gambling houses
and to the removal of structures blocking thorough-
fares. But soon even this ceased to be regarded as
a municipal concern, and the consuls were desired
by the council to communicate with the native
authorities for the removal of tenements and sur-
render of land required for the extension of roads.

Meanwhile the refugees showed no disposition
to shift, and foreigners continued to build
tenements for them, so that from the Yang-king-
pang the natives began to scatter themselves in
every direction about the settlement, without any
contr ol whatsoever.

100 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Under these circumstances Consul Alcock took
upon himself to make the necessary arrangements
for the removal of objectionable natives and
demolition of objectionable tenements, provisions
being at the same time made for legalising the
residence of such natives as the consuls and taotai
might deem fairly entitled thereto either from their
original occupation of land and houses or other
circumstances connected with their legitimate
interests and occupations.

To no purpose was legal notice to quit
repeatedly served by the native authorities on
the squatters at Yang-king-pang; and as a last
resort they were forcibly ejected from the
settlement by order of the district magistrate in
January 1855, and their tenements pulled down.
These stern measures, enforced in the inclemency
of winter, and with the usual Chinese disregard for
humanity, gave rise to a most bitter anti-foreign
placard calling upon the people to avenge the
outrageous proceedings of foreigners, to reduce their
buildings to ashes, and to exterminate them, that
the anger of all hearts might be appeased — although
it was through consular measures that native
proprietors obtained compensation from the
proceeds of their expropriated land and tenements.

As to the legalisation of native residents, the
taotai in a despatch dated 24th February 1855

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 101

submitted to the consuls the following regulations,
which were forthwith enforced : any native desirous
of acquiring land, of renting or building houses
within the settlement, must first furnish full
particulars concerning himself, the houses to be
built, and the use for which they were intended ;
and there being no objection on the part of the
consular and local authorities, he must enter into
securities in his own name if wealthy and of
sufficient standing, or otherwise in the person of
two wealthy householders, that he would keep the
name and age of every tenant duly registered at
the office of the local authority as well as upon a
board fixed over the door of his house, subject to a
penalty of fifty dollars for the first offence, and
the cancelment of his licence on a repetition
thereof; and further that he would conform to the
land regulations and contribute his share to any
general assessments.

Cumbersome as it was, the measure proved
abortive; and the evil it sought to remedy was
already past all hopes of redemption, save by an
iron hand, fostered as it was by foreign land-
renters themselves for vile interested motives, and
with a deplorable, cynical disregard of all civic
considerations, notwithstanding every effort on the
part of Sir Rutherford Alcock to prevent Chinese
domicile as a permanent source of danger and a

102 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

grievous deterioration of the settlement in all save
the immediate dollar value of landed property.

One of the most influential residents was
honest and outspoken enough to tell him the whole
truth in the course of a conversation : " No doubt
your anticipations of future evil have a certain
foundation, and, indeed, may be correct enough —
though something may be urged on the other side,
as to the advantages of having the Chinese
mingled with us, and departing from the old
Canton system of isolation — but upon the whole, I
agree with you. The day will probably come,
when those who may be here will see abundant
cause to regret what is now being done, in letting
and sub-letting to Chinese. But in what way am I
and my brother landholders and speculators
concerned in this ? You, as Her Majesty's consul,
are bound to look to national and permanent
interests — that is your business. But it is my
business to make a fortune with the least possible
loss of time, by letting my land to Chinese, and
building for them at thirty or forty per cent,
interest, if that is the best thing I can do with my
money. In two or three years at farthest, I hope to
realise a fortune and get away ; and what can it
matter to me, if all Shanghai disappear afterwards,
in fire or flood ? You must not expect men in my
situation to condemn themselves to years of

FISCAL REFORM AND MUNICIPAL SHORTCOMINGS 103

prolonged exile in an unhealthy climate for the
benefit of posterity. We are money-making,
practical men. Our business is to make money, as
much and as fast as we can — and for this end,
ail modes and means are good which the law
permits."*

No wonder that in its first report the municipal
council complained of the changing policy of the
consuls ; and such was the municipal farce that, on
the restoration of order through the downfall of
the insurgents, a public meeting was convened to
consider whether the municipal council and police
force should continue, with the result that the
small and inadequate number of constables was
reduced; while drainage and sanitation and all
public works remained for long neglected under
an inefficient administrative "-staff — all this in a
most flourishing commercial centre whose growth
astonished even those who had seen the rise of
Melbourne and San Francisco — a growth, however,
devoid of all aesthetic features and of many a
sweet blessing of modern life dear to the foreign
exiles there condemned to herd with squalid
natives promiscuously, to rue inconveniences which
did not exist even in the miserable factory days
■of Canton.

*Sir Rutherford Alcock's Capital of the Tycoon,Yo\. I., pp. 37-8.

CHAPTER V.

The Taipings at Shanghai.

AFTER the capture of Nanking, dissensions arose
among the rebel leaders, whose rivalry and feud
proved almost fatal to their common cause. The
imperialists on the other hand succeeded in foiling
a projected descent on Peking ; and from the
northern provinces the rebels, though reinforced,
effected a disastrous retreat. Badly equipped as
the hordes were then, a crushing blow might have
been dealt if the Manchu army had been concen-
trated upon the rebel stronghold at Nanking. But
instead of following up its success in the north, the
imperial government was impolitic enough to bring
on the war with England and France, which utterly
disorganised the army, with the result that the
rebels regained their ascendancy, and in the spring
of i860, breaking through an ineffectual siege at
Nanking, advanced upon Soochow under the
masterly lead of Chung Wang, who looked forward
to Shanghai for munitions of war as well as a fleet
of steamers.

^

THE TAIPIXGS AT SHANGHAI 105

Such was the plight of the provincial
government that Ho Kwei-tsing, the viceroy,
ventured upon a course which, to a Chinese official,
implied nothing short of self-sacrifice. He
memorialised the throne as to the expediency of
suing for peace with the Allied Powers, so that
the imperial forces might be employed to check the
rebels ; and while seeking to mediate on behalf of
his government, Ho made a vain appeal to the
British minister then at Shanghai. He pointed to
the friendly relations between foreigners and
natives in Kiangsu, and to the commercial interests
centred there, as reasons why the welfare of the
province should be of mutual concern ; and in view
of the Allied forces then concentrating at Shanghai
for action in the north, he went so far as to urge
that they should rather be set against the rebels
as a common foe. But his efforts to save the
fair province cost his life: Ho was recalled in
disgrace and executed ; while the imperialists in
great numbers joined the rebel camp.

In concert with M. de Bourboulon, the French
minister, the Hon. Mr. ( afterwards Sir ) Frederick
Bruce acceded to Wu Taotai's appeal for the
protection of Shanghai, it being proclaimed on the
26th May i860 that measures would be taken to
ensure the safety of the city against any attack.

106 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

On the other hand Mr. Bruce declined a
proposal from General de Montauban to detach
an Anglo-French contingent for the defence of
Soochow."* Unopposed in spite of the imposing
battlements, Chung Wang's army took possession
of the famous city, whose inhabitants perished by
hundreds of thousand amidst appalling scenes.

Swarming with refugees from Soochow, and
imperilled from within by an influx of desperate
characters, Shanghai prepared for the worst, when
after the departure of the main Allied forces for
Taku, the Taipings openly declared that they
meant to take advantage of this seasonable
opportunity for advancing upon Shanghai ; and in
this they were encouraged by certain foreign
visitors to Soochow, who led them to imagine
that they might look forward to the possession of
Shanghai, too, and the conclusion of a treaty with
them as the rulers of China.

No wonder, then, that in a letter addressed to
the foreign ministers, Chung Wang announced
that his army was about to start for Shanghai, and
enjoined foreigners there to display yellow flags at
their houses so as to ensure immunity at the hands
of his soldiers pending his arrival.

*See his despatch of 10th June 1860 to the Foreign Office,
Blue Book on China (1861), p. 65.

THE TA1PINGS AT SHANGHAI 107

Sooner than this message came the rebels
themselves, whose approach took Shanghai by
surprise, as from information received they were
expected a fortnight later. On the 17th August
i860, however, their close proximity was revealed
by an ominous clue — to the west the horizon grew
dark with the smoke of burning villages. Establish-
ing his headquarters at Sikawei, Chung Wang sent
his troops forward the next day. They drove the
imperialists out of a battery about a mile away, and
chased them to the west gate, evidently to rush
with them pell-mell into the city — such being a
favourite ruse of theirs in capturing walled cities.

Instead of any yellow flag, the Taipings found
the British and French ensigns waving over the
ramparts of the native city itself, manned by the
allied troops, the French under Colonel Faure, and
the British under Captain Budd of the Royal
Marines.

At the west gate, the imperialists having got
in safely, Captain Cavanagh had the bridge
destroyed ; and from the walls his Madras artillery-
men gave the rebels a warm reception with canister
shot.

At various stations along the ramparts, Captain
Budd had raised wooden watch-towers, from whose
height the rebels could now be seen moving under
cover of thickets, grave mounds, and buildings in

108 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

the direction of the south gate, held by Captain
Budd. As they emerged from the sheltered position,
a brisk fire hailed them, directed mainly upon a
strong detachment advancing under false colours —
imperialist flags captured at the battery, which
were soon substituted by its own ones as the force
opened an ineffectual fire with jingals. Two
Chinese guns rigged up by artillerymen of the
Royal Marines proved most serviceable. The
Loodianahs with their Brown Bess also inflicted no
inconsiderable loss from the small south gate, in
charge of Captain Maxwell. Captain Mclntyre had
scarcely got his guns in position when a fresh
detachment came in view displaying a huge black
banner amidst numerous other flags ; and a shell at
eight hundred yards laid low both banner and
bearer.

Driven from the south gate, the Taipings
moved toward the south-west corner of the wall,
when they met with a telling fire from the Marines
and Sikhs under Lieutenant O'Grady — a crack-
shot, whose rifle could boast of twenty hits with
hardly one intervening miss.

In the retreat which ensued, a great number of
yellow flags gathered around a foreign-built house
three quarters of a mile away, when Captain
Mclntyre sent a shell through the roof, wounding,
it is said, the officer second in command amongst

THE TAIPINGS AT SHANGHAI 109

others.* The force numbered some three thousand
strong, and among them were to be seen several
foreigners, two of whom were slain.

The enemy having retired for the night, parties
were sent out from various posts to fire the western
and southern suburbs, as they afforded the enemy
shelter, the conflagration lasting the whole night.
The imperialists at the west gate disembowelled
and beheaded a rebel, whereupon orders were
issued that no prisoner was to be handed over to
them.

During the night the Taipings crept back to
the debris of the suburbs, and in large numbers
gradually worked their way down towards Namtao,
inhabited by the leading native merchants and
richly stocked with goods. The rebels counted
upon a rising there ; and in fact thousands of
desperadoes in league with them seized the custom-
house, and after distributing badges among their
followers, proceeded to pillage and massacre the
people, support being also expected from a fleet of
junks moored off the custom-house, which, however,
had all been compelled to shift to another
anchorage down the river. In the morning the
rebels appeared, planting their flags at the temple
of the Queen of Heaven. The French detachment

.* According to another account, Chung Wang himself was
wounded by a fragment of the shell, which struck him on the face.

110 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

as a defensive measure fired the rich and extensive
riverine suburb, thus removing the most serious
danger which threatened the city, around which no
less than twelve conflagrations now raged with
terrific grandeur.

Again the rebels approached the southern
gates, but driven from their shelter by double
shotted guns, they became exposed to a withering
musket-fire from one of the watch-towers, the
Enfield range proving most harassing, while the
artillery effectively prevented their regaining any
sheltered position, so that once more the horde
retreated in discomfiture.

The night passed quietly, the country to the
south-west being for a considerable distance
studded with what looked like camp lights, which
were eventually found to be lamps borne by
dressed-up straw dummies with flags, too, in their
hands.

Considerably reinforced, the Taipings on the
morning of the 20th advanced first to the west
gate, scarcely replying to a telling fire as they
moved along in single file, each carrying a
flag. In good order they then turned towards the
settlement, whose defence was in the hands of
Colonel March. Hardly had they planted their
standards close to the race-course when the
parties under Lieutenants Williams and Crease

THE TAIPIXGS AT SHANGHAI 111

hailed them with shells and rockets. From the
river the despatch-boat Nimrod sent shell after shell
right over the settlement and far out into the fields
beyond, while another despatch-boat, the Pioneer,
approaching the rebels' position from the Soochow
Creek, tackled it with 13 inch shells, one of which
burst with deadly effect amidst a group of
about a hundred red flags, the fire being kept up
for two hours as the rebels retreated towards
Sikawei.

Within the settlement the volunteers, under
Colonel Neale, stood night and clay at the
barricades raised on every street approachable
from the west, where they had quite a pleasant
time, being well looked after as to creature
comforts of all sorts.

It was only on the 19th that Chung Wang's
letter previously referred to was delivered to Mr.
Bruce by a chair-coolie who pretended to ignore the
person who had entrusted him with it, — supposed to
be some foreigner in communication with the rebels.
For a reply only a notification was sent from the
military and naval commanders, issued on the 16th,
to the effect that Shanghai being occupied by the
Allied forces, hostilities would ensue if armed
bodies of men approached or attacked the positions
held by them. This notification was conveyed on
the 22nd by Mr. Forrest, the consular interpreter,

112 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

who volunteered for the risky mission ; and
accompanied by a single orderly with a napkin on
his bayonet for the usual flag, he rode to the
nearest rebel camp, about a mile from the south
gate. He was received by an officer dressed in
purple, who complained of the resistance met with,
alleging that the Taipings had been invited to
Shanghai by foreigners of all nations. Mr. Forrest
was pressed to proceed to the headquarters at
Sikawei, whither he rode the next day with
Lieutenant Pritchett and an escort, only to find
that the rebels had all gone, the church — which
served as their headquarters — being in a topsy-
turvy, filthy state, the pictures and statues
destroyed, with flags and dummies strewn about
amidst ghastly vestiges of barbarities — a French
missionary and fifteen orphan boys having fallen
victims, besides many of the villagers; and all
along the way were to be seen debris and corpses.

Before leaving, Chung Wang sent the consuls
a letter threatening to stop the silk and tea trade
as a reprisal for any further aid given to the
imperialists, and pretending that he came at the
bidding of foreigners to negotiate a treaty only.

It transpired that he had orders to capture the
city at any cost, but his troops would not expose
themselves any further to the deadly fire — their
total loss in killed was said to be three hundred —

THE TAIPIN'GS AT SHANGHAI 1 13

and he himself was anxious to withdraw on some
plausible pretext. He alleged that owing to a
rainstorm the ground was so slippery that neither
his men nor horses could advance with him, to the
disappointment of his foreign friends awaiting
him. But he proclaimed a speedy return, and sent
word that as he understood the defence of
Shanghai was being undertaken by the Allied
forces for five hundred thousand taels, he would
guarantee them the customs revenue for a year if
they gave up the city. On the other hand Kan
Wang, who stood on friendly terms with Protestant
missionaries, further stated that his forces could
not waive the favourable opportunity for taking
Shanghai and compelling the foreign authorities
to enter into relations with them, as when the war
in the north was over they would have to contend
against further forces, foreign and imperialists.

In a memorial to the throne sent at the rate of
six hundred li a day, Sieh, the acting provincial
governor, announced the repulse of the Taipings
as due to the officers and troops under his
command, the thoroughly foreign defence of
Shanghai being quite overlooked. The truth was.
that during the fray Sieh and his officers, both
civil and military, stood in abject fright and
helplessness. Yet he pretended to have directed
the operations for seven days and nights ; and

114 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

among the officials reported for their prowess,
expectant taotai Yang Fang * was credited with
having killed an untold number of rebels with the
artillery fire of his Ningpo braves. The imperial
rescript conferred various honours on the officials
mentioned, Yang Fang having his name recorded
for meritorious service on payment of a fee, while
Sieh received a button of the highest rank.

In a despatch to Prince Kung, Mr. Bruce exposed
Sieh's mendacity, and that no delusion might be
entertained on the point,' the Chinese government
was required to defray the expense of fortifying
and garrisoning the city, — although its defence
was undertaken merely as a safeguard for the
settlement, it being the opinion of Mr. Bruce
that a rebel occupation of the city was utterly
incompatible with the security and commercial
importance of Shanghai.

Nevertheless, Consul Meadows was so partial to
the Taipings that, in the course of a lengthy and
misleading representation to the Foreign Office,!
he pleaded for them as the coming power that
was to regenerate China after the crushing blow
dealt by the allied arms ; against them it would be
impolitic to wage war; nay, he ventured to assert

* Better known subsequently as Ta Kee, the banker.
tSee the extract of his despatch dated 19th February 1861
in the Blue Booh on China, 1862, p. 3.

THE TAII'IXGS AT SHANGHAI 115

that greater security prevailed under Taiping than
under Manchu rule ; that the rebels were earnestly
desirous of friendly commercial intercourse with
the British, and that in the Yangtze regions just
then opened to foreign trade hostilities with the
Taipings would result in anarchy and desolation, —
as if such was not invariably the outcome wherever
the horde prevailed.

It was rather significant, in face of such
opinions, that Consul Meadows received instruc-
tions from the minister to hold no communication
with the rebels; still more so that he was soon
relegated to a sphere where his blind, dangerous
Taiping partisanship could not be a source of
misunderstanding as to the attitude of his own
government at Shanghai.

The war in the North being over, in February
1861 Vice-Admiral Sir James Hope proceeded to
Nanking in connection with navigation on the
Yangtze and particularly with the view of arriving
at a modus vivendi with the Tien Wang as to
Shanghai, it being proposed that none of his forces
should approach within a hundred //, or thirty
miles, of Shanghai. Much to the chagrin of his
court he acceded, but for a year only. Consequent
upon rumours of a meditated descent by Chung
Wang towards the close of 1861, Admiral Hope
again proceeded to Nanking and warned the Tien

116 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Wang against such a course, but was told that the
onset would certainly be made in due time.

Meanwhile the Taipings reduced Hangchow to
such extremity in the course of a siege that human
flesh was sold at l6o cash a catty when the people
opened the south gate and capitulated, while the
Manchu troops blew up their quarters, perishing
amidst the ruins of the celebrated city.

Shortly after, on the 10th January 1862, Consul
Medhurst received an urgent note from the taotai
announcing a rebel advance upon Shanghai from
Hangchow and Soochow. Both the city and
settlement. were put on guard against any surprise.
As it was rumoured that the rebels intended to
invest the place, a public meeting was held on the
I2th to concert further measures of defence.

That very night there was a lurid glare in the
direction of Wusung ; and a night attack being
apprehended, the volunteers patrolled the main
streets until daylight, when fugitives swarmed
in from Hongkew. To prevent rebels in disguise
from crossing the Soochow Creek together
with the panic-stricken throng, the drawbridge
was hoisted by the sepoy guard posted there^
Later in the day the main rebel forces appeared
further to the west, near the stone bridge, with a
large mounted party. But they retreated northward
on finding the approaches to the settlement guarded

THE TAIPINGS AT SHANGHAI 117

by British artillery and troops. The taotai ordered
out a strong detachment of imperialists from the
city, and camped it in the vicinity of the stone
bridge, further guarded by a fleet of war-junks.
Marauding parties, however, harassed the country
to the north, approaching the lines of defence now
and then; whilst a powerful horde was reported to
be on the way from Tsingpu, with the main army
advancing to Pootung, it being evidently intended
to invest Shanghai at all points.

The situation was such that the troops were
under arms at night, and a meeting to devise
measures of defence was held in secret, as it
transpired that the rebels had spies at Shanghai
who informed them of every movement. Two>
British seamen, captured near Hongkew, were
closely questioned by the rebel chiefs and sent back
with despatches, one of which, after descanting on
Taiping victories, concluded thus :

"The south being finished with, Chung Wang
has arrayed himself and has set in motion five
armies to take Shanghai.

"For Shanghai is a little place, and we have
nothing to fear from it; while now we own the
whole Soochow and Chekiang provinces, we must
take Shanghai to complete our dominions. It is
so; it is not boasting.

118 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

"Now the seaboard is frequented by foreigners
for trade, and if troops are sent to exterminate the
people there, the friendly feeling between us would,
we fear, suffer.

"Considering this, therefore, we send you this
warning not to interfere at places belonging to the
imps. By this means the foreign hongs will escape
injury. But if you play the fool, and think only
of gain, not only will Shanghai be ours, but the
whole world will be reduced to dependence.

"If on the contrary you do not listen to the
imps, but repent and submit, you will not only be
able to trade, but will get silk and tea in great
abundance, and all will reap the benefit. Think
of this, therefore. I am now at the head of my
army at Kiating, and you had best send me an
answer without delay, lest you repent too late.

"2nd day of I2th moon of the nth year of the
Divine Kingdom of Universal Peace of God the
Father, God the Elder Brother, and God Tien Wang.

"Ho, Taiping leader, to the British military
commanders, Shanghai."

The wealth of Shanghai, considerably aug-
mented by the hoarded treasures of the refugees,
was a great temptation not only to the rebels
but also to the desperate characters among the
refugees themselves. Rumours gained ground
that a secret society was being organised to

o

w

o
o

THE TAIPINGS AT SHANGHAI 119

attack Shanghai from within as soon as the rebels
appeared, — scarlet cloth being much in demand at
Chinese shops to be worn as badges. Moreover,
an expedition sent to Plover Point on the Yangtze
to recover British property and release prisoners
captured by the rebels, found, among other papers,
passports and commissions bearing the seals of
Taiping chiefs as well as of the Shanghai city
officials, together with an agreement whereby all
plunder was to be shared by two wealthy and
influential Cantonese refugees within the settlement,
who were forthwith denounced to the taotai.*

No less sensational was the secession of a
notable Taiping adherent, — Rev. I. J. Roberts, the
Tien Wang's old preceptor and lately his foreign
secretary. In a letter published at Shanghai he
related his curious experiences among the "coolie
kings "—so he now termed the wangs — whom he
described as incapable of organising a government,
hostile to commerce, and bent on making their
burlesque religious pretensions serve their political
purposes. The crazy Tien Wang insisted on his
preceptor's belief in his divinity unless he would
perish like the Jews for not believing in Christ ;
and instant death was the penalty for a mere word
which displeased the tyrant. In a frantic rage

-Blue Book on China, 1862, p. 150.

120 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Kan Wang wantonly murdered a boy and then
grossly outraged the old missionary, who, finding
his life in imminent danger, escaped to Shanghai
in destitution, and utterly hopeless as to the cause
he renounced.

Still worse tidings soon followed him from
Nanking, now reduced by the besieging imperialists
to such straits, that cannibalism was the order of
the day in its most revolting honors, wayfarers
when captured by the rebels being tied up to trees
and devoured slice by slice.

Shanghai was now cut off from all inland
communication, as the Taipings held the extensive
tracts between the coast and the Grand Canal from
Hangchow to Chinkiang ; and it was feared that
they would station large forces in the immediate
vicinity of Shanghai to stop all supplies and starve
out the vast native population, which would beget
within the settlement a far more dangerous foe than
the rebels themselves.

To make matters worse, a large business was
done by foreign traders in arms and ammunition,
for which, as well as for opium, the rebels paid
high prices out of stolen money and jewels ; and
they moreover succeeded in enlisting several
military and naval deserters from Shanghai, so
that better equipped and drilled, the hordes were
now no despicable foe.

THE TAIPIXGS AT SHANGHAI 121

The extremely serious situation called for an
efficient garrison at Shanghai. Yet such was the
inadequate British force stationed there, that the
Defence Committee approached Sir James Hope on
the subject, with the view of relieving the volunteers
of constant duty and preventing the recurrence of
panic. It was pointed out that the Taipings might
keep Shanghai in clanger and alarm for long, and
would probably besiege the place if not dislodged
from the adjacent country. But while relieving the
volunteers of their night duty, Major Stafford, in
command, maintained that so long as the French
contingent remained at Shanghai, there was no
need for British reinforcement. The situation,
however, was so critical, that upon representation
from Mr. Bruce, Major-General Sir John Michel
proceeded to Shanghai with a company of the 99th
Regiment.

The available British force, naval and military,
now numbered but nine hundred men, while the
French had no more than a thousand. It was
arranged between the naval and military com-
manders that the settlement as well as the north
gate should be in charge of the British, who were
also to have a movable column of three hundred men
for emergency ; the French, with a similar column
available, were assigned the defence of the city
and Tongkadu besides their own concession — the

122 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

alarm signal to be two guns from the post in
danger; and the naval forces undertook to hold
Wusung pending the arrival of military forces,
while the maintenance of order in the settlement
was left to the volunteers and police, the taotai
being responsible for that of the city.

Meanwhile the main body of rebels advancing
from Hangchow routed at Sungkiang the imperi-
alists and some two hundred Filipinos, who retreated
to Shanghai and on arrival created a panic in the
dead of night with the cry that the rebels were
coming. Three days after, on the 20th January
1862, the Taipings made a sudden descent upon
Wusung, but were repulsed by a French naval
detachment with artillery. The horde numbered
from two to three thousand, of whom at least five
hundred had rifles, which were handled efficiently.
Further operations were stopped by a severe
snowstorm followed by frost ; but as thaw set in the
rebels appeared at Pootung ravaging the country
and massacring the people ruthlessly.

It grew more and more evident that the
Taipings were bent on carrying out their threat
of starving out the people before attacking
Shanghai, for, while investing the place at all
points, they deliberately trampled, burnt, and
laid waste the fields whence the native population
derived its subsistence.

THE TAIPINGS AT SHANGHAI 123

At the same time native industries suffered
greatly. In the silk districts, mulberry trees were
cut down for fuel ; at the season for silkworm
rearing, one after another centre of the industry
was destroyed, while marauding parties captured
boats laden with silk on the way to Shanghai, for
which heavy ransom was exacted, so that in 1862
the export of silk fell to the extent of fourteen
thousand bales.

The tea trade was at a standstill. Except from
Ningpo and the Yangtze ports, no tea was shipped
to Shanghai since i860; and Ningpo having fallen,
no more came from thence ; nor was any outlet left
on the Yangtze while the rebels held their positions
there.

Never had the picturesque neighbourhood of
Shanghai been the scene of more appalling
calamities than those which now left in desolation
the magnificent cities of Soochow and Hangchow
as well as the once smiling, luxuriant plains. By
night lurid glare, by day obscuring smoke heralded
the dreaded hordes; with clanging gongs and
waving flags on they came in demoniac frenzy,
their hideous yells intermingling with the cries of
ravished women, of the perishing multitude of men,
women, and children who escaped not ; and in the
trail of these hell-hounds, the silence of the grave
came over smouldering ruins and devastated fields,

124 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

strewn with festering corpses up to the creeks and
the recesses of thickets and groves.

Such was the terror inspired by the harrowing
experiences of refugees, that even within the settle-
ment the consternation among natives was indeed
pitiable on the approach of the Chang Mao, or
long-haired ones — the name by which the Taipings
were known among the Chinese.

On one occasion the cry arose in Nanking
Road that the rebels were coming from the
Bubbling Well, and in the stampede which ensued
a huge mass of natives madly rushed towards
the Bund; some in utter despair plunged into
the river and perished, while many women and
children were trodden to death on the way.

At a public meeting held on the 13th January
1862 it was resolved to carry out the proposal of
the Defence Committee for three permanent lines
of defence. As the outer line, the Defence Creek
was to be widened to fifty feet and extended to
the Soochow Creek, with a forty foot bund, three
drawbridges, and three turrets, each mounting a
32-pounder howitzer on pivot. The Shakloo (now
Fokien) Road was to be the second line, likewise
carried to the Soochow Creek, barricaded at every
street abutting upon the west, and palisaded at
other open spaces. The inner line, at the Barrier
(now Honan) Road, was to be similarly barricaded,

THE TAIPIXGS AT SHANGHAI 125

supported by guard-houses, and flanked by block-
houses at Yang-king-pang and Soochow Creek.
The middle and inner lines were also to serve the
purpose of controlling the native population in
case of panic, and guarding against any possible
rising from within in combination with an attack
from without, the outer line to be defended by
British troops, the inner ones by the volunteers
and police.

Notwithstanding several appeals from the
country people for protection, Shanghai thus far
stood strictly on its own defensive. But such
a course was no longer adequate for its own
safety, what with the ravaging incursions in the
immediate vicinity, and the prospects of a famine
among the native population. Hence an auspicious
change of front, — Shanghai on the offensive.

| (~£) LT~T_ -

CHAPTER VI.

The Thirty-Mile-Radius Campaign.

SHORTLY after the fall of Soochow, an association
of Chinese merchants at Shanghai under the
auspices of Wu Taotai and Yang Fang provided
funds for a foreign contingent locally organised by
an intrepid American soldier of fortune, Frederick
Ward, who, with about a hundred foreigners mostly
of the seafaring class like himself, undertook to
wrest Sungkiang from the rebels. Undaunted by
a reverse, Ward returned to the charge with a
reinforcement of Filipinos, and seizing one of the
city gates at nightfall, held it against every onset
until the main force of imperialists came up in the
morning, when the Taipings were driven out of
the city. Handsomely rewarded for this feat, the
contingent next stormed Tsingpu, but was repulsed
with heavy loss, Ward being wounded himself; but
with a new levy composed mainly of Italians and
Greeks he resumed the attack only to be surprised
by Chung Wang, who captured his boats and guns

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 127

and chased him to Sungkiang, where, however, he
withstood the rebel forces.

The enlistment of foreigners by imperialists
as well as rebels having led to several cases of
desertion among the Allied forces at Shanghai,
efforts were made by the naval and consular
authorities to remove this dangerous element
of complications from the contending armies. At
Nanking the Taipings were required to surrender
all British subjects engaged in their service,
and such was the eagerness to ensure foreign
non-intervention in the struggle, that mercenaries
of British as well as other nationalities were
handed over, all in a miserable state. At the
same time, while preparing for another attack on
Tsingpu, Ward was arrested with some of his
followers ; and brought to Shanghai, he was tried
as an American citizen unlawfully engaged in
warfare; but disowning the land of his birth, he
claimed to be a Chinese subject and thus evaded
the charge."

It was not long ere the native force drilled by
Ward and officered by foreign rowdies and
deserters, redounded to the glory of " the ex-Cali-
fornian filibuster": ten months after yclepting him
thus, the British minister, Mr. Bruce, had ample

*He is said to have married the daughter of a Chinese official.

128 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

reason to refer to the foreign-drilled force as the
nucleus of a military organisation which might
prove most valuable, if not the salvation of China.

At the same time a French artillery officer,
Captain Tardif de Moidrey, organised a native
battalion and field battery officered by French
non-commissioned officers from among the forces
on the way back from the campaign in the North,
the battery in particular proving most serviceable.

Under Ward's command the imperialists in
February 1862 sallied forth from Sungkiang and at
Kuan-fu-ling inflicted a telling blow on some twenty
thousand Taipings, of whom about 2,300 were
mowed down by masked batteries which opened
upon them as they approached ; Ward's drilled
troops then rushed forward and took from 700 to
800 prisoners, who were sent to Shanghai for
execution. The enemy, moreover, lost a great
number of boats intended for a descent on Shang-
hai.

From Pootung the rebels made an attempt to
seize a fleet of junks, the object in view being to
form a bridge and cross the river for an attack on
Shanghai ; but the plan was frustrated by French
artillery.

Ward's force then numbered but fifteen hundred,
known as the "Imitation Foreign Devils," their

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THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 129

quaint uniform being calculated to convey the
impression that they were foreign troops ; and that
their footprints, too, might bluff the enemy, Wu
Taotai supplied the force with foreign boots. The
uniform somewhat resembled that of the Zouaves or
Sepoys — a smart green turban for all ranks, jacket
and knickerbocker of one colour for each branch
of the service — the bodyguard, dark blue ; the
artillery, light blue; the infantry, light green, with
distinctive facings and shoulder straps, some red,
others green, the artillery having also broad red
stripes on the knickerbocker; and for summer,
white uniform with red facings for all.

Whilst holding Sungkiang after his great
victory, Ward was bidden by the viceroy to
dislodge the rebels from Pootung, where they
occupied several strong positions in the very
district whence Shanghai derived its main supply
of provisions, notably at Kaochiao,* opposite
Wusung.

On the other hand Admirals Hope and
Protet regarded the situation as calling for their
intervention, the rebel incursions at Pootung being
in too close proximity to be consistent with the
respect due to the foreign forces at Shanghai.
Thus, as Ward could only detach 600 men for the

* Kajow

130 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

expedition, the admirals supported him with an
Anglo-French contingent of 400 men and three
guns.

On the 2lst February 1862 the combined forces
advanced upon the rebel stockades at Kaochiao,
gay with a profusion of banners. Ward's force
began by driving the rebels from their outpost
and checking the approach of a strong relief
party with a ceaseless fire which was briskly
returned, while the French howitzers and British
rocket opened upon the stockades most thickly
studded with banners. Burgevine, next to Ward in
command, though severely wounded in the head,
stanched his bleeding and led his party forward.
A few volleys from the marines cleared the bridge,
and Ward's men, having stormed the outer line,
now dashed into the village whence the rebels
retreated precipitately after a sharp encounter and
heavy losses. Many prisoners were taken, and
thousands of villagers in chains released, to the
great joy of the people.

The capture of Kaochiao much disconcerted
the enemy, as Chung Wang was expected there
on the very day of the action — the stronghold being
intended for a base of operation against Shanghai;
but consequent upon the rout, the numerous forces
posted in the vicinity retreated towards the south.

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADII'S CAMPAIGN 131

Southward, too, Admiral Hope proceeded on the
27th with a detachment of marines for reconnoitring
purposes, and at Minghong was joined by Ward
with a company of his drilled troops.

On approaching the village of Hsiaotang,*
which was found turned into a rebel stronghold,
the party met with such a determined opposition
that a retreat had to be effected fighting on to the
boats, which fortunately lay within easy reach.
Reinforcements were sent for, and on March 1st
Hsiaotang was attacked by a combined force
consisting of an Anglo-French detachment of 500
men with six guns, and 750 of Ward's troops.
The Taipings, numbering at least 6,000, at first kept
so quiet that it was thought they had evacuated the
stronghold ; as a skirmishing party from Ward's
corps boldly advanced under cover of the grave
mounds to the right, the first shots were exchanged.

The defences were found to be exceptionally
strong. At the outer line stood a barricade raised
out of the debris of several houses ; then there were
well protected stakes, ditches, and trenches sur-
mounted by earthworks for guns, and thickly loop-
holed barricades of coffins, sand-bags, furniture,
bales of cotton, cases filled with stones — in short,
everything at hand was utilised for raising these
defences.

*T?idoug.

132 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

To the right the action grew brisker, and as
shells were sent in, the rebels replied with jingals
and small guns as well as musketry. For an hour
or so the fire was incessant, the defence stubborn.
But the guns played oh the stronghold with great
effect, and at last a retreat was observable, when
an Anglo-French detachment sent to intercept it on
the left kept up a telling fusillade, while Ward's
men started in hot pursuit. The fire from the
earthworks having meanwhile slackened, Admiral
Hope gave orders to storm a breach on the barricade.
Within the village the rebels rallied on the main
thoroughfare and made a desperate stand, but
heavy firing followed by a bayonet charge of the
marines carried the day after a hand-to-hand
struggle. The village with its heaps of dead'
amidst the improvised defences presented a grue-
some sight, and was set on fire. From six to seven
hundred rebels were killed, and over three hundred
taken prisoners. Among the killed were two
French deserters ; and there were other foreigners
with them, as an English exclamation was heard in
the course of the retreat.

As at Kaochiao, Ward's force seemed to have
borne the brunt of the fight, judging by the number
of casualties : at Kaochiao, seven killed and over
thirty wounded ; at Hsiaotang, ten killed and forty
wounded, some severely — Burgevine badly again,

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADII'S CAMPAIGN' 13 i

through the stomach ; whilst in the Anglo-French
contingent the loss at Kaochiao was one killed
and three wounded, at Hsiaotang only two or three
wounded.

In a memorial the throne, Sieh, the viceroy,
did ample justice to the gallantry displayed by
Ward and Burgevine, as well as to the support
given by the admirals, for which Prince Kung
expressed the emperor's acknowledgment to the
ministers ; and at the same time a very eulogistic
imperial decree conferred on Ward's corps the
high-sounding title of the Ever Victorious Army,
Ward holding rank as a brigadier.

Having initiated the campaign, Admiral Hope
in his despatch of 22nd February 1862 proposed
that Mr. Bruce should concert measures with M. de
Bourboulon for the employment of British and
French forces to drive the rebels out of a radius
sufficient to ensure the supply of provisions and
preclude further panic at Shanghai, Ward's force
to prevent the rebels from regaining the country
so cleared.

In reply Mr. Bruce pointed out that if immediate
action was decided upon it would meet with support,,
but he doubted the expediency of clearing the
thirty-mile radius if by this measure the rebels were
not likely to abstain from harassing Shanghai, or
if the imperialists were unable to retain the posts

J 34 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

within the limits, in which case he suggested
that the admiral should obtain from the rebels at
Nanking an order to withdraw their forces from
the limit in question, the British troops still in the
North to be detained for eventualities pending the
admiralty's decision.

It was not long ere marauding parties returned
to Kaochiao and again harassed the district, so
that while reconnoitring the country in that direction
a month after the action, Admiral Hope with two
officers came across a mounted party by whom they
would in all probability have been captured but
for a sampan in which they escaped narrowly to
Admiral Protet's flagship, the Renommee, at Wusung.

Another descent in boats was evidently
projected, as on March 13th while up on the
river, H. M. S. Flamer met a flotilla of three
hundred boats of various sizes convoyed by ten
war-junks and further escorted by troops along
both banks of the river — in all 6,000 to 7,000 men at
the least. The gunboat was fired upon, and as the
forces came well within reach, opened on them
with guns and rifles, put them all to flight, and,
giving chase, destroyed nearly the whole flotilla.

While the Taipings suffered one serious
loss after mother, the imperialists received a rein-
forcement of nine thousand men from Nganking;
and consequent upon the decision of Mr. Bruce to

THE THIRTV-MILE-RADirS CAMPAIGN 133

evacuate Tientsin, the British force at Shanghai,
now under Brigadier-General Staveley, was
increased to 2,824 men with 22 guns, besides two
naval 32-pounders — a force deemed equal to any
local requirement, provided the imperialists retained
the positions captured for them.

To check the ravages wrought by the rebels to
the west of Shanghai, a combined expedition
started on April 3rd for Wang Kiasze,* some
twelve miles away. The forces consisted of three
detachments — the British, of 1,493 men with nine
guns, under General Staveley ; the French, 410
men and four guns, under Admiral Protet, and the
imperialists, 300 men under Ward. The approach
of these forces on the 4th led to a panic among the
rebels, numbering some 7,000 or 8,000 if not more,
who from their intrenched positions fell back upon
other lines four miles inward. A party under Ward
then tried to force the position, but unsupported
by artillery experienced a severe check, with a
loss of seven killed and forty-four wounded, —
Admiral Hope, who accompanied the party, being
slightly wounded in the leg. Next morning a naval
party under Admiral Protet and Captain Borlase
with six guns captured the stockades and destroyed
all the rebel camps in the vicinity, which, like all
the others, were found well stocked with provisions.

* Wans: Kadza.

136 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

To the east the expedition on April 17th at-
tacked Tsipu, a well stockaded village held by
about 5,000 rebels. The guns worked with terrific
effect at 500 yards, and in half an hour the enemy
was in full retreat, over 300 being slain. A strong
Anglo-French detachment, and Ward at the head
of about 1,000 imperialists, then fell upon another
encampment some four miles up the canal. Ward's
force advanced in skirmishing order under cover
of the guns; and the rebels, much the same in
number as at Tsipu, finding their retreat threatened,
forthwith decamped.

The expedition served as the prelude to a plan
of campaign agreed to on April 22nd by Admirals
Hope and Protet, General Staveley, and the Chinese
authorities : to establish a line of defence extending
from the Yangtze to Hangchow Bay within a radius
of thirty miles from Shanghai. It was accordingly
decided to capture and occupy Kiating,* Tsingpu,
Nanchiao.t and Cholin — all in the hands of the
rebels ; and Ward, then at Sungkiang, was to
remove his headquarters to Tsingpu and garrison
these five towns, supported by British and French
forces until he could raise his corps to the desired
strength.

The forces put on the field consisted of a
British naval brigade numbering 427 men with nine

*K:duling t Najow

Tsingpu

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADII'S CAMPAIGN 137

guns, under Captain Borlase of H.M.S. Pearl', a
British military detachment of 1,640 men with
seven guns and six coehorns,* under General
Staveley ; a French naval and military force of
775 men with eight guns under Admiral Protet ;
and Ward's contingent of 1,000 men.

Proceeding up the Soochow Creek, this
expedition of 3,842 men and 30 guns, while on the
way to Kiating, attacked an intrenched camp near
Nansiangf on April 29th, the guns opening at
400 yards. The rebels, soon driven out of their
stockades, were closely followed up to Kiating. The
bridges having been previously destroyed by them,
great numbers fell into the hands of Ward's troops
in trying to cross the creek ; but at the stockades
and on the road their losses were but thirty.

On May 1st the guns opened upon Kiating;
and a bridge of boats having been formed, the
storming parties proceeded to escalade the walls
of this singularly well defended town, taking about
a thousand prisoners. Within the wall some 130
rebels were killed in action, mostly at the north
gate, while 2,300 were reported as having fallen
outside the gates in trying to break through the
imperialists posted there under Li Han Chang,

* Small bronze mortars mounted on wooden block with handle-
portable by two men only, and named after the inventor, Baron
Coehorn.

t Naizean

138 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

a brother of Li Hung Chang. A considerable
quantity of silver was found in the town,, with
many ponies and a large stock of rice. The
casualties among the foreign troops were four
wounded only. An Anglo-French detachment
of 400 men was left to garrison the town until
relieved by drilled imperialists, the rest of the
force returning to Shanghai preparatory to action
at Tsingpu.

An Anglo-French force of 2,613 men with 35
guns, and 1,800 imperialists under Ward reached
Tsingpu on May I2th in boats, accompanied by a
French gunboat whose light draught permitted
of her approach to the scene of action, where
her rifled 64-pounder proved most serviceable in
effecting two breaches on the ramparts. A heavy
cannonade was levelled at the parapet, every gun
being brought to play ; and the canal having been
bridged, the troops stormed and escaladed the
breaches under a brisk jingal fire which was kept
up to the moment when they mounted the wall. A
strong stockade which protected the entire parapet
from within served to little purpose, enfiladed as
it was by four guns. The casualties among the
French were two officers and six men wounded,
and one marine killed ; among the British two men
wounded and one killed. The enemy's retreat was
so effectively cut off that the whole garrison fell

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 139

into the hands of the imperialists under Ward, who
was left in charge of the town, the Anglo-French
forces proceeding in boats down to the Huangpu
and thence to a creek on the right bank leading
to Nanchiao.

The outworks having been shelled on the
morning of May 17th a storming party clashed
through them and under a sharp fire of jingals and
matchlocks crossed the ditches and climbed over
the stockades on to the embrasures of the walls
of Nanchiao. It was while gallantly leading this
party that Admiral Protet fell shot through the
heart, the other casualties being two naval officers
and seven men wounded among the French, and
six others among the British.

The admiral's death is said to have led the
French to show the enemy no mercy. According
to a circumstantial French account, however,
Nanchiao was shelled, and the Taipings, put to
flight, returned in the course of the day fighting
desperately. Of two thousand prisoners some
were, after investigation, handed over to the
imperialists for execution, while others were
released on their promise to Pere Lemaitre to
relinquish the rebel cause.*

* Commandant de Marolles: Souvenirs de la Bevolte des Taiping
in the Tmuuj Poo, Vol. III., No. 4, of October 1902.

]40 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

From Nanchiao the expedition went up the
creek and at daylight on May 20th the artillery
opened upon Cholin, which was taken at the point
of the bayonet and eventually destroyed.

Pending the arrival of drilled imperialists an
Anglo-French detachment of 320 men garrisoned
Nanchiao, the place being of strategic importance
inasmuch as, commanding the approach to Poo-
tung, it threatened the inward positions held by the
enemy. Thenceforth no further incursions were
made in that direction, the rebels withdrawing
altogether from Pootung after the desertion of a
chief of some note, who joined the imperialists.

The remains of Admiral Protet, conveyed to
Shanghai, were accorded a most imposing funeral,
— the Chinese authorities being conspicuous in the
homage rendered. Li Hung Chang, then governor
of the province, having expressly sent the sad
intelligence to Peking, an imperial decree was
issued extolling the admiral's heroism, and ordering
a sacrificial offering to be made in his honour by
two high officials ; and with the emperor's con-
dolence to his family were sent some princely gifts
of sable and silk from the court ; whilst on the
scene of action a memorial was raised by the
Shanghai officials.

The admiral's remains, interred in a vault,
were eventually brought home to Saint-Servan,

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 141

his native place. Not long after the French lost
another distinguished officer, whose well drilled
native corps had taken an active part in the thirty-
mile-radius campaign, Captain Tardif de Moidrey,
accidentally shot by one of his own men in action
at Chaocheng, in Chekiang.

A most regrettable feature in the death of
Admiral Protet was that it proved an unavailing-
sacrifice, the successful campaign being soon
marred through lack of co-operation on the part of
the imperialists. No garrison was forthcoming for
the towns captured ; and some six or seven
thousand badly armed, undrilled imperialists under
Chinese command, abandoning the lines of defence
assigned them near Kiating, proceeded to besiege
Taitsang.

After an encounter there on May 15th, —
indecisive evidently because it formed part of the
ruse, — two thousand rebels, shaving their heads,
offered allegiance to the imperialists and were
forthwith enlisted on their side, while Chung Wang,
advancing with 10,000 picked troops, manoeuvred to
prevent a retreat, and then in concert with the
shaved detachment fell upon the imperialists,
routing and dispersing them amidst fearful carnage.
A few hundreds only fled past Kiating to Wusung
hotly pursued by the rebels, who would in all
likelihood have taken Wusung but for the timely

142 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

arrival and effective fire of H.M.S. Starling. The
rebels then fell back on Nansiang, where they
captured a naval howitzer with ammunition and
provisions on the way to Kiating, three of the
convoys being killed and four taken prisoners.

From Cholin General Staveley with a thousand
men and twelve guns hastened through Shanghai to
the relief of the Anglo-French detachment left to
garrison Kiating, and reaching Nansiang on the
same day, May 24th, met with large bodies of rebels
who were repeatedly driven from the front, flanks,
and rear. A column of five hundred men with four
guns under Lieut. Colonel Stanley then proceeded
to Kiating, whence the garrison was escorted back
to Shanghai.

Meanwhile, roused by the series of reverses
suffered by the Taipings, Chung Wang gathered
some of his best officers and troops, and at the
head of a well-equipped army estimated at not less
than 25,000 strong, advanced from Soochow, and
after routing the imperialists at Taitsang, re-
occupied Kiating and invested Tsingpu as well as
Sungkiang, both held by drilled imperialists, who
repelled several assaults.

Ward, then at Sungkiang, being unable to
maintain communication, decided to withdraw the
garrison from Tsingpu, and this was effected on
June loth under the segis of Admiral Hope with a

THE THIRTY-.MII.F.-RADIl'S CAMPAIGN" 143

naval brigade supported by a British and a French
gunboat. Before leaving, the garrison fired
Tsingpu ; and the rebels rushing in from the rear
took prisoner the officer in command, Forrester,
who, although sentenced to torture and death,
was, after enduring great hardships, ransomed for
muskets and gunpowder.

Simultaneously invested, Sungkiang withstood
every onset, on May 30th being nearly taken by
surprise but for a British naval party who repulsed
the rebels while in the act of scaling the walls,
thenceforth guarded for eight days and nights by
the naval men, as little confidence was placed on
some of the native troops.

In face of the inability of the Chinese
government to garrison the places captured as
agreed upon, General Staveley decided to withdraw
from the campaign ; and in concert with him,
Admiral Hope and Captain de Kersauson, the
French senior naval officer, resolved on June 14th
to confine their sphere of action to the immediate
vicinity of Shanghai and the temporary occupation
of Nanchiao.

The strain entailed on the foreign contingents
was aggravated by the prevalence of cholera,
whilst a broiling summer heat told fearfully on
all, the French in particular being almost all
broken down.

J 44 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The apathy shown by the Chinese authorities
led Admiral Hope to impress upon Mr. Bruce the
advisability of urging the formation of a foreign
drilled corps of 6,000 imperialists, the cost to be
defrayed out of the customs revenue ; while
General Staveley would undertake to drill the men
as well as to assume the command of native forces.

In exposing the situation to Prince Kung,
Mr. Bruce remarked that no government would
for long go to the expense of holding places for
another government which was unable or unwilling
to do so itself, and that unless the necessary
measures of defence were adopted, either the
foreign troops would be withdrawn from Shanghai
or the revenue of the port applied for the main-
tenance of the forces required — an alternative
which Prince Kung in his reply hoped was not
meant in earnest except to rouse his government to
action; and at the same time it was rather signi-
ficantly hinted that Russia had furnished China
with ten thousand muskets and several guns.

As a sequence to this, three months later, the
Russian minister at Peking informed Mr. Bruce
that Admiral Popoff's fleet had orders to co-operate
with the British naval forces ; and it having been
further arranged by Prince Kung that Russian
troops were to defend Ningpo and Shanghai,
M. Petchroff of the legation at Peking had

THET THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 145

several interviews with the Chinese authorities at
Shanghai concerning a large force shortly due
for service against the Taipings — a service which
Li Hung Chang courteously declined.

Serious as was the outlook of the campaign,
it became the more so through the sale of arms to
the foe. From papers .found on board a vessel, it
transpired that in April 1862 a Shanghai firm
supplied the rebels with 3,046 fire-arms, 795
field-pieces, 484 kegs and 10,947 lb. of gunpowder,
18,000 cartridges, and over four and a half million
caps. Several vessels were seized laden with
munitions of war for the Taipings, smuggled by
foreign firms ; and the Chinese authorities bitterly
complained that the opening of the Yangtze to trade
served to furnish the enemy with arms and
provisions under foreign flags, notably at Nanking.
Foreigners who were largely engaged in the trade,
carried on in luggers up the Yangtze, formed
settlements at different points on the river, exempt
from consular control ; and collisions attended
with loss of life took place between them and the
native officials and people, engendering bad
feeling calculated to prejudice friendly relations in
China. Such was the extensive and unchecked
traffic in arms, that in one year no less than three
thousand guns of various calibre were disposed of
at Singapore; while marine stores at Hongkong

146 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and the treaty ports dealt openly in guns and
small arms, mainly intended for the use of brigands
and pirates, against whom, as Mr. Bruce remarked,
the mercantile communities called upon the naval
forces to act.*

Nanking being now hard pressed by Tseng
Kuo Fan's army, Chung Wang was peremptorily
recalled from Soochow to its relief, and much
against his will he proceeded thither with his main
force ; assault after assault was made in vain on
Tseng's trenches and bastions, with the result
that Tien Wang lost confidence in Chung Wang
and degraded to a secondary command this most
obstinate and dangerous foe of Shanghai.

Nevertheless on August 17th news reached
Shanghai that at Wongdu the waterways were
swarming with boats and troops on the way to
Tsingpu, retaken by Ward's force on the 9th ; and
it was not long ere marauding parties wearing the
white and orange uniform of Chung Wang's army
again harassed the country to the north and
west of Shanghai, notwithstanding a military
detachment posted at Fahwah. On the 25th, a
reconnoitring party of the Volunteer Mounted
Rangers came across several bands, of from 50 to

*See Mr. Brace's despatches to the Foreign Office dated 14th
July and 17th September 18(»2; and Admiral Hope's despatch of
October 1862 to the Admiralty.— Blue Book on China. 186&

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 147

250, scattered about ; and as the main body of some
2,000 advanced to surround them, the rangers
withdrew after taking a prisoner with a flag. On
the 26th the rebels, part mounted, passed in upon
the right front and ventured as far as the Bubbling
Well plundering, massacring and burning, where-
upon Colonel Thomas, then in command, sent a
force of 900 men in three columns to cut them off;
but they were too quick, escaping to the north side
of Soochow Creek across a floating bridge. To
preclude another similar surprise, an outpost was
placed in that direction, it being further decided
to extend the military road to the spot where the
bridge was formed.

On the 28th a large rebel force being reported
to be in the vicinity of Sikawei, a French column
of 500 men with two howitzers went forward under
Captain Faucon and dispersed the force after a
skirmish in which ten rebels were killed and
twenty-four taken prisoners, from whom it was
ascertained that the main body had fallen back
upon Kiating.

Operations at Ningpo now led to Ward being
despatched thither with a contingent, and but three
days after arrival, — while directing the assault at
Tzuchi* on September 21st — he fell mortally
wounded by a stray bullet through the breast.

*Tseki.

148 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

His troops scaled the walls and carried the town,
inflicting on the enemy a loss estimated at 7,000
men against seven killed and twelve wounded.
The Chinese government was not insensible to the
worth of such a dedicated soldier of fortune as
Ward was; his remains were received at Sungkiang
with general manifestation of respect ; and by the
side of his simple grave mound was raised a little
temple where to this day homage is rendered to the
hero on the very scene of his first exploit, as well
as at another shrine dedicated to him at Ningpo.*

The command of the Ever Victorious Army —
declined by Forrester, the senior officer, in
consequence of ill-health, — was then assumed by
Burgevine, like Ward, an American military
adventurer, but with superior training, and the
reputed ambition of founding an oriental empire.

The Chinese authorities now seemed more
energetic in military affairs ; and Li Hung Chang
having undertaken to garrison Kiating efficiently
if recaptured, General Staveley on October 24th
attacked the place with a combined force of 4,273
men and 38 guns, the British contingent being
a military detachment of 1,310 with 6 guns and
12 mortars, and a naval brigade under Captain

* Ward is said to have left a fortune estimated at £60,000, of
which but a fourth part was realised out of the muddle of his
accounts with those of Takee, the banker, and others.

WARD'S MEMORIAL TABLET AT SUNGKIANG

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 149

Borlase with 7 guns ; the French, 493 men and 5-
guns under Captain Faucon ; and the imperialists,
1,900 drilled men with 8 guns led by Burgevine.
The defences at Kiating were now stronger than
when first taken, the walls being flanked by well-
protected outworks. The artillery having been got
into position at night, opened upon the walls at the
first glimmer of dawn ; two breaches were effected,
whereupon bridges were laid, and storming parties
proceeded to escalade the wall, taken at the cost of
four killed and twenty-nine wounded, the enemy
escaping by the the other side, and Burgevine with
his troops being left in charge of the place, which
was this time well garrisoned and provisioned,
with a strong outpost at Nansiang.

It was not long, however, before a large rebel
force under Ting Wang, Mu Wang, and Ha Wang
proceeded for the recapture of Kiating, the ulterior
aim being to advance upon Sungkiang, as well as
Shanghai and Paoshan. On the way to Tsingpu,
Li Hung Chang with a strong detachment from
Shanghai, and Burgevine with about fifteen
hundred drilled men from Sungkiang, fell in
simultaneously with the enemy at the village of
Powokong on November 16th, and a stubborn
fight ensued for several hours. With his artillery
Burgevine dislodged the main force from a well
stockaded position, and in the rout which followed,

150 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

the rebels suffered heavily, Mu Wang being badly
wounded, his promising son slain, Ting Wang
drowned, many officers killed and others taken
prisoners, in consequence of a floating bridge
giving way under the first rush of the retreating
force, so that only some ten thousand were said
to have escaped, many as deserters.

This crushing blow — which Li attributed
to himself in the main — not only vindicated
the prestige of the imperialists, but, as expected
resulted in the thirty-mile radius being now
thoroughly cleared of the scourge, and at last
relieved from further cruelties and desolation.

The untold atrocities there perpetrated by
the Taipings seemed to have called forth some
terrible retribution at the hands of the imperialists
Ghastly stories were told of the treatment of rebel
prisoners at Shanghai, old and young of both sexes
being, it was alleged, disembowelled alive and
their hearts torn out — horrors before which one of
the English spectators fainted, the overpowering
effect being such as to turn him into a raving
maniac* These scenes were detailed in a virulent

*It is hard to believe that even the Chinese could be guilty
of such unspeakable cruelty as this: "A young female apparently
about eight months pregnant, who never uttered a groan or sigh
at all the previous cruelties she had endured from the surrounding
mob, had her infant cut out of her womb and held up in her Bight
by one of its little hands, bleeding and quivering, when, at the
sight, she gave one heart-rending, piercing screach that would

THE THIRTY-MILE-RADIUS CAMPAIGN 15L

letter in the Times of India of 13th May 1862,
which gave rise to official enquiries, with the result
that, on the strength of the taotai's statements,
the tale of horrors was reported to be grossly
exaggerated, and a pure fabrication so far as the
execution of women was concerned.

In approving the campaign within the thirty-
mile radius, Earl Russell remarked that to crush
the rebellion implied a war the burden and cost of
which China would not likely share. The rational
course was then to safeguard British interests and
encourage Chinese military organisation, British
forces to remain at Shanghai as long as necessary.

have awakened pity in a tiger, and after it had been in that state
dashed on her breast, she with a last superhuman effort released
her arms from those holding her down, and clasped her infant to
her bleeding heart and died holding it there with such force that
they could not be separated, and were thus thrown together on
the pile of other carcases."

««.<* •^les-*-'^-

CHAPTER VII.

From Burgevine's Fall to Gordon's
Master-Stroke.

On assuming command of the Ever Victorious
Army, Burgevine improved the defences of Sung-
kiang — his headquarters — by constructing roads,
digging trenches and razing suburbs, — measures
which so exasperated the inhabitants that they
stood on the point of rising against both foreign
and native authorities there. After his great victory
at Powokong, Burgevine agreed to an expedition
for the capture of Nanking, when steamers were
chartered and equipped for action ; but according
to his version, the Chinese authorities failed in
their engagement to supply all necessary funds ;
the British and French naval as well as military
authorities all objected to the withdrawal of
his forces from Sungkiang ; while he insisted
that all claims in arrears should be settled before
departure ; and this being refused, he postponed
the expedition, with the result that the Chinese

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 153

authorities sent the transports away in such haste
that there was scarcely time to remove all the guns
and stores on board. The outlay thus came to no
purpose ; and at the same time targe deficits in the
funds at Shanghai involved Wu Taotai and Yang
Fang, alias Takee, the banker, in serious difficulties
which eventually culminated in their official
disgrace for peculation. Under Ward the corps
cost about £360,000 a year; under Burgevine the
outlay amounted to £180,000 in three months.
Apart from the lavish expenditure of the corps,
Burgevine's imperious bearing, his usurpation of
civil authority, his refusal to follow the Chinese
commander's plan of operations, all engendered
friction, notably with Li Hung Chang, who
found reason to regard the Ever Victorious Army
as a peril rather than as the bulwark that it
had once been to China. Even Ward was said
to have entertained the ambition of founding an
independent state of his own in China, and now
Burgevine's attitude unmistakably tended in that
direction.*

At the same time much discontent prevailed
among the corps, what with arrears of pay and the
pretensions of Chinese officials to hold court-

*Such were not the only instances of megalomania among
foreigners in China at this epoch, in view of the free-city scheme
of Shanghai, and the preposterous terms of Mr. Lay in connection
with the Lay-Osborn flotilla which led to such a deplorable fiasco.

154; HISTORIC SHANGHAI

martial : and finally a mutiny broke out, the troops
closing the gates and threatening the officials with
decapitation. The cause being traced to the
arrears, at a general parade Burgevine warranted
the clamouring troops payment within two days ;
and proceeding forthwith to Shanghai, on the 4th
January 1863, he had an altercation with Takee,
the banker, whom he struck in the face; while his
guard forcibly took away the necessary funds *
— withheld because the force did not proceed to
Nanking. Returning immediately to Sungkiang,
Burgevine succeeded in restoring order, but only to
find that he was dismissed, the information to this
effect being made through General Staveley, who
advised him to relinquish his post quietly.

On the other hand the officers of the Ever
Victorious Army protested against the action of the
Chinese authorities inasmuch as the straightforward
proceedings of their commander — necessary for the
maintenance of the corps — in no way infringed the
military law of civilised nations, to which alone
they considered themselves amenable ; they further
protested against the authorities for offering a
reward of fifty thousand taels for Burgevine's head,,
and they solemnly pledged that in the event of his
being murdered they would no longer serve under

* Forty thousand taels.

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FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 155

those authorities, but would make such representa-
tions as would lead to the just punishment of the
murderers.

It was arranged between Li Hung Chang and
General Staveley that Captain Holland of the
Royal Marines should temporarily take up the
command pending a permanent appointment,
provided that the proposal should be officially made
and the necessary funds for the corps regularly
forthcoming. These negotiations, by a strange
coincidence, were effected simultaneously with the
issue of an Order in Council dated 9th January 1863
sanctioning officers of the British army to serve
under the emperor of China, — Li Hung Chang-
having two months previously proposed the
substitution of Burgevine by an English officer.

In relinquishing the command pending reference
to Peking, Burgevine published a statement
justifying his procedure in all but one point — that
of having struck the official banker, for which he
expressed his regret ; and he declared that as his
commission was granted by the imperial
government, he did not recognise the right of the
local authorities to deprive him thereof without the
emperor's sanction.

Wu Taotai, however, maintained that Burgevine
— whom he publicly accused of treasonable and
rebellious proceedings — was appointed by Li Hung

156 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Chang, to whom, as provincial governor, all officers,
civil and military, were amenable ; and on him
rested the decision as to their appointment
or dismissal.

Captain Holland inaugurated his command
with an expedition to Taitsang, on the 10th February
a force of over 2,500 men with 22 guns advancing
thither from Sungkiang and joining on the way
another force of 5,000 undrilled imperialists.
Without effecting any reconnaisance, Captain
Holland shelled the outworks to the south of
Taitsang for two hours and to no purpose, while
on the creek row after row of stakes impeded the
approach of the boats, well supplied with portable
bridges. It was then decided to storm the outworks,
but on the approach of a reconnoitring party the
handful of rebels retreated. The Chinese command-
ers affirmed that around the walls of Taitsang
there was no creek, but only a dry ditch; and on
the strength of this assertion, Captain Holland
had the guns landed and set in position against
the south wall, and after four or five hours' shelling
on the 14th, proceeded to storm the place, but when
close to the wall came across a deep moat which
the troops could not ford, the bridges having been
left behind. A ladder was thrown over, but it gave
way and the few who crossed the moat fell in the
attempt to scale a breach, while the, force, huddled

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 157

up, became the target of a telling fire. In this
wretched plight a retreat was effected under cover
of the guns, of which two 32-pounders, being stuck
fast in the swamp, had to be abandoned after an
ineffectual attempt to spike them under a sharp
fusillade, followed by a charge of the rebels.*
Heavy were the casualties in this first serious
reverse suffered by the Ever Victorious Army, the
number of killed, wounded and missing being first
said to be about 500, but afterwards officially given
as 200, whilst of the foreign officers ten were
wounded, and four killed — Captains Maunder,
Macarthy, Macleod, and Bosworth. Such was the
first and last expedition under Captain Holland, —
insisted upon by Li Hung Chang as the alternative
of reducing or disbanding the corps.

The command was then given to Brevet-Major
Gordon of the Royal Engineers, then engaged in a
survey of the thirty-mile radius.

As to Burgevine, the British minister at
Peking regretted that misunderstanding should

*In recording this reverse, one of the rebel chiefs wrote thus:
<!Oh, how we laughed, on the morning of the assault, as they
advanced nearer to the creek which they brought no bridge to throw
over! how we laughed as we saw the ladder they had thrown over
getting weaker and weaker beneath them, and at last fall into the
creek, leaving half the party on one side and half on the other.
' What general is lie,' cried our chief. ' who sends his men to storm a
city without first ascertaining that there i-; a moat?' 'And what
general is he,' cried another of our leaders. ' who allows a storming
party to advance without bridges?' See. O chief, these unfortunates!''

15S HISTORIC SHANGHAI

have arisen between the Chinese officials and an
officer generally well spoken of, under whom the
corps scored its proudest victory, and whose high-
handed procedure was not unjustifiable since it
only sought to prevent the break-up of his forces.
But while desirous of seeing his services duly
requited, Sir Frederick Bruce was alive to the
danger of leaving the corps in the hands of that
class of adventurers to be found among its
officers, inasmuch as the large foreign interests at
Shanghai were tempting, and forces intended for
the protection thereof should therefore be such as
might be thoroughly relied upon.

To vindicate himself, Burgevine proceeded
to Peking, and succeeded in securing the good
graces of all the foreign ministers, what with his
gentlemanly bearing and military prestige, and
the pathos of his wrongs in face of still unhealed
wounds received in the imperial service. The
diplomatic corps advocated his cause, the British
minister addressing the Tsungli yamen strongly in
his favour, while the American minister tendered
an apology for the untoward incident, with the
result that Burgevine returned to Shanghai with a
commissioner sent to accommodate matters with
Li Hung Chang.

To General Staveley, Sir Frederick Bruce
expressed the opinion that Burgevine was the

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 159

victim of intrigues and jealousy on the part of the
Chinese officials, against whose injustice it was
absolutely necessary to support foreign officers ;
and the general was accordingly requested to use
his influence in reinstating Burgevine, for the sake
of justice.

Notwithstanding the instructions from Peking,
Li Hung Chang declined to supersede Major
Gordon without further reference to the imperial
government ; and at an interview with Major-
General Brown, who replaced General Staveley, Li
declard that the officials, gentry, and people were
all averse to Burgevine's reinstatement as likely to
renew troubles, and the force if placed under him
would again become uncontrollable and dangerous
alike to natives and foreigners.

In reply to an official enquiry from Vice-Consul
Markham, Li further stated that he could not re-
appoint Burgevine in view of the difficulties raised
by him, and his extravagance having involved
Wu and Yang in disgrace. Moreover, Major
Gordon gave every satisfaction, so that instead of
superseding him, Li memorialised the throne to
confer upon him the rank of tsung-ping, or general
of division.

On military grounds General Brown concurred
with Li Hung Chang in supporting Major Gordon,
whose ability and energy, he pointed out to Sir

160 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Frederick Bruce, fitted him for the command ; and
in the event of his removal therefrom, every other
British officer would withdraw from the corps.

Sir Frederick Bruce, however, maintained that
it was inexpedient to employ British officers
beyond the protection of legitimate British interests,
and that unless relieved of further obedience to the
orders of the Chinese authorities, the commander
would find himself in a position incompatible with
his profession and with what was due to a British
officer. Under the circumstances Sir Frederick
declined the responsibility of employing British
officers beyond the thirty-mile radius, apprising
the Chinese government of his objection thereto, to
little or no purpose.

Meanwhile an imperial amnesty having been
availed of by the rebels at Changshu,* the
surrender led to the place being beleaguered by
some thirty or forty thousand rebels under Chung
Wang and several other chiefs. From Taitsang
the Taipings brought the two 32-pounders captured
there ; also a prisoner who was sent with the
heads of three foreigners to be exhibited at
Changshu as trophies. For three days the rebels
shelled Changshu with the 32-pounders until one
burst. Attempts were then made to mine and

* CJianzu.

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 161

scale the walls, defended by eight thousand
ex-rebels successfully. But some ten miles off, the
Taipings recovered Fushan after its surrender — a
notorious pirates' nest on the canal leading from
Changshu to the Yangtze, whence the rebels drew
their supply of arms.

Two expeditions sent by Li Hung Chang
having failed to retake Fushan or relieve
Changshu, Gordon was required to initiate his
campaign there — thirty miles beyond the thirty-
mile radius; and on the 31st March 1863 he
embarked at Sungkiang with a regiment, four
I2-pounder howitzers and a 32-pounder siege-gun.
Proceeding up the Yangtze the force landed near
Fushan, and the locality having been thoroughly
reconnoitred, on April 6th the guns played with
terrific effect, silencing the stockades and keeping
away large reinforcements swarming thither, while
a storming party pushed through, with the result
that the enemy retreated, abandoning two strong
lines of defence between Fushan and Changshu,
then serving as Chung Wang's headquarters —
where thirty-four imperialist prisoners had been
crucified and burnt to death with red-hot iron.
Changshu stood in dire extremity when thus
relieved, part of the rebel forces retreating with
the wangs, and part offering their allegiance,
which the imperialists accepted in good faith.

162 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The casualties of the expedition were but slight —
one officer wounded, two men killed and two
wounded. Leaving a small detachment to
garrison Fushan, Gordon forthwith returned to
re-organise the force at Sungkiang, it having
been but a week since he assumed command
when called upon for his first campaign.

The Ever Victorious Army — now raised to
about 4,000 men — was formed into five infantry
regiments and one of artillery, the officers being as
originally foreigners of various nationalities, and
the non-commissioned officers invariably natives.
The infantry had mostly Tower muskets, with a
good proportion of Enfield rifles. The artillery —
the most important part of the force — consisted of
two 8-inch howitzers, four 32-pounders, three 24-pr.
howitzers, twelve naval and eighteen mountain
12-pr. howitzers, fourteen mortars, and three rocket
tubes — the guns all mounted on siege carriages,
with special boats for their conveyance. Another
flotilla carried mantlets for the gunners, planks for
platforms and bridges, and Blanchard's pontoons ;
and moreover each regiment had its own bamboo
ladders strapped with planks, which served as
bridges, too, so that the whole force could cross the
waterways simultaneously. No less important were
four paddle gunboats of light draught, mounting a
32-pounder forward and a 12-pounder aft on swivels,

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FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 163

with loopholed mantlets all around, each of these
boats being considered fully a match for a force of
three thousand rebels, the Hyson in particular, —
which had the peculiar knack of being amphibious,
for with her powerful wheels she could paddle
along the mud beds of the canals when the water
was too low even for her light draught. There
were, besides, two siege boats and some fifty war-
junks drawing but two feet of water. The force
was thus capitally adapted for action among the
network of canals; it could swiftly close in upon
any position and take the enemy by surprise from
least expected quarters however sheltered by
nature.

After the relief of Changshu, while Gordon
planned operations at Kwenshan,* Li Hung Chang
negotiated for the allegiance of Taitsang, whither
he despatched his brother with two thousand men,
who first stockaded themselves at the outskirt of
that town. Wei Wang, better known as Tsah, the
rebel leader there, deluded them so well that in the
course of the negotiations four hundred mandarin
hats and robes were sent in for him and his officers
with complimentary cards from Li Hung Chang
himself. The capitulation was fixed for April 26th,
when the imperialists entered the town only to be
treacherously attacked, about a thousand being.

* Quinsan.

164 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

taken prisoners; but Li Hung Chang's brother
managed to escape with a spear wound in the
rump. Of the prisoners three hundred were
beheaded and the rest sent to Kwenshan and
Soochow, or detained as prisoners.

Gordon was already on the way to Kwenshan
when news reached him of the disaster; and at
Li Hung Chang's instance he forthwith led the
expedition to Taitsang. The outworks to the south
of Taitsang were occupied unopposed, though of
strategic importance ; those to the left were next
approached, on May 1st, the troops advancing
gradually to overlap and threaten the rear, while
the artillery opened fire, when the rebels abandoned
this position too. On reconnoitring the locality it
was ascertained that the defences to the west of
the town mainly centred upon the outworks thus
easily taken; the creek leading thither was clear
of stakes, so that boats could be brought up to
bridge it, the only drawback in view being the
bastion projecting from the west gate. The troops
lay under cover, one regiment being detached to
protect the left flank and cut off a retreat from the
north gate, and at a range of only five or six
hundred yards the guns, protected by mantlets,
worked most efficiently, moving closer and closer
as the defence gave way ; and a practicable breach
having been made, the boats were ordered up with

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE ] 65

the storming party, at whose approach the rebels,
thus far well concealed, rushed forward to man the
breach. The garrison numbered some ten thousand
strong, including two thousand picked braves, and
several foreign auxiliaries to whom Tsah awarded
gold medals before the action commenced. Amidst
a brisk fire from the battlements, fused bags of gun-
powder were hurled upon the approaching boats,
with the result that one was sunk. At the breach
a bristling forest of spears repelled every onset,
although under a ceaseless fusillade, and enfiladed
with canister shot. Blind shells from the 8-inch
howitzers then mowed down the defenders. But
Major Bannen who led the assault mounted the
breach only to be killed in a hand-to-hand struggle
and repulse. Again the artillery crashed on the
walls, which, crumbling away, buried many of the
braves in the debris. Yet Tsah's snake-flag waved
over the breach defiantly, and as long as it was
there his followers stubbornly stood their ground.
Another assault ensued under Major Brennan — a
desperate hand-to-hand encounter during which
the contending forces swayed to and fro at the
breach. At last Captain Tchirikoff's men planted
the colours of the 5th Regiment on the rampart.
Tsah's snake-flag now vanished, he escaping with
a wound on the head ; and as the gallant stormers
rushed into the town, the enemy fled in every

1G6 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

direction, many in the stampede being trampled to
death, drowned in the creek, and mowed down
by heavy firing from the Hyson, sent in pursuit.
Several British and French deserters fell in defence
of the breach, and others on being taken prisoners,,
including two Americans who had figured conspicu-
ously, were shot in spite of some of them pleading
for mercy. The casualties in Gordon's force were
heavy: one officer and twenty men killed, eight
officers and ninety-three men wounded, twenty
mortally. The rebels — whose losses were estimated
at two thousand— must have been well armed, as
Enfield cartridges were found at their headquarters.
Treacherous to the last, Tsah had his house mined
and so fused that it was not until the dead of night
that the comfortable but unoccupied premises blew
up. Two mandarins of rank, found tied up there,
had been released together with some three
hundred imperialists. On the other hand severaL
rebel prisoners, said to be officers of some note,
were brought to the imperialist camp, and there
tortured to death with the most refined cruelty,
arrows being driven through them, slices of flesh
cut and hung by the skin, while for hours the
wretches writhed in agony until at last partially
decapitated; and according to another account
seven rebel prisoners were roasted alive after
having their eyes pierced with arrows — atrociti es

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 167

said to have been exaggerated, but which were
nevertheless brought to the notice of Li Hung
Chang with the warning that if similar cases were
reported again, the imperialists must no longer
look for British co-operation on the field.*

The position of Gordon meanwhile grew
extremely difficult. The discipline enforced by
him gave rise to considerable discontent, accus-
tomed as the soldiers of fortune were to every sort
of indulgence. In Ward's days, for each town
taken from the rebels, the corps received prize-
money varying from £l5,0D0 to £20,000, stipulated
for previous to action ; and after every capture the
force obtained leave to dispose of the spoils. To
discard this demoralising habit, Gordon proposed
that, instead of looting, the corps should be given
gratuities on special occasions — a measure which,
while distasteful to Li Hung Chang for economical
reasons, led almost to a mutiny after the capture of
Taitsang, so that Gordon found it necessary to
return to Sungkiang for re-organisation, the troops

* These atrocities greatly roused the indignation of the
British people, and yet an apologist was not wanting: " We are apt
to attach an exaggerated importance to the cruelty of Chinese
punishments from our superior sensitiveness to pain. What might
be exquisite torture to the nervous, vascular European is something
much less to the obtuse-nerved Turanian : and it may be safely
athrmed that the Chinese penal code, as actually carried out, is,
considering the nature of the people, not a whit more severe than
that of any European country." Wilson: Ever Victorious Army,
p. 155.

168 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

as usual laden with booty, and Taitsang being left
in charge of General Ching, an ex-rebel chief,
supported by the Hyson.

The reform effected at Sungkiang, particularly
in connection with the commissariat, was resented
to the point of several officers in command tender-
ing their resignation, which Gordon accepted,
although the force was to start for Kwenshan on
the following morning. At the appointed hour,
only his bodyguard fell in. Suasively, however,
Gordon carried his point. The officers withdrew
their resignation, and the mutineers all answered
the call, so that on May 25th the whole available
force numbering about 3,000 men with the artillery
park left Sungkiang for Kwenshan.

On arrival there, Gordon found the imperialists
stockaded off the east gate, where, thanks to the
Hyson, the rebels had been repeatedly checked.
To the right of the imperialist stockades stood the
rebel outworks, held by ten or twelve thousand
picked men, including Tsah and his braves.
Gordon's first operations were directed against
these outworks, whither on the morning of May
28th the field artillery with the 4th and 5th
Regiments as well as the imperialists advanced to
flank the position, repulsing a sortie from the east
gate. With the flanks now seriously in danger,
the rebels promptly withdrew, hotly pursued. At

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 169

the east gate the defences were under foreign
supervision, the lead-coated shots from an 18-
pounder being directed with remarkable precision.

A difference now arose as to the plan of
operations. Regardless of the heavy casualties
experienced at Taitsang, General Ching, who
commanded the imperialists, proposed to breach
and storm the strongly defended east gate, while
Gordon first sought to reconnoitre the other side of
the city with the view of striking at its
communications, if possible, as a less costly and
equally telling process.

By a detour along the canal to the south,
the Hyson with both commanders on board
proceeded westward on the 29th, and her
unexpected appearance on the main canal leading
from Kwens.han to Soochow created quite a scare
among the large rebel forces moving then along
the adjoining road — the only one between the
two cities, and quite exposed to a sweeping fire.

From the reconnaisance effected, Gordon
resolved to attack the west gate instead of the
east, much to Ching's chagrin; and returning, the
Hyson at daybreak on the 30th escorted from the
east gate a flotilla conveying the 4th Regiment and
the field artillery, — the boats with their profusion
of multicoloured flags and their expanse of white

170 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

sails forming quite a picturesque group around the
redoubtable paddle-steamer.

From the commanding but unfortified heights
of Kwenshan these manoeuvres were not
unobserved by the rebels, who, divided into factions
in consequence of differences among their leaders,
seemed already to realise their doom in face of
this strategical master-stroke ; and as the Hyson
once more debouched upon the Soochow-Kwenshan
canal, they abandoned the stockades at Chunye,
a portion of the large force taking flight to
Kwenshan, and the main body in the direction
of Soochow.

While the flotilla removed the stakes and
advanced towards Kwenshan, the Hyson with
Gordon on board took the opposite direction.
Hundreds of boats drifting on the canal blocked
the way, and yet the main rebel forces were doomed
to be overtaken, the road or rather causeway along
which they fled having for its background only
deep canals here and there expanding into lagoons.
Thus, though delayed for over three hours, the
Hyson ultimately overhauled the fleeing forces,
now harrying them from the rear, now going ahead
to foil their chance of rallying at the stockades on
the way. At sunset, as the pagodas and walls of
Soochow hove in sight, the Hyson turned back
after taking on board a hundred and fifty

FROM A FALL TO A MASTER-STROKE 171

prisoners — although Captain Davidson had with
him but five or six foreigners with about thirty
native artillerymen.

On the way back, large bodies of rebels were
met rushing forward pell-mell in the dark amidst
mounted parties galloping madly as best they could
along the narrow, crowded road ; and upon these
compact masses not six yards away, the hail of
canister and grape shot wrought fearful havoc.
The confusion, the crush, the flight degenerated
into an indescribable stampede at the sound of the
Hyson's steam-whistle, which, to those benighted
country people who had never heard the like of it,
evidently sounded like the howl of some terrible
monster let loose upon them. Yelling in despair,
those terror-stricken masses — the garrison of
Kwenshan — turned back upon the doomed city
they had abandoned. Further on, at Chunye, in
spite of a tremendous fire from the captured
stockades, the imperialists stood in imminent
danger of being surrounded by other desperate
masses, when the Hyson's shelling consummated
the disastrous rout, while from the east gate Ching's
forces entered the city.

The picked garrison was a total loss to the
main army at Soochow, what with the telling fire
and the no less fatal meshes of deep canals, whence
but a few of those who attempted to escape

172 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

returned in a piteous plight. Altogether the rebel
losses in killed were estimated at four thousand;
and if Gordon had a larger force at hand, thousands
might have been taken prisoners. On the other
hand the imperialists under Ching lost about three
hundred, whilst in Gordon's force the casualties
were but two killed and five drowned. During
the whole of this decisive action the rebels
seemed dazed, paralysed by the bold and quite
unexpected mode of attack.

Thus fell Kwenshan— the most important
rebel stronghold thus far captured — whose strategic
position led to its being chosen by Gordon for his
headquarters, instead of Sungkiang. This change
proved so unpopular that a mutiny broke out among
the artillerymen, whereupon one of the ringleaders, a
corporal, was shot as a deterrent, which fortunately
spared Gordon the necessity of resorting to sterner
measures resolved upon. But many of the rank
and file soon deserted, the gaps being filled up by
recruits from among the rebel prisoners.

At Shanghai General Brown was meanwhile in
raptures over Gordon's success at Taitsang and his
plan of operations at Kwenshan. As graphically
related in Michie's The Englishman in China,
the doughty general, then the guest of one of
the leading houses at Shanghai, (Dent) early
one morning received a missive which sent him

FROM A FALL TO A MASTKR-STROKE 173

rushing about, deshabille, in search of his host
and enquiring : " Do you know Major Gordon? " — »
" Why, yes," replied the host, " a very nice fellow,
and reported to be a first-rate officer." — "But he is
a genius ! " exclaimed the enraptured general.
"Just look what I have received from him from
the front," and he unfolded a piece of ordinary
Chinese brown paper, on which were some pencil
diagrams and scrawls. Another similar missive
came, and again the general burst forth: "I tell
you that man is a military genius, that's what I call
him, a military genius. I'll support him for all I
am worth."

In those cryptic plans lay the doom of Kwen-
shan; and commanding that highly important
point and its waterways, the strategist barred the
most dangerous route from the enemy's base of
operation at Soochow — the crowning stroke of the
whole campaign.

No wonder, then, General Brown now felt so
confident as to the safety of Shanghai that shortly
after he despatched home most of the European
troops still left behind, the sepoy regiments and a
contemplated force of drilled natives being now
deemed sufficient for garrisoning Shanghai.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Fall of Soochow.

The possession of Kwenshan augured well for the
capture of Soochow, likewise admirably adapted
for investment from the waterways, for which
purpose it was now only necessary to command
two strategic points on the Grand Canal : Wusieh,
to cut off communications from the north; and
Wukiang, * to guard the southern route as well as
to get a flotilla into the Taihu to bar the approaches
from the west ; and this accomplished, the fall of
Soochow could not but be a mere question of time.
From Kwenshan Gordon's force with the
paddle-steamers Firefly and Cricket proceeded on
July 25th to Wukiang, and at the junction of
the Grand Canal with the creek leading from
Kwenshan, outflanked and took two commanding
stockades at Kiapu,t abandoned by the rebels as
they found a retreat to Soochow threatened.
Moving southward, Gordon then advanced upon

* "Wukong t Kahpoo.

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THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 175

the walled town of Wukiang on the 29th, taking by
surprise the bridge close to the east gate ; and as
the rebels rushed towards a stockade near the
north gate, a detachment of Gordon's force raced
along with them and succeeded in driving them
back into the town. A large stockade at the
south gate had scarcely been taken next, when a
flotilla of thirty-five war-boats passed by and met
with such an effective fire that they surrendered.
A sortie was expected from the beleaguered town,
which, however, quietly capitulated on the 30th,
and of the four thousand prisoners taken, several
hundreds of them were enlisted in Gordon's force-
in place of deserters, while of those handed over to
Ching, some were beheaded — though Gordon had
promised them good treatment. The rebel loss
was said to be but twenty wounded, thirty killed.
The leader, a brother of Chung Wang, managed to-
escape in a boat at night. The casualties among
Gordon's men were one killed and eighteen
wounded, three of the latter being officers.

The capture of Wukiang disposed of the only
route from Hangchow to Soochow, and effectively
cut off the latter city from the south and east;,
moreover it blocked another waterway leading to
Shanghai, and dealt a blow at the surreptitious
trade in arms.

I7fi HISTORIC SHANGHAI

But far from recognising these master-strokes,
Ching never forgave Gordon for rejecting his plan
of operations at Kwenshan, and went so far as to
attribute it to defection from the imperial cause,
hinting even at Gordon having been bought over
by the Taipings ! Friction grew more and more
evident. When after the capture of Kwenshan the
imperialists proceeded to entrench themselves on
the road to Soochow, a detachment of Gordon's
force co-operated with them in clearing the adjacent
districts of rebels, and whether purposely or other-
wise, some of Ching's war-boats fired upon the
detachment in spite of its being easily recognisable
from its red and green ensign, whereupon Gordon
at the head of another detachment started for the
purpose of returning the compliment in case of
another such attack on the part of Ching, who
seemed at first disposed to treat the matter in jest ;
but eventually he tendered an apology at the
instance of Li Hung Chang.

At the same time pecuniary difficulties again
beset the force as in Burgevine's days ; and rather
than be a suppliant for what was well known to be
necessaries, Gordon resigned the command after
the capture of Wukiang, the situation being deemed
derogatory to him as a British officer — just as Sir
Frederick Bruce had foreseen.

THE FALL OF SOOCHOIV 1 I l

Meanwhile, Burgevine was by no means idle.
Finding that Li Hung Chang ignored the
instructions for his reinstatement, he returned to
Peking with the view of having at least his claims
settled. But notwithstanding the diplomatic support
accorded him, the baleful influence of Li prevailed
in the end, — the government not only repudiating
claims incurred by the corps on Burgevine's own
responsibility, but also discarding proposals made
by the ministers which tended to divert Burgevine
from the last, desperate resort to which he was
driven, what with the perversity of the Shanghai
officials, the effeteness of the Peking government
in tolerating its orders to be set at naught, and
the encouragement given to Li in thwarting the
arrangement made by the foreign ministers with
the Tsung-li yamen.

Thus stung to the quick, and despairing of
redress, Burgevine now sought to avenge his wrongs
by joining the rebels, although his health was im-
paired in consequence of the serious and badly
tended wounds received at their hands for the
imperial cause. From Shanghai he went over to
the rebels in July 1863, with a contingent of over a
hundred foreigners mostly seafaring men, who, it
was said, had full liberty to loot every place they
captured, Shanghai included.

178 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The Taipings were known to have foreign
agents at Shanghai, whose exterritorial status de-
prived the Chinese government of the power to put
a stop to the enlistment of foreigners for the rebel
army. In vain the American consul issued a
warrant for Burgevine's arrest ; and to prevent
further enlistment the consuls notified that suspected
vessels were liable to search, and offenders pun-
ishable with the utmost rigour of the law.

To make matters worse, serious defection was
noticeable in Gordon's force, the best officers like
the rest seeming inclined to side with Burgevine,
who was reported to have been made a"wang"
and placed in command of the whole forces, twenty
thousand of whom were being drilled by foreigners
at Soochow — whither Burgevine proceeded in an
armed steamer, the Kajoiv, captured at Sungkiang.

Thus arose the most serious situation which
ever confronted the Ever Victorious Army, the
immediate outturn of which was to reduce that force
to defensive action, marring the hopes of a speedy
capture of Soochow.

Such was the critical state of affairs when,
after the capture of Wukiang, Gordon gave up the
command in disgust. But no sooner had he reached
Shanghai, on August 1st, than, impelled by chival-
rous feelings in face of the serious news, he rode

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 179

back alone to Kwenshan that very night to resume
the command until the perils of the new situation
were averted.

Grave anxiety was felt as to the safety of
Gordon's siege train, the more so since there was
none to match it at Shanghai. To guard against any
possible surprise, therefore, Gordon ordered the
removal of the guns and ammunition from Kwen-
shan to Shanghai, and this was effected under the
escort of over a thousand men expressly sent from
Shanghai, consisting of detachments from the Royal
Artillery and the Beloochis Infantry under Captain
Murray, R.A., as well as from Captain Bonnefoy's
Franco-Chinese force, — two hundred Beloochis be-
ing left behind with Gordon at Kwenshan as that
point was believed to be Burgevine's first objective.

Led by foreigners with a howitzer, the rebels
in large numbers threatened Kiapu, which Gordon
was determined to hold so as to cut off all
communications between Soochow and Shanghai.
Repeatedly the rebels attacked the place and were
driven back every time ; but their shelling succeeded
in blowing up one of the war-junks alongside the
Hyson. For three days stubborn fighting went on
at the stockades ; a desperate assault was made on
them at dusk on August 17th, when repelled again
at close quarters, the rebels withdrew at last from
Kiapu. From the prisoners taken it transpired

180 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

that Burgevine was then at Soochow, where from
two to three hundred foreigners were training the
force and making shells.

Gordon's next move, in conjunction with
Captain Bonnefoy's detachment, was on another
stockaded position of strategical importance further
up the canal and but a mile and a half to the south-
east of Soochow : Paotaichiao, the fifty-three arch
bridge, which was surprised on the morning of
September 29th and taken almost without
resistance. In the course of the same day the
rebels sought to regain the position but met with a
repulse, as did also an attempt to close on the
Hyson by the foreign contingent, whose action,
however, fell rather short of expectations.

A portion of that fine bridge having been
removed to let the Hyson into the lake near by, the
weakened structure became the scene of a truly
providential escape. One evening as Gordon rested
there enjoying a cigar, strange enough a rifle shot
and still another struck the very slab of stone on
which he was seated, whereupon, regaining his boat,
he was returning to the camp when all of a sudden
that portion of the bridge where he had been resting
came down with a crash, so that one danger saved
him from another which might have been worse.*

"-According to AVilson's Ever Victoricma Army, the shuts were
accidentally fired from Gordon's own camp.

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THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 181

Meanwhile Burgevine had the audacity to visit
Shanghai in quest of arms ; he narrowly escaped
capture on the way, and much to the disappoint-
ment of Mo Wang returned to Soochow without
the desired supply. On the very day of his arrival,
October 1st, Burgevine advanced upon Paotaichiao
with the Kajow and two improvised gun-boats as
well as large land forces under Mo Wang, whose
artillery worked with great precision ; and matters
looked serious indeed for the small defending
force when the Hyson appeared on the scene.
After some hesitation, however, the rebels
approached to storm the stockade, but flanked by
a vigorous fire from the creek to the west, they
withdrew under cover of their 32 and I2-pounders,
ultimately falling back upon Soochow after an
unsuccessful attempt to surprise the stockade at
night, when Burgevine had another narrow escape,
one of the rockets fired hitting the pony he rode.
The heaviest gun in the stockade, a 24-pounder,
was disabled during the action ; and in face of the
enemy's superior forces Gordon lost no time in
sending for more guns and men.

For the relief of Soochow, Chung Wang was
now sent from Nanking at the head of considerable
forces ; and while Wukiang was being invested by
another force under the redoubtable Tsah, Gordon's
serious position was aggravated by Ching, who,

3 82 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

rasher than ever, projected an onset upon the
stockades to the north of Soochow, for which he
desired support. It was given him only for
defensive purposes, as his position was threatened.
Ching, however, attacked and took some outworks
to the north-east, whence he had soon to withdraw
without even an attempt on the main stockades.

At Wukiang the imperialists stood for days in
a precarious situation. This was not ignored by
Ching, who nevertheless withheld the information
from Gordon — whom he reported as being possibly
in league with Burgevine. It was only after
a serious reverse suffered on October I2th that
intelligence reached Gordon at Paotaichiao of the
actual state of affairs, whereupon he proceeded
instantly for the relief of Wukiang with about
five hundred men and some artillery. The rebels
there numbered from twenty to thirty thousand,
and their stockades were manned by picked
troops, of whom about two thousand were armed
with muskets. Another army of thirty thousand
expected from Huchow had not yet arrived
when Gordon fell upon the stockades, and
after desperate fighting for three hours succeeded
in dislodging the enemy, who retreated with
considerable losses, including several notable
leaders. It was one of the severest encounters of
the Ever Victorious Army, though the casualties

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 183

were but ten killed and thirty-five wounded, three
of the latter being officers.

Meanwhile large imperialist forces under Li
Hung Chang's brother, after capturing Kiangying on
the Yangtze, secured a strong position to the north
of Soochow — at Tachiaokio — whence Burgevine
undertook to dislodge them ; and the foreign
contingent stood ready for the assault, on October
I2th, when the Kajoiv blew up, followed by another
-explosion, on board a magazine boat taken from the
imperialists, whither the wounded had been removed
from the Kajow, — disasters which reduced the
foreign contingent to almost half its strength, and
roused deep mistrust on the part of the rebels, —
Burgevine with the rest of his party being ordered
back to Soochow by Chung Wang, whose attitude
towards him had never been of a friendly nature.

On the other hand pourparlers had been going
on between Burgevine and Gordon after the capture
of Paotaichiao. At the high bridge not far off, the
foreigners among the contending forces — some of
them comrades at one time — often met as friends,
and from the interchange of views it transpired that
the foreigners in rebel service were by no means
satisfied with their lot. This was confirmed in an
interview which Gordon had with Burgevine, who
expressed his willingness to quit the service with
his officers and men, provided their immunity was

J 81 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

guaranteed against any legal proceedings. This
was agreed to, Gordon even offering to take as many
of them as he could into his own force and help
the rest to quit the country, to Burgevine being left
the option of fixing the day for surrendering.

At a subsequent interview, however, a strange
proposal was made, quite characteristic of the
man whose ambition was to found an oriental
empire : Burgevine suggested that Gordon with
his force should join his own, seize Soochow,
organise an army and march upon Peking, for all
of which the necessary funds could be found in
Soochow itself — a proposal which Gordon viewed
with indignation. Burgevine's next plot was to
seize Gordon in the course of the pourparlers, but the
officer to whom this was broached cried down such
treachery. It only remained for the wretch now
to surrender as agreed upon, under the auspices of
that chivalrous friend rather than foe whom he
failed to tempt and to ensnare.

Accordingly, after the Kajow disaster, word
was sent that Burgevine and his men meant to
place themselves in Gordon's hands under cover
of a feint. They pretended to attack the Hyson ;
and as they rushed forward, thousands of rebels
unsuspectingly followed them only to be repelled
with shot and shell, while the deserters embarked
in safety. Burgevine, however, was not among

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 185

them. Grave apprehension was felt as to his
safety ; and Gordon at once sent an appeal to Mo
Wang with presents and all the rifles taken away
from the deserters. To the credit of that rebel
leader, Burgevine was given up most courteously,
if not magnanimously.

According to Burgevine's statement,* the Kajow
disaster, added to the stoppage in the supply of
arms, rendered further operations impracticable ;
while his failing health hindered him from taking
an active part in the command. He made various
proposals to Chung Wang, which, if adopted, would
have altered the situation, it being suggested that
unless foreign forces withdrew from the outskirts
of Soochow, the silk trade should be ruined
in reprisal by the destruction of all mulberry
plantations in the silk districts ; and failing this, to
abandon Soochow as well as Nanking, and
concentrate the whole force in the north. Mo Wang,
however, in more than one way gave the foreigners
to understand that their services, engaged by him
and unpaid for, were no longer desired — a lack of
confidence in them being manifest ; and when in
face of all this they determined to leave, he declared
that they were at perfect liberty to do so, Burgevine
on his departure being accorded full military

Published in the North China Herald of 24th October 1863.

186 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

honours — which bespoke not the thorough
renunciation of the Taiping cause expected of him.

Through Gordon's intercession, no proceedings
were instituted as promised, although according to
Li Hung Chang's view Burgevine had incurred the
penalty of death, whether judged by the laws of
China or of foreign countries. But the American
consul was called upon to deport Burgevine as a
dangerous character. Ere long, however, implicated
in the seizure of the steamer Firefly at Shanghai by
a band of foreign desperadoes, Burgevine was
arrested by the Chinese authorities and handed
over to the consul to be kept in confinement
pending his deportation.*

The investment of Soochow now proceeded in
earnest, several important outworks being carried
before relief could reach them from the main

*From Shanghai Burgevine proceeded to Japan, whence he was
in 1865 prevailed upon to return to China, and at Amoy he rejoined
the last of the Taipings only to be forthwith arrested and detained
at Foochow pending the question of his extradition. The American
government, however, regarded him as no longer entitled to its
protection. Eventually he was conveyed by the overland route to
be handed over to the Kiangsu authorities; and what happened
subsequently is a tragedy still wrapt in mystery. Officially he was
reported to have been drowned on the way, during a flood in
Chekiang; and consular investigations failed to substantiate the
prevailing rumours as to foul play, although a strip of flayed skin
was said to have been found within his coffin, his body — reported
to be fearfully mutilated when found in the ditch of a village near
Ningpo — being identified through a fracture on the skull received
while fighting for the imperialists. Such was the tragic end of a
former hero whose career was like a romance, whose wrongs at
one time had deep sympathy from high quarters, and whose downfall
was in a great measure the outcome of those unredressed wrongs.

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 187

defences. To the south, a well stockaded position
at Wulungchiao, west of Paotaichiao, fell on
October 23rd, and an unsuccessful attempt upon
Wukiang three days later cost the rebels heavily.
To the north, Liku was captured on November 1st,
and Huangtai * on the nth, the artillery tearing
the stockades away ; but what with a stubborn
resistance and their own cross-fire, the storming
parties suffered heavily at Huangtai, an officer and
ten men being killed and about forty wounded.
To block the Grand Canal between Wusieh and
Soochow, Hushi t was taken on the 19th, a tardy
reinforcement being driven back to Soochow. In
the Taihu, forty rebel gunboats, attacked by the
Hyson and Tsatlee, took refuge at a stockaded
island, where the boats were hauled up, the defences
manned, and a heavy fire kept up, which disabled
the Tsatlee, a shot being sent through her boiler.
The Hyson then brought her out of range, and
returning to the charge, took eight of the boats.
Off the island at nightfall the two steamers came
across a larger flotilla laden with troops on the
way to Soochow, which the Hyson bore down upon,
sinking several boats and dispersing the force.

The investment of the outer line of defence
was now completed, and the combined imperialist
forces extended from the vicinity of Wusieh down

*Wanti. |Fusaikuan.

188 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

to Wulungchiao, while a strong flotilla guarded the
approaches from the lake. The force under Gordon
numbered about 3,500 men, including 400 from the
Franco-Chinese contingent ; Ching led about 10,000
well-armed imperialists, and Li Han Chang from
25,000 to 30,000, altogether a match numerically to
the rebel forces within the defences of Soochow,
estimated at 40,000 strong ; but about as many more
stood at Wusieh and Matangclriao under Chung
Wang.

From two intercepted despatches it transpired
that, while planning a combined action for the
relief of Soochow, Chung Wang was nonplussed by
serious news concerning the safety of Nanking, in
face of which he almost gave way to despondency,
the more so since the critical situation at Soochow
was aggravated by dissensions among the leaders.

The capture of Hushi proved a serious
drawback to Chung Wang's advance upon
Soochow ; it barred the last open approach thither,
with the exception of a circuitous road along the
hills near the lake. But at the moment when Gordon
needed every available man for action, he had to
detach a regiment to garrison Hushi, as Ching
declined to do so in view of the perilous position
between two rebel armies. The occupation of Hushi,
however, eventually led Chung Wang's advance-
guard to fall back on a line with the Grand Canal.

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THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 189

On the other hand, consequent upon delibera-
tion with Ching as to expected overtures for the
surrender of Soochow, Gordon now sent Mo Wang
a note to the effect that the last moment was at hand
for negotiations, every assistance in his power
being proffered.* Mo Wang, however, was the last
of the rebel leaders to entertain such a proposal —
the staunchest of them all, who, on the contrary,
upbraided the others for wavering in the defence
of their stronghold.

The investment of the second line of defence
was a most hazardous task for such a small force
as Gordon could rely upon. At a distance of about
five hundred yards from the walls, the city was
girded with a line of exceptionally strong stockades,
admirably situated as redoubts commanding the
breastworks which edged a broad creek along the
entire front, while the walls close at the rear
mounted several guns — notably the 32-pounder from
Taitsang — so that even if the breastworks were
carried, the stockades remained tenable and a
retreat quite covered.

It was ascertained, however, that at night these
formidable defences were left insufficiently guarded,
and accordingly Gordon determined upon a night
surprise at the weakest point — the stockade nearest

* Hake's Events in (he Tapping Rebellion, p. 359.

190 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

to the Lou Mun, or east gate. The assault having
been fixed for 2 a.m. on November 27th, the force
pushed up in boats during an eclipse of the moon,,
although it was known — from the signal of a
lantern hoisted at the east gate— that Mo Wang
himself stood there on the alert. The landing was
effected quietly, unopposed ; it was only when
scaling the breastwork that the troops met with
cheers and volleys on their faces. The position
was nevertheless carried, but the force could not
be got to advance upon the stockade, now a line of
fire whence came a deadly hail of musket and
grape shot. Mo Wang was there, fighting like a
common soldier amidst his bodyguard. Field
pieces were brought to bear upon the stockade, and
to little purpose shot, shells, and rockets were
belched forth from twenty guns for nearly three
hours. The position being untenable, a retreat
ensued ; and heavy were the losses suffered — two
officers killed, two wounded ; rank and file, sixty
wounded, and a hundred killed, drowned, and
missing. At the stockade the casualties must have
been severe, too, Mo Wang being said to be much
depressed by the loss of many among his braves,
including several picked foreigners retained in his
service.

For another assault the siege guns and mortars
were brought up, and on the morning of the 29th

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 191

opened upon the stockade. The defence was
sturdy, conducted by Chung Wang, who with a
bodyguard of four hundred men had come by the
mountain path the previous night; and such was-
the telling fire that Gordon's column, on advancing,,
had to fall back with considerable loss. Again
the artillery crashed upon the battered stockade,,
followed by another advance ; and this time the
place was carried gallantly. To the left Gordon next
gained another stockade ; and turning to the right,,
captured a 24-pr. howitzer and cleared the whole
line of defence, no less than twenty-five stockades
being abandoned during a panic which ensued
among the rebels.

Thus fell the second line, which cost Gordon
dearly — six officers being killed and three severely
wounded, with close upon two hundred killed and
wounded in the rank and file.

It was remarked during the attack that Mo>
Wang's forces were not supported by those of the
other wangs — a dereliction which greatly incensed
Chung Wang, who in vain sent for Na Wang and
his troops repeatedly. Nay, on the very morning
after Gordon's unsuccessful night attack, the fac-
tion was already so pronounced that Na Wang
proposed, on another assault being made upon the
stockade, to shut Mo Wang and his forces out of
the city, and then negotiate for the surrender of

192 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

himself as well as several other wangs with thirty
thousand men.

The doom of Soochow was thus in more than
one way sealed. After the loss of the stockades,
Chung Wang proposed to abandon the city ; but
to this Mo Wang strenuously objected, whilst
between him and Na Wang plots and counterplots
were hatched to defeat each other's end. Chung
Wang, on leaving for Wusieh under cover of night,
is said to have been much affected by the
impending fall of the city, and remarked that he
would not have wept if it had not been for Soochow.

Stubborn and undaunted to the last, Mo Wang
fell a prey to the conspiracy roused by his
uncompromising attitude. At an assembly of the
wangs in his palace, as he descanted on the loyalty
of his troops in face of difficulties which caused
others to falter, an altercation arose, amidst which
he was stabbed to death and beheaded by the
wangs — his head being sent to Ching; while Gordon,
aware of another plot to betray him, was striving
to place this brave and staunch foe under his own
auspices when captured ; and what deepened the
pathos of this tragedy was that, close to Mo
Wang's body and stained with his blood, Gordon
found the touching appeal he once sent him for
Burgevine and his followers' lives, to which Mo
Wang so generously responded.

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THE FALL OF SOOCH-W 1^3

Even before the fall of the Lou Mun stockades,
pourparlers were going on between the disaffected
wangs and Ching, in the course of which, at the
latter's instance, Gordon met Na Wang, who
appealed for his help and was reassured as to
mercy being shown on surrender. The east gate
was given up after Mo Wang's death, and two days
later, on the 6th December 1863, the capitulation
was to take place. It was obviously Li Hung
Chang's plan that Gordon should not be present
on that occasion ; there had been friction between
them leading almost to Gordon's resignation ; and
his forces had been removed to Kwenshan on the
verge of a mutiny in consequence of not being
allowed to share in the expected looting at
Soochow. Unobstrusive, self-sacrificing as usual,
Gordon stood aloof from the capitulation, though
greatly concerned as to the due observance of the
terms agreed upon, so much so that he contrived
to meet the wangs on the way to the imperialist
camp for surrender, and was assured on enquiry
that all went well.

From an official report it appears that on
reaching the camp the confiding wangs met with
a friendly reception at the hands of Li Hung
Chang, who mentioned to each of them the rank
and decoration to be expected from the throne, and
then relegated them to Ching, with whom they

194 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

remained in conversation until — like a bolt from
the blue — the executioners rushed upon them.*
According to a native version, Li Hung Chang
promised not to behead them, and deemed his
word kept by having them cut to pieces.! In fact,
the six bodies seen by Gordon were cut down the
chest, the head horribly gashed.

At the sight of these mangled victims who
had trusted to his assurances of mercy, Gordon
experienced what must have been the bitterest
moment to that noble soul — the more so in view of
the perfect immunity which had attended his
sojourn in the distracted city, amidst the very
relatives of the wangs, after the terrible tragedy.
The perfidy, the atrocity was more than he could
bear; in a frenzy he declined to have any further
communication with the prevaricating Ching, and
seizing a rifle he proceeded to hunt for Li Hung
Chang, on whom summary justice would have been
inflicted if he had not taken to flight. For him was
left a note in which, reproaching him for the
infamous treachery, Gordon resigned the command.
Such was the intensity of his feelings that he is
said to have meditated going over to the rebels
and reconquering for them every stronghold he

* Report from Mr. Mayers, British consular interpreter.
Blue Book on China, No. G of 1864, p. 190.

t Suppression of the Taiping Rebellion in the departments around
Shanghai, p.V.

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 195

had wrested from them ; and such too was the
dangerously responsive attitude of his mutinous
forces, that General Brown deemed it well to
proceed from Shanghai and formally place both
Gordon and the corps under his command at
Kwenshan.

Amidst conflagrations the imperialists mean-
while gutted the fallen city ; and the reign of
terror which ensued may be gauged from the creek
adjacent to the execution-ground becoming so
blocked with corpses that the mandarins employed
boatmen to push them on to the main stream with
boat-hooks: and after twenty days of butchery, the
creek became reddish, the execution-ground — the
courtyard of the Twin Pagodas — soaked, stunk
with the blood of thirty thousand victims.*
No wonder, in his memorial to the throne, Li
Hung Chang reported the extermination of the
Soochow rebels.

For the capture of the city, an imperial decree
conferred on Li and Ching the yellow jacket
besides other high honours ; whilst to Gordon was
awarded a military decoration with ten thousand
taels. The under-rated hero of the campaign was
still fuming over the fate of the wangs when Li's
emissaries brought him the money, whereupon,

*Ti Ping Tien Ricoh, Vol. II., pp. 722-3.

1S6 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

seizing the very stick with which he used to direct
field operations — " the wand of victory " as it was
called — he drove away the astonished emissaries,
the decoration too being declined.

In the course of an interview with General
Brown, Li Hung Chang declared that he assumed
the full responsibility for the execution of the
wangs and completely exonerated Gordon of all
blame in connection therewith ; but he declined to
enter into any explanation as to his line of action
though deprecating a rupture in the friendly
relations through questions which, while justifiable
from the standpoint of Chinese ethics, in no way
concerned foreigners.*

Through Gordon's representations to Sir
Frederick Bruce, however, the fate of the wangs
became the subject of discussion with the Tsung-
li yamen ; and with the view of effecting a rap-
prochement with Gordon, Li Hung Chang at last
sought to justify his procedure in a proclamation,
wherein stringent measures were announced against
the circulation of false and inflammatory reports.
In this cleverly devised proclamation,— drawn up

*It is noteworthy that in a memorial to the throne on Ching's
death, in April 1864, Li Hung Chang attributed the execution at
Soochow to the suggestion of Ching, who pretended that having
once been a rebel, he well knew their ways. " Cut off" said lie " the
heads of their leaders, and their myriads of followers will instantly
subside into insignificance." Thereupon the execution was ordered.
See Wilson's Ever Victorious Army, p. 2o0.

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THE FALL OK SOOCHOW 197

with the help of Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Hart,—
Li Hung Chang pretended that, when the wangs
were summarily executed, the terms of capitulation
agreed upon stood in imminent risk of being upset ;
and Gordon being away, ignored the situation;
moreover, it could not be maintained that, once
arranged, the terms were unalterable, even when
the amnestied wangs on capitulating enforced
claims and manifested in more than one way
rebellious tendencies : Na Wang had not even
shaved his head in token of submission ; and bold,
fierce in his bearing, he refused to disband his
troops ; he insisted upon their enlistment in the
imperial army as the garrison of Soochow, with
high ranks for his adherents, who were to be left
in command of these troops. Thus confronted at
the last moment by this unexpected turn of affairs,
Li Hung Chang had to guard against the perils
thereof, and by solving the difficulties on the spur
of the moment, saved the multitude in the city from
further bloodshed, which was of the utmost
concern to him as well as to Gordon, whose main
and identical purpose was thus served in the midst
of the urgency and danger involved, which called
for the instant infliction of the penalty prescribed
by military law.*

*Blue Book on China, Xo. 7 of 1864, p. 16.

198 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

In face of these revelations Gordon himself
now expressed the opinion that if Li Hung Chang
was to be believed, he had some extenuating
circumstances in his favour; and under Mr. Hart's
masterly auspices the rapprochement became an
accomplished fact.*

To Sir Frederick Bruce, moreover, Mr. Hart
addressed an exhaustive expose, in which he dwelt
on the danger of acceding to the demands of the
wangs in view of the treachery experienced at the
surrender of Taitsang; he pointed to the injustice
of charging Li Hung Chang with premeditated
treachery inasmuch as he suddenly, unexpectedly
found himself in a dilemma from which he saw no
other way of extricating himself with safety to
general interests than by acting as he did ; and as
to the cause which led the wangs to capitulate,
it seemed to be not so much their reliance upon
Gordon as the conclusion they had come to through
him that further resistance was unavailing ; nay, it
was Ching, rather, who inspired them confidence ;
and Li, who took the whole responsibility on
himself, was content to abide by the decision of
his government.

* It is noteworthy that notwithstanding the fate of the wangs
at Soochow, Tsah (Wei Wang), in command at Haining, made
overtures and surrendered with his troops on January 25th, as did
also several other leaders elsewhere.

THK FALL OF SOOCHOW 199

Prince Kung also addressed Sir Frederick Bruce
in much the same strain as that of the proclamation,
adding, however, that Li should have thoroughly
explained matters to Gordon after the tragedy, and
that in future foreign officers were to be consulted
with the view of avoiding differences of opinion
and difficulties.

Sir Frederick Bruce, however, thought it
unlikely that the wangs would have placed them-
selves in the hands of Li without full assurances
as to their safety and a definite settlement of the
terms of capitulation; and by executing them
precipitately Li deprived himself of their evidence
for his statements ; evidently he had secured them
by fair promises, and he availed himself of trivial
pretexts to put them to death. Under such circum-
stances he could no longer expect any British
officer to serve under him ; but pending orders
from the British government, it was proposed that
Gordon should remain in charge of the force solely
for the protection of Shanghai and its vicinity
independently of Li Hung Chang.

The Order in Council sanctioning the employ-
ment of British officers in Chinese service was
revoked, and a War Office despatch dated April
26th 1864 placed Gordon under direct orders from
Major-General Brown for defensive purposes within
the thirty-mile radius of Shanghai.

200 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

Previous to this, however, urgent military as
well as political reasons led Gordon to resume
action, operations being limited to the district
immediately to the west of the Taihu, as an advance
upon Nanking was not desired in view of Tseng
Kuo-fan's sanguine expectations to take the
doomed city he had so long and so well besieged.

From Nanking down to Hangchow the rebel
forces were grouped in the shape of an hour-glass,
the neck at Yihing* and Liyang, close to the
western border of the Taihu; and Gordon's plan
was to cut these forces in twain by a dash first at
Yihing. A clever ruse succeeded in carrying the
outworks and turning the position there on February
28th, whereupon the wangs escaped in boats and the
city capitulated. While the rebels suffered heavily,
Gordon's casualties were but one officer and four
men killed, and eleven men wounded. The land
and river forces with a strong detachment of
imperialists next started on March 7th for Liyang,
for whose surrender overtures had already been
made, although the garrison was no less than
twenty thousand strong. Shih Wang, in command,
remained staunch to his cause, but while
reconnoitring he was shut out of the city by the
other wangs, and on the 8th Liyang opened its
gates, much to the relief of Tseng Kuo-fan, whose

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 201

covering forces deployed in that direction were
thus able to concentrate on Nanking.

Gordon's next move was northward, to cut off
Changchow from Nanking by a dash on Kintan;
and arriving there on March 2lst, the forces
proceeded to breach and storm the wall, but a heavy
fire repelled three successive assaults, inflicting
serious losses — two officers and thirty- five men
killed, eleven officers and eighty men wounded,
Gordon himself being wounded in the leg. The 1st
Regiment, moreover, lost its colours at the breach
after a gallant resistance ; and the bearer, a native,
though wounded, stood on the spot in the hope of
recovering the flag, even when the last storming
party had been repulsed ! Tidings now came of large
rebel forces moving eastward from Changchow,
which created considerable alarm at Soochow and
Kwenshan, sparsely garrisoned as these places
were. Further action at Kintan was abandoned,
the land forces with reinforcements falling back
on Liyang, Yihing and Wusieh, and thence to
Waisu,* which it was resolved to attack as the
Changchow rebels were being concentrated there.
The river force too proceeded thither and met with
obstinate resistance on the way. as did also the
land forces, which suffered a disastrous reverse,
and the retreat was harassed by mounted rebels,

*Waisso

202 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

so that, out of a force of two thousand, no less than.'
four hundred and fifty, including seven officers,
were killed and taken prisoners. Reinforcements
soon came, and eventually the rebels found
themselves hemmed in, whilst by an unexpected
rush the 4th Regiment swooped upon their weakest
point, and turning the position compelled a retreat
which degenerated into flight, hardly a thousand
of the rebels reaching Changchow, cut up as they
were in every direction even by armed bands of
peasants.

To the south, the imperialists sustained the loss
of their ablest general, Ching, mortally wounded
at the storming of Kiahingfu* ; but the capture of
this city was followed by that of Hangchow by the
Franco-Chinese contingent under Lieutenant
d'Aiguebelle, after a serious reverse.

To the north, Changchow, held by Hu
Wang, was now invested by eighty thousand
imperialists, for whom was reserved the first
assault, which proved a failure. The rebels
likewise repelled two assaults by Gordon's force,
capturing a pontoon bridge, which they hauled
up the breach into the city. It was replaced
by a bridge of casks, and notwithstanding
desperate resistance a combined assault on May
10th carried the breaches — at one of which a

* Kashingfu.

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 203

32-pounder, which missed fire, was found loaded to
the muzzle with grape shot. As it was, however,
the action cost Gordon's force one of the heaviest
losses on record: ten officers killed, nineteen
wounded ; forty men killed and two hundred and
sixty wounded. The rebel loss was estimated
at fifteen hundred ; most of the prisoners were
allowed to leave for home ; but Hu Wang and
his Kwangsi men — to whom was due the stubborn
resistance — were executed, for having ravaged
Li Hung Chang's native city.

There remained only Nanking — whose plight
was such that, in despair, the Tien Wang
resorted to suicide. The rampart — forty-two feet
broad — was extensively mined from one of the
stockades; and on July 19th a charge of 40,000 lb.
of gunpowder brought down the wall for over a
hundred and fifty feet; and through this rent the
once superb city was taken by Tseng Kuo-fan's
army. It lay in ruins, even the famous Porcelain
Pagoda having been destroyed. Chung Wang
defended the place to the last, and then took to
flight with the Tien Wang's son, but was captured
and executed with some seven thousand followers,
time being allowed him to finish his autobiography.

Meanwhile, with the capture of Changchow
ended the campaign of the Ever Victorious Army ;
and to Kwenshan Gordon then brought the force,

204 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

which was there paid off and disbanded before
June 1st— the date on which the Order in Council
came into force withdrawing British officers from
the service.

Of the foreigners who officered the corps — one
hundred and thirty in all — as many as thirty-five
were killed and seventy-three wounded — figures
these which eloquently bespeak the gallantry
displayed by these soldiers of fortune. In the
course of four years the Ever Victorious Army
took from the rebels some fifty places, of which
no less than twenty-three were captured under
Gordon's direction, — each a telling blow under
which the cause of the Taipings waned.

With Chung Wang perished the last prop of
the rebels, and after a reign of terror lasting
fourteen years China was left to moralise over the
ruins of six hundred cities, the desolation of
her fairest provinces, and the loss of twenty
million lives at the very least, — calamities whose
magnitude stands unparalleled in history.

The emperor of China now conferred on
Gordon the highest military rank as well as the
most coveted honours of the land — the yellow
jacket and peacock feather. Prince Kung further
desired that Gordon's distinguished services should
be recognised by his own government, and in
transmitting this request Sir Frederick Bruce

THE FALL OF SOOCHOW 205

rendered homage to the hero's skill and courage,
and to his disinterestedness, which elevated the
national character in the eyes of the Chinese: he
not only refused any pecuniary reward, but spent
more than his pay in contributing to the comfort
of his officers and in assuaging the distress of
the starving population, whom he relieved from
the yoke of their oppressors; and in resuming
operations after the fall of Soochow, it was a
feeling of the purest humanity that impelled him
to save the people from further miseries entailed
by the cruel civil war.

Yet, in memory of this chivalrous, saint-like
hero, Shanghai has no monument ! Oh, prosperous
city, in the midst of thy wealth and pleasures,
pause a moment and recollect that thou hast a
great civic duty to perform in honour of one of the
noblest names in thy history !

i^>-e-T--

CHAPTER IX.

Municipal Evolution.

WHAT with the insecurity prevailing in the
neighbouring districts during the Taiping rebellion,
and the good report spread by refugees as to their
new and safe home at Shanghai, thousands upon
thousands of wealthy families flocked thither
entreating to be accommodated at any price within
the settlement. The restriction on native domicile
was cast to the winds, and every available space
devoted to the construction of tenements, including
the race-course, and the gardens and compounds
of foreign establishments. Land-jobbing and
jerry-building became the order of the day, many
a fortune being rapidly amassed thereby, while on
the other hand the cost of living rose abnormally.
A maze of new streets and alleyways with
thousands of new tenements sprang up in hot haste ;
and such was the strain entailed by all this and
the land mania as well, that a breakdown was
feared in the municipal regime, conducted by a

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION

207

council engrossed in mercantile business, with a
solitary secretary for all executive functions. On
the other hand the ever-increasing native
population stood in an anomalous situation, being
under consular protection and yet subject to the
squeezes of mandarindom, with an infinitude of
petty cases for reference to the native authorities
through the consulate.

To relieve the consular service as well as
to prevent the municipal breakdown, Consul
Medhurst proposed a new regime evidently
suggested by the success which attended the
reform in the customs service : in his despatch of
26th June 1861 to the minister at Peking, it was
recommended that at the head of the municipal
council there should be a new member, elected by
the community, but, together with his staff of
foreign officials, liberally paid by the Chinese
government, so as to ensure independent action ;,
and that as permanent chairman of the council,,
with a casting vote, this leading functionary
should control the financial, land, police, and
harbour-master's departments — the assessments
serving to meet the cost of lighting, drainage,
roads, and such-like expenditure, for which
purpose, it was estimated, a sufficient income might
now be looked to.

208 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

This scheme, amplified by the municipal
council, was laid before a public meeting held on
8th September 1862, when Mr Henry Turner,
chairman of the council, frankly exposed the
inadequacy of the municipal system in vogue; and
while advocating the proposed new regime, he
dwelt upon the obligations of the Chinese
government towards the settlement for the
protection afforded to its revenue as well as to its
subjects — in face of which it was but right that
the customs dues of the port should be liable to
such a proportion of the settlement's expenditure
as was directly due to governmental shortcomings
in China which not only led to the influx of
refugees but also involved heavy outlay for
measures of defence.

Meanwhile the unsatisfactory state of affairs
brought forth a still more momentous scheme from
the Defence Committee, consisting of Messrs.
Edward Cunningham, James Whittall, James
Hogg, J. Priestley Tate, and Edward Webb. In a
letter to the Municipal Council dated 20th June
1862, these leading citizens unfolded the outlines of
a free-city under the protectorate of the four Great
Powers most in touch with China, but exercising
its own government through its own officers, to be
elected under a system of suffrage that should give
the controlling power to the owners of property,

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 209

native and foreign — the city and its environs to
be incorporated under a strong government with a
revenue and authority which would ensure order
and safety, and render Shanghai the chief city
of the empire.

Consul Medhurst, to whom the question was
submitted, preferred his own scheme as being more
feasible ; but moderate as it comparatively was,
even this, he pointed out, could not be carried
out without the sanction of the ministers as well
as the concurrence of the Chinese government ;
while the independence of the settlement under a
constitution and government of its own could only
be secured by a grant or charter from the emperor
of China, for which there was hardly any hope.
Nor was it to be merely inferred from this that in
Consul Medhurst's opinion the land-renters had
no right to entertain the free-city project: he
plainly set forth that they could not legitimately
adopt the scheme in view of the settlement's
merely exterritorial status. To this the acting
chairman of the council, Mr. Alexander Michie,
replied that, from the bare outlines given of the
scheme, it did not appear that any measure was
contemplated except with the concurrence of the
foreign ministers and Chinese high functionaries,
it being only desired to have the subject fairly

210 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and fully discussed at a public meeting as a
preliminary step.*

Ambitious as the scheme might seem from a
local standpoint, it was sheer bagatelle in face
of Russian pretensions and achievements at
this epoch, when profiting by the dilemmas and
calamities amidst which the Chinese empire seemed
doomed to fall, General Ignatieff's diplomatic
master-stroke secured from the terror-stricken
ministers of China the cession of the vast Amur
and Primorsk regions with some six hundred miles
of sea-coast — the foundation of Russian influence
and power in the Far East, — all for a promise of
Russian support.

On the other hand the Chinese government
was well aware that Shanghai had been saved
from the Taipings by foreign arms, and that if
Shanghai had fallen, the imperial cause would
have suffered a blow from which it could hardly
have rallied. What more natural, then, than to
expect some adequate recognition for a foreign
settlement that had rendered inestimable services
to China, not only from a military and political but
even from a fiscal point of view.

-The question was discussed at great length in the North
China Herald, as may lie seen from the pamphlet Correspondence
on the Better Government of Shanghai.

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION' 211

But to the misfortune of Shanghai, the British
minister at Peking was neither an opportunist
like General Ignatieff, nor even a sympathiser
with the aspirations of the settlement. In his
despatch of 8th September 1862 to Consul
Medhurst, Sir Frederick Bruce began with the
reminder that the settlement stood on merely
exterritorialised Chinese soil, and that through
the acts of foreigners themselves it was no longer
a foreign establishment but a Chinese city ; that
the security, the comfort of the foreign community
had thus been sacrificed, and land acquired
not for legitimate purposes but for building
native tenements let at high rates to natives
attracted by foreign protection and by immunity
from their own jurisdiction. As to the proposal
for rendering Shanghai a free-port with a mixed
consular and municipal government under the
joint protectorate of the treaty powers, it was his
duty to point out that the Chinese government had
never formally abandoned its rights over its own
subjects, nor had the British government ever
claimed or expressed any desire to exercise a
protectorate over them ; and he did not understand
what interest there could be in supporting a
system unjustifiable in principle, fraught with
embarrassments and responsibility, and to which,
moreover, the Chinese government would never

212 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

submit willingly. Therefore he most strongly
impressed upon Consul Medhurst the importance
of not lending himself to any such proposal, being
convinced that the British government would
rather prefer to see the limits of the settlement
reduced to exclude the Chinese as a most fertile
source of misunderstanding ; and it was of the
utmost importance that no step should be
taken which could not be defended upon sound
international principle.

Nay, in submitting the matter to the Foreign
Office, Sir Frederick Bruce questioned the
expediency of the settlement's expansion being
left in the hands of any local authority, tending as
this would to encourage land speculations and
increase the native population, which was the cause
of all the difficulties experienced, some of which,
he opined, might be removed if the assistance of
Chinese authorities were sought for instead of
being discarded.

It was the policy of Sir Frederick Bruce to
discountenance any administrative system which
set at naught the territorial rights of the Chinese
government, on the principle of international
relations in China being based upon the exclusive
jurisdiction of each nation over its own subjects,
foreign and Chinese alike.

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 213

Thus, when the taotai sought leave to levy
one after another kind of tax on native residents
within the settlement, Sir Frederick Bruce, on
being referred to, repeatedly upheld the right
of the local Chinese authorities to do as they
pleased in the matter, when it was rather the
municipality that should levy a capitation tax on
native refugees, to compensate in some way for
the serious embarrassments and jeopardy they
caused in the midst of the rebellion, all through
the inability of their government to afford the
necessary protection. To the British minister,
however, the municipal council had no right to
impose taxes on Chinese subjects residing within
the settlement unless with the consent of their
authorities.

In face of all this it seemed rather significant

to find, in 1862, the French concession withdrawn

from the municipal system of 1854, it being alleged

that the Land Regulations, though signed by the

French consul, had never been ratified by the
government; and the concession was turned into

a separate municipality under the consul's control,
and with exclusive territorial jurisdiction, not-
withstanding the difficulties raised by several
foreign powers. The Chinese government, on the
other hand, did not leave unrequited the services
rendered by the French against the rebels — the

214 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

concession being extended to the east gate of the
city after the great fire in the riverine suburb. But
in spite of the entente cordialc, no Chinese taxation
was allowed within the concession.

On the other hand, for his pains in champion-
ing the cause of mandarindom at Shanghai, Sir
Frederick Bruce found ample reason to complain
to Prince Kung of breaches in treaty regulations,
as well as of the tone adopted by Chinese officials
towards foreigners, despite all they did for China.

Yet Mr. Burlingame, then American minister
at Peking, secured the assent of his colleagues to
a modus vivendi at Shanghai decidedly pro-
Chinese : that whatsoever territorial authority there
established should be derived from the imperial
government through the ministers, for purely
municipal purposes and subject to consular juris-
diction ; that just as in the native city the Chinese
should be under the control of their own officials,
with the exception of such as were actually in
foreign employ ; and that in the municipal ad-
ministration there should be a Chinese element
whose assent must be had for any measure affecting
Chinese residents.

The foreign land-renters appointed a committee
consisting of Messrs Moncrieff, Cunningham, Dent,
Hogg, Hanbury, and Cock, who, in a representation
dated I2th June 1863 laid a counter-proposal before

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 215

Sir Frederick Bruce. They suggested a new code
of land regulations applicable to all foreign settle-
ments ; they assented in the main to the provisions
for territorial and consular jurisdiction, municipal
procedure, and the control of Chinese subjects by
their own authorities; but they deprecated Chinese
taxation within the settlement to the point of
proposing that, in lieu thereof, a percentage of the
revenue should, if necessary, be paid to the
imperial treasury in return for the grant of
territorial jurisdiction. In reviewing the circum-
stances which led to the anomalous state of affairs,
they laid stress on the necessity of restricting the
action of local Chinese officials within the settle-
ment, inasmuch as the taxes there imposed by
them were constantly on the increase both in
amount and variety, some being tantamount to an
additional impost on foreign trade, unwarrantable
in face of the treaty ; and such measures, if
unchecked, might be recklessly carried to the
point of ruining a trade already under a heavy
burden of taxation. It was obviously in connection
with the proposed Chinese element in municipal
concerns that the committee pointed to the danger
of placing the settlement under Chinese domination,
regardless of the uncertain action and systematic
peculation of native officials, and their indifference
to the maintenance of order, to sanitary and other

216 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

local requirements tending to the progress and
prosperity of the settlement. As a safeguard to
life and property, it was but just that, in providing
for the government of the place, the spirit rather
than the exact wording of the treaties should be
adhered to when necessary, and when consonant
with the dictates of reason and humanity. The
land-renters would gladly relegate their heavy
burden of responsibilities to a reliable territorial
government if it existed, but in the absence thereof
they felt bound to seek on behalf of the community
such governmental powers as might avert the
calamities of anarchy and pestilence, — to the
benefit of the territorial sovereign who would thus
find safeguarded the welfare of a place which,
commercially and politically, was of vital
importance to China.

By an alleged oversight, this highly important
and sensible representation remained unanswered
for two months, and in merely acknowledging its
receipt Sir Frederick Bruce reverted to the
Burlingame proposal whose aim, in his opinion, was
to weld all foreign concessions under one municipal
system, which, besides preventing conflicts of
jurisdiction, tended to promote common welfare by
unity and concerted action.

Rigid in his adherence to the strict letter of
an inadequate treaty, Sir Frederick Bruce was

MUNICIPAL F.VOLUTIOX 217

moreover a doctrinaire of the most redoubtable
type, impassive to his golden opportunities. An
unmitigated acerbity, if not supreme disdain,
characterised his attitude towards the foreign
community of Shanghai ; and at an epoch fraught
with grand possibilities, his obstructive policy
succeeded in blighting the aspirations of the
settlement, in the absence of any spirited
opposition like that which set at naught his efforts
to withhold Gordon from action at the outset.

Thus, from the most momentous crisis in its
history Shanghai emerged inglorious amidst the
confusion worse confounded of an international
Babel, when out of the chaos a bold man of action
might have evolved order and reform as had been
the case but a few years previously.

Every scheme for the betterment of Shanghai
having been discarded, it only remained now to
patch up the unsatisfactory regime and attend to
the crying needs of the day.

A burning question was the jurisdiction over
the greatly increased native population. Hitherto,
all cases involving only natives were relegated to
the district magistrate, whilst in the few cases of
foreigners suing natives the proceedings were
watched by consular representatives, to little or no
purpose. In the absence of an adequate police
system, yamen runners preyed upon the settlement,

218 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

To safeguard native residents it became necessary
to have every case investigated at the British
consulate before being handed over to the Chinese
authorities. On the other hand, criminals
continually escaped clue punishment. In civil
cases, the unconcern of native officials for evidence,
and their dilatory procedure, enabled defaulters to
make away with their property, or to tamper with
witnesses just as it suited their interests, so that
hardly ever foreigners obtained redress in their
lawsuits.

It was hoped that such a state of affairs would
find a remedy when, under the auspices of Sir
Harry Parkes, the Mixed Court was established in
1864 — with civil and criminal jurisdiction not only
over the Chinese but also over foreigners without
consular representatives in the settlement/' The
court, however, failed to answer expectations.
For such important functions was appointed a
low-graded, decrepit mandarin who turned the
court into burlesque : now he had to be cautioned
by the foreign assessor against encouraging
roguery through misplaced benevolence in paying
fines himself rather than punish transgressions
of municipal regulations, which he evidently did
not recognise as punishable offences; now his

*The court was originally installed at an out-house of the
British consulate.

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 219

subordinate official position exposed him in the
very court to the jibes and threats of natives
holding superior rank ; and thus in important cases
he appealed to the taotai and district magistrate
to be relieved, which was precisely what those
officials expected. In crimimal cases the sentences
were often ridiculously lenient; in civil suits, as
usual, delay and prevarication frustrated redress,
and otherwise the court found itself at a loss how
to carry out its decision. Thus, without a definite
code of law, and even without the power to enforce
judgment, the Mixed Court became a byword,
specially in face of the ever-increasing foreign
interests at stake, without any safeguard against
bad faith on the part of native traders or against
miscarriage of justice on the part of native officials.
To crown the dilemmas, serious doubts were
entertained as to the legal status of the municipal
council, inasmuch as it was vested by consular
representatives not duly empowered to that
extent. Such at least was the opinion of the legal
authorities at Hongkong to whom the point
was referred. But shortly after the establishment
of the British Supreme Court at Shanghai, in 1865,
the Wills case served as a test, wherein the
council's right to levy land tax was contested :
in giving judgment for the council, Sir
Edmund Hornby maintained that the council had

220 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

a legal status and was a legally constituted
body possessing the chief and material if not all
the requisites of self-government.

In a similar test at the French Consular Court,
also in 1865, — the Fierz and Bachmann case — the
rights of the municipal council were likewise
upheld by Vicomte Brenier de Montmorand, it
being pointed out that the Land Regulations
of 1854 were binding on French subjects in the
settlement.

But several Prussians declined to pay taxes on
various excuses— one for the simple reason that he
objected to his Chinese neighbours, — and as the
Prussian consul-general declared that he could
not uphold the council in such cases, a resolution
was passed in 1868 to debar defaulting firms
and individuals from police and other municipal
protection, although it was pertinently asked at
the meeting what would be the outcome for the
neighbours if the premises occupied by such
defaulters were on fire and the service of the fire
brigade was withheld therefrom.

From the American standpoint, Consul-General
Seward questioned the rights of either consul or
minister to pass the Land Regulations unless so
empowered by Congress. Yet, in the Fogg case, in
1875, he decided in favour of the council's claim
for tax, as a matter of law, though not without

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 221

some juridical qualm frankly exposed. The Reid
case, in 1881, served as a solution to the question,
the defendant disputing the council's rights to tax
him as he was liable to Congress laws only; but in
giving judgment for the council the court regarded
the municipal regulations as sanctioned under
treaties and acts of Congress relative to foreign
jurisdiction.

As to the American or Hongkew settlement,
no formal negotiations with the Chinese authorities
seem to have been made prior to the agreement
whereby its boundaries were in 1862 fixed by
Consul-General Seward and Huang Taotai as
extending from a point opposite the Defence Creek
down the Soochow Creek and Huangpu to three H
up the Yangtzepu and thence in a straight line to
the point facing Defence Creek. This tract was in
1863 incorporated with the municipality; and
Hongkew rapidly developed into a populous,
bustling district, what with its cheapness of land
and the growing demand for wharves and
warehouses as well as residential quarters.

At this epoch, too, the French concession
began to assume importance under the new regime,
with its own municipal council and its police under
consular control, and a mixed court similar to that
of the settlement but with its own regulations.

222 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

The Conseil d'Administration Municipale,
which held its first sitting on the 9th May 1862
originally consisted of five members, all French,
whose functions were only deliberative, subject to
the consul-general's decision." Acting indepen-
dently, however, the council in 1865 found itself in
conflict with Vicomte Brenier de Montmorand, who
dissolved it on the charges of arrogating consular
powers, of convening a land-renters' meeting apart
from the consulate, and of maladministration in
municipal affairs. A provisional council, which
included British land-renters, was appointed,
and a municipal code framed — the Reglements
d 'Organisation Municipale, consisting of but
eighteen neatly defined articles.

A notable feature in the newly constituted
council is that of eight members— elected by ballot-
four should be of other than French nationality,
the presidency devolving originally upon the
consul-general, who might if desirable convene the
whole constituency as well as all other French and
foreign residents to deliberate on questions of
general interest. In all matters concerning the
maintenance of order and public safety, the code
vested the consul-general with the sole charge
thereof, placing also the police force under his

*The members of council were Messrs E. Biiissonet, (chairmau),
H. Meynard, E. Schmidt, J. 8. Baron and C. Lemaixe,

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 228

exclusive control ; and originally no arrest was
permissible within the concession unless sanctioned
by him and effected by the concession's own
police; but in lieu of this clause in the code of
1866, it was provided in 1868 that warrants served on
the concession, save in case of the utmost urgency,
should first be presented to the consul-general,
or at least to the police superintendent, who should
render assistance if required — this modification
being effected in consequence of an agreement
with the consular body on grounds of reciprocity.

Meanwhile the Land Regulations of 1854 being
inadequate for the maintenance of law and order
under the altered situation in the settlement, a
revision was made in 1866 by the land-renters in
concert with the consuls. The municipal council
was increased to nine members, vested with
amplified powers, personally exempt from any
claim arising out of their administration, but as a
body liable to be sued before a court of consuls
established for this special purpose ; and it was
provided too that on the requisition of twenty-five
land-renters the consuls might jointly or singly
convene a public meeting and adopt measures
which, if passed, should have the force of law, in
this case absent land-renters having the right to
vote by proxy, though not at the elections then,

224 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

To the revised Land Regulations and by-laws
the ministers at Peking in 1869 accorded their
formal sanction in a joint minute, which also
recognised the new regime at the French concession
as a separate municipality, which had been a
subject of considerable discussion at the land-
renters' meetings.

It was proposed by the consuls to extend the
municipal franchise, but this did not altogether
meet the approval of the ministers, who evidently
countenanced the council's policy in placing the
qualifications of voters beyond the reach of a
certain undesirable element.

It was also provided by the consular body that
the taotai should appoint three Chinese representa-
tives to be consulted in municipal matters affecting
native interests, inclusive of sanitary and police
regulations and taxes. Though agreed to by the
council, this amendment failed to receive the
sanction of the ministers, the clause being
eliminated by them from the regulations : needless
to say, the originator of the idea, Mr. Burlingame,
was no longer American minister at Peking, and
Sir Frederick Bruce had been replaced by Sir
Rutherford Alcock.

What with the removal of the two quixotic
champions of mandarindom at Shanghai, and the
influence of environment which the autonomy of

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 225

the French concession had upon the settlement,
the little republic ceased to be overshadowed by
the vexed question of China's prerogatives ot
sovereignty, mutually set at rest evidently because
it was to the advantage even of the Chinese
government that the vast foreign interests vested
at Shanghai should be under adequate protection
and administration.

Thus, the new regulations, unlike previous
ones, were framed independently of the taotai ;
and in the formal sanction given thereto in their
joint minute the ministers abstained from any
reference to the Chinese government; while such
was the revulsion from Sir Frederick Brace's
egregious theory of native taxation within the
settlement, that the taotai's consent came to be
dispensed with in the collection of municipal taxes
from Chinese residents, though the regulations were
not officially assented to by the Chinese government,
which nevertheless tacitly agreed to this equitable
measure, and also accepted the rules for the Mixed
Court, framed in i860 under instructions from Sir
Rutherford Alcock."

From the control vested in the consular body
over the municipal council there arose a certain

* In l'.)02 the powers of the mixed court in the (settlement as
well as in the French concession were defined in rules drawn hy the
diplomatic corps; and amendments were proposed in 190b" to the
settlement's mixed court rules.

226 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

tendency to friction which found ample expression
at the ratepayers' meeting in 1881, when the land
regulations were again revised. Up to this period
no suit against the council had been brought before
the court of consuls. Yet, the court was looked
upon as a grievance, which in the course of the
revision gave rise to the longest debate without
leading to any satisfactory conclusion. So too on
other points implying consular preponderance.
On one hand it was recognised that the council
could give but not take away powers from the
consular body ; on the other hand it was pretended
that a self-governing community might well
dispense with consular control ; and the discussions
culminated in the following amusing passage:

Mr. Robert Little— "The consuls are practically
our senate.

Mr. Robinson — 1 simply wish to deprive consuls
of any power except as judges. We are more
capable of governing ourselves than the consuls
are of governing us. That is the idea I want to
express, and that idea is not inconsistent with the
regulations as drawn. 1 propose to withdraw from
the consuls all unnecessary authority which these
regulations give them. They ought to be our
servants.

Mr. Little — But they are our masters.

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 227

Mr. Robinson — I say they ought to be our
servants.

Mr. Wainewright — I do not think the people
at Peking will agree with you.

Mr. Robinson— We may never get the people
at Peking to adopt these rules at all ; but we should
not recommend their adoption as they stand at
present.

Mr. Forbes — The regulations have worked in
this particular respect satisfactorily for many years,
and there is no reason to suppose they will not
work satisfactorily for many years to come."

The revised code, however, sought to do away
with the control of ministers and consuls on vital
points, while vesting the council with plenary
powers of self-government verging in some
instances upon absolutism. Some of the regulations
were relegated to the by-laws, which numbered
no less than ninety-three, while the regulations
were eighteen only ; and by-laws were to be made,
altered, or repealed locally without reference to the
ministers at Peking. The municipal constituency
was increased by lowering the franchise ; the
qualifications for councillors also underwent
reduction; and voting by proxy was allowed at all
public meetings. The extended powers of the
council included the right of imposing new taxation,

238 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and of compelling surrender of land for roads.
Street nuisances, detailed with an exhaustive-
ness worthy of a better object, were liable to
fines with or without imprisonment not exceeding
three months, even for shouting, making any noise
or conveying squeaking vehicles calculated to cause
annoyance. The authority conferred upon the
police was arbitrary in the matter of arrests, and
unrestricted even as to entry into private domicile
without a warrant — at an epoch when the police
force, enlisted from among beach-combers, gave
rise to serious complaints involving nothing short
of public scandal.* In the event of a riot or grave
disturbance the council, having notified the senior
consul at once, was at liberty to adopt such
measures as it might deem necessary for public
safety. A volunteer corps was to be organised
under the command of the council's chairman ; and
in case of serious danger to the settlement, the
council was empowered to place all residents under
such laws as circumstances might require, subject
to the consent of the consuls or a majority among
them.

On the other hand the ministers made
considerable amendments which tended to restrict
the council's status to that of a merely executive

*This is referred to in the course of the debates at the
Ratepayers' Meeting of 23rd February 188:5.

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION 229

body, to consist of not less than nine nor more than
fifteen members, whose electoral qualifications were
still lessened. The approval of the consuls as well
as of the taotai, and the sanction of the ministers,
must be had for any alteration in the by-laws, and
for any new or increased taxation found to be
expedient. The authority of the police underwent
considerable modifications ; the clause relative to
arrests in private domicile without warrant was
struck out ; and even for minor offences the
prosecution should be at the court of the offenders'
nationality. The action of the council in a riot or
serious disturbance was limited to the mere sending
of instant notice to the consuls — the by-laws in
connection with the municipal volunteers and
disposal of residents on emergencies being entirely
eliminated, as was also the code's preamble, which
looked like an agreement between the ministers
and the Chinese government. And in matters
affecting general interests not provided for in the
code, decisions arrived at in public meeting, to be
valid and binding, must first be approved by the
consuls.*

The code, duly amended, was again revised, and
before its adoption a legal authority, Sir Richard
Rennie, the chief justice, desired that it should first

* A printed copy of the code with the amendments side by side
was published in 1882.

230 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

be submitted to an experienced lawyer. How
sweeping the revision was may be gauged from the
regulations being increased from seventeen to
thirty, and the by-laws reduced from eighty-eight
to forty-two, — the code being based upon that of
1869; and for any amendment thereto, its confirma-
tion by the Peking government was required,
although from the regulations of 1881 the ministers
had expunged a similar clause.

The new code was submitted to the ministers
in 1883 only to be shelved for fifteen years, that of
1869 remaining in force all the while. Other
regulations followed and likewise remained in
abeyance. The delay was believed to be due to
difficulty in obtaining the formal approval of the
Chinese government. Through the taotai, however,
the viceroy in 1898 expressed himself as unconcerned
in municipal regulations which might well be
arranged satisfactorily between the council and
the consular body. The senior consul then
announced that the ministers had approved the
regulations, already printed, and urgently needed
particularly in connection with road-making, for
which the council was now vested with power, as
desired, to compel the surrender of land required.

On the other hand the control over the council
was now exercised even by the representatives of
minor powers whose interests at Shanghai could

MUNICIPAL EVOLUTION* 231

hardly be said to be in consonance with such
hegemony, — the crowning anomaly of a situation
which could not but be keenly felt by the council
when contrasted with the self-governing attributes
wherewith Consul Alcock originally vested the
municipality.

**«,<• >5r*^

CHAPTER X.

Halcyon Times.

WITH the fall of the Taipings the history of
Shanghai regained its even tenour, and thenceforth
it was but a record of progress and prosperity
which fully realised Montesquieu's famous saying :
Heureux Jc peuple clout Vhistoire est ennuyeuse.

But at the outset the new era was by no means
unclouded. The pacification of the country, and
particularly the recovery of Soochow, led to an
exodus from Shanghai, almost half of the native
quarters being left tenantless — a deathblow to
investors who were having extensive blocks of
native tenements built at a greatly enhanced cost
of land, materials, and labour.*

To a certain extent the exodus was also due to
the enforcement of sanitary regulations, to which
even the better classes among the refugees professed
such abhorrence that they petitioned the provincial

* It had once been such a paying concern that fortunes were
made in a few months: in 18G2 the tenements were said to yield in
some instances as much as ten thousand per cent.

From the Painting of V. C. Prinsep, A.It.A.

GENERAL GORDON

HALCYON TIMES 233

governor against the proposed opening of Soochow
to foreign trade and residence, lest the foreigners
should bring with them their troublesome sanitary-
system. Nevertheless, transplanted during the
rebellion, the silk industry of Soochow and
Hangchow began to take root in Shanghai.

There, too, tarried the scum of the refugees.
Within the settlement in 1864 one sixteenth of the
total number of tenements was taken up by houses
of ill-fame. Gambling dens also abounded. But
it was not long before measures were enforced
to purge the settlement and concession of these
pests. Yet, in 1869 the Duke of Somerset still
yclept Shanghai a sink of iniquity, much to the
community's indignation.

The number of refugees at Shanghai was
never properly ascertained, and this led to
various conjectures, some officially estimating the
population during its densest period at a million
and a half, and others at a million, the settlement,
concession, and city all included. A subsequent
enquiry set the number at about three hundred
thousand only. While the exodus was subsiding
in 1865, a census gave the native population as
ninety thousand in the settlement and fifty thousand
in the concession, while the foreign population
totalled 5,589, of which 2,357 were residents in the

234 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

settlement and 400in the concession; the remaining
2,832 represented the military and naval forces
and shipping in port.

Misfortunes never coming singly, the exodus
was followed by the great commercial crisis of
1865, when out of eleven foreign banks no less
than six suspended payment. The gloom was still
deepened by the insolvency of the princely and
historical house of Dent, shortly after floating
under its auspices the Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation, which, however, tided
safely through the financial crisis as well as the
opposition of an influential clique.

Such was the outlook that capitalists regretted
having invested millions upon the ranges of empty
warehouses and factories which now lined the
river, — millions which might otherwise have relieved
the stress and deadlock of the situation ; and
altered circumstances were the more keenly felt in
consequence of the ostentatious and luxurious
style of living to which the inflated prosperity
has given rise lately.

But the gloom which then palled Shanghai
was but that which preceded the dawn of a
golden era arising from the opening of the Yangtze
and northern ports to foreign trade, although the

HALCYON TIMES 2H5

simultaneous opening of Japan created a rival
factor for Shanghai in the silk trade.

In the early days of Japan's awakening,
however, rich indeed was the harvest of the
Shanghai merchants, Dent & Co. being said to reap
about a quarter million sterling as one of the first-
fruits. An outcome of Japan's seclusion of ages
was a thorough ignorance of actual commercial
values; and an element of fairyland characterised
the early ventures at the newly opened ports.*
The disorganised Japanese currency proved a
veritable mine to the foreigners in 1859, for the
ratio between gold and silver in Japan was barely
five to one when all over the world it was fifteen to
one : four silver ichibu — equal in weight to about
one and a third Mexican dollar — was worth a
gold kobang which at Shanghai fetched eighteen
shillings at the very least. The outcome was a
gold fever, and even naval officers, resigning their
commission, started converting silver into gold
at over a hundred per cent, sure profit even

* For instance, an American merchant held a shipment of S000
piculs of sapanwood from Manila unsaleable in China even at its
original cost of $1.25 per picnl; hut on the opening of Simoda to
foreign trade, the shipment, sent thither, fetched $35 per picul. The
proceeds he then invested in vegetable wax, which, bought at $6.50
per picul, was disposed of at $17 in China, the ventures yielding
altogether a profit seventy-fold of the capital invested, all in one
short trip from China to Japan and hack.

236 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

when the kobang was raised in value to check
exportation.*

It was not long, however, ere the Japanese
ceased to be duped; and in June 1862 there
appeared at Shanghai a Japanese ship, the Zensai
Maru , to open a trade there, and with government
commissioners in search of commercial, statistical,
and geographical informations — the first sign of
awakening.

Meanwhile the opening of the Yangtze, though
deferred by treaty until the restoration of peace,
was effected in the very midst of the Taipings.
For protection of the river factories, Admiral Hope
proposed to station a gunboat off Nanking ; the Tien
Wang on the other hand pretended that in a vision
he was advised not to sanction the proposal; but the
interpreter, Mr. (afterwards Sir Harry) Parkes, was
equal to the occasion: "Tut, tut, tut," exclaimed
he impatiently. " Won't do at all. He must have
another vision! " and the " lightning of blue eyes "

•To the diplomatic, consular and naval service the very limited
supply of Ichibu was liberally furnished by the treasury officials,
while to merchants in general it was on requisition doled out pro
rata. Nothing short of madness ensued, and the demand for irhibn
Ment from millions up to scxtillions of Mexican dollars, requisitioned
even for such fictitious friends as Snooks and Tooks, Moses and
Hookem, Bosh and Nonsense, to say nothing of more objectionable
nanus. How these demands were met may be gauged from the
experience of two representatives of a leading British firm, who
requisitioned for a change of $5,400,000, but received no more than
$746 worth of ichibu. Interesting details on the subject are to be
found in the Bine Books on Japan, and Sir Rutherford Alcoek'a
Caviled of the Tycoon,

HALCYON TIMES 237

flashing from one disconcerted wang to another
had the effect of begetting a more propitious vision
for the Heavenly King.*

Thus, in spite of hostilities between the
imperialists and rebels, the noble river was in 1861
thrown open to foreign trade, and ere long bustled
with traffic. Thenceforth the tea trade of the
central provinces was diverted from Canton to
Shanghai via Hankow, the new route proving to
be both quicker and cheaper. An important trade
soon developed, and steamers came into such
demand that, as early as 1862, Russell & Co.
floated the Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. with
a capital of one million sterling, the first local
concern in which the Chinese were associated with
foreigners as shareholders. Surviving a keen
rivalry, the company more than doubled its capital
in eight years, and owned a first-class line of
eighteen steamers. By subsidising Chinese mer-
chants, however, the Chinese government gradually
created such a powerful opposition that in 1877
the whole concern was bought over and merged in
the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company.

Originally all import and export duties on
the Yangtze trade were payable at Shanghai or
Chinkiang ; and at one time great expectations

*The story, related in Sir Harry Ih rices in China, is from Mr.
A. Micliie, who was present at the negotiation.

238 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

were entertained as to the prospects of Chinkiang
in view of its admirable position at the junction of
the Yangtze and the Grand Canal. Nay, while the
silting port of Shanghai began to inspire serious
concern for its future, Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert)
Hart ventured to predict in 1875 that Chinkiang
would supplant Shanghai in twenty years ; and he
foresaw, too, the day when the coasting trade
would be in native hands, and the Chinese flag
displayed even in London and Liverpool docks.*

The opening of the Yangtze afforded facilities
never before enjoyed for exploring the richest
regions of China, and this was availed of among
others by Baron von Richthofen, whose famous
series of letters to the Shanghai Chamber of
Commerce was nothing short of a revelation to
the mercantile world of grand possibilities for
the future.

The conservatism of China, however, for long
stood as a stumbling block to the advancement of
Shanghai, particularly so in the matter of railways.
As early as 1862 a line was projected between
Shanghai and Soochow, but promptly tabooed
by the provincial governor. With the connivance
of Chinese officials, the country people in 1865
destroyed a private telegraph line between

*The national flag of China, originally triangular, was adopted
only in 1862 as a naval ensiarn. At Shanghai it was iirst llown by
the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co.'d fleet.

HALCYOM TIMES 239

Shanghai and Wusung. A proposed railway to
Wusung was also tabooed. Yet the project was
eventually carried out in 1876 as far as Chiangwan.
Though popular among the people, the iron
horse roused official opposition. It was contended
that the viceroy's sanction had never been duly
obtained ; nor could the taotai's approval of a
mere carriage-road be construed into permission to
build a railway. To create another grievance, a
native brave purposely placed himself on the way
of a coming train and was run over. The officials
then stirred the people ; a riot grew imminent, and
affairs took such a turn that the viceroy had to
intervene. Sir Thomas Wade, then minister at
Peking, recommended the line to be closed pending
a settlement ; and the decision come to was that
the Chinese government should purchase the
railway. Amidst the mournful silence of a large
crowd, the Mixed Court magistrate and a posse of
mandarins inspected the line in their sedan-chairs,
not deigning to proceed in the train. No sooner
was the concern handed over than the rails were
torn up and shipped off with the rolling stock to
Formosa. Such was the fate of the first railway in
China — verily a triumph of the sedan over the
train— though not for very long, as the line was
rebuilt twenty years later, and now connects
Wusung with Nanking.

2i0 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

In one respect the Chinese officials at Shanghai
were quite up to date, and that was in the working
of the Kiangnan arsenal, established in 1865 under
foreign supervision, and subsidised out of the
customs' revenue. The factories turned out rifles,
field-pieces, as well as heavy rifled guns of
excellent workmanship; and in the adjoining
dockyard were built and engined not only gunboats
but even a small ironclad.* Attached to the
vast establishment, an educational department
translated and published various scientific works,
and it attained such a standing in official circles
that many of the native staff obtained important
government appointments, several of the directors
being even chosen as diplomatic representatives
abroad. Such was the marvellous development of
a small foundry established by Li Hung Chang
during the Taiping war.

A notable feature of Shanghai is its growth
by natural reclamation along the riverside, and
this process is well shown in the origin of the
Public Garden : the alluvial formation arose from
the foundering of an old brig which for long lay
moored close to the Bund, and as the derelict lay
there the accumulation of silt around it soon

* Bygone were the days when the Chinese called their Shanghai
brass guns " tamers of the barbarians " ; now it was the foreigners
who sportively yclept this Shanghai-built ironclad Terror of
Western Nation.?.

HALCYON TIMES 241

produced what was called the "consular mud-flat,"
from its fronting the British consulate, whose right
to this new foreshore was met by the taotai's claim
of shen-ko, whereby all alluvial soil appertains
to the emperor. Both claims, however, gave way
in face of the long-felt need of a public garden ;
and to meet this the gift from the waters of the
Huangpu was in 1868 handed over to the municipal
council and turned into one of the pleasantest
summer resorts — where the memory of an old
resident — Sir Thomas Hanbury — will ever be as
green and grateful as the umbrageous plane trees
sent by him from the Riviera.

Amongst other improvements the settlement
now expanded in the direction of the Bubbling
Well, where the country began to be dotted with
picturesque villas of well-to-do residents, now that
the Taipings no longer deterred the community
from seeking relief in suburban residence, away
from the congested quarters.

The French concession, too, was paving the
way for an expansion in the direction of Sikawei,
and the first section of a road leading thither, across
a cemetery of the Ningpo Guild, gave rise to
difficulties which culminated in a riot. Stirred
by the guild, a mob gathered in that locality on
the 3rd May 1874, and outraged several foreign
residents, while some tenements were set on

242 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

fire. Affairs took such a serious turn that foreign
residents were armed for emergency, the volunteers
were called out, detachments landed from the
French gunboat Couleuvre and the United States
despatch-vessel Ashuclot ; and from the city Chinese
troops also proceeded to restore order.*

The consul-general, M. Gocleaux, proved quite
unequal to the crisis, and pending instructions
from the minister at Peking, seemed inclined to
yield to the clamours of the guild. The council on
the other hand declined to reconsider its plan for
the projected road, and ascribed the riot to the lack
of energy displayed by the consul-general. As a
solution to his difficulties, M. Gocleaux went so
far out of the way as to propose to amalgamate
the concession once more with the settlement.
From start to finish his conduct was the subject of
considerable animadversion, and even drew forth a
protest from the non-official French element. t

The outcome of all the trouble was that out of
deference to the ancestral susceptibilities of the
Chinese, the road question remained peacefully
buried in the Ningpo cemetery until 1898, when

* Six of the rioters were shot, and compensation was given to
their families. But Prince Kung eventually demanded justice at
the hands of the French minister, who pointed out that the alleged
murderers only acted in self-defence in killing their aggressors.

fThe Swiss residents also joined in the protest with the result
that M. Godeaux declined to recognise them as any longer under his
protection.

HALCYON TIMES 243

a projected extension of both the settlement
and concession westward, led Comte de Bezaure,
the consul-general, to settle matters, not with
the guild as hitherto, but with the taotai. All
negotiations having failed, the compulsory
surrender of the cemetery was resolved upon, the
taotai being informed that the value of the land
duly assessed was at the disposal of the lawful
owner thereof; and though the taotai anticipated
trouble from the expropriation, early on the 16th
July 1898 Comte de Bezaure with the municipal
chairman and a naval party from the EcJaircur
proceeded to take possession of the cemetery,
whose walls were forthwith demolished.*

A crowd gathered there, but it was only on
the following morning that a mob armed with
shortswords, pikes, and bamboos, began to pull
clown a wall at the police-station, and stone the
naval party. Blank cartridges failing to produce
any impression, Commander Texier ordered his
men to fire on the rioters. Altogether twelve were
shot down, whereupon the howling mob dispersed,
not without stoning and wounding several
foreigners. Business was entirely stopped, the
shops as usual being all closed. But soon the

* From a sanitary point of view the cemetery was most
objectionable, as it served as a temporary resting place for hundreds
of coffins intended for conveyance to Ningpo, some interred, others
exposed.

244 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

leading Ningpo merchants succeeded in appeasing
the people with the news of an amicable settlement.

In consequence of an increase in the wheel-
barrow tax, there was rioting in the settlement,
too, on the 5th April 1897, to quell which the
volunteers were called out and bluejackets landed.
The council, however, restored order by revoking
the increased tax temporarily. This measure,
regarded as an impolitic and undignified surrender,
led to a largely attended indignation meeting on the
7th, and as the outcome of an almost unanimous
vote of censure the council resigned shortly after.

Apart from any generous sentiment towards
the poor wheel-barrowers, and whether indicative
of a faux pas or not, the tame procedure need not
be wondered at when bearing in mind how the
diplomatic corps had restricted the council's
action on such emergencies ; and moreover the
conciliatory attitude might have had an ulterior
purpose, as the Tsung-li yamen had then under
consideration the question of the settlement's
extension.

This question being still unsettled in 1898, the
Shanghai Chamber of Commerce at a public meet-
ing held on June 17th resolved upon an appeal to
the ministers at Peking to insist individually and
collectively on imperial sanction being given to the
urgently needed extension of the settlement.

HALCYON TIMES 245

It was precisely at this juncture that the baleful
question of the Ningpo cemetery indisposed the
Chinese government towards a similar aspiration
for the French concession. Nevertheless, quite
undaunted, Monsieur Dubail, the minister at Peking,
pressed forward an ambitious plan of extension, not
only in the direction of Sikawei, but also on the
right bank of the Huangpu — the Pootung frontage of
the French concession, — at a time when the British
government, elated by the Fashoda incident, seemed
more than ever bent on thwarting the aspirations of
France.

Thus, in December 1898, when from Shanghai
the French consul-general proceeded to Nanking
for an interview with the viceroy, two British war-
vessels and still another followed him thither, to
give Liu Run Ye moral support against his
demands, — demands which Lord Beresford, who
happened to be there too, qualified as exorbitant,
and even possibly in excess of instructions given
on the point. At the same time the British minister
at Peking received telegraphic instructions to use
pressure on the Chinese government against
granting the extension for the concession, and to
accommodate French requirements within an exten-
sion of the settlement, obviously in the direction of
Sikawei.

246 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

On the other hand the French government,
abandoning its pretensions to the Pootung frontage,
sought by every possible means to accommodate
British requirements within the expected expansion
of the concession towards Sikawei. To ensure this,
the Rue du Consulat, extended westward, barred the
way against any possible encroachment on the
concession's hinterland, further guarded by the
Avenue Paul Brunat up to the immediate vicinity
of Sikawei, where it found a terminus in another
road leading from the Bubbling Well, — a little
tangle of cross-purposes whose most knotty point
the Chinese government handled well and delicate-
ly when assigning the Great Western Road in 1899
as the new southern boundary of the settlement,
with a compensating expansion northward. And
the concession's new boundaries, deferred for
awhile, also fell short of expectations, notwithstand-
ing a network of new roads and avenues, which
have nevertheless developed the localities into some
of the finest foreign residential quarters of Shanghai.

By its extension the settlement's area, formerly
measuring 10,606 mow, was more than trebled,
being now 32,110 mow, or 8.35 square miles. This
ample increase, in satisfying all requirements,
forestalled a German settlement projected at this
epoch, and thus tended to consolidate the interests
of the international settlement.

HALCYON TIMES 247

Yet, it is quite characteristic of Shanghai to
find, beyond the boundaries, roads and suburban
quarters under the peculiar status of new districts
out of municipal control, in some instance availed
of to set the law at naught with impunity, in other
instances the scene of ever-increasing friction
between the municipal and Chinese police.

Nothing so well attests the prosperity of
Shanghai as this constant need of extension — a
prosperity which seems to bear a charmed life in
the midst of all the upheavals in China. All
parties respected the neutrality of Shanghai during
the Franco-Chinese hostilities of 1885, the war
with Japan, and the Boxer rising, as well as during
the Russo-Japanese war. On the other hand,
from the industrial and economic development of
China a notable influx of wealth and population
ensued at Shanghai, — the empire's commercial
metropolis, whose gross value is not far short of
a thousand million taels.

Within five years since the Boxer crisis the
trade of Shanghai almost doubled, the yearly turn-
over exceeding six hundred million taels. The
activity of the port, whose yearly shipping totals
over seventeen million tons, may be gauged from
the fact that it is not unusual for a coast steamer,
say of two thousand tons, to discharge, load, and
leave within twenty-four hours.

248 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

In landed properties the vested interests at
Shanghai exceed two hundred million taels.
Thousands of new buildings — -some of palatial
proportions, — factories, mills, and silk filatures in
every direction, an expanding railway system full
of promise, all bespeak the rising star of Shanghai.

The population verges upon a million, that of
the settlement being over five hundred thousand, of
which only fifteen thousand at most are foreigners,
including a very noticeable influx of Japanese—
possibly the nucleus of a new settlement.*

The municipal budgets, too, well attest the
halcyon days. In fifty-four years the settlement's
revenue has increased from twenty-five thousand
dollars to two and a half million taels, while that
of the concession now exceeds half a million.

The progress of Shanghai in recent years has
been remarkable, and the improvements effected
reflect very creditably on the administrative system
which, though found inadequate long ago, still
awaits solution. The city-fathers, all business
men, have hardly the necessary time for the
increasing exigencies of the regime. Its difficulties,
moreover, are manifold, what with an ill-brooked
consular ascendancy in municipal concerns, and
the baleful intermixture of Chinese jurisdiction —

* By the protocol of 1896 Japan was to have a settlement of her
own at Shanghai.

HALCYON TIMES 249

fertile sources of friction and complications,
sometimes aggravated by cavalier proceedings, all
tending to render Shanghai the most ebullient and
contentious among the foreign settlements in China.
To crown all this, there are the laws of eighteen
nations disintegrating into as many differing
sections an essentially international community for
which the need of a common law is growing more
and more evident. And there is the anomaly, too,
of immense vested interests being left exposed to
great risks on emergencies, regardless even of the
immediate danger to life in case of an organised
riot like that of the l8th December 1905, when, as
the sequence of a mixed court conflict, foreigners
were simultaneously attacked and rioters killed
in several districts, whilst a police-station was
wrecked, and policemen stood even without
ammunition to quell the mob — the volunteers and
bluejackets saving the council from great
responsibilities by their prompt action.

As the outcome of a policy of drift, Shanghai
is curiously a city of anomalies — at once a republic
and an oligarchy, whose council holds its meetings
with closed doors, the proceedings, howsoever
important, being sparingly, tardily reported to the
press. The ratepayers are powerless to carry-out
their pet schemes however popular, if opposed by
the council with its influential clique, with plural

250 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

votes and proxies of ever-absent landlords to turn
the voting of ratepayers into a mere farce. The
unremunerated city-fathers have not even an
honorific title. In the midst of affluence and
luxuries, of lavish expenditure if not actual waste
of public funds, it is the Model Settlement that leaves
its heroes like Alcock and Gordon still unhonoured,
its shabby museum as a byword, and its public
libraries as monuments of past favour and present
unconcern. It is within a most progressive city
noted for the excellence of its public works that
the insanitary Yang-king-pang festers between two
municipalities as if in commemoration of their
cross-purposes. Nay, it is at the very centre of
modern enlightenment among the Chinese that
first an impassive attitude and now slow action
meets China's appeals for closing the many
hundreds of opium dens, even when those of the
native city are all closed by imperial decree. And
it is over a community disintegrated by no less than
eighteen law-courts and even by seven post-offices
of as many nationalities — it is over this veritable
Babel that the municipal motto dares blazon forth :
Omnia juncta in uno.

Thus much for the heterogeneous, vicarious
system of administration arising out of China's
dormant sovereignty over this quaint international
republic — a sovereignty which may some day be

HALCYON TIMES 251

found to be hardly worth the responsibilities
entailed by the vast foreign interests, for which no
adequate safeguard is vouchsafed. In the natural
order of things that sovereignty should have passed
out of China's incapable hands during the chaos
and perils of the Taiping rebellion. Another
golden opportunity to rectify matters went by on
the annexation of Kiaochow and Port Arthur, when
a more compensating acquisition than Wei-hai-wei
and Kwangchow-wan might have been found in
consolidating the vast interests centred at Shanghai.
To redeem the past there was still the Boxer crisis
— possibly the last opportunity, now that the
integrity of China is assured by treaties.

But for international jealousies the military
occupation of Shanghai after the Boxer upheaval
might well have been less ephemeral, in view of the
new situation in China. Apart from any exigencies
of foreign interests at the Yangtze ports in case of
emergency, locally a permanent military detach-
ment, or say a reserve for the legation guards at
Peking, would act as a salutary check on growing
Chinese pretensions and oft-recurring difficulties
which might at any moment lead to a serious crisis.

The absence of a foreign garrison should at
least warrant the settlement against the presence
of objectionable Chinese troops. Repeated
remonstrances from the municipal council, before

HISTORIC SHANGHAI

and after the Boxer period, elicited the avowal
that the consular body was never empowered
to hinder the passage of such troops through the
settlement* — obviously deemed by the diplomatic
corps as an incontestable prerogative of the
territorial sovereignty.

Such deference thereto often found a contrast
in the unconcern with which treaty stipulations
concerning likin were violated within the settle-
ment notwithstanding repeated protests.

Still worse has ever been the vexed question
of mixed jurisdiction — actually one of the most
intricate problems of international law, and the
source of ever-increasing difficulties, what with
the unsatisfactory Chinese procedure and the
municipality's well-meant efforts to be as little
overshadowed as possible by the baleful pre-
rogatives of China's jurisdiction. From the day
when the Mixed Court was informally installed in
an out-house of the British consulate, the Chinese
authorities have never overcome their indifference
to the settlement's need for an effective administra-
tion of justice on their part. The provision to this
effect in the Chefoo convention of 1876 served but
as a mere dead letter. Likewise the conference held
by the foreign ministers in 1879 failed to provide

* Senior Consul's despatches of 4th September 1899 and 22nd
April 1901.

HALCYON TIMES 253

against the deficiencies of Chinese law, and what
is more to be regretted, discarded the proposal for
an international court similar to that which has
worked so satisfactorily in Egypt. Shanghai's
greatly needed judicial reorganisation remained
unattended even when the Chinese government
waived jurisdiction over its subjects at Kiao-
chow, at Port Arthur and Talienwan, and out of
the walled city at Wei-hai-wei. The peace protocol
of 1901, while providing for the Huangpu Con-
servancy, likewise overlooked the question, of no
less vital importance for the conservancy of Shang-
hai's welfare. The Mixed Court rules of 1869 as
well as the amendments thereto were mainly
intended for safeguarding foreign interests involved
in Chinese litigation. Beyond the ruling that no
prisoner shall be handed over to the Chinese city
authorities without a preliminary enquiry at the
Mixed Court, no adequate regulation has ever been
enacted in the interests of over half a million natives
whose domicile within the municipality should
warrant them protection against the notorious
malpractices of their law-courts — the taison d'etre
of the settlement's exterritoriality. In the name of
public weal as the supreme law, at least there must
be some limitation to any jurisdiction if, perverted
and abused, it becomes the source of crying wrongs
and oppression arising from a corrupt system, which

254 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

besides being derogatory, is utterly incompatible
with the welfare of the municipality, in whose
good government should be found an object-lesson
for the judicial reform on which China seems to be
so eagerly bent.

Perhaps it has never occurred to the Chinese
government that, just as its fiscal reform was due
to the integrity of foreign administration first
tested at Shanghai, so too may the still more
momentous judicial reorganisation find its initial
stage through ready acquiescence to the principles
governing the foreign tribunals there ; and such
a reorganisation may perhaps serve likewise as a
favourable occasion to place exterritorial jurisdic-
tion on the common basis of an international code,
thus obviating the manifold encumbrances and
divergencies of the present regime.

In more than one way the hand of destiny seems
to mark Shanghai as the birthplace of China's
regeneration. From an educational and social
standpoint the prospects are most encouraging.
Almost every epoch-making improvement in the
empire is initiated at Shanghai, each a triumph of
modern civilisation and a blessing for one third of
humanity, as well as a source of pride for the most
progressive and pro-foreign city of China, before
which have paled all the ancient glories of Soochow
and Hangchow.

HALCYON TIMES 255

The time may come when, in the wake of
Japan, China may attain a status and prestige
incompatible with exterritoriality. The time will
come when, through natural cause, Shanghai will
experience a greater change than a new China can
possibly effect.

History never repeats itself so surely as when
actuated by nature's law. The same cause which
led to the ruin of Tsinglung and the consequent rise
of Shanghai now threatens in turn to ruin the pros-
pects of Shanghai; the same silting process is still
at work, more actively now than ever, for as the
lake basins of the Yangtze are all being silted up,
the stupendous quantity of silt brought down by
the mighty river tends more and more to add a
new coast-line to the delta.* Thus, in course
of time, what is now but shoals will become
mud flats ; and just as the hills to the west of
Shanghai now stand amidst verdant fields, the
hilly islands at the offing, such as the Saddles
and even the Chusan group, are all destined to
become mere hills among new plains which are
being reared by the deposits of every flood-tide.
Year by year the Yangtze already yields about two
square miles of alluvial soil. Between the island

*See Mr. Archibald Little's Through the Yangtze Gorges and
The Far East, also Pere Richard's Comprehensive Geography of the
Chinese Empire.

256 HISTORIC SHANGHAI

of Tsungming and the Haimen promontory a new
island is rising to bar the channel. Within the
last ten years the outer Wusung bar has risen
seven feet. At Shanghai itself the growth of
foreshores has, in less than half a century, taken
away from the Huangpu no less than a third
of its former width. To remain navigable the
tidal waterways of Shanghai will soon have to
depend greatly on conservancy work, recently
begun at last, in a manner which has given rise
to considerable criticism and uneasiness. But
the river's mightier working must anyhow prevail
sooner or later, unless it is possible to cope with
the formation of an extensive new coast-line,
already so active that Mr. Archibald Little draws
therefrom a startling conclusion: "within the
lifetime of men now living Shanghai threatens to
be left an inland city unapproachable by tidal
waters " — a prognostic which may be somewhat
premature, but is too well grounded to prove
ultimately as fallacious as the prediction of
Chinkiang supplanting Shanghai.

As Venice was wedded to the Adriatic, so is
Shanghai to the deep, — nay still more closely, since
to her very name is linked the word for sea; and to
sever her from the source of her greatness is indeed
to depose the Queen of the Western Pacific. There
is the hope, however, that railways may to a

HALCYOV TIMES 257

certain extent avert the doom to be decreed by
the fateful river, most probably not in our days,
and yet inexorably, like all decrees of fate
whereby so many great cities sternly realised the
transientness of their glories.

THE END.

MAN1 .SECTION

GORDON 5 HJUTJm PLATf

OF THE

COUflTRY arou/id 5HAA1GHAI.

INDEX.

Aiguebelle, Lieut, d', 202

Alcock, Consul (Sir Ruther-
ford)— on the policy of local
Chinese officials, 42; the
Tsingpu affair, 44; secures
the consulate ground, 4G;
defensive measures, 58, 07,
75; Muddy Flat, 09-74; on
the scandalous breach of
neutrality, 77 ; with the
French storming party, 81;
the customs question, 80-90 ;
originator of the Imperial
Maritime Customs, 91-92;
establishes the Municipal
Council, 93-97 ; against
Cbinese domicile, 100-2.

Amalgamation of foreign
settlements, 93, 221

American Settlement (Hong-
kew), 38, 40, 43, 221

Arms, Traffic in, 08, 77, 120,
145, 101, 175, 181, 185

Arsenal, 10, 240

Balfour, Consul, 28-38
Bannen, Major, 105
Besi, Monseigneur de, 39
Bezaure, Comte de, 243, 245
Bonham, Sir G., 45, 55, 57, 00,

84,86
Bonnefoy, Capt., 179, 180
Boone, Bishop, 40
Borlase, Capt., 185, 137, 149
Bos worth, Capt., 157
Boundaries, French Concession,

40, 214, 240

Settlement, 35, 40, 221, 24G
Bourboulon, M. de, 58, 105, 133
Bourchier, Capt., 15, 20
Bowring, Sir J., 89
Brennan, Major, 165
Brine, J. E., 73

British consulate, 29, 33, 46
Supreme Court, 219
rights over the settlement,
33,41,94

Brown, General, 159, 172, 195,
196

Bruce, Sir F., on Shanghai's
defence, 105, 114, 121;
refuses to protect Soochow,
106; ignores Chung Wang's
despatch, 111 ; exposes Sieh's
mendacity, 114; and Mr.
Meadows, 115; on Ward's
forces, 127 ; and Admiral
Hope, 133, 144; on the
thirty-mile radius, 133 ;
urges China's defences, 144 ;
pleads for Burgevine, 15S;
and Gordon, 159, 160, 196,
204-5 ; on the fate of the
Soochow wangs, 199; discards
the free-city scheme, 211;
favours Chinese jurisdiction,
212, 213; against settlement
extension, 212 ; and the
Burlingame scheme, 210;

Bubbling Well, xiii

Budd, Capt,, 107-8

Bund, The, xi, 28, 35

Burgevine, at Kaochiao, 130;
Hsiaotang, 132 ; Powokong,
149 ; Sungkiang, 152 ; ambi-
tion of, 148, 153, 184;
dismissal of, 154-0, 157-9 ;
appeals to Peking, 155, 158,
177 ; secures diplomatic
support, 158 ; opposed in his
reinstatement, 159. 177: joins
the Taipings, 177, 180; at
Siochow, 178, 180; Shanghai,
181, 186; Paotaichiao, 181,
183-4; Tachiaokio, 183; sur-
renders, 184; proposes joint

INDEX.

action with Gordon, 184 ;
treacherous conduct of, 18-1 ;
plans operations, 183 ; tragic
fate of, 186
Burlingame Scheme, The, 214,
216, 224

Carol us Dollar, 48, 53

Carr, L., 91

Cavanagh, Capt., 107

Cecille, Capt., 39

Chamber of Commerce, 238,

244
Chin, Admiral, 12, 16, 18
Chin Alin, 61, 83
China Merchants' S. N. Co., 237
Chinese domicile, 37, 96, 98-

103, 2 6. 211-12, 232, 253;
Chinese jurisdiction, 37, 38, 42,

66, 67, 75-6. 87, 98-101, 207,

209, 211-19, -224-5, 229,248-9,

251-4
Clung, General, 168, 169, 171,

172, 176, 181-2, 188-9, 192,

193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 202
Chinkiang, 237-8
Chowkungkiao, xxv
Chung Wang, 104, 106, 107,

109, 111-13, 115, 117, 126,

130, 141, 142, 146, 160, 161,

181, 183, 185, 188, 191, 192,

203
Chusan, 1, 10, 24-5
Clippers, 49-52
Committee of Roads and Jetties,

36, 37, 94
Consular jurisdiction, 33, 37,

38, 41, 95, 99, 103, 207, 214,

223-4, 225-31, 249, 254
Court of Consuls, 223, 226
Crease, Lieut., 110
Cunningham, E., 56, 88, 94, 98,

208, 214
Custom House, xi, 49, 61,S5-92,

144-5, 208, 237, 240

Davidson, Capt. 171

Davis, Sir J., 25

Defence Committee, 59, 121,

124, 208
Defence Creek, 59
Defences of Shanghai, xviii

10-11 19-20, 56, 58, 75-6, 105-

14, 116-17, 121,124,135,144,

158, 17.'!, 179, 199
Dent & Co., 48, 172, 234-5

Dubail, M. 245
Durun, Lieut., 80

East India Co., 1, 9

Edan, Consul, 64, 76, 88, 91, 93

Ever Victorious Army, origin
of, 126-33; organisation and
strength of, 162-3; mutinies,
153-4, 168, 172, 193; engage-
ments (see Ward, Burgevine,
Holland and Gordon); dissolu-
tion, 203

Exterritoriality, 38, 41-2, 76,
95, 145, 178, 209, 211, 251-5

Fah Wah, 146

Famine, xiii, xxv

Faucon, Capt., 147, 149

Faure. Col., 107

Fearon, C. A., 94, 98

Fierz-Bachman Case, The, 220

Filipino contingent Ward's,
122, 126

Flint's mission, 1

Floods, xiii, xxv

Fogg Case, The, 220

Forrest, K., Ill

Forrester, Col., 143, 148

Fortune, R, 43, 48

French Concession, 38-43, 60,
76, 93, 213 221-3, 241,
245-6; and insurgents at
Shanghai, 63, 76-7, 78-83;
municipal council, 221-2, 242

Free City scheme, 208-12

Garden. Public, 240

Godeaux, M., 242

Gordon, succeeds Capt. Hol-
land, 157; honours conferred
on, 159, 195, 204 ; and Sir F.
Bruce, 159-60, 196, 204-5;
at Fushan, 161; Sungkiang,
161, 168; reorganises the
Ever Victorious Army, 162,
168; at Taitsang, 164: his
difficulties, 167-9, 176, 178-9,
182, 188, 19;',; at Kwenshan.
168-173; at Soochow, 174-
205; resigns command, 176,
193, 194; resumes command,
179, 200; at Kiapu, 174,
179; Wukiang, 174, 181-2,
187; Paotaichiao, 180, 183-4;
and Burgevine, 183-5 ; at
WulnngchiaO; 187: Liku, 187;

INDEX.

Hnangtai, 187 ; Hn-shi,
187-8; and Mo Wang,
185, ISO, 192; at the Lon
Mun 190-1, 193; and Na
Wang, 190 ; the execution of
the wangs, 193-4, 196-9 ; at
Li Tang, 200; Kinlan, 201;
Yihing, 201 ; Chansehow,
201 ; Waisu, 201

Gray, G. G., 73

Griswold, Consul, 41

Hall, Capt., 14

Hanbury, Sir T., 214, 240

Hart. Sir E., 92, 197, 198, 238

Ho Kwei Tsing, 105

Holland, Capt., 155-7

Hongkew (see American Settle-
ment)

Hongkong and Shanghai Bank,
234

Hope, Admiral, 115, 121, 129,
131-6, 142-4. 146, 236

Hornby, Sir E., 219

Huatinghai, x

Hutuh, ix

Ilipu, 22, 24

Imperialist engagements at
Shanghai. 62-3, 67, 69-74, 77,
79-80, 82 ; barbarities, 80, 8:5,
109, 150, 166, 175, 194-5

Imperial Maritime Customs,
origin of, 91

Japan, Opening of, 235
Japanese at Shanghai, xiv.,

xvi., 236, 248
Jardine Matheson & Co., 48

Kang-hsi, xii

Kan Wang, 113, 120

Kaochiao (Kajow) 129. 132,

134
Keih, 69, 71,82,84
Kelly, Capt.. 71
Kersauson, Capt. de, 143
Kiangnan Arsenal, 240
Killiek, Capt., 52
Ki-ying, 22, 24
Kublai, xi
Kung, Prince, 114, 133, 144

199 214
Kwen'shan, 168-73. 179

Laguerre, Admiral, 64, 76, 78
Lansuenshan, xii

Land Regulation', 04-8, 42, 93,
98, 220, 223, 225-30, 226-30 ;

Land tenure, 32-3

Lao Lang, xxiv., 39

Lay, II. N., 92, 153

Lemaitre, Pere, 39, 139

Lew, 60, 65, 83

Li Han Chang, 137, 163-4.
183, 188

Li Hung Chang, 140, 145,
148-9,153,155,157,159,161,
163-4', 167, 176-7, 186, 193-9
240

Lindsay, H. IL, 1-10, 51

Little, A., 256

Little, R., 226

Looting at Shanghai, 21

Lorchas, Portuguese, 56

Lung Hua Pagoda, xiii

Lu Tsih, xii

Macartney Embassy, 1

Macarthv, Capt., 157

Mclntyre, „ 108

McLeod, „ 157

Malcolm, Lieut. Col., 25

March, Col., 110

Marco Polo, xi

Maresca, Mgr., 64

Marshall, Col., 58, 84, 89

Maunder, Capt., 157

Maxwell, Capt., 108

Meadows, T. T., 58, 114-15

Medhurst, Consul, 116, 207, 209;

Med hurst, Dr. W. IL, 28, 30,
04, 43, 58, 69, 94

Meihuoyuen, xii

Michel, Sir J., 121

Michie, A.. 20!)

Mixed Court, 218, 225, 249,
252-3

Montauban, General de, 39, 106

Montgomerie, Lieut. Col., 19,2"

Montigny, Consul de, 40-2, 58

Montmorand, Vicomte B. de,
220, 222

Morrison, Mr. 24

Mo Wang, 181, 185, 189-93

Muddy Elat, 69-74

Municipal Council — Consul
Alcock's inaugural address,
75, 94; original status, 94-6;
rights of self-government,
95-6, 220; taxation, 96-7,
213, 215, 219-21, 225, 227,

INDEX.

220; Chinese domicile, 37,
96-103, 206, 211-12, 232 253;
resignation, 98, 244; con-
sular control, 99-100, 103,
223, 225, 227, 230; Consul
Medhurst's reform scheme,
207; free city scheme, 208-
12 ; Burlingame scheme, 214,
216, 224; territorial jurisdic-
tion, 215 ; proposed Chinese
representatives, 214-15, 224;
legal status, 219-21; fran-
chise, 224, 227 ; revision of
Land Regulations, 223-5,
227-30; Land Regulations
(1845) 34-8, 98; (1854) 93,
223; (1869) 223-5, 230;
(1881) 226-30; (1898)230
Murphy, Consul, 71, 90, 91, 93

Namtao, 43, 46, 109
Nanking, Treaty of, 24, 27, 39,

57
Na Wang, 191-3, 197
Neale, Col., Ill
Neutrality of Shanghai, 56-7,

67, 247 ; violated, 68, 76-7
Ningpo, xvi, xix, xx, 1, 123,

147;

Cemetery question. 241-4
Niu Taj in, 12, 15, 17 '

O'Callaghan, Capt., 70, 75, 77
O'Grady, Lieut., 108
Opium trade, 48
Opium clippers, 49
Oriental Bank, 53
Ormsby, Capt., 16

Paddle junks, 1 1

Parker, Admiral, 12

Parker, Sir H., 46, 218, 236

Pearson, ('apt., 7:*>

Petchroff, M., 144

Petit, Ensign, 80

Pigou, F., 1

Pirates, xiii-xx

Pitman, Capt.. 45

Police, 37, 66, 76, 96-7, 103,

22S-9, 247, 249, 253
Popoff, Admiral, 144
Population, xxvii, 47, 97, 233,

248
Pottinger, Sir IT, 21, 22, 24, 27

Pritchett, Lieut., 112
Protet Admiral 129, 135, 136,
139-40

Quinsan, (see Kwenahan)

Railways, 238-9
Reglemeiiis a' Organisation

Municipale, 222
Reid Case, The, 221
Rennie, Sir R., 229
Richthofen Baron von, 23S
Riots, xiii, 241-4, 249
Roberts, I. J., 119
Ruse de guerre, imperialist,

56, 82, 128; rebel, 62, 107,

110, 116, 141
Russell & Co.. 49, 237
Russian aid, 144 ; diplomacy

210

Schoedde, Major-General, 16
Seward, Consul 220, 221
Shanghai, origin and rise of,
ix; destroyed by pirates,
xvii ; captured by the Bri-
tish, 20; ransomed, 23, 27;
opened to foreign trade, 28,
31 ; settlements founded at,
27-47, extended 46, 214, 221,
246; foreign protection deni-
ed to city, 56 ; captured by
insurgents, 59 ; besieged by
imperialists, 61-83; and
stormed by the French, 79-
81 ; a free port, 89-91 ; under
Anglo - French protection,
105-114; the Taipings at,
107-13, 116, 146; Taiping
panics at, 55, 121, 122, 124;
invested bv the Taipings,
116, 120, * 122; free- city
scheme, 208
Sieh, 113, 133
Sikawei, xxiv, 39, 42. 107, 111,

112, 147, 241, 2454!
Silk trade, xv, 47, 51, 123, 185,

233, 235
'•'Sink of iniquity," 233
Siu Kwang-ki, xii, xxi-xxv
Smith, A., 91
Smuggling, 86
Stafford, Major, 121
Stanley, Lieut, Col., 142
Stavelev, General, 135, 136, 142,
143, 144, 148, 154; 155, 158

INDEX.

Stirling, Admiral, 74, 75
Sungkiang, x, 122, 126, 142,
143

Tael currency, 53

Taiping rebellion, 54, 85; des-
patches, 106, 117; spies at
Shanghai, 117; conspiracy,
109, 119; barbarities, 112,
120, 123, 160, 161, 164;
foreign auxiliaries, 109, 127,
132, 165, 166, 169, 177-80,
183-6; supply of arms, 104,
120. 145. 161, 175, 181, 185:
fleet, 104, 134, 175, 187;
treachery, 141, 163; ruses,
107, 110, 116, 141; advance
on Shanghai, 104, 107, 116,
122,128,146,149; Nanking,
54, 104, 120, 146, 200, 203 ;
Soochow, 104, 106, 174-205 ;
Sikawei, 107, 112, 147;
Shanghai, 107-114, 116, 129-

130, 146; Hangchow, 116,
202; Sungkiang, 122, 126,
142, 143; Wusung, 122, 141;
Ningpo, 123, 147 ; Pootung,
122, 128, 129,140;Kaochiao,
129, 132, 134; Hsiaotang,

131, 132; WangKiasze, 135;
Tsipu, 136; Tsingpu, 126,
138, 142, 146 ; ZSansiang,
137, 142; Kiating, 137, 142,
HX; Nanchiao, 139; Cholin,
140; Taitsang, 141, 156,
163-67 ; Tsuchi, 147 ; Powo-
kong, 149; Changshu, 160
161 ; Fushan, 161 ; Kwen-
,-han, 168-73 ; Wusieh, 174 ;
Wukiang, 174, 182, 187:
Kiapu, 174, 179 ; Paotai-
chiao, 180 : Taichiaokio,
183; Wulungchiao, 187 ; Li-
ku, 187; Huaugtai, 187;
Hushi, 187-8 ; the Lou Man,
190 ; Liyang, 200 ; Yihing,
200; Waisu,201; Kiahingfu,
202 ; Changchow, 201-2

Takee (see Yang Fhng)
Tardif de Moidrey, Capt., 128,

141
Tchirikoff, Capt., 165
Tea clippers, 50-52
Tea trade, 48, 123, 237
Telegraph line destroyed, 238
Texier, Capt , 243

Thirty-mile radius. 115. 133,

150, 199
Thomas, Col., 147
Tien Wang, 57, 115, 119, 146,

203, 236
Tongkadu. 39, 42
Triad Society, 60
Tsah (see Wei Wang)
Tseng Kuo-fan, 140, 200, 203
Tsing lung- xi, 255
Tsingpu affair, The, 43-5
Tsung ining, xiv
Turner, H., 208

Volunteers, 59, 68,69, 71-4, 111,
116, 121, 146, 228-9, 249

Wade, Sir T., 71, 91, 239

Wang Ke, xii

Ward, at Sung-kiang, 126, 142 ;
Tsingpu, 126, 138, 142, 146;
arrested, 127 ; a Chinese
subject, 127; efficiency of
his force, 128; at Kuanfu-
ling, 12S; Pootung, 129;
Kaochiao, 130, 132; Hsiao-
tang, 131, 132; to hold
captured cities, 133, 136; at
Wang Kiasze, 135; Tsipu,
136; Xansiang, 137; Kiating,
137; Ningpo, 147; his death
at Tzuchi, 147; memorial
temples, 148

Watson, Capt., 15

Wei Wang (Tsah), 163. 165-6,
168, 181, 198

Wetmore A Co., 49

Wetmore, W. S., 64-6, 73

Williams, Lieut., 110

Wills Case, The, 219

Wusang, Battle of, 12-18

Wusung Forts, 2, 11

Wusung opium station, 49

Wu Taotai, 55, 56, 59, 68, 69,
88-91, 98-100, 105, 116, 126,
129, 153, 155, 159

Yang Fang (Takee), 114, 126,

153, 154, 159
Yangtze, opening of the, 115,

145, 234, 236-8
YungcMng, xxvi

Zose, xii, 39

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