LORD ELGIN AND THE TAIPINGS
33
of the river ports is contingent on the suppression of the rebellion."40
Thus the record of Elgin's own visit through Taiping territory adequately lays to rest any notion that he might have been harboring an alternative policy of dealing with the Taipings. Without question, his angry remark was merely rhetorical, entirely lacking substance. He was frustrated with Manchu behavior, both in his own repeated experiences with them, and with their poor handling of the Taiping resurgence of 1860.41 Yet Elgin had done nothing to cultivate the political alternative that Taiping China posed. Nor would he ever do so.
NOTES
1 Elgin referred to a "Chinese" government as an alternative to the Manchus. This presumably meant the Taipings who were the only viable such alternative readily at hand. See, for example, Immanuel C. Y. Hsü, China's Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase 1858-1880, Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1960, p. 104.
2 See Stephen Uhalley, Jr., "A New Look at the Diplomatic Missions of 1853-54 to Taiping-held Nanking," The Chung Chi Journal, Volume 6 (May 1967), 171-190. For the best general English-language history of the Taiping movement as a whole, see Franz Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vol. I, Seattle and London; University of Washington Press, 1966. Unfortunately the fine work of Jen Yu-wen, the foremost Chinese authority on the Taipings, is for the most part unavailable in English translation; although a concise English edition of his narrative history of the Taipings is in preparation,
3 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, Shanghai, January 5, 1859, "Papers Respecting Lord Elgin's Special Mission to China and Japan, 1857-1859," 1859, Parliamentary Papers or Blue Book (BB), IX, 444.
4 Ibid.
5 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, London, 1860, Vol. II, 310.
6 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 444.
7 Oliphant, II, 361-362.
8 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 444.
9 Oliphant, II, 314.
10 "A Cruise up the Yangtze in 1858-59," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (May 1860), 704-705.
11 It was of an event during this exchange that Oliphant later wrote: "A large crowd had collected outside the gate, chiefly composed of rebel soldiers watching the proceedings. We sent them a ten-inch shell just to give them some idea of our armament." Ibid., p. 318.
LORD ELGIN AND THE TAIPINGS
33
of the river ports is contingent on the suppression of the re- bellion."40
Thus the record of Elgin's own visit through Taiping territory adequately lays to rest any notion that he might have been harboring an alternative policy of dealing with the Taipings. Without question, his angry remark was merely rhetorical, entirely lacking substance. He was frustrated with Manchu behavior, both in his own repeated experiences with them, and with their poor handling of the Taiping resurgence of 1860.41 Yet Elgin had done nothing to cultivate the political alternative that Taiping China posed. Nor would he ever do so.
NOTES
1 Elgin referred to a "Chinese" government as an alternative to the Manchus. This presumably meant the Taipings who were the only viable such alternative readily at hand. See, for example, Immanuel C. Y. Hsü, China's Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase 1858- 7880, Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1960, p. 104.
2 See Stephen Uhalley, Jr., "A New Look at the Diplomatic Missions of 1853-54 to Taiping-held Nanking," The Chung Chi Journal, Volume 6 (May 1967), 171-190. For the best general English-language history of the Taiping movement as a whole, see Franz Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vol. I, Seattle and London; University of Washington Press, 1966. Unfortunately the fine work of Jen Yu-wen, the foremost Chinese authority on the Taipings, is for the most part unavailable in English translation; although a concise English edition of his narrative history of the Taipings is in preparation,
3 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, Shanghai, January 5, 1859, "Papers Respecting Lord Elgin's Special Mission to China and Japan, 1857-1859," 1859, Parliamentary Papers or Blue Book (BB), IX, 444.
4 lbid.
5 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, London, 1860, Vol. II, 310.
6 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 444.
Oliphant, II, 361-362.
8 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 444.
9 Oliphant, II, 314.
10 "A Cruise up the Yangtze in 1858-59," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (May 1860), 704-705.
11 It was of an event during this exchange that Oliphant later wrote: "A large crowd had collected outside the gate, chiefly composed of rebel soldiers watching the proceedings. We sent them a ten-inch shell just to give them some idea of our armament." Ibid., p. 318.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.