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for what lustre could our arms acquire in a contest wherein it seemed evident that all the superiority of warlike science, discipline, and equipment would be on our side and all the slaughter on the side of the Chinese?
It is represented by The Illustrated London News that there had been a concern, similar to that frequently expressed at a later period, relative to twentieth-century interventions of western powers in a variety of countries: a concern as to "how far our demands could be enforced without shattering to atoms the machinery of the Imperial [Chinese] Government."
The same article praises Elgin for "having in a few months pushed his way through this crowd of uncertainties, obtained all he went out for, and returned to England without having lost an army, without having sustained a serious check, without having been overreached by mandarin duplicity, without having inflicted any large amount of suffering upon the Chinese population, and without having shaken the Manchu dynasty from the imperial throne.
It commends Elgin because "There was nothing vainglorious, extravagant, vindictive, nor gratuitously humiliating in the terms he set out with insisting upon from the Emperor.... Lord Elgin knew when to forbear, and when to insist - when to show patience, and when promptitude. He could wait when it seemed expedient, and he could advance with boldness and rapidity when it was necessary. The very vengeance he inflicted was levelled at property rather than at persons, and was designed to punish the Emperor and his Court rather than the [Chinese people].”61
Readers' Response
Readers' response to this coverage must have been mixed. Several at least would have felt unease when reading of "Looty, a small Chinese dog, belonging to Her Majesty" - a diminutive dog found at the loot of the Summer Palace, brought back to England and presented to Queen Victoria. "It is supposed to have belonged to the Empress or to one of the ladies of the Imperial family. By what name it was known to its small-footed62 mistress will in all probability remain a mystery. It has, however, appropriately enough, been renamed Looty....Her Majesty
156
for what lustre could our arms acquire in a contest wherein it seemed evident that all the superiority of warlike science, discipline, and equip- ment would be on our side and all the slaughter on the side of the Chinese?"
It is represented by The Illustrated London News that there had been a concern, similar to that frequently expressed at a later period, relative to twentieth-century interventions of western powers in a vari- ety of countries: a concern as to "how far our demands could be enforced without shattering to atoms the machinery of the Imperial [Chinese] Government."
The same article praises Elgin for "having in a few months pushed his way through this crowd of uncertainties, obtained all he went out for, and returned to England without having lost an army, without hav- ing sustained a serious check, without having been overreached by mandarin duplicity, without having inflicted any large amount of suf- fering upon the Chinese population, and without having shaken the Mantchou [sic] dynasty from the imperial throne.
It commends Elgin because "There was nothing vainglorious, extravagant, vindictive, nor gratuitously humiliating in the terms he set out with insisting upon from the Emperor.... Lord Elgin knew when to forbear, and when to insist - when to show patience, and when promptitude, He could wait when it seemed expedient, and he could advance with boldness and rapidity when it was necessary. The very vengeance he inflicted was levelled at property rather than at persons, and was designed to punish the Emperor and his Court rather than the [Chinese people].” 6i
Readers' Response
Readers' response to this coverage must have been mixed. Several at least would have felt unease when reading of "Looty, a small chinese dog, belonging to Her Majesty" - a diminutive dog found at the loot of the Summer Palace, brought back to England and presented to Queen Victoria. "It is supposed to have belonged to the Empress or to one of the ladies of the Imperial family. By what name it was known to its small-footed62 mistress will in all probability remain a mystery. It has however, appropriately enough, been renamed Looty....Her Majesty
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