[ { "id": 211896, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 311, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "286\n\nand pretty. There are abundance of trees of all sorts growing at the sides of the roads. The shops of the Chinese amused me very much as we went along. At last we came to \"Hughan's store\", where there is a great space, with easy chairs, etc. for loungers and loafers. Hughan is a ship chandler, and by keeping this place pretty comfortable he gets the captains of all the English and American ships there, and of course gets the job of supplying their ships with provisions, etc. Before the whole lines of stores and offices there is a path, with a roof to it so that one can walk about for an hour without being in the burning hot sun, which in Java is very injurious, especially to Europeans.\n\nWe took a short drive about the town with the captain, who was looking out for some spars for the ship, and then set off out in the country to Madame Baines' Hotel, which is the only English place where one can get to. It was a three-mile drive, but the beautiful appearance of the place made me think nothing of the distance. The Dutch, to whom the island belongs, are the greater part of the European population; consequently, the town is in every direction intersected by canals as is Holland. These canals serve the purpose of drainage, washing, and to keep the air cool. On each side of them is a very wide road, shaded by large trees from the sun. Thus the streets are very wide and airy. There are, of course, a great many bridges. The European houses are very grand, and nearly all built on the same model.\n\nOur two poor horses at last brought us up to our Hotel, where we arrived about two o'clock. It was half an hour before we could get anyone to attend to us, since it is the custom to sleep in the middle of the day. At last, after walking about over the house, we were met by our hostess, a Scotch lady of colossal dimensions, but withal a pleasant agreeable old party, who at once made us at home, and got us some \"tiffin\", or breakfast. All her servants are Malays, and she can speak the language very fluently. Indeed, when well spoken, Malay is a pretty language.\n\nHer house is an average specimen of all the European houses in Batavia. It has only one story on account of earthquakes, but it is very lofty and airy. There is a large dining hall and entrance hall, while round the house are the verandahs, where people spend a great part of the day, and especially the evenings. Facing the road, the verandah is very wide and lofty. In the garden is a stream, running round a small island, which has some fine clusters of trees, which are so curious that I cannot describe them. Some of the leaves are as large as a good-sized tablecloth. Round", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214461, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 319, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "286\n\narms Force, and at about this time Ward was strongly praised by Hope,1 the British Admiral who appealed for a large expansion to Ward's force. The eventual force of about 8,000, under a number of foreign officers and several Chinese was, after several very successful battles, named by imperial decree the \"Ever Victorious Army [Ch'ang-sheng Chün].” It was under the overall command of the Governor of Kiangsu province. He was awarded the fourth rank button with peacock feather, though he has also been said to have received the higher imperial award of the Yellow Riding Jacket. At about this time Ward married the daughter of his Shanghai Chinese merchant-patron, Yang Fang. Referred to as Major Ward or General Ward, his rank was immaterial. He was the commander and, in Chinese terminology, commanders in action of forces larger than company level, that is over about one hundred men, were referred to as Chiang-chün, a term translated into English as General.\n\nHe died in Ningpo in September 1862 having been mortally wounded in action at nearby Tz'u-ch'i while reconnoitring by himself and having asked to be buried in the court of the Confucian Temple at Sungkiang, his unthinkable request was granted. He was succeeded for a short time first by another American, Burgevine [of whom more later], and then temporarily by Captain Holland before being finally replaced by Charles Gordon, a British officer in the Royal Engineers. The latter was generally credited by foreigners with the eventual defeat of the Taiping forces. In reality, by the time of Ward's death the corner had already been turned by the much larger Imperial forces under Li Hung-chang, supported by the Ever Victorious Army and other similar small units of foreign led Chinese, and within a short time they, together with British [a brigade of some two and a half thousand men under Brigadier-General Charles Staveley] and French forces, had the Taiping in retreat. Harry Franck, the American traveller of the 1920s, explained probably quite accurately that \"Gordon did the least of the work and won most of the credit for the 'Ever Victorious Army'.\"\n\nFranck retold a legend that \"Ward had planned, in case the Trent affair [during the US civil war] resulted in war with England, to seize British warships and merchantmen in Chinese waters. He had converted his large possessions into cash and negotiable securities, which disappeared when he was killed. An English officer last seen with him was accused of the theft, and there were long proceedings in the U.S. Consular Court in Shanghai.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]