RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 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. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 34 STEPHEN UHALLEY, JR., 12 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 231, Inclosure No. 1, Shanghai, January 6, 1859, BB, IX, 454. 13 Ibid., Inclosure No. 2, p. 455. 14 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 445. 15 Ibid., Inclosure 1, p. 447. ** 16 Wade, in adjoining sentences, says that "The prices put upon the articles we named were not exorbitant and, "This part of our errand done we took our leave, glad to escape from the pressure of this most disorderly mob, and the offensive atmosphere they created." Ibid., p. 448. 17 Oliphant, II, 361. 18 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 445, 19 Oliphant, II, 362-364. 20 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 446. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid., Inclosure No. 2, pp. 448-449. 23 Ibid., Inclosure No. 4, p. 450. 24 Lindsay Brine, The Taeping Rebellion in China, London, 1862, pp. 226-228. Despite his reputation for relatively dispassionate reporting Brine makes similar omissions in discussing other episodes as well. In discussing the visit at Wu Hu he uses only passages from Oliphant that reflected poorly on the Taipings without mentioning that the Taipings graciously complied with the request for supplies - pp. 223-226. Regarding the bombardment of Anking, Brine does not mention that the Imperialists were attacking the city simultaneously -- pp. 220-221. 25 Only the surname of the Taiping leader is given in Wade's account, which is the basis of the other versions of this visit, That it was Li Ch'un-fa is a surmise concurred in by Jen Yu-wen in personal conversation with the writer. As a lieutenant of Li Hsiu-ch'eng it is likely that Li Ch'un-fa was well-disposed toward foreigners, as indeed, he seems to have been depicted in Wade's own account. 26 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, Inclosure No. 5, pp. 450-452, 27 Ibid., p. 451. 28 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 232, Inclosure of Elgin to Seymour, Shanghai, January 6, 1859, BB, IX, 455. 29 This poem was not included in the Blue Book collection of documents, but was subsequently translated and printed in Oliphant, II, 334-341, and in Brine, pp. 229-236. It will soon be made available once again among Franz Michael's documents of the Taipings to be published in the near future. The Chinese text, which should be consulted, for the English translation is inconsistent, is found in Jen Yu-wen, T'ai-p'ing Tien kuo tien-chih t'ung-kao (TPTKTCTK), Vol. II, 881-883. 30 We learn of the use of this specific form of address from Chester Cheng's recording of the cover letter in his book on Taiping documentary materials in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, Cheng does not mention the important poem itself - Chester Cheng, Chinese Sources for the Taiping Rebellion 1850-1864, Hong Kong, 1963, p. 150. It is possible that the word shang was used as an honorific in place of the more usual kuei, a word that may have been proscribed by the Taipings because of its phonetic similarity to kuei meaning devil. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 LORD ELGIN AND THE TAIPINGS 31 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, Inclosure No. 3, p. 449. 32 Elgin to Clarendon, No. 139, Shanghai, April 9, 1858, BB, IX, 260. 33 Elgin to Malmesbury, No. 228, p. 445. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid., pp. 442-443. 38 Ibid., p. 442. 39 Brine, p. 268. 40 Hsü, China's Entrance, p. 78, citing Reed to Cass, November 5, 1858, China: Dispatches, Vol. 17, Doc. 35. It should be noted, however, that this is indirect evidence, but given by a contemporary who was generally co-operative with Elgin. 41 See John S. Gregory, "British Intervention Against the Taiping Rebellion," Journal of Asian Studies, XIX, No. 1 (November 1959), 12-13. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 31 1 Elgin to Clarendon, 9 Jan. 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 257) p. 140 and Bowring to Malmesbury, 15 April, 1859 Confidential Print, FO 405: 6. fol. 2, no. 1. It is often said that Martineau des Chesnez (see for example Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125) spoke Chinese as well. This seems a confusion based on the fact that Chesnez spoke English and thus was helpful as a French-English linguist. See for example, Gros to Walewski, 13 January 1858, p.s. of the 14th, CP 23, fol. 41, AE. 1 5 Wade to Elgin, 10 March, 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571, (1859), p. 226. See Steven A. Leibo, Transferring Technology to China: Prosper Giquel and the Self-strengthening Movement, (Berkeley, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1985), ch. 5. Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 October, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 177-178, AE plus Leibo Transferring Technology To China, ch. 1. 7 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, 58, '59 (London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859), vol. I, 151. 10 Gros to Walewski, 3 January, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Gros to Walewski, 3 January, 1858, CP vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Gros to Walewski, 8 January, 1858, CP vol. 23, AE. Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125. Bowring to Labouchere, 16 April 1858, FO 17 296, des. 49, fol. 117-118, PRO. and Stanley F. Wright, Hart and the Chinese Customs (Belfast: Wm. Mullan and Sons, 1950), p. 176. 13 Gros to Walewski, 8 February 1858, vol. 25, fol. 210, AE. Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 155. 15 Genouilly to Min. de la Marine, July 1, 1858, Dossier Individual Martineau des Chesnez, CC 7 2503, SHM. Elgin to Malmesbury, 5 November, 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571, (1859), p. 413. 17 Hsu, The Rise of Modern China 3 ed. p. 207. 19 Trenqualye to Walewski, 28 April 1859, CCC Canton, vol. 2, fol. 112 and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 2 May 1859, BB 4 763, fol. 106-7, AN. 19 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 155. 20 Gros to Walewski, 8 January 1858, CP vol. 23, fol. 23, AE, 21 Hurd, The Arrow War, p. 125. 15 21 D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 12 December 1858, BB 4 763, fol. 20, AN. 11 January 1858, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571 (1859), incl. 2 in no. 83 fol. 149. PRO. 24 Coupvent to Min. de la Marine, 20 June 1860, BB 4 787, fol. 11, AN, 25 Hurd, The Arrow War, pp. 124-126. 26 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, P. 169 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 32 27 Parkes to Elgin, Accounts and Papers, XXXIII 2571 (1859) incl. 1 in no. 93 fol. 161. PRO and George Wingrove Cooke, China: Being “The Times" Special Correspondent from China in the Years 1857-1858. (London, 1858), p. 356. 28 Laurence Oliphant, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, p. 169. 19 Gros to Walewski, 13 January 1858, p.s. of the 14th, CP, vol. 23, fol. 41, AE. 30 32 Gros to Walewski, January 3, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 8, AE. Trenqualye to Walewski, 24 March, 1858, CCC, Canton, vol. 2, fol. 62-65, AE. Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 April, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 102-3, AE. Hong Kong Daily Press, 19 April, 1858, CP, vol. 2, fol. 44, AE. 34 Parkes Memorandum, April 21, 1858, incl. 2 in Bowring Dispatch no. 116 FO 17 296, 1858 PRO. 35 Bourboulon to Walewski, 26 October, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 194, AE. 36 Proclamation of Huang Tsung-han, trans. by Parkes, CP, vol. 22, fol. 90, AE. 37 Bourboulon to Walewski, 18 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 69-70, AE and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 5 June, 1858, BB 4 763, SHM. Malmesbury to Cowley, 17 June, 1858, CP, vol. 24, fol. 340, AE. 39 Bourboulon to Walewski, 18 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 69-70, AE. AD Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, ps. of 2 July, CP, vol. 22, fol. 86, AE. 41 Bourboulon to Walewski, 21 June, CP, vol. 22, fol. 103–104. AE. 42 Circular, 22 June, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 94-95, AE. 41 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 86, AE. 44 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 84, AE. 45 Bourboulon to Walewski, 1 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 84, AE. 47 48 49 Ibid., fol. 86. Gros to Imperial Commissioner, 5 July, 1858, CP, vol. 23, fol. 62-63, AE. Elgin to Foreign Office, no date, CP, vol. 25, fol. 154, AE. Elgin to Foreign Office, July, CP, vol. 25, fol. 155-157, AE. 50 Bourboulon to Walewski, 21 July, 1858, CP, vol. 22. fol. 103-104, AE, and D'Abouville to Min. de la Marine, 8 August, 1858, BB 4 763, AN. 51 Alcock to Acting French Consul Trenqualye, I August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 125 and Bourboulon to Walewski, 5 August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 101, AE. 52 Gros to Walewski, 10 August. 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 217-220. The second letter which lists 400 troops rather than the earlier 1000 is probably a correction of the total number of French soldiers. 53 Gros to Bourboulon, 14 August, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 250, AE. 54 Gros to Walewski, 14 August, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 216, AE. Bourboulon to Walewski, 20 August, 1858, CP, vol. 22, fol. 132, AE. 56 Bourboulon to Walewski, 2 September, 1858, CP, vol. 25, fol. 256, AE. ================================================================================