left the empire in such a well-organised state that his successors found no difficulty in maintaining peace; and from then until the beginning of the nineteenth century (when local pirates began to infest the coasts) the country remained comparatively free from troubles, save such as were caused by the petty riots that usually occurred after an inundation or a famine. In consequence of this long season of peace, the population became so excessive, that the produce of the land was barely adequate to meet their wants.

It now becomes requisite to glance at the condition of the people about the period when the Taeping rebellion began to spread, and for this purpose I think it will be sufficient to embrace the events of the preceding twenty years. In a letter written in 1833 by one of the Roman Catholic missionaries from Kiang-si, it is stated that, so great was the general destitution in the province, the people were selling their wives and children; and many were living on the bark of trees.' In the following year an earthquake in Honan destroyed ninety-five villages, and at the same time the inhabitants of the adjoining province of Hoo-peh were dying by thousands from famine. In 1838 the Pekin Gazettes mention several revolts in Sz-chuen, and some troubles caused by the Miao-tse on the borders of Kwang-si.2

During the years 1839-40-41, the whole province of Sz-chuen, the largest in the empire, became the theatre of misery and anarchy; the famine was so severe that thousands were reduced to subsist upon a peculiar kind of earth which was found in certain districts. This

'Annales de la Propagation de la Foi,' Lyon.

2 Ibid.

earth was made into the shape of rolls; a few grains of rice being thrown in, the rolls were then baked and eaten. A plague then ensued by which means millions of the starving population were swept away. The government, in order to quell the riots which naturally resulted from all this distress, deemed it necessary to resort to most extreme and unjustifiable punishments. M. Bertrand, in his letter1 detailing all these horrors, states that in some instances offenders, after undergoing severe punishments, were burnt alive. In the province of Yunnan there was also constant disorder, but this was principally caused by the roving bands of opium-smugglers, who, forming themselves into numerous and powerful armed bodies, utterly defied the authority of the magistrates. Without entering into further details, it is evident what was the condition of the greater part of China at this time (1840). The war with Great Britain, which began in the following year, did not tend to improve matters. The circumstances which led to this war, had their origin in the changes brought about by the expiry of the East India Company's Charter. Our trade relations with China were always comparatively satisfactory, provided that no other element was introduced into them, which was the case during the long succession of years that witnessed the commercial reign of the East India Company; but, in the year 1834, their Charter ceased, and the British merchants and other residents became represented by a commissioner appointed by the Home Government, and from this time there ensued a series of misunderstand1 Letter from M. Bertrand, vol. xvi.

ings and annoyances, partly caused by the opium traffic, but principally through the non-recognition, on the part of the Chinese, of the political position held by the commissioner. At last the state of affairs had become so totally unsatisfactory, and the tone of the provincial authorities at Canton had reached to such a height of arrogance, that it was considered advisable by the British Government to send a powerful force to bring the Chinese to a due comprehension of our power, and to place our commerce upon a permanent basis.

The result of this war was most disastrous to the Tartar power. The Bogue forts, below Canton, were destroyed in the early part of the operations. Ting-hai, the capital of Chusan, was taken and the island occupied. In October 1841, Chin-hae, an important fortress, commanding the entrance of the river, on which Ningpo was situated, was captured, and subsequently the city of Ningpo itself was held by our troops. In the following May Chapoo, another strongly fortified position situated in the inlet known as Hang-chow Bay, was taken and a considerable garrison routed with great ease. The defences at Woosung, at the mouth of the river leading to Shanghae, fell in June. Chin-keang, then a powerful fortified city on the south bank of the Yang-zte-kiang was captured in July, after which our fleet and land-forces immediately proceeded to Nankin. The Chinese government, then seeing the hopeless nature of the struggle, proposed to come to terms, and a treaty was signed in September 1842. The treaty

gave us permission to trade freely at the five ports of Shanghae, Ningpo, Foo-chow, Amoy, and Canton,

ceded the island of Hongkong, and indemnified us for the expenses of the war with a sum equalling twentyone millions of dollars.

war.

Nothing could have so much opened the eyes of the Chinese to the weakness of their Manchu rulers as this The fortresses that they had deemed impregnable and the Tartar garrisons that were looked upon as all but invincible, were swept away in a campaign of a few months. Looking away from the sea-board, they witnessed the most glaring infractions of the law in all the southern provinces, where the bands of opiumsmugglers were marching through the towns and carrying on their illegal trade with the most complete impunity, thereby proving the weakness and want of ability of the magistrates. The collection of the sum required to pay off the indemnity, added considerably to the difficulties with which the government had to contend, and created great dissatisfaction among the people. The whole history of the period that elapsed between the cessation of foreign hostilities and the outbreak of the rebellion is little else than a continual series of local insurrections, bursting out in all directions. The coast was infested by pirates, who not only caused great injury to the coasting trade, but frequently landed and sacked the villages lying adjacent to the sea. In the two Kwang provinces,

armed bodies of men moved from town to town, and committed large robberies in open day in defiance of all authority. In Yunnan, the Mahometan population (numbering above a million), who at all times were noted for being discontented and restless,

took advantage of the weakness of the Government, and in many ways assisted in fostering the general anarchy ; and lastly in 1848-50, the Pekin Gazettes were full of reports from the provincial governors acquainting the emperor with the disorganized state of the country, and complaining of the inadequacy of their troops to quell the interminable revolts.