THE RUSSIFICATION OF THE AMUR

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exchanged. The forces then withdrew, and returned to Canton just as the winter set in.1

While these events were in progress, a series of noteworthy incidents had been transpiring in Siberia. The surrender of her right to trade on the banks of the Amur under the provisions of the treaty of Nerchinsk, had in no wise reconciled Russia to the loss of the territory concerned, and many attempts were made to evade the conditions laid down. Nor had the failure of Golovkin's mission in 1805 served to impress Alexander with the hopelessness of the situation. In 1820 a party of Cossacks were despatched to explore the river. In 1851 a Russian warship sailed up the Amur estuary, and founded the towns of Nikolaievsk and Mariinsk, and two years later Alexandrovsk and Konstantinovsk were established on the Tartary coast, both well within the limits of Chinese territory as defined by the treaty of Nerchinsk, and in 1853 a post was established at Duri on the west coast of Saghalin. The news of this action was promptly complained of by the mandarins, who issued a formal complaint of the breach of faith. General Muravieff, the GovernorGeneral of Eastern Siberia, replied that it was a matter of necessity to despatch stores to the Russian traders who had effected a friendly settlement among the Chinese, and that there was no other way of supplying them. The mandarins answered that they could not assent to this arrangement, and demanded that the Russian vessels should be withdrawn to Nerchinsk.

The Crimean war was being waged at the time, and the Black Sea blockaded. It was impossible for the Russians to maintain communications with the Sea of Okhotsk, except by the Amur route, and Muravieff was not the man to stick at trifles. He accordingly fitted out an expedition comprising a large flotilla of barges, and these, laden with Cossacks and guns, he took down the river, without being interfered with by the Chinese. This expedition was followed by three more. Russian posts were established along the whole of the north bank of the river. 1 Lord Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, by Lawrence Oliphant, 1860.

The Chinese protested, but were helpless. The Taeping rebellion had broken out, and all available troops were required to cope with the rebels.

Aware of this circumstance, and realising that the psychological moment had arrived, Muravieff in 1858 sent a formal demand for the rectification of the frontier. The Chinese were powerless, and the mandarins, thinking discretion the better part of valour, concluded the treaty of Aigun, which ceded to Russia the whole of the Chinese territory north of the Amur, a region covering an area eight times as large as Great Britain and Ireland.

Having thus obtained possession of all the country north of the Amur river, Russia cast her eyes on that which lay to the south. After biding her time awhile, she fixed on the presence of the allied French and English forces in Peking as a moment when the Chinese could not afford to be particular. In 1860 then, General Ignatieff was despatched to the celestial capital, where he without difficulty negotiated the Russian treaty of Peking, which has ever since served as the basis of international relations between the two countries. Under this document the whole of the Manchurian coast line between the Ussuri river and the sea was ceded to Russia without any restrictions whatever. In addition to this, it conveyed the right of Russian traders to go to Peking, and annulled the treaty of Nerchinsk. Thus did Russia obtain an accession of close upon three quarters of a million square miles to her territory, and an extension southward to the bay of Vladivostok. More than this, the treaty brought the southern frontier of Russia into contact with that of Korea, and gave her an advance of 200 miles in the direction of Peking.

In 1861 the first French and English ambassadors took up their residence in Peking, and arrangements had to be made for the purpose of enabling them to have access to the Chinese government. To allow the right of audience with the emperor was not at all in accordance with Chinese ideas; and after a deal of negotiations, it was decided to create a board in which should be vested the

THE TAEPING REBELLION

41

nominal control of foreign affairs, and the duty of conferring with the representatives of foreign countries. Hence arose the Tsungli Yamen, that unique body which has proved such a thorn in the sides of successive ambassadors from Europe.

One of the first tasks undertaken by the British after the ratification of the treaty of Tientsin was the exploiting of the Yangtse Kiang, on which the right had been accorded to establish treaty ports. Accordingly Sir James Hope was despatched in charge of a flotilla to explore the great waterway, and make the necessary arrangements for the development of British trade on its banks. The Taeping rebellion was at its height, and Nanking with other riverside cities was held by the rebels; but Admiral Hope conducted his mission successfully, and established consulates at Chinkiang; at Nanking, where the British were well received by the rebel leaders; at Wuhu, Kiukiang, and Hankow, all of which places rapidly became thriving ports, and tended to promote European interests in the kingdom of China. In 1861 the British concession at Canton was enlarged, and the development of foreign trade at the treaty ports increased to a phenomenal degree. But the country was plunged in a cataclysm of rebellion, the Taepings had overrun the whole of the southern provinces, and succeeded in holding the government at defiance. By 1864 the rebellion had assumed vast proportions, and the British government; seeing that stern measures of repression were necessary, sent Major Gordon, an engineer officer, to the Chinese government, to lead its army against the Taepings. The success attained by the British officer was instantaneous. He speedily drilled his Chinese troops into form, and marched against the rebels with such unvarying success that he gained for them the title of the "ever victorious army." By these means the Taepings were soon subdued, and peace reigned in China once more, thanks to the action of her British invaders.

There can be no question as to the value of the service rendered to China by our aid in quelling the Taeping

rising, which at one moment threatened to overwhelm the whole country and depose the Manchu dynasty. Nor did the more enlightened Chinese fail to recognise the service rendered. But this very fact caused an exhibition of illfeeling among the "literati" and certain other official classes; and the animosity exhibited by these against the "barbarians" in their midst, culminated in a series of disturbances, which had for their object the driving of the hated foreigners from their shores. The Protestant mission houses at Yangchow were accordingly attacked and destroyed in August, 1868, the missionaries only saving their lives by flight; and this outrage was the prelude to a series which ended in the tragedy at Tientsin, where twenty-two persons connected with the Roman Catholic mission were murdered in 1870; and the subsequent massacre at Whasang of 1895.

The success attending the rising of the Taepings had served to accentuate China's inability to protect her dominions, and led to the government's aid in putting its defences in order. Accordingly, the services of Captain Sherard Osborn were placed at the disposal of the authorities. Captain Osborn was appointed to command the Chinese fleet; but on arriving at Tientsin he found that he was expected to act under the orders of mandarins, most of whom had never seen a vessel other than a Chinese junk. Captain Osborn refused to share his authority with the Chinese, while they insisted on the interference of the mandarins. And so matters stood at an impasse, until the triumph of Gordon's army showed the Chinese, to their satisfaction, that the necessity of a fleet no longer existed, and Captain Osborn's services were dispensed with; after which the ships were sent to England and sold.

The year 1866 was a noteworthy one in Chinese annals from the fact that it saw the first attempt on the part of the government to open relations with foreign Powers. In that year the Chinese despatched a mission to the European States; and in the year following a second commission, consisting of Mr. Burlinghame and two mandarins set out on

a diplomatic tour round the world. Neither of these expeditions did much, however, to closen the bonds of sympathy between the East and West.

In 1867 America strengthened her interests on the Pacific by the purchase of Alaska from Russia; and in 1870 Russia, who had long since occupied the town of Kiakhta on the confines of Siberia and Mongolia, took possession of the town of Urga on the fringe of the Gobi desert, and in the following year China sent Chung How, a mandarin of high rank, to represent her as her ambassador in London.

About this period trouble broke out between the Chinese and Japanese. For many years there had been friction between the two countries on the subject of Korea, over which China claimed suzerainty, while Japan maintained that the country was independent; but that if any other Power had a right to be consulted in regard to its affairs, that country was herself. In 1867 a Japanese junk had been wrecked on the rocky coast of Formosa, an island which, while nominally Chinese, was peopled by turbulent and savage tribes, who rendered the maintenance of authority difficult. The crew of the vessel were murdered in cold blood by the natives; and Japan failing to obtain any compensation, or, indeed, any response to her remonstrances, from China, sent in 1871 a punitive expedition to Formosa. The island was occupied and held. China made a counter demonstration, and war appeared imminent. At the last moment, however, Mr. Wade, the British minister at Peking, stepped into the breach, and by dint of much patient diplomacy succeeded in arranging a treaty which was duly accepted by the representatives of both China and Japan. Under this, Japan undertook to evacuate Formosa, while China consented to pay an indemnity, in satisfaction of her neighbour's grievance. Thus were the issues between the two countries deferred, and their settlement postponed till twenty-three years later.

It was at this period that the French showed renewed activity in the Indo-Chinese peninsula. But the circum