Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/587

 ards of living. In the meantime the increased import of opium resulted in the export and shortage of silver. Consequently commodity prices rose and living became more difficult for the masses. It was thus for economic reasons as well as for the evil effects of opium on the morals of the nation that Min-ning decided to prohibit the use of that drug and to prevent its import. Hence in 1838 he sent to Canton to stop the trade in that commodity. The Western merchants who engaged in the opium trade were outraged at the policies which Lin Tsê-hsü employed to suppress it and as a result the Anglo-Chinese war of 1839–42 broke out. In his conduct of the war Min-ning displayed his weaknesses—indecision, ignorance, and miserliness. From early in 1839 to July 1840 he approved the policy of Lin Tsê-hsü in suppressing the opium trade and in hectoring the English. But when the British fleet took Tinghai and came to Taku he became alarmed and was persuaded by to make peace. Early in 1841, after the British had taken two forts near Canton, Min-ning finally decided to make war. He ignored Ch'i-shan's peace agreement at Chuenpi and condemned for his failure to attack the English at Tinghai. and other generals were sent to Canton and was dispatched to guard Chekiang. While the war was going on at Canton (1841) Min-ning actually ordered a reduction of troops in Chekiang, probably to save expenses (see under ). The indemnity paid at Canton (see under ) did not stop the war which now extended to Amoy and to the Chekiang coast. The emperor decided once more to fight it out, and with that in view sent to Chekiang. As this general, too, proved unable to resist the invaders Minning wavered between war and peace until peace was finally concluded by at Nanking in 1842. The indemnity which was now to be paid he refused to defray from central government funds but ordered Ch'i-ying to pay it out of the provincial treasuries, as if the peace negotiators were solely responsible for the terms of the treaty. The main cause of the war, the prohibition of opium, was by this time almost forgotten.

After the war Min-ning again turned his attention to the treasury. In 1843 it was found that the bullion in the vaults of the Board of Revenue was short nearly ten million taels. Min-ning then ordered all the officials who had been connected with the vault in the past forty-three years to make up the shortage. In an effort to economize, official salaries were reduced. In 1848 a general accounting of the provincial treasuries was ordered, which affected yet more officials and their families. The Grand Canal was by 1849 impassable, and transport of tribute rice by the sea route was undertaken—a measure that threw tens of thousands of Canal boatmen into unemployment. Meanwhile ominous local unrest in Yunnan, Hunan, and Kwangsi was growing, paving the way for the great upheaval known as the Taiping Rebellion (see under ). Min-ning did not live to see it; he died early in 1850 in the Yüan-ming Yüan, leaving to his successor, his fourth son,, a crumbling empire, a depleted treasury and four hundred million subjects in a state of unrest. He was given the temple name, Hsüan-tsung 宣宗 and the posthumous name Ch'êng Huang-ti 成皇帝. His tomb was named Mu-ling 慕陵.

Despite his failings Min-ning had certain amiable characteristics. With most of his officials he acted as their friend and patron rather than their ruler. He was generally true to his friends, and trusted to the end his favorites such as and. Even to Ch'i-ying, denounced by many as a traitor, Min-ning remained loyal. His reign might have been a quiet and prosperous one had China been permitted to continue in her accustomed isolation, undistracted by Western contacts. But it was the fate of Min-ning to be the first Emperor of China to be humiliated by a Western power. The situation demanded a man of great talents, of creative imagination, and with sufficient courage to experiment in new ways of government. That Min-ning was aware of his shortcomings is evidenced by the fact that in his will he ordered that no tablet lauding his achievements be erected at his tomb—he did not wish to provoke yet more criticism from future generations. He also ordered in his will that after his death all his garments, with the exception of a few, should be distributed among his courtiers. It had previously been the practice to preserve the vestments of deceased Emperors in sealed chests.

Min-ning was well-versed in Chinese literature. His literary works, written before he became Emperor, were collected in 1822 under the title, 養正書屋全集定本 Yang-chêng shu-wu ch'üan-chi ting-pên, 40 chüan, printed in 1824. His poems written from 1821 to 1828 were printed in 1830, under the title (宣宗) 御製詩初集 575