Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/302

 YEH Ming-ch'ên 葉名琛, Dec. 21, 1807–1859, Apr. 9, official, was a native of Hanyang, Hupeh. His grandfather, Yeh Chi-wên 葉繼雯, was a chin-shih of 1790; his father, Yeh Chih-shên 葉志詵 , was a collector and connoisseur of antiquities in stone and bronze; and his younger brother, Yeh Ming-fêng 葉名灃 , a chü-jên of 1837, was a bibliophile. Yeh Ming-ch'ên himself became a chü-jên in 1831, a chin-shih in 1835, and a member of the Hanlin Academy. He was appointed prefect of Hanchung, Shensi, in 1838, and in the same year was transferred to Hsing-an in the same province. From 1839 to 1841 he officiated as an intendant in Shansi and in Kiangsi. Raised to judicial commissioner of Yunnan in 1841, he became in the following year financial commissioner of Hunan and was transferred to a similar post in Kansu in 1843. Early in the following year his mother died. When the customary period of mourning was ended (1846) he became, for a short time, acting governor of the Metropolitan area. In 1847 he went to Kwangtung as financial commissioner and in 1848 was raised to the post of governor of that province.

At this period the Taiping Rebellion (see under ) was taking form in Kwangsi and spreading to neighboring provinces. In Kwangtung, bandits under various names and sects sprang up everywhere, and with these Yeh Ming-ch'ên had to deal. Along the coast, too, pirates became every active. As governor, and later as governor-general, he was on the whole successful in putting down these uprisings, though the measures he used were harsh in the extreme and the loss of life was truly appalling. As if these internal troubles were not enough, he had continually to face outside pressure in the form of complications with foreign merchants and governments. There were questions about the admission of foreigners to the walled city of Canton, and more serious still the case of the lorcha "Arrow" which led to the bombardment of Canton and finally to the Anglo-French entry to Peking in 1860. In 1848-49 the informal agreement for a two years' extension of the admission of foreigners to the city of Canton expired (see under ) and the question was raised again by Samuel George Bonham 文翰 (1803–1863), governor of Hongkong. Negotiations were carried on under the leadership of, governor-general of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, in co-operation with Yeh Ming-ch'ên. But for commercial reasons and owing to an insufficient force in Hongkong, the English did not press the matter, and hence feeling about it abated. This outcome was regarded as satisfactory to the Chinese government, and for their services both Hsü Kuang-chin and Yeh Ming-ch'ên were rewarded—the former being made an hereditary viscount (子), the latter an hereditary baron (男). For his efforts to suppress bandits and uprisings Yeh was granted in 1851 the rank of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In September 1852 he was made acting governor-general of Liang-Kuang (Kwangtung and Kwangsi) and Imperial Commissioner in charge of foreign affairs, the appointment to the latter post being confirmed early in 1853. In 1855 he was made an assistant Grand Secretary and early in 1856 a Grand Secretary—still holding his post in Kwangtung.

At this time several nations of the West—England, France and the United States—were directing their energies to a revision of the treaties. They appealed to Yeh Ming-ch'ên about the matter in 1854, and he replied that his government saw no necessity for revision. In his handling of foreign affairs he assumed a haughty and intransigent attitude and usually avoided direct contacts. The governor of Hongkong, Sir John Bowring 包令 (1792–1872), and the American commissioner, Robert M. McLane 麥蓮 (1815–1898), went to Shanghai and then to Tientsin to push recognition of their claims. Making no headway in the north, they returned south and reported to their governments on the necessity of force. In 1856 the English, the Americans, and the French again appealed to Yeh for a revision of the treaties, and again they were rebuffed. On October 8, 1856 there occurred the affair of the lorcha "Arrow." The "Arrow" was a boat owned by a Chinese and captained by a British subject, with a Chinese crew. Being registered at Hongkong, she flew the British flag. While at Canton on the above date she was boarded by Chineae officers, and most of the crew were arrested on suspicion of an earlier act of piracy. As a mattew of fact, her registry had expired eleven days previously, but this was not then known to the Chinese officials. The British consul, Harry S. Parkes, 巴夏禮 (1828–1885), protested to Yeh on the ground that the crew was entitled to British protection and that the ship's flag had been hauled down. The affair dragged on—with charges and countercharges—from bad to worse. On October 27 British warships opened 904