Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/274

Rh his operations. On the other hand, it is extremely unlikely that the foreign war had much effect on the fortunes of either side. At least, Tsêng Kuo-fan, who was holding the Taiping rebels in check in the central provinces, and the generals nearer Nanking did not, as far as we can discover, reduce their armies by a single soldier. The aggressions of the British and French in Canton and towards Peking were regarded largely as local affairs.

The increased activities of the Nien rebels in the region of northern Anhui are more clearly traceable to the withdrawal of Senkolintsin, and it is possible that this reacted on the Taiping rebels in Anhui. We have seen, and shall see again, that the latter made desperate efforts to cut their way through to Nanking, frustrated almost always by Kwan Wen and Tsêng Kuo-fan. After the Allies had defeated the Chinese near Peking and reached the capital in the summer of 1860 there was a little more danger of Taiping success in that direction, and with indemnities to pay, the imperial government may well have welcomed foreign aid against their internal foes. Prior to that we have small ground for thinking that the foreign war of 1856-1860 crippled the imperial government appreciably against the Taipings. To say that because of this hostility the siege of Nanking was lifted is certainly untenable, since none of the soldiers from central China moved north. In fact, the Allies' campaign in the north did not develop until August, 1860, whereas the Chungwang had defeated the great camp outside Nanking on May 5, after which he began his depredations in Kiangsu and Chekiang. The Allies were met in August by Senkolintsin, who expected to be victorious. After his defeat Tsêng offered to go to the north, but was not permitted to do so. Hence we are safe in rejecting the idea that the Arrow War caused the Taiping vivacity at this period.