Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/279

256 is worth quoting in extenso. After stating that he had written to Tso Tsung-tang, who did not desire large numbers of foreign soldiers and wished no Indian soldiers at all, and Li Hung-chang, who gave a rather evasive answer to the effect that he had discussed the matter with Admiral Hope, in the course of which the latter told him that reinforcements were coming but said nothing about troops from India, Tsêng goes on to say:

Your servant has discovered that the westerners by temperament love to win, and are unwilling to be appeased for the slightest angry glance or outburst. Ever since the defeat at Kiating and Tsingpu, because they are ashamed to face the ridicule of the [long-] haired rebels, and fear the contempt of the Imperial Court, they have repeatedly stated that their recruiting of forces and advancing once more is a part of their original plan. Now [we know that] for a long time England and France have regarded the enlistment of armies as a matter of common public enterprise, and the expense of their upkeep rests on the taxation of the whole body of merchants, thus precluding the possibility that one man should become the master. The disgrace of retreating from Kiating and Tsingpu is not so serious as to call for the sudden arousing of public anger. For this the rulers of their countries have no need to put forth strenuous efforts nor their merchants to bear additional taxes. The number of their soldiers does not seem to be very great for us to perceive and understand their noble generosity.

Since, however, there are certain rumours afloat, the question might properly be taken up by the Tsungli Yamen with the ministers at the capital to ascertain their truth. This done, it should express [to the ministers] its high appreciation, but at the same time point out the dangers [of this proposal] and remonstrate with them.

China's rebels are, in their origin, China's own children, and China's forces should certainly be sufficient to quell her own small disturbances. Meanwhile, not to mention the fact that we have, during the spring and summer of the present year, won back more than twenty cities and pacified the Yangtse River for