Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/342

Rh again a following year, stronger than ever. The T'ientsin affair was stirred up by the ignorant rabble and should not be permitted to lead to war. This pointed to a somewhat opportunist policy — granting all the reasonable demands of France while trying to get off as lightly as possible regarding the punishment of officials. In a letter to Li Hung-chang in September he told him that Robert Hart had advised him to apprehend the guilty parties, and, if they received their just punishment, the demands regarding the officials could easily be settled. Eventually the Chinese government was driven to Tsêng's point of view, but it first tried the plan of sending other men to aid in the negotiations. Ting Jih-chang, governor of Kiangsu, was ordered north, and Mao Chang-hsi came temporarily, bringing a number of high officials from Peking. Li Hung-chang also was ordered to bring his army to T'ientsin, and arrived there in August. He suggested that a joint commission be appointed to investigate the charges against the two local officials, the decision of which should be binding on each side, but at that time the emperor was indignantly refusing to consider the execution of these men, and the suggestion came to nought. Another group of these new negotiators tried to secure a modification of the French demands, but the chargé was adamant, and in consequence the prefect and magistrate were ordered to T'ientsin for trial. On the twenty-seventh of September the report of the trial was made by Tsêng, saying that the evidence against them was slight and that they were commended to the leniency of the Board of Punishment, in order to allay the fears of officials and people throughout China.