Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/347

324 begged the emperor to deputise Ch'eng Lan-pin and Yung Wing to pick out and send to America and other countries of the West superior young men to learn the mechanical arts. They called attention to the earlier attempts to send Chinese abroad to learn how to organise the army and navy, but thought that the time had now come, particularly in view of the newly negotiated treaty with America, to send students, first to America and then to other countries, to learn all the arts. The two viceroys had already instructed the two designated officials to draw up regulations for these students and begged the Tsungli Yamen to endorse them. Funds were to be secured from the customs revenues. It is beyond the limits of this book to trace the subsequent history of this attempt, which if carried out in accordance with the wishes of Tsêng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang — provided sufficient numbers of chosen men had been sent abroad — would have resulted in bringing China far on the road of progress.

This plan was sound in its aim. When we reflect on the benefit secured to Japan from the Iwakura Embassy and the students sent abroad about the same time, it does not appear at all unreasonable to suppose that, had there been a succession of men of such liberal spirit and fearless temper as Tsêng, the plan would not have failed as it did. Its conception and outspoken recommendation by a man, who in his youth had reflected a strong desire that foreigners might leave China forever, shows how little truth there is in the charge that Tsêng was hopelessly reactionary. He was distinctly in advance of the average official and citizen of his day and for a generation thereafter. He had evidently grasped the thought that China was far behind the Western states both in government and the mechanical arts, and that she would be at a serious disadvantage unless steps were taken to remedy her shortcomings.