Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/94

86 objected that they could not find her&hellip; In this dilemma Mr. Alcock and Mr. Cunningham sent round a notification to the effect that they would undertake the collection of duties, and would not clear any British or American vessels in respect of which duties had not been paid, or undertakings to pay given. This was at once strongly opposed by the merchants, who argued that they could not be called upon to pay duties to a government that was unable to give them any protection, and that had no proper, visible machinery available for collecting the revenue, and that the British and American Consuls had no right to usurp any functions of the Chinese Government which had not been legally delegated to them. The Consuls of the other powers represented adopted the same view, and the French Consul took the lead in declaring that he would clear any French ship that applied to him, without the payment of any duties whatsoever, until the Imperial Chinese Government re-asserted its authority. &hellip; The British Consul and the American Vice-Consul were left almost alone on one side in the struggle to uphold the claims of the Chinese Government, while the representative of the Chinese Government, the Taotai, Sam Qua, from his safe retreat in the Keechong hong, contented himself with issuing exhortative notices to his countrymen to do right in the matter of paying customs dues, while, with reference to the foreigners, he was only too thankful to them for whatever small quotas of these dues they were content to pay him."

In the face of the division of consular opinion the British and American Consuls found it impossible to maintain the position they had taken up. Several ships, American and British, got away without the payment of any duties, and in 1854 the principle of clearance without payment of duties had been tacitly accepted. The Chinese Government, however, was naturally not content to allow a lucrative source of revenue to be diverted from it without a struggle, and about the middle of 1854 consular intervention was invoked to secure a restoration of Chinese rights in the matter of the levy of customs. A conference took place at which the Taoutai, Sam Qua, with the Consuls of Great Britain, America, and France assisted, and as the outcome of it, it was decided to introduce an entirely new system. Under the arrangement the duty of collecting the customs dues was vested in three officers nominated by the three Consuls participating in the conference. The Chinese officials were left to discharge the ordinary duties of supervision. It was a tentative measure devised to meet a sudden emergency which had arisen, but the system worked so satisfactorily that it ultimately broadened out into a great organisation, which under a name to become familiar throughout the civilised world—the Chinese Maritime Customs—extended its operations to the whole of the Treaty ports.

Another important Shanghai institution which was emerging from the chrysalis stage at this period was the Municipal Council. As originally instituted the body was known as the Committee of Roads and Jetties. Its income was as modest as its designation, for altogether the municipal collections in 1852 did not amount to more than $5,000. Of this sum $2,400 came from wharfage dues, and the balance from a tax of &frac14; per cent. on land and 1 per cent. on houses. The expenditure for the year was $8,000, that amount including the repayment of a loan of $2,000 which had been borrowed at 10 per cent. But the exigencies of the situation created by the Taeping Rebellion necessitated some more comprehensive arrangement, and about the middle of 1854 there were frequent consultations between the Taoutai, Sam Qua, and Messrs. Alcock, the British Consul, R. C. Murphy, the United States Consul, and M. B. Edau, the French Consul with a view to devising a new system of local control. The upshot of the deliberations was the issue on July 5, 1854, of a notification to the foreign community to the effect that a new code of municipal and land regulations had been drawn up, and would henceforth govern the residence of foreigners in the three concessions. The regulations thus promulgated with some subsequent changes and additions are practically the constitution under which the settlement is governed. Under the rules the local authority designated for the first time a Municipal Council was to consist of a chairman and six members elected by the land-renters instead of the "three upright British merchants appointed by the British Consul," of whom the first early Committee of Roads and Jetties consisted. Another important change was the substitution for the old methods of raising revenue of a regular assessment based on the value of property and area of land, on residences and wharfage within the settlement. The new system was found to work most satisfactorily. Henceforward there was no looking back in matters municipal in Shanghai. In 1863 the administration lost its exclusively British character by the interests of the British concession being merged with those of the American settlement at Hongkew on the north of the Soochow Creek. The French, who, as has been stated, occupied a strip of territory adjacent to the native city, elected to maintain their separate jurisdiction, and they have done so to this day, with the result that there is a marked distinction between the two sections of what is in reality one settlement.

While Shanghai was preparing to avail itself of the openings offered by the Treaty of Peking, the developments of the Taeping Rebellion were once more furnishing her citizens with excitement of a varied kind. The rebels, encouraged by the weakness of the imperial authority, had during the years from 1857 to 1860 enormously extended their sphere of influence. They continued in possession of Nanking in spite of all efforts to dislodge them, and by the end of the last named year their authority was established almost to the sea. Such was the gravity of the situation that, prior to the advance on Peking, the Governor-General of the province of the Two Kiang actually invoked the aid of the British and French in support of the imperial power. The French representative was willing to render the assistance, and offered fifteen hundred troops if the British would send five hundred; but Mr. Bruce prudently declined to allow the British authority to be mixed up with the internal troubles of the Chinese Empire. A proclamation, however, was issued on May 26, 1860, in the name of all the foreign representatives, intimating that Shanghai would not a second time be allowed to fall into rebel hands.

Though official foreign aid was denied the Chinese authorities, they were not to be without European assistance in their efforts to suppress the rebellion. A movement set on foot by patriotic Chinese merchants, and encouraged and supported by European firms, resulted in the getting out at Shanghai of a foreign contingent for service in the disturbed area. Ward, an American subject, was the leader of the organisation, and he had as his chief lieutenant and quartermaster a fellow countryman named Burgevine. Ward was a swashbuckler of a pronounced type—unscrupulous, rapacious, and cruel. He had been a mate on an American sailing vessel trading to China, and had served on a flotilla fitted out some time previously by the Taoutai to operate against the rebels on the Yangtse. In that capacity he had attracted the attention of the wealthy Chinese merchants, and his selection to command the foreign legion was the result. A pretty free hand was given to him in the matter of the engagement of recruits. Pay at the rate of £20 per month was offered, and in addition the prospect was held out of a share of loot. About one hundred Europeans in all were collected, together with about double that number of Manila men. The Europeans were a nondescript lot of adventurers drawn from the shipping and the local stores and offices. They were bound by the loosest ties of discipline and were ignorant in many cases of the rudiments of military science. The initial operation of the contingent was an attack on Sunkiang, a large walled town about 20 miles south-west of Shanghai. It was for various reasons a conspicuous failure. Ward, however, was not to be discouraged by a single rebuff. Collecting reinforcements, he renewed the attack with a successful result. The town through his exertions was given over once more to the possession of the imperial forces. The achievement brought him passing fame and, what was more to his purpose, a considerable accession of Chinese confidence and support. Ward was soon invited to try his skill in another direction. The new task allotted to him was the capture of Tsingpu, a walled town of some little importance. Having recruited a fresh body of men, including 25 Europeans and 280 Manila men. Ward marched out of his camp at Sunkiang. On arrival outside Tsingpu he speedily found that he could accomplish little, owing to