Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/96

88 country. After an unsuccessful attempt Tsingpu was retaken, and probably this would have been the starting point of a new career for Ward had he not been mortally wounded in an attack on Tseki, near Ningpo, whither he had proceeded at the call of the Government. On a refusal of the post by Colonel Forrester, Ward's chief lieutenant, the command of the Ever Victorious Army devolved upon Burgevine, who was little adapted either by temperament or capacity for so responsible an office. Li Hung Chang, to be famous in later years as one of China's greatest statesmen, had about this time succeeded to the chief control on the Chinese Government side and he seems very early to have formed a very unfavourable impression of the new commander. Burgevine, indeed, was generally distrusted by the leading Chinese officials and merchants. They disliked his dictatorial ways, and they doubted his loyalty to the cause which they had at heart. Furthermore, what little they knew of his capacity for military leadership did not impress them. In the circumstances it is not surprising that difficulties should soon have arisen between the American and the Mandarins. The latter were so seriously dissatisfied with Burgevine that they went the length of asking General Staveley to remove him from the command and supply his place with an English officer. The British commander declined to interfere at the moment, but when in the first week of January, 1863, Burgevine's force openly mutinied, and Burgevine himself perpetrated a grave outrage by using personal violence to Takee, a leading Shanghai merchant, who was the life and soul of the patriotic movement, the summary dismissal of the adventurer by the Chinese Government was acquiesced in. The direct result of this disciplinary action was to bring into the scene of perhaps his greatest triumphs the hero of Khartoum—Charles Gordon—then a practically unknown officer of Engineers. Gordon did not actually take up the command until March 24th, as the Home Governments approval to his nomination by General Staveley had to be received, and. moreover, he wished to complete the survey of the country around Shanghai upon which he was then engaged before assuming active military work. But he interested himself informally in the duties pertaining to his new post and may be said practically to have commenced his connection with the force on Burgevine's dismissal. The story of his skilful organisation and direction of the Chinese forces, of his indomitable courage and perseverance in combating the rebel forces, and finally, the complete reassertion of Chinese imperial authority, through the exertions of the Ever Victorious Army under his leadership, is too familiar to need recapitulation here.

The crisis in Shanghai's life came, as we have stated at the commencement of the chapter, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Peking. One of the earliest symptoms of it was an inflation of land values due to the belief that the settlement was bound to undergo enormous expansion. The theory was sound enough, but, as often happens in these cases, an altogether exaggerated conception of the possibilities of the situation was formed. The period of speculation with its ups and downs and its various manifestations is vividly described by the writer already quoted. "The site of the old racecourse was put up and sold at auction at fabulous prices, and the cricket ground was treated in a similar manner, a very small proportion of money sufficing to supply their places at a short distance beyond, and the balance of the funds being reserved for purposes of public improvement or recreation. Land had become the great subject for speculation, and was being bought up in every conceivable direction with the greatest avidity. Plots which a few months previously had been purchased for garden purposes at fifty taels per mow, equal to about £100 sterling per acre, now realised at least a thousand taels per mow and even more, and for a long time this remained the standard value of the land. For miles in the country upon purely Chinese territory, and for miles down the river upon both its banks, did speculators buy up every available inch of ground at daily increasing prices in the most visionary manner. Fortunes upon fortunes were made upon its re-sale to still more reckless gamblers, but only to be re-invested in the same unsound manner and eventually to culminate in loss. But it was not alone in land that speculation ran wild. Chinese houses sprung up in every direction, and Shanghai in a couple of years from the modest 'model settlement' had become a very London."

"Joint stock companies now commenced to be started, and shares were eagerly applied for. The number of banks which established agencies was perfectly fabulous. The shores of the river for miles down the stream were covered with newly-erected wharves and as many as 300 foreign vessels were in the harbour at one time. New local improvements were commenced, regardless of expense. The New Club, a magnificent building, and conducted on the most extravagant scale, was hurried on. The new racecourse and the cricket ground were completed; roads were constructed for miles out into the country, and villa residences and model farms began to abound. The municipal institutions were constructed on a scale of extravagance hitherto unknown; and professional jockeys and trainers, sparring matches, badger baiting and rat pits became the fancy. Shanghai had gone perfectly mad."

At this time the population of Shanghai was estimated at 420,000, of whom 6,000 were foreigners. It was, as far as the foreign element was concerned, a mixed community, but was full of enterprise and virility. Its spirit was manifested in a rather striking way when the Chinese Government, having disposed of the Taeping rebels, thought it might recover some of its losses by imposing a likin, or war tax, upon those of its subjects who resided in the settlement. To this proposition the Municipal Council offered emphatic opposition. It was pointed out that, as the responsibility of protecting such an enormous concourse of refugees fell upon the foreign municipalities and their British and foreign protectors, it was only right that the Chinese inside should bear their proportion of the regular expenses. The argument had no effect on the Chinese officialdom, and as their claim was backed by the British Minister, the tax had to be allowed. Feeling on the subject ran very high in the foreign community and a scheme was seriously mooted, by an influential section, for repudiating all Chinese rights and constituting the settlement a free city, somewhat on the lines of the Hanse towns. The idea, of course, was absurdly visionary, and it was laughed out of existence almost as soon as it was mooted. But the fact that it was suggested indicates the extent to which even business men had been carried off their feet by the wave of speculation which was sweeping over the port.

CHAPTER XVI. Last Days of the Emperor Hienfung—Coup d'état at Peking—The New Régime—The Young Emperor Tungche assumes the Reins of Government—Reception of Ministers at Peking—Death of Tungche and Accession of Tsai Tien—Murder of Mr. Margery—The Chefoo Convention. immediate outcome of the Treaty of Peking was the establishment in the Chinese capital of a body known as the Tsung-li-yamen, to deal with the foreign affairs of the empire. Up to this time there had been no provision in the Chinese Governmental system for conducting intercourse with foreign nations, and the absence of machinery had tended more than anything else to create difficulties. To a very large extent, therefore, the change was an advantageous one. But it was very far from being a sign of grace on the part of the imperial authorities. The Emperor himself showed at this time, indeed, a marked disposition to emphasise his dissatisfaction with the new order. He retired to Gehol and surrounded himself there with the most bigoted and fanatical Mandarins, chief amongst whom was Tsai, the hero of the disgraceful episode of Tungchow decribeddescribed [sic] in the previous chapter. It was believed at the time that the main purpose of his withdrawal was to avoid lending by his presence any countenance to the establishment of the diplomatic system at Peking. Whether that was the case or not when Mr. Bruce took up his residence at the Chinese capital towards the end of March, 1864, he had to be content with such maimed rites as could be extended to him by Prince Kung, the enlightened brother of the Emperor, upon whom the burden of arranging matters with the Allies had fallen. The Emperor's absence was the cause of much discontent amongst the Pekingese, and it was condemned even by members of the imperial family, who suffered heavily in pocket owing to the cessation of their allowances during the period that the court was at Gehol. It is probable that