SIX MONTHS WITH THE CHINESE EXPEDITION. By Lord JOCELYN. London: Murray. 1841.

WHATEVER be the final issue of affairs now pending between our own government and that of China, one desirable result may be looked for at all events-we mean the enlargement of our acquaintance with the manners and customs of a people concerning whom we have hitherto been in a state of all but profound ignorance. Let us not be accused of libelling the intelligence of the community. No stronger proof is needed of what we assert, than the simple fact that a gentleman of active and inquiring mind, living too in the very midst of the busiest haunts of commerce and information -the Rev. Mr. Thelwall-did actually publish to the world, some sixteen or eighteen months ago, a volume ycleped "The Iniquities of the Opium Trade," containing amongst other matters, the following ingenuous confession :

"The iniquities of the opium trade with China?" Methinks I hear some one exclaim on reading the title of my book: 'I never heard before that we carried on any such traffic; much less that any iniquities were connected therewith.' This ignorance ought not to surprise me: for I was till very recently equally ignorant myself. But some weeks ago my attention was called to the circumstances connected with the traffic in opium, which is continually carried on between the possessions of the East India Company and that vast empire. The subject was then entirely new to me."—(pp. 1, 2.) The italics in this passage are our own. Who is it that says, "If I want to understand any subject I make it my first business to write a book about it?" Acting, we may presume, upon some such principle, Mr. Thelwall wrote his book about China and the opium trade, the very existence of the latter having been unknown to him "some weeks" previously. We trust that his well-meant endeavours have been rewarded with success, so far at least as to convince him that to every question there are two sides, a fact of which he does not appear to have been thoroughly cognizant, when "The Iniquities of the Opium Trade" first solicited the suffrages of the public.

But we beg pardon of our readers for this digression. We alluded to the case of Mr. Thelwall as strikingly exemplifying the caliginousness of the British public in reference to China and Chinese affairs. The book named at the head of the present article may be regarded as an amiable attempt to dispel some little portion of this our darkness. The Author, Lord Jocelyn, is the

son of that excellent nobleman the Earl of Roden, of whom no true member of our Church and loyal subject of our Sovereign can ever speak except in terms of reverence and affection. This is enough of itself to conciliate our goodwill towards him. But his lordship's personal claims to attention will be found by no means inconsiderable. He tells us in his modest preface that his "sketch is entirely taken from private notes, and recollections of conversations held at different times with residents in the country, or with men interested in its affairs." Again he says" the following sketch was written on the voyage from Canton to Bombay, when the scenes described were fresh in the Author's memory." These are just the circumstances which stamp a value on his little volume. A laboured disquisition upon the political aspect of Chinese affairs and the probable nature of our relations hereafter with that extraordinary people, had been alike wearisome to the general reader, and unsuitable to the Author's youth and inexperience. We believe his lordship to have but just attained his twenty-fifth year, and his title-page informs us how brief has been the period of his personal acquaintance with China. We think that under these circumstances he has done well in confining himself almost exclusively to the narration of what he saw and heard during the short campaign in which he bore a part. We proceed to lay some of the facts which he has brought together before our readers.

The grand event of the campaign was, as everybody knows, the capture of Chusan, more correctly, we believe, Tcheou Chan. Everybody, however, does not know the public-spirited and even noble manner in which the Chinese authorities conducted themselves previously to that disastrous affair, (disastrous we think alike to victors and vanquished†) and the courage displayed by them during the attack itself. These are qualities for which most of us had probably been but little inclined to give them credit. Listen to Lord Jocelyn, himself an eye-witness of what he relates:

"In the afternoon of the 4th of July," (the squadron had just anchored in the harbour) "I accompanied Captain Fletcher, commander of her Majesty's ship Wellesley, on board the Chinese Admiral's junk, which we recognised by its more numerous pennons, and three tigers' heads painted on

*The exceptions are so inconsiderable as not to be worth noticing in the text. They are, too, as might be expected, the least valuable portion of the volume.

We have been kindly permitted to see a letter from a medical gentleman attached to her Majesty's 26th regiment, dated "Chusan, September 15th, 1840." The following is part of the distressing intelligence which it communicates:-

"There are 370 men in the sick list. The whole force is sickly, although the camp is situated on a hill, and exposed to the influence of a strong breeze. But the breeze blows across rice-swamps, which are hotbeds of disease. Before breakfast daily I see and prescribe for 100 patients, and again in the afternoon.”

the stern. Our orders were to summon the town and island to surrender within six hours. "As we shoved alongside the Admiral's junk, they ran their gangway guns out; but before they could make any preparation for resistance (if they had intended it) we jumped on board with our interpreter, and were surrounded by swarms, that seemed to gather from every crevice of the vessel; and when it was seen on shore that we were on board the junk, numbers waded off from the town.

"They showed not the slightest mark of hostility, but received us with great civility, informing us that the Admiral was on shore, with the other great officers of the district; but that they had sent to apprise him of our arrival.

"During the visit they handed round tea. In the course of half an hour the Chumpin (Naval Governor) and suite arrived. He was an old man, and bore in his face the marks of opium; he wore a red button in his cap, and the other officers mounted blue and white.

"We opened the summons, and they read it in our presence, and indeed before the assembled group: the deep groans and increasing pressure of the people warned us that we were amongst a hostile multitude.

"The summons addressed to the people stated that no injury was intended them, but it was against their rulers and their servants we had come to make war for their unjust acts. Of this they seemed perfectly aware; but they hated the invading barbarians more bitterly than their Tartar rulers; and their clenched hands and anxious faces proved to us how false was the idea, that we were come amongst a people who only waited for the standard of the foreigner to throw off a detested and tyrant yoke.

"After some conversation, they agreed to accompany us to the flag-ship, and upon our proposing to remain as hostages on board their junk, they simultaneously refused, and begged we would take a seat in their boat to the Wellesley.

"All was here repeated to them to the same end as what they already knew; and the reason and purport of our present hostile movement on the place was explained. They complained of the hardship of being made answerable for wrongs that we had received at Canton, and said, naturally enough, "those are the people you should make war upon, and not upon us who never injured you. We see your strength, and know that opposition will be madness; but we must perform our duty, if we fall in so doing."(pp. 49-52.)

Undismayed by the size and strength of a linc-of-battle ship (the first in all probability they had ever beheld), and the tremendous batterics which frowned around her decks, these bravc men remained deaf to the representations of Sir Gordon Bremer, who "entreated them to consider well" their enemies' force and their own weakness, and left the flag-ship with a resolution to defend their town and island to the utmost. They closed indeed with the Commodore's offer of a suspension of hostilities until the following morning; but this evidently was but to gain time, in order to strengthen, as much as might be, their wretched means of resistance. The spectacle during the intervening hours of darkness must have been a superb one.

"During the whole of that night the shore presented a most beautiful spectacle, the hills around and suburbs appearing a moving mass of varie

gated light. In China no individual ever moves out at night without these painted lanterns, carrying them in their hands, or on short bamboos. By their help we could perceive that crowds were busy throwing up embankments, and placing gingalls and fresh guns in position."―(p. 53.)

The fate of Chusan, and that of its gallant "naval and military Governor," are thus described:

"The British men-of-war were lying in line, with their larboard broadsides towards the town, at a distance of two hundred yards from the wharf and foot of the hill. They consisted of the Wellesley, 74; Conway and Alligator, 28; Cruiser and Algerine, 18; and ten gun brigs. At eight o'clock the signal was hoisted to prepare for action; still, however, time was given by the Commodore, hoping to the last they would repent, and it was not until two o'clock that the troops left the transports in the boats of the squadron, and took up their position in two lines in rear of the men-of-war, to land under cover of the fire. At half-past two the Wellesley fired a gun at the martello tower: this was immediately returned by the whole line of junks, and the guns on the causeway and the hill; then the shipping opened their broadsides upon the town, and the crashing of timber, falling" (of) houses, and groans of men resounded from the shore. The firing lasted on our side for nine minutes, but even after it had ceased a few shots were still heard from the unscathed junks.

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"When the smoke cleared away a mass of ruin presented itself to the eye, and on the place lately alive with men none but a few wounded were to be seen; but crowds were visible in the distance flying in all directions. A few were distinguished carrying the wounded from the junks into the town, and our friend the Chumpin was seen borne from his vessel by a faithful few, having lost his leg in the action by a round shot. It is as well here to mention, that he was taken to Ningpo, a town on the opposite island; and although honours were heaped upon him for his gallant but unavailing defence, he survived but a few days to wear them.

"Before the last shot was fired, the General and his staff left the Wellesley. We landed on a deserted beach, a few dead bodies, bows and arrows, broken spears and guns, remaining the sole occupants of the field."(pp. 55-57.)

From a scene of misery and bloodshed let us turn to one of a very different description. The following account of the city of Tinghai cannot fail to interest the reader, and will afford at the same time a favourable specimen of our Author's manner :—

"The city lies embosomed in luxuriant paddy, except towards the rear, where a beautiful hill commands the whole town, dotted with clumps of fine trees, part of it being included within the wall and the fortifications that encircle the town.

"Tinghai is surrounded by a wall, about sixteen feet in thickness and twenty in height. There are four gates, agreeing with the cardinal points of the compass, traversed much in the form of Mahrattah forts, the principal one being on the southern point facing the sea. The wall is surrounded by a canal, which acts as a ditch to the fortification, except at the north-west angle. The streets are narrow, and many of the houses dry-rubbed, and polished outside; but the roofs are the most picturesque part of the buildings. Many of the respectable houses have pretty gardens attached to them, with a high wall shutting them out entirely from the town.

"The interiors of some of the houses were found beautifully furnished and carved. One that is now inhabited by the Governor, and believed to have been the property of a literary character, was, when first opened, the

wonder and admiration of all. The different apartments open round the centre court, which is neatly tiled; the doors, window-frames, and pillars that support the pent-roof, are carved in the most chaste and delicate style, and the interior of the ceiling and wainscot are lined with fret-work, which it must have required the greatest nicety and care to have executed. The furniture was in the same keeping, denoting a degree of taste the Chinese have not in general credit for with us. The bed-places in the sleeping apartments of the ladies were large dormitories, for they can hardly be called beds. At one corner of the room is a separate chamber, about eight feet square, and the same in height; the exterior of this is usually painted red, carved, and gilt; the entrance is through a circular aperture, three feet in diameter, with sliding panels; in the interior is a couch of large proportions, covered with a soft mat and thick curtains of mandarin silk: the inside of the bed is polished and painted, and a little chair and table are the remaining furniture of this extraordinary dormitory.

The

Many of the public buildings excited great astonishment among those who fancied they were in a half barbarous country. Their public arsenals were found stocked with weapons of every description, placed with the greatest neatness and regularity in their different compartments. clothes for the soldiers were likewise ticketed, labelled, and packed in large presses; and the arrows, which from their size and strength drew particular attention, were carefully and separately arranged. To each arsenal is attached a fire-engine, similar to those used in our own country."-(pp. 63—66.)

Whilst engaged in an expedition which his military duties required him to make into the interior of the country, Lord Jocelyn was much struck with the romantic character of the surrounding scenery. We quote a passage which displays considerable graphic

power:

"After traversing for some miles a luxuriant sea of paddy-fields, the way wound up the side of the mountains, through a lonely pass. The path here was cut into easy flights of steps; and these passages, which are numerous through the whole island, are all formed in the same manner.

"The surrounding hills were covered with the tea-plant, cotton, dwarf oak, and a species of arbutus, rich with its red fruits; whilst their lofty summits towered on high, clad in the bright green pasture. The long valleys seen from the ascent stretched from the mouths of the different ravines, some lost in the many windings in the hills, whilst others again swept down to the seashore, laden with their luxuriant crops of rice, bending to the morning breeze; and far away over the curious buildings of Tinghai, the British fleet lay anchored on the sleeping water. Here and there, as if dropped at random upon the sides of the hills, were clumps of fine trees; and peeping through their thick foliage, the roofs of houses and temples diversified the scene. Amongst many of the beautiful groves of trees which here invite the wanderer to repose, spots are selected as the resting-places of mortality; and gazing on these tranquil scenes, where the sweet clematis and fragrant flowers help to decorate the last home of man, the most careless eye cannot fail to mark the beauties of the grave."-(pp. 80, 81.)

In most cases our countrymen appear to have been tolerably successful in conciliating the good-will of the Chusanese, when once they had broken through the (it must be confessed not very surprising) prejudice, that their visitors were no better than "bloody-minded barbarians." Instances, however, were not wanting in which terror proved a more potent counsellor than