How we got to Pekin. A narrative of the campaign in China of 1860

Front matter

-k'/tyravedfr&m, al'Aetff. fry HOW WE GOT TO PEKIN A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGN IN CHINA OF 1860. nv THE KEY. K. J. L. M'GHEE, CHAPLAIN TO THE FORCES, AND TQ HIS EXCELLENCY THE EARL OF CARLISLE. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, in ©rtitiarn to $er fHajests. 1862. [The Author reserves the right of Translation.] LONDON: W. CLOWKS AND SONS, STAMFOKD STREET AND CHARING CRUSS DEDICATED, PERMISSION, TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE EARL OF CARLISLE, HIS FAITHFUL AND GRATEFUL SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PBEFACE. Having had the good fortune to serve with the head-quarters of the expeditionary force in China throughout the whole of the late Campaign, and to be present upon every occasion of interest ; and having kept such notes as a man can keep in a bell-tent, or without any tent, in the hot weather in China, I may be excused for saying that I have had as good opportunities of observation, and of recording what I saw, as most men in the force.

I have been repeatedly asked by friends to publish some account of the campaign, but do so with some hesitation, on account of my inability to do justice to the subject, not being a military man. The following pages were written before I was aware that Colonel Wolseley had published his work, or I should never have attempted what he had a

Preface

. VI undertaken; but my narrative was written under the belief that no connected account of the expedition was in contemplation, and on my return home I had not the resolution to commit my book to the flames. I have felt it to be in better taste not to bring before the public any especial mention of the work ing of my own department during the war ; not that I do not entertain a full sense of its great importance, or that I am not disposed duly to "magnify mine office ;" but because anything that might savour of egotism is to be. avoided by all, and especially by one who at all events ought to be a teacher. I say this, because some persons might expect from me a work of a character not so secular. I have been truly glad to give praise when, in my opinion, it was deserved, and have endeavoured to be silent where there appeared cause for censure; leaving the task of fault-finding to others to whom it may be more grateful than it is to me, being quite aware that a hasty or ill-formed judgment may be, and often is, very unjust, and if promulgated may inflict a wound and an injury which it may never be possible to repair or to heal. No doubt the censorious are a useful class of people; I have no

PREFACE.

. VII ambition, however, to share either their pleasures or their toils. If offence should be given to anjr person by any thing which is here related, my apology is that it was utterly unintentional. My narrative has been written without much arrangement or plan ; in part, because for this purpose moments were taken from days of anxious occupation, when I was obliged to be contented to put down the recollections that came unbidden at such times; and all who have been in China can testify that the climate often renders it necessary to do as you can, rather than as you would. Dublin, June, 1862. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Page

From Home to China— Leaving Home— Malta— Cairo— The Red Sea and its Fruits — Aden— Galle— Passengers— The French — Penang — Singapore— Arrival at Hong Kong 1

Chapter II

HongKong — Hospitalityof the Troops — Head Quarters— Kowloong — Rudeness of a Naval Officer— Probyn's and Fane's Horse — Tent pegging — 'Siwhan' — The Military Train — The Coolie Corps — Regimental Transport — The ' Happy Valley ' — The Cemetery and the Race Course — Jardine's "Warehouses — ' Poke Fullom ' — Admiral Hope — Sir Hope Grant ....... 16

Chapter III

The Loss of the Transport 'Assistance' — Shanghai— The Native Boat — ' Chow Chow ' Water — The Church Mission — The Native Town — Jesuit College — Pigeon English — The American Mission and Miss Fay— Religion in China " -h-

Chapter IV

Leave Shanghai — Chusan — Our Allies — Pootoo — Beauty of the Scenery — Buddhist Temples — Hong Kong— Talienwhan — The Fleet— The Scenery— Heat and Drought— Difficulty in procuring Country Produce— Confusion amongst the Supplies — The Shooting of the Neighbourhood — Our Ride from Yictoria Bay to Odin Bay — The Soldier's best Friend — Hand Bay — Hangkow— The Chief Mandarin IS CONTENTS. X FAGS 71 'J J 110 131 141 l'i-1

Chapter V

Weighed Anchor for Pekin— Landing— Our Bivouac— Cockroach Broth— Colonel Anson — Arrived at Petang— Landing— Tea— Petang— Colonel Ross— The Military Train- Difficulty of Transport .....

Chapter VI

Reconnaissance— Leave Petang— The Cavalry— Advance of the Allied Forces — The Tartars desert their Camp — The Second Division— The Tartars charge our Guns— The Tartar Soldier's Hut — Prisoners — Lines on Moyse's Death —Chinese Documents— Chinese Policy — Results of the Expedition .......

Chapter VII

Preparations — Trench Digging — Attack on Tankoo — Armstrong Guns — Floods in the Camp — Bridge over the Peiho — Dead Animals — Reconnaissance — Breakfast among the Grapes— Deserted Wrorks— Mr. Parkes, C.B. — Skirmishing — Ruined House — Takoo Forts — Disposition of our Guns — Explosions — Storming the Forts — Numbers of Killed .

Chapter VIII

Recovery of Guns taken in 1859 — The Wounded— Surrender of the South Forts — Favourable Weather — Wet Tents —Camp Dinners —Crimean Steaks — Grumblers at Home — A dead Horse ......

Chapter IX

Gardens — " Great Kings " — Up the Peiho — Diplomacy — Advance on Pekin — Transport — A Morning's March— A Bantam Cock — Hooseewoo — Grapes— Advance from Hoowoo — Chinese Treachery— Walker's Escape — Our Surprise—Proposed Camping Ground— Battle of Chankeawhan— Probyn's Charge— A narrow Escape

Chapter X

Ruining Camps— Changkeawhan— Looting— Suicides— Douse of Refuge— The Field of Battle— Home-like Scenery- Coolies - Mickey King -Packing Baggage— Advance of the Tartars— Useless Squares— Charge of the King's Dragoon Guards— Irregulars— Camp and Village burnt— An Armstrong Shell CONTENTS. XI

Chapter XI. Page

Palechow— Standing Camp— Messrs. Parkes and Loch— Marble Tomb — Market— Camp Shaves— Sick and Wrounded— Ultimatum — Depot — Mahometan Mosque — Major Brown's Horses — Bivouac — Brick Kilns — Skirmishing— Pekin— Our lost Allies — Our Cavalry missing — Head-Quarter Temple . ...... 183

Chapter XII

Colonel Wolseley finds the French and Cavalry — How they came to be lost— Lord Elgin and Sir Hope Grant visit the Summer Palace— Entrance— Hall of Audience— Grounds — French Looting— The Palace— Furs and Embroidery — Curios and Silk — Gardens and Summer-houses — Art and Nature— Interior of Temple— Golden Idols — A Chinese Summer-house — Furniture of Summer-house — Gardens — Chinese Plunderers ...... 201

Chapter XIII

Preparations for an Assault — Plan of our Position — Colonel Mann's Anxiety to make a Breach — John Chinaman gives in — Chinese Treachery — Return of Messrs. Parkes and Loch — " The wild Justice of Revenge " — Boulby, a public Loss — Chinese Perfidy — Kindness of Russian Embassy- — The Russian Burial-ground — Funeral of Messrs. Anderson, De Norman, Boulby, and Private Phipps — Cruel Treachery of the Emperor — Burning of the Imperial Palace — Burning of Temple — Antiquity of Chinese Art — A Residence with its Temples — Gardens — Curios — Halt of Troops — More Burning — Reflections — Return to Pekin — A necessary Sacrifice — The Days of the Present Dynasty numbered — Success of the American Mission .... 217

Chapter XIV

The Auction — Discovery of the Treasury — Prize Money — Incidents of the Auction — Scarcity of Money — Anting Gate — London and Pekin— The Walls of Pekin— Butchers' Shops — "Chow-Chow" Shops— Coal-yards— Curiosity of People — Importance of John Chinaman — Description of Town— Tartar Town— Furs and Skins— Shops— Bargaining — John Bull— Puzzling John Chinaman— The Temple of the Earth— The Temple of Heaven CONTENTS. XII PAGE 308 319 352

Chapter XV

Signing of the Convention— Treaty of Tien-Tsin— Severity the best Policy— Wintering the Army— The Difficulty solved— The French retire from Pekin— Lamah Temple— The Troops march for Palechow— Peiho River — Lady Grant— Head-Quarter Staff— Efficiency of the Staff— Garrison at Tien-Tsin— Tien-Tsin— Severity of the Winter- Conveyance of Mails most defective— Regularity of French Mails ........

Chapter XVI

Sledges —Horse Marines — Game — Rations — Anecdotes — The Sick — The Hospital — Home Memories — The Morals of the Army — The private Soldier — Confectioners — The Auction — Cramping the Feet — Chinese Ladies — Beggars — Charity of British Troops — The Irishman and the Coolies — Pointed Arguments — " Englishe " and " Flenishe " — " Poko Beno " — A Jeweller — Horses and Races— Paper Hunts — Reading Room — " Samsho " — Occupation and Amusement — Tartar General ......

Chapter XVII

The Ice breaks up — Unhealthiness of the Climate — Brown's Stories— A Pair of Ducks— Policy of the Pekin Court- Home Policy— Prudence — Campaigning— China open to Trade— "The War Party"— Lord Elgin— The Hospital at Tien-Tsin— Missionary Work .... THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN AT PF.KIH, WHERE THE EMPEROR SACRIFICES ONCE A YEAR. TofaCC Page

Chapter I

From Home to China — Leaving Home — Malta — Cairo — The Red Sea and its Fruits — Aden — Galle — Passengers — The French — Penang — Singapore — Arrival at Hong Kong. During the last Caffre war, some companies of the second battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles, and a squadron of the Twelfth Lancers, were sent up the country on an expedition without tents or baggage, and a hard time they had of it. It was during the wet season, and one day in a pour of rain, when the men were trying in vain to light their cooking-fires, the following dialogue was overheard between two Light Dragoons. " The Sergeant-major's words has come true ; he says to me the day I volunteered from my old regiment, the Fifth Dragoon Guards, he says to me, as I was leaving the gate of Portobello barracks, in Dub lin, ' Jinkins,' he says, ' this is the worst day's work as ever you done in the whole course of your life ;' and so it was, I wish I was back again."

I! " Yes," was the reply from his comrade. " They say in my troop as I'm a bad 'un, and I know any how as I'm a great blackguard, but there's one thing as is a balm to my conscience, and that is, that I'm not a volunteer." I can enter into the feelings of the Light Dragoon as to volunteering. It is a great point when you find yourself where you would rather not be, if you are able to console yourself with the recollection that " you are not a volunteer." If you are ordered any where, then it is your duty to go, and to take what ever comes, and make the best of it ; the path of duty is in the long run always the best, but if a man volunteers his services, he takes the responsi bility of his fortunes upon his own shoulders. During the winter of 1859-60, I was sitting one evening reading, with a companion, by a comfortable fire, in my quarters at home, feeling very well con tented with the world at large and with my own lot, though not without my share of the ordinary trials of life, when the post arrived ; I opened one letter, the handwriting of which I knew well as that of a good and firm friend, when, to my dismay, I discovered in the first few lines that I was to join the Chinese expedition (then being organized at Hong Kong) by the Overland route.

If a shell had fallen at my feet through the roof, I could hardly have been more startled. " China for me." I said, holding up the letter ; my companion LEAVING HOME. 3 shut his book and looked up, scarcely less startled than I was ; neither of us spoke for some minutes ; what a crowd of thoughts and feelings rushed through my mind and heart ! I have not forgotten them yet. I felt at once that it was the path of duty for me that I should without hesitation accept the appoint ment. I had "taken the shilling," and was under orders ; and I felt a confidence which is worth a world of human hopes, and overrules all human fears, that the unseen Hand which had guided me in many a difficulty, and had steered my frail bark through more than one troubled sea, was still at the helm ; I bowed my head and said, " Thy will be done."

And I felt at peace, though sore troubled. My hardest task was to make light of the matter, to treat it rather as a good joke, a pleasant trip, and so forth, in order to prevent others from exhibiting any signs of sorrow, which would have been difficult to bear. I had some weeks before me yet ere I was to start ; I often wished that the time had come, much as I dreaded its arrival. Like all days, whether good or evil, it came at last, and not long afterwards I found myself on board the 'Yaletta,' at Marseilles, and steaming into the Gulf of Lyons, where it was rough enough to make most of the passengers very unhappy ; but as sea-sickness is one of those evils from which I am exempt, I had not that additional ill to bear, not that I should have cared in the least about it. I felt too b much alone and broken-hearted to think of any lesser ill.

I had a major, a Scotchman, in the same cabin with me, a very good fellow, though a little " cran key," as the weather got hot (for we stuck to gether all through to Galle). In three days we arrived at Malta late in the evening; it was dark, and as the anchor was dropped, I heard a well known friendly voice call out, "Halloa, M'Ghee, where are you?" "Here I am, where are you?" " Here, I've got a boat, come along." My friend had seen my name down as to be expected in the ' Yaletta,' and, like a good warm-hearted fellow, had come off to meet me. We rowed across the harbour to the house of another military friend, who was stationed at Malta, and it seemed to look home like to meet with those from whom I had parted not many months before, at the station where we had been quartered together ; but such must military life always be.

You are constantly losing your friends, by other means besides the ordinary casualties of this world; still they are not lost altogether, they are sown over every quarter of the globe, and turn up sometimes when least expected, and most wanted. Four hours saw us out of Malta harbour, on our way to Alexandria ; we just missed a heavy storm, in which the sister-ship to ours (the ' Yectis ') left Alexandria, although no pilot would venture to bring her out, so much for the enterprise of her com mander (his brother commanded the ' Yaletta ') ; CAIRO and she weathered it safely, although her stern was so much damaged that she was obliged to stop at Malta for repairs. At Alexandria it was hot, al though but a few clays before we had left France, bound in a most severe frost; at Cairo, where we were detained two days, it was hotter still.

Our delay arose from a storm in the Red Sea, so violent that our ship could not receive the mails and pas sengers until it had abated. Of course I was not sorry for the detention, which gave me an opportunity of seeing something of the first Eastern city which I had ever entered. You need not fear, how ever, my readers, that I am going to inflict upon you a description of Cairo, or any details of the Overland route. Everyone has read a dozen better than I could write ; everyone has seen poor Albert Smith's 'China;' and twenty per cent, of the readers of a book of this sort, have had their personal experience of the journey. Two things however did surprise me very much at Cairo, one was how such very small donkeys, with such very thin legs, could carry such large men, sixteen stone weight ; and the other was how several young people going out to India to join the Queen's service there, could make such great asses of them selves, as they did at Cairo and elsewhere ; forgetting that they were expected, in the service, to try, if possible, and appear like gentlemen, if they were not really so.

But these were what they call in India " Competition Wallahs." Having been joined by the "Southampton lot," we found a large party when we embarked at Suez ; but I think that the two streams from Marseilles and Southampton, although confluent from Suez to Galle, never thoroughly commingled their waters ; the Mar seilles folk considering themselves the faster of the two, and having the latest papers, and the last bit of club gossip, swaggered a little, while the South ampton people did not appear to see this, and on the other hand looked down upon those who had shirked the Bay of Biscay as not having done the thing thoroughly. I do not intend to insinuate, however, that there was any bad feeling on board, far from it, all was harmony, except indeed that there was some love, which whether it afterwards reproduced as a lasting fruit that harmony from whence it first sprang, I am not prepared to say; let us hope that it did.

If contrasts agree, it must have been all right, the fair one was so exceeding fair, her hair was a fiery red (I don't say that I at all dislike the colour myself, particularly as for a year and a half I have seen nothing but the black-haired houris of China), but it was red, — the most merciful man in the world could not hint at auburn, and then she had such a pro fusion of it that it added depth to the colour, which was so warm, that you felt the Red Sea was no place for her; her skin had paid that penalty which fair skins must pay, — it was freckled, and looked like a THE RED SEA. 7 diamond edition of a very much faded leopard! Then she was (what the Easterns like so much) very fat, rather short, and some people said " dumpy." But the " he," who and what was he ? He was a parson, and, as I have said, a perfect contrast to the lady, — tall and thin, very thin ; his hair, if he had had any, would have been black, as you could tell by the "fringe" which surrounded his head; his face managed to raise about two dozen straggling hairs, near the ears, and they looked very weak, as if the sod did not agree with them.

How their loves began I am not prepared to say, unless it was that they sat next each other at table, " propinquity again ; " the first I heard of it was one morning on deck, when a lady told me, all in a titter, that " Mr. Bflling and Miss Cooing were ab solutely engaged ! " And true enough, ever after they sat on two stools side by side all day (I hope those stools have not become repentant since), and the session was prolonged untfl a late hour at night, only interrupted by the breakfast tiffin and dinner bells ; their thoughts must have been very pleasant, as they never seemed to speak to each other ; she appeared to be engaged in contemplating the state of the timbers of the ship's deck, and he that of the horizon. This was all a week's work in the Red Sea. Most people would have thought it too hot for any ac tive occupation, but Master Cupid appears to hold most uncontrolled sway over human hearts and destinies, when the divinities which presided in old times over other employments have been beaten from the field by the force of circumstances, or else are asleep.

If idleness be " the mother of mischief," as the proverb says, mischief and love must be brothers. Aden appeared to me more like the evil part of Hades, as one's imagination paints it, than any other place. Its sterile rocks evidently of volcanic forma tion, and those innumerable black boys, like imps of darkness, tormenting donkeys, in whose bodies might be supposed to reside the spirits of departed " fools," and the sultry heat favoured the idea. The only difficulty was that the said little demons could bathe and dive for ever in the clear green water, which ought by rights to have been a sea of fire. Every one landed of course, and everyone came on board again, and everyone was very hot, and no one was at all sea-sick, and the captain was very polite, and the ladies no doubt were all very agreeable, but the only one (the wife of one of the most gallant officers who serves the Queen, she was on her way to India with her husband) who could have charmed away my evil humours fell sick at Suez, and we saw her no more till she came like a ghost from her cabin at Galle.

The sea, I should add, was as polished as the Cap tain, and the breeze, what there was of it, as agree able as the ladies, and so we arrived at Galle. One day at Galle I found quite enough, more par ticularly as at night I was placed near some " com- GALLE. 9 petition wallahs," who were anything in the world hiit gewttemQa; besides Galle is vety Lot and stitliug, and Lit sea you sometimes have a breeze. I was in duced to go to aii hotel by a gentleman, who repre sented himself as " tlie only white wau iu Guile who kept an hotel," and he was reruiinly most polite and considerate, ami quite a " jolly companion " to those who liked that sort of thing, singing songs and telling stories after dinner; but if fortunate enough (<i return home, I think f should try the "Old Mansion-house," as more suitable to steady, quiet folks.

I ami my Scotch major, and .seven.il olhers of our party, drove out to "do" the cinnamon gardens and the " \\ ank Walluh," some seven miles from the town, and were amply repaid by the scenery. This \va.s mv first introduetiou to tropit.al life ; and all that I had read of it, and the pictures aud illustiti t t<>ny which I had seen, failed to give any adequate idea of Ita luxuri ance, its deep colouring, and the load of varied vege table life under which the teeming noil must, groan as it prmlnces it. Towering above all are. seen the tall cocoa-nut trees, laden with fruit, aud .standing close, as their stem is branchless: undernealh, a matted jungle of spice trees and flowering shrubs, rich in varied colours as in fragrauce; aud ou the ground rank grasses, which looked like a greeu-groumled carpet, closely worked in an endless pattern of various coloured tlowers, all in harmony, because all the work of God.

But you must pay the penalty of such luxuriance in nature, by living in a climate unfriendly to European life. For my part I prefer home. We were followed in our up-hill drive by numbers of boys, offering flowers for sale, and gems of various sorts (of glass) ; what an unchanging feature " the boys " are in every country and clime ! To these pretended stones they gave the various names of beryl, topaz, cats'-eyes, &c, &c. ; they were folded up very neatly in white papers, and looked very pretty. My friend the Major was looking at a paper contain ing fifteen or twenty, for which the undressed urchin asked fifteen dollars ; perceiving that the Major did not bite, he came down to seven dollars, when, to get rid of him, the canny Scot offered him a rupee, which, to his intense disgust, was accepted.

I rejoiced to see Sandy the knowing overreached by the nigger ! We reached our destination, a summer-house sup plied with fruit, &c, and we especially enjoyed the pines, which though cheap were anything but nasty, loitered away an hour or two, and drove back again. Next day we embarked in a much smaller steamer, which was to take us on to Hong Kong; but our party was greatly diminished, as the larger number of the passengers were bound for Madras and Calcutta. I was deprived of my old chum " the Major," but his place was very well supplied by a young captain, an aide-de-camp (now, I think, brevet-major); almost all the passengers were military men about to join the expedition, and several of them as good people PASSENGERS. as you could meet anywhere. We had also some Russian and some French officers on board, one of the former, a naval captain and aide-de-camp to the Grand Duke Constantine, was one of the most plea sant and gentlemanlike men I ever met.

The " Gauls " were peculiar, one was a young officer, a captain ; the other, an older man going out as chief in his own department. They had both come from Marseilles, and although not what is ordinarily termed sea-sick, they were extremely sick at sea at intervals during the voyage. It was evident to the most casual observer that neither of these gentlemen had been accustomed to the abundant luxuries of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers ; they went in, like men, at everything, round the table and back again ; the junior carrying on the war with two plates at once, while the senior was contented with one, well filled and frequently replenished. Then came bilious attacks, loss of appetite, starvation, recovery, reple tion, and so on. We soon learned what a dangerous thing it was to make inquiry for the colonel's health.

" Ah ! mon Colonel, comment se va-t-il ce matin ; j'es pere que vous vous portez mieux ? " " Ah ! mais non, je vous remercie,je suis Men malade; regardez la langue " (and instantly his tongue was thrust into your face), " ah, c'est Men sak, n'est-cepas?" I could not help think ing that his manners were the most unpleasant of the two. Fortunately for the rest of the passengers these gentlemen never used the bath-room, so that there were two less on the morning's list. But the national polish of the French is a world-wide proverb ! We had several Parsee merchants from Bombay, bound for Hong Kong, and very nice fellows they were, par ticularly polite to Englishmen, whose rule in India they praised loudly, and I believe honestly ; and we had also some Jews from Calcutta, very much to be liked as intelligent and gentlemanlike companions ; and both Jews and Parsees exhibited at least a respect for our religion by asking permission to attend our Sunday morning service.

We had altogether representatives of fifteen nations on board, including a Dutchman, who was rather disagreeable. The captain and ship's officers were not only at tentive and polite, as I have invariably found them in the Peninsular and Oriental service, with one soli tary exception, but several of them were of families and connections such as you would expect to find rather in the royal navy than in the merchant ser vice ; but the Company pays well, and makes liberal provisions of various kinds for its servants, and, as a natural result, it gets an excellent class of man as officers ; you meet some, of course, of the " rough and ready" sort, but these are good sailors. A few hours at that most picturesque spot, Penang, served to break the monotony of the voyage ; the hotel was not much of a place, and we did not stay there very long, but drove up to the waterfall, under neath which was a narrow basin where everyone PENANG. 13 bathed, and where two officers were very nearly drowned ; one who could not swim well having got hold of another and pulled him down.

I formed the exception, partly for fear of a very hot sun and partly because the place was small, and I am not overfond of a public bath. The scenery well repaid the drive, it was more picturesque than Ceylon, because the foliage was not so dense, and therefore you could see more. Here, too, I was first introduced to a gentle man whose acquaintance I was destined to cultivate for some time, " Mr. John Chinaman." Penang is quite a colony of Chinese, they are much more numerous than the Malay population ; they build houses after their own manner, and occupy miles of streets, planted with rows of trees which form the most deli cious shade. I spent some hours in driving to various bungalows in search of an officer belonging to the native regiment stationed there, but having been misdirected by the Madras soldiers and imposed upon by the driver of the carriage, who declared that he knew " the officer Sahib and his bungalow," I was warned by a gun from the steamer to return and left Penang without seeing my friend.