them in case of need, while I myself kept a good guard at Chinhae.

"When our force approached Chusan, the barbarians, of whom one-half had already gone on board their ships, left Tinghae in great confusion, and we then burnt their hovels down. I now gave strict orders to fortify Chusan on all points, lest the barbarians might return and take it by surprise, but must leave the execution to my successor. The troops previously destined to the subjugation of the island, some of whom have arrived, may now be employed at Canton to give greater effect to our transactions in that quarter.'

It is clear that the idea intended to be conveyed by this document, was that of our having been compelled to quit Chusan, and Eleepoo still cherished the hope that by the repossession of the island the imperial wrath against himself might be averted. To these flattering expectations the emperor's reply put a speedy end. He had said too much, or done too little. It was remarked that "Eleepoo had delayed the commencement of operations while negotiations were going forward at Canton. As the 'barbarian eye' showed himself unmanageable, Eleepoo had been long ago com

ELEEPOO DISGRACED.

71

manded to recover Chusan with his forces. Instead of obeying these orders, he fabricated delays, under the plea that neither guns nor troops were in readiness. The moment, however, that he learned the English were determined on quitting the island, he sent soldiers thither. As it was now evident that the barbarians fled from the island because they had heard of the preparations made for their destruction at Canton, it became the duty of Eleepoo to exercise dire vengeance, execute the decrees of heaven by the utter destruction of the invaders, and rejoice the hearts of the nation by his vigorous proceedings. We therefore ordain that, on account of his remissness, Eleepoo be dismissed from the council, and forfeit his peacock's feather, but still retain his office as governor-general."

Another paper, which had been written under feelings of great irritation, arrived nearly at the same time. It was worded in the bitterest terms, and charged Eleepoo not only with disobedience of orders, but likewise with choosing to listen to Keshen's pacific suggestions far more than to the peremptory commands of his sovereign. Yukien, the

Mongol, at that time the most inveterate enemy of the English, was ordered to take his place as imperial commissioner, while the old man's past conduct was handed over to a court of inquiry. Had Yukien arrived only a few days earlier, our prisoners at Ningpo would have met, at the hands of that cruel monster, the same fate that Capt. Stead subsequently experienced. The instructions to this furi bond were absolute. He was enjoined without a moment's delay to exterminate the whole race of hateful foreigners. In the sequel,

Yukien fell a miserable victim to his insensate rancour, while Eleepoo lived and was restored to negotiate the peace at Nanking.

With a sore heart Eleepoo went back to his government in Keang-nân. At Shanghae he heard that the Bogue forts were taken. Much against his opinion and wish he had to proclaim an edict breathing endless hostility. Suddenly there appeared an order for him to repair to Peking, there to answer with Keshen for not having exterminated the English. He himself, and all his adherents and employés, had to kneel for three days at the palace gate (rather a protracted levée) before they could

obtain a hearing, and then the sentence of their condemnation was pronounced. The old Eleepoo, a hoary head of seventy-five, who had been for many years governor of several provinces, was to be sent as a common convict to the River Amoor, on the frontiers of Siberia, where they either track boats, or are given as slaves to the hunters of fur animals. Such was to be the reward of his public services; and if he escaped this fate, it was solely owing to the uninterrupted success of the British forces, which demonstrated the value of his earliest advice, and led to the adoption of it in the end. His second appearance on the stage was far more remarkable than the first.

CHAPTER III.

STATE OF CHINA, OF THE ARMY, AND OF OPINIONS AS TO THE WAR.

THE treaty which Keshen had signed, and which was repudiated by the emperor, certainly

contained the most favourable terms that China had any right to expect under the circumstances. The lapse of a year proved that it should have been eagerly accepted, and that its rejection was an act of fatuity which could only be explained by the gross ignorance then prevailing at Peking as to the real state of affairs in the south. It was, indeed, no easy matter to disabuse the emperor's mind of those delusions respecting European powers, which are common to every Chinese who has never quitted his country. The distance, the presumed insignificance, in comparison with China, of the nation which they had now to encounter, created a feeling of contemptuous security, which nothing but an uninterrupted course of defeats, in nearly twenty general