22
No. 19.
Sir J. Bowring to the Earl of Clarendon.—(Received April 28.)
Hong Kong, March 5, 1857.
My Lord,
IN continuation of my despatches dated the 5th, 9th, and 12th ultimo, I have now the honour to inclose translation, by Mr. Chinese Secretary Wade, of another important document which we have acquired through the activity of Mr. Acting Vice-Consul Meadows at Ningpo. I forward also copy of Mr. Meadows' despatch, and of my answer to the same.
I have thought it my duty to communicate this document to both the United States' and French Legations, and will, in due time, forward the correspondence.
Your Lordship will not fail to remark with what persistent mendacity our proceedings, and those of the United States' and French Ministers, are misrepresented at the Court of Pekin.
I have, &c.
(Signed) JOHN BOWRING.
Inclosure 1 in No. 19.
Ningpo, February 26, 1857.
(Extract.)
I HAVE the satisfaction to inclose a copy of another Imperial edict, of the genuineness of which I have still more proof than in the case of that already forwarded.
The inclosed edict shows that at the date of its being issued, about the 15th of last month, the Emperor was not inclined to listen to anything adverse to the Imperial Commissioner Yeh, though communicated by other high provincial authorities; and that His Imperial Majesty speculated on hostilities not being finished at Canton at the time of the spring rains, yet, at the same time, assumed that the relations between us would still be so amicable at this port and Shanghae as would leave it in the power of the provincial authorities of the two places to send a foreign steamer up the great river, to act against the Tae-ping rebels.
I have called the inclosed document an Imperial edict, but your Excellency will perceive that it is, in form, a memorial from the provincial authorities, replying to an Imperial edict, which latter it, however, embodies.
The memorial commences by stating that, on the 15th January, a secret despatch had been sent to the memorialists by the Cabinet Council communicating an Imperial edict to the following effect:
The English barbarians having created troubles in Kwang-tung, an Imperial edict had already been issued to the Governors-General and Governors of the seaboard provinces, commanding them quietly to take defensive measures; and commanding them at the same time to meet the English with reasoning in the event of their coming to the northern ports to make representations on the subject of the hostilities at Canton.
The Emperor then states that he has now received a memorial from E and Chaou, the Governor-General and the Governor of the province in which Shanghae lies, to the effect that the English barbarian Consul had delivered a communication on the subject to the Intendant of the Soo-sung-tae Circuit (the Shanghae Taoutae). This communication was in the old style of similar documents formerly received. The Governor-General E being intimately acquainted with the feelings of the barbarians should give instructions to the said Intendant to admonish (the English authorities) in such a manner as might have the effect of putting a stop to these their reiterated applications.
As to the Commissioner Yeh, he had long transacted barbarian affairs, and his grasp ought not to fail him in the exercise of all the various means of bridling and controlling these people. Some time back Yeh had reported that the other barbarians, the Americans, &c., all knowing that the English
