When their operations are regarded in a more practical bearing, the case presented for your consideration is not less unsatisfactory than their civil and religions organisation itself. They are composed almost exclusively of the ignorant and unenlightened population of the interior; limited in numbers, not exceeding from fifty to one hundred thousand men, in the field and in the besieged cities throughout that portion of the empire they hold in check or in actual possession; yet the imperialists are quite incapable of resisting them, and still more hopeless is their immediate prospect of recovering the main points that have fallen. ... Whatever may have been the hopes of the enlightened and civilized nations of the earth in regard to this movement, it is now apparent that they neither profess nor apprehend Christianity, and whatever may be the true judgment to form of their political power, it can no longer be doubted that intercourse cannot be established or maintained on terms of equality.
Their general attitude towards foreigners did not reveal any studied hostility, and in his book Meadows conveys the distinct impression that he found them inclined to be friendly, yet without a sufficient understanding of foreign ideas to accept outsiders as on an equality with themselves. They were also apathetic in the matter of foreign trade and did not reach forth their hands to take Shanghai when it was practically theirs, the Triads having occupied it by a successful stroke within the city.[1]
The occupation of Shanghai by the Triads, 1853-1856, raised several questions, of which two were destined to prove of importance up to the present time. The first was how to deal with the customs duties in the absence of the legal authorities from their places; this was
- ↑ Morse, International Relations of the Chinese Empire, II, 13 ff.
reading. McLane's reasoning is as clear and his observations as keen as those of his British colleague. Despite the more amateur character of the American representatives abroad at this period, they show on the whole much ability and deserve more consideration and respect than they are usually given.
