for cannon, realising that he could do nothing without them. Later, we have noted the need he felt of steamers and launches for developing his campaigns, and with what enthusiastic support he greeted Yung Wing when the latter proposed the establishment of ironworks at Shanghai. His objection at first to rifles and his ultimate reconciliation to their use, his attitude towards the employment of foreign forces for other than defensive purposes, are all familiar to us. But we are aware also of the gradual evolution in thought that marked him at his death as one of China’s most far-seeing and boldest statesmen, as regards the reconstruction of China after foreign models.
In the conduct of foreign policies his early opposition to Westerners was modified by the inevitable logic of events. He learned something of their strength and of their persistence. In reply to one of Li Hung-chang's letters in 1862, Tsêng wrote concerning a policy: "Barbarian affairs are fundamentally hard to manage, but the roots do not lie outside Confucius' four principles[1] of faithfulness, sincerity, magnanimity, and respect. Magnanimity means generosity, respect means to act carefully, and sincerity simply not to speak falsehoods — actually a most difficult thing. We ought to start from this word. What we have spoken and agreed to today, we should not change tomorrow because of some slight advantage or difficulty."[2] The same sentiment is slightly amplified in another letter a short time later, where the question of employing foreign troops is under discussion:
