Join, with them in defence but not in attack. First keep apart and later become friendly." Faithful means not having a heart of deceit. Sincere means not being deceitful in words. Magnanimous means generous, respectful means modest and careful. Whether they agree with us or oppose us we ought constantly to follow these two sentences and never fail in them.
Having discussed the third point in other places, he omits what would be but a repetition here, and goes on to the fourth:
As to the sentence "First keep apart and later become friendly," since certainly we strive that our military strength may suffice to stand alone, we ought first to attack alone in one or two places and if our men prove to be well set up and undaunted so as not to appear ridiculous in the eyes of foreigners, it will not be too late to become friendly with them. In acting according to these various points, though for a time there should be friction and quarrelling, in the long run it must be possible to secure mutual harmony and peace.[1]
It is clear that Tsêng was not willing to act as though the foreigner were an inferior. On the contrary, it had become evident to him in the course of his dealings with them that, while there were points of difference between the two races, Chinese and foreign, only the Confucian principles of virtue and reciprocity would suffice to make their relations friendly in the long run. He set his face against the practice of seeking immediate advantage through deceit, to the eventual undoing of the Chinese cause through the natural fruits of such a short-sighted policy.
On the matter of opening the country to the unlimited exploitation of the foreign merchant he was far from willing. As in the case of the establishment of ironworks and arsenals, he realised that foreign help was needed, but did not desire the foreigner to come in and take away
- ↑ Miscellaneous Correspondence, XVIII, 29b, 30a.
