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1860-1861. TIENTSIN
Arrangements for
troops—The city—Absence of Tartar soldiers—Rides—Dogs and
birds—Agriculture—Grain-stores—Winter—Great cold—Moderating—SpringTemples—Chinese
"sport"—New Year's Day—Public baths— Ice-house - Foundling
hospital—Story of Roman Catholic bishop—Hospital for Chinese— The
"golden lily"—Gratitude—Wounded Tartars—Chinese Christian—Tortured
Sikhs—French hospitals—Death of General Collineau—Sickness among the
troops.
ARANGEMENTS rapidly
advanced in regard to accommodation, food supplies, and medical care of
the troops. Yamens—i.e., residences of wealthy inhabitants—were hired
for temporary conversion into barracks. Markets and shops presented
ample supplies of food, clothing, and articles of convenience, their
owners showing much eagerness to do business with us. A tendency to
pilfer, and other petty crimes, manifested itself on the part of some
Asiatic followers and others, but was quickly suppressed by the Provost
Marshal and his staff, after which discipline and order reigned among
all classes pertaining to our force. Our French allies occupied quarters
provided for them in the part of the city on the left side of the Peiho,
the British and Indian being on the right of that river.
The city was of great
commercial importance, its population some Soo,000; streets narrow and
filthy, houses low and dilapidated; in extent stretching away to and
embracing the point of junction, between the Imperial Canal and Peiho,
thus covering a space of at least four miles by three. Merchandise from
Corea and the south of China arrived abundantly as at a general depot.
Around the city proper a high wall extends, the crowded portion outside
being called "suburbs," but in no other respect different from the
intra-mural city. In the Peiho was a Russian gunboat; in the city a
small colony of Russian merchants, peacefully carrying on their
business, and apparently on the most friendly terms with the people. A
few Tartar traders, some leading their strong shaggy Bactrian camels,
all laden with merchandise, were met with. As we pursued our way through
the mazes of the city, the people simply ignored our presence, taking
not the slightest notice of us, although by the caricatures of Europeans
we frequently came across in shops and elsewhere it was evident that we
were by no means welcome guests. In an open space a modeller was
occupied in making, with great ease and rapidity, a series of figures in
clay, representing, though with droll exaggeration, the Sikh and British
soldiers. Women were conspicuous by their absence; virtue in the sex was
honoured and commemorated by memorial arches at certain points
throughout the city. Everywhere in the crowded, narrow, and extremely
dirty streets, foot-passengers jostled each other; the diseased, of whom
many suffering from loathsome affections, coming in contact with those
better-to-do, and to all appearance healthy. At intervals a puppet show,
the prototype of Punch and Judy, or more pretentious "show" attracted
crowds; itinerant "doctors," their carts decorated with exaggerated
illustrations of diseases and accidents, remedies for which were
vociferously lauded and offered for sale. On either side pawnshops and
restaurants; at the doors of the latter customers gambling whether they
should pay double or quits for refreshments or foods served to them.
In vain we looked for
representatives of Tartar troops, who were said to form the ordinary
garrison force of Tientsin. We learned that, for the period of
occupation by the foreigners, steps had been taken "to keep them out of
sight."
A series of rides into
the country in the vicinity of the city presented a great variety of
interesting objects and incidents. On the left bank of the Peiho, a
short distance down the course of that river, numerous large stacks of
table salt attracted attention, as similar stacks on the same spot did
that of Lord Macartney's mission nearly seventy years before. The
arrival of the first trading ship under the recent treaty was an event
not without interest; it was a small schooner, the property of a very
eminent firm 1 at Hong-Kong, and as it immediately became ice-bound, it
was to be a familiar object to us throughout the succeeding winter.
Although so recently at war with the Chinese, we from the first walked
or rode into the country without molestation, receiving invitations by
signs to enter houses and huts that lay in our way; tea and cakes of
various kinds being invariably pressed upon us on such occasions. In
certain directions it seemed as if there was one continuous burial
ground; coffins in all stages of decay strewed the surface; at intervals
bodies of children sewn up in mats were seen, while on one occasion we
saw the revolting spectacle of a dog in the act of carrying away the
dead body of an infant.
In every village there were great numbers of
dogs, fierce towards us foreigners; some by no means unlike "collies,"
others terriers, of which a very handsome variety obtains its special
title from Shantung, to which district it more especially pertains.
There were also the mandarin or "sleeve dogs," so named from the fact
that as pets the smaller varieties are carried in the wide sleeves of
the outer garments worn by the wealthy classes. There was the Canton or
"chow-chow" dog, a large animal with a very thick coating of hair, the
tail curling from its root; the head triangular, broad at the base,
rapidly tapering to the muzzle; the eyes far forward, as if looking
upward, something like those of the lemur. Pet birds were kept by many
people, songsters being the greatest favourites. Of those observed were
a large species of skylark, canaries, thrushes, linnets, a species here
called the wamee, like the Shamah of India.
It became an object of interest to note the
progress of agriculture, and the phenomena of nature generally, from the
first opening of mild weather, onwards till autumn. On the 1st of March
wheat sowing began, the fields having been prepared during the previous
few days for that operation; five days thereafter—namely, on the 6th—the
first indication was evident that buds were about to open, a species of
poplar being the tree to take the lead in this respect. The operation of
ploughing the fields then began; the implement used was of light
construction, drawn by one man, while another guided it. Fields then
began to be cleaned, manure to be spread, seed of various kinds for
grain and vegetables sown, preparations for irrigation carried out; and
as the surface ground thawed, and so became the more easily dealt with,
ploughs of heavier kinds were used, mules, bullocks, and men
promiscuously used and yoked together in draught. In other places women
and girls were employed in field work. By the 15th signs of verdure
began to show themselves near the irrigation canals, partly in the first
leaf of autumn-sown wheat, partly of some culinary vegetable. On the
20th, wheat sown on the 1st had "shot," and was in tolerable leaf; after
this its progress was rapid, for by the 9th of June the fact was noted
that "some fields of wheat were turning yellow the crop nearly ready to
be cut; pease, full in the pod.
At the distance of about four miles from
Tientsin, on the left bank of the Peiho, we came upon a series of
buildings, the purpose of which the storage of grain against famine.
Sixteen such buildings, arranged in two rows of eight, constitute the
group devoted to that purpose; each building some 300 feet in length, 45
to 50 in breadth, its walls 30 in height, the whole raised oil a plinth
from the ground. By Imperial edict cultivators are obliged to deposit in
these and kindred stores elsewhere a certain proportion of grain every
year: an arrangement which has come down from ancient times, and on that
account is now mentioned.
Very rapid was the increase of winter cold
to its point of culmination. Situated in the latitude of Lisbon, the
temperature of 55° F. during the night preceding the shortest day was to
us a new and unlooked-for experience, yet next day active outdoor
exercise was indulged in; the sensations soon ceased to indicate the
actual degree of cold prevailing. Already the Peiho was closed in by
ice, boats had given place to sledges, and they, pushed on by means of
poles, were used in great numbers for transport of merchandise. A
detachment of troops had just arrived by While Star at Taku. The officer
in command landed with his men, his intention being to make arrangements
for their march from that place, and then return to the ship for his
wife. But meanwhile ice had formed so rapidly on the shallow bay that
communication between the vessel and shore was impossible, the result
that the White Star had to return to Hong-Kong, nor did the officer'
alluded to see his wife or kit until next spring had well advanced.
According to the Royal Chinese Almanack, published at Pekin, the winter
season is divided into nine periods of nine days each. The first begins
on December 20, the third on January 8, it ends on 17th of that month,
and is considered to be that of the greatest cold; the last of the
series is considered to end on March 2.
Communication with ships in the northern
part of the Gulf of Pechili being cut off, letters had to be dispatched
by land to Chefoo, two hundred miles to the southward, there to be put
on board. Now a cold north wind set in; the temperature in our rooms
sank at night to 30 F. As we awoke in the morning small icicles clung to
moustaches, and during the day the sensation of cold became unpleasant.
In the provision shops, fish and game frozen; some of the latter,
especially deer, in artistic or picturesque attitudes, were exposed for
sale. Men were engaged in cutting blocks of ice from that which covered
the river, to be kept in pits and ice-houses for use during the heat of
next summer. Through the openings so made small nets were let down for
the capture of fish that happened to resort to those air-holes. Within
our quarters water for cooking purposes and for the morning bath had to
be obtained by breaking blocks of ice and placing the fragments to be
liquefied in a vessel on the fire. Out of doors the unusual sight might
be witnessed of soldiers carrying in sacks on their backs the blocks of
ice into which the daily allowance of beer or porter had been congealed.
As winter advanced sensation of cold naturally enough increased;
northerly winds came over the long tract of flat country, several
degrees in extent, that lay between us and Mongolia. Now it was that in
our quarters we utilised the Chinese heated platform as a bed, to which
is given the name of kang, not only for sleeping thereon, but for
sitting or reclining during the day. Fireplaces according to advanced
Western principles had been constructed, under the superintendence of
the Royal Engineers; in them was burnt a liberal allowance of fuel,
consisting of Manchurian coal and Pe chili mud in about equal
proportions; but, as expressed by our Chinese servants, the arrangement
was more calculated to carry the warmth clean away up the chimney than
to diffuse it in our apartments.
On February ig there were signs that the
intensity of winter was about to cease; the mid-day sunshine had in it
some genial warmth; intensely cold winds that had for some time
prevailed now did so no longer; the haze in which city and district had
been concealed was to some extent gone, and yet the reading of the
thermometer was a minimum at night of 8° F., at nine a.m. 1980 F. Snow
that had shortly before fallen began to melt as day advanced, and the
thick coating of ice on the Peiho became wet and sloppy. The few
succeeding days, increasingly mild and genial, well illustrated the
regularity and rapidity with which seasonal changes here take place. On
March 3 winter was considered to be ended, spring to have began
according to the Chinese estimate already mentioned, though at night the
thermometer indicated 30º F., and at nine a.m. 33º F., snow meanwhile
falling gently. On
5th of that month a state of great electric tension in air was indicated
by our registers. As in India, that condition heralded change in
weather, its seasonal recurrence so regular that it is reckoned on to a
day. The crews of a Russian gunboat and of an English schooner, frozen
up through the winter, at once began the work of preparation for sea. On
the 11th the ice suddenly broke up; in massive blocks grating against
and rolling over each other, it floated along the stream. Next day,
bridges of boats were re-established, ordinary traffic by boat resumed;
within a few hours all traces of ice had disappeared. On the 14th the
gunboat Drake arrived from Taku, bringing for us thirteen weeks' letters
from home, none having been received while cut off from the world as we
had been for so long. Orders were at the same time received directing
Mr. Bruce to proceed to Pekin, and our force to remain at Tientsin,
pending the manner of reception given to His Excellency at the Imperial
capital. By April 6 the temperature rendered the exercise of walking
unpleasant. By the middle of June, in the absence of tattles and other
Indian appliances, resource was had to large blocks of ice supported
over a tub in our apartments; close to and half embracing these we sat,
in the airiest of costume, in our endeavours to keep ourselves cool
under the circumstances.
Everywhere in and around the city, steps
were taken to maintain due observance of respect towards buildings
dedicated to purposes of "religion" or philosophy. In the early days of
occupation, some of the Asiatics with us treated a few of those
buildings in a manner that they would have violently resented if
directed against their own in India; but the employment of stringent
measures put an end to such demonstrations. In one of those temples,
namely that dedicated to "Oceanic Influences," at a short distance
beyond the city walls, the Treaty of Tientsin of 1859 was signed, the
ratification of that deed being the actual cause of the present war.
Invited to a Chinese hunting and hawking
party, the "meet" to take place at a distance of a few miles from the
city, we proceeded to the appointed rendezvous under guidance of men
sent for the purpose by our hosts. In early morning of a bitterly cold
day in January we started, our steeds, shaggy, unkempt-looking Tartar
ponies. Arrived at the appointed ground, several falconers, all on foot,
each bearing on his wrist a peregrine, hooded, awaited us; the hounds of
the kind known in India as the rampore, all under charge of a mounted
whipper-in. All around us a dead fiat plain extended, to all appearance
interminably, all crops removed, the surface frozen hard, but without
snow. Soon the pack was scouring the plain in full chase of an
unfortunate hare, the hounds being slipped as the quarry started; the
falcons, unhooded, take wing. Away went our ponies at full speed, their
pace a run, not a gallop. First one falcon and then another swooped down
upon and rolled over the hunted animal; the dogs fast gain upon her; she
disappears, for in this forestless region holes in the earth and burrows
are so taken advantage of by ground game. A huntsman bares his arm; he
reaches into one such opening; the hare is drawn out, crying in its
terror like a child; it is dispatched by a blow on the nape. This we are
told is "sport." To some of us it would be more appropriately called
barbarous and unmanly cruelty. Further details of what proved to be "a
successful day" need not be related.
New Year's Eve, according to the Chinese
Calendar, was celebrated by the discharge of thousands of crackers and
other fireworks, that being their manner of announcing to the world that
the ceremony of propitiating their household gods had begun; the object
in view, absolution for equivocal acts committed during the past twelve
months. For several previous days the city was en file; establishments
closed; caricatures distributed as so many valentines; visits of
friendship and of ceremony exchanged; family and other misunderstandings
arranged ; much feasting and carousing indulged in; houses swept and
garnished in token that all things unpleasant, whether physical or
ethical, had been cast out. The fronts of houses were decorated with
strips of vermilion-coloured paper containing expressions of good-will
and congratulation; ornamental lanterns were everywhere on sale, for
purposes of illuminations, their shapes various and often grotesque, as
fishes, frogs, dragons, and monsters of various forms. Buddhist temples
had on their altars a series of gigantic candles, all "dyed red,"
bearing designs of dragons and other mythical creatures, before which
people knelt with every appearance of devotion.
It became a source of interest to a few of
us to visit places and institutions of purely Chinese origin or
character. Of such places, a public bathing establishment was one, the
interior well lighted, spacious, pervaded by steam from water heated by
a furnace, the fuel of which consisted of reeds and straw. A series of
troughs, and at one end a plunge bath, were being used by considerable
numbers of men at a time, the charge for each being about a farthing.
Here then were public baths existing as a Chinese institution, though
even yet their introduction generally into England remains rather in the
initiative than accomplished stage.
Very different in kind was an ice pit,
otherwise a large underground room, one part of which was devoted to the
preservation of that substance, another having a series of shelves
crowded with vegetables and fruit of different kinds. As we descend into
that pit, the sensation we experienced was that of comparative warm//i,
so bitterly cold had the wind outside become.
The Chinese Foundling Hospital, situated in
the suburbs of the city, was a large and substantial building; its chief
ornament a tablet, the characters on which intimated that the door over
which it was placed was the entrance to "The Hall for Cherishing
Children." At the time of our visit the institution contained eighty
foundlings; to each of those still in infancy was assigned a wet nurse.
One portion of the establishment was occupied by children, and some
grown-up persons affected with various infirmities, as the blind, the
deaf, and the idiotic, together with their respective attendants. Being
invited by the superintendent to visit his own quarters, a tablet over
the entrance door thereto displayed the characters, "We beseech thee to
rescue the naked"; on the walls of the reception hail a series of
tablets with names of patrons and donors of considerable sums; others
with items of regulations relating to the administration of the
institution. The children, if in good health, are disposed of at
fourteen years of age—some adopted, some become servants, others
apprenticed to trades. To the girls who marry, a dowry of the equivalent
value of £5 is given.
At the end of March a visit by the Roman
Catholic bishop of Pekin gave us the opportunity of hearing from himself
his strange story. In 1834 the cathedral erected in Pekin by the Jesuits
in the seventeenth century was closed during an outbreak of the populace
against that mission, several of its members put to death, others
"disappearing," to be no more heard of. Among the latter was for many
years the bishop. Taken from the power of the rioters by some of the
Catholic converts, he was concealed by them in the capital, and
protected for the long period of twenty-seven years, he meanwhile
carrying on his special work among them. The arrival at Pekin of the
allied army was quickly followed by the re-opening of the cathedral and
celebration of Grand Mass therein. On that occasion, as the procession
of priests attached to the forces, and their acolytes, advanced toward
the altar, the bishop, wearing ordinary Chinese costume, emerged from
the throng, and took his place at its head. The Emperor of the French
being made acquainted with the story, desired to see the bishop at the
Tuileries to hear it from himself. While on his way through Tientsin the
bishop remained with us several days. To inquiries on the subject, he
remarked that his first endeavour with the Chinese was to teach them the
practical results of Christianity, rather than inculcate doctrines, the
significance of which were beyond their train of thought.
As early as practicable, measures were taken to establish a charitable
hospital for the sick poor of Tientsin. For that purpose £ioo was given
by Admiral Sir James Hope, and subscriptions established among the
officers of the force; applications to the rich natives being
unproductive. At last, a building capable of accommodating twenty
patients was engaged and fitted up for its purpose; professional work
being undertaken by Dr. Lamprey, 67th Regiment. Under him its reputation
rapidly spread, so much so that applications for admission exceeded our
means of reception. In those days the use of chloroform was still in its
infancy; very wonderful in the idea of the patients did its effect
appear, exceeding, as they expressed themselves, "the power of the
Dragon." The majority, however, looked upon the drug with suspicion,
preferring to undergo operations—even of great severity—without it or
any other anasthetic. Their apparent indifference to pain under such
circumstance was to us subject of amazement.
Duties connected with this hospital gave me
an opportunity of seeing the contracted foot, otherwise "golden lily,"
of a Chinese woman. The foot had been deformed by the method of cramping
usually followed for that purpose; the four smaller toes pressed under
the sole, the natural arch raised to an altogether abnormal degree, the
points of support limited to the heel and tip of the great-toe. The
process of contraction takes place in early youth; it is conducted by
means of bandages "artistically" applied, and is said to be painless.
The aspect of the foot is thus made hideous, while the natural contour
of the calf being destroyed, the appearance of the limb below the knee
is—to Western eyes—ungraceful.
Neither by word or manner was the slightest
gratitude expressed for benefits thus conferred upon them. But in one
respect their demeanour drew from us a measure of appreciation; namely,
in the care and assistance shown to each other by male patients.
Contrasted therewith, however, their want of thoughtful care for sick
women was no less remarkable; the more suitable of the two wards having
been given up to the latter, the arrangement was protested against in no
"gallant" terms by the men.
For a short time an idea seemed to prevail
that an object with which the hospital was set on foot was, that in it
attempts would be made upon sick inmates to press upon them what they
called "the Western philosophy." Their minds were set at rest on this
point; but among the patients there was a Christian convert, around whom
other inmates in increasing numbers came to listen, while he read and
expounded from a Chinese version of the Scriptures of which he was the
possessor. In our
regular military hospital were several Tartar soldiers, some of them
severely wounded, who had been picked up on the field of battle by our
establishments, and now treated like our own men. In due time they
recovered from their injuries as far as art could effect their
restoration; they came to appreciate the comforts of their position so
much that among their numbers no anxiety was expressed to be discharged.
Application was made to the Chinese local authorities to receive them.
The reply by them was to the effect that "the men having fallen in
battle, they were officially dead; there being no precedent of dead men
coming to life again, they could in no way recognise or acknowledge
them." A liberal sum of money was subscribed by us for them; it was
distributed among them; they were then, with military formalities,
handed over to the local authorities, to be by them sent on to the care
of the British Representative at Pekin. Before being so disposed of,
they were seen by the bishop already mentioned. To his question, "What
do you now think of the Barbarian doctors?" the answer given by one was
that he could no longer fight as an infantry soldier, but he might do so
as a cavalry man; by a second, that "he had been left upon the field
dead, his wife a widow, his children orphans. By the care shown to him,
he had been lifted up from death, fitted to return to and work for those
dependent upon him; nor had he breath in his chest sufficient to express
his gratitude for it all."
Among the inmates of the hospitals
pertaining to our force were some of the Sikhs who, during the advance
of the army on Pekin, had the misfortune to be taken prisoners, and
subsequently subjected to cruelties as already mentioned. Their wrists
bore large cicatrices, marking the potion of the cords with which they
had been so tightly bound that ulcers in which maggots crawled were
results, the agony so great that several of their companions in misery
had become delirious, and died under it. On September 18, a party of
eighteen, including an officer, all of Fane's Horse, were taken
prisoners; of them the officer and eight sowars succumbed under the
atrocious cruelties to which they were subjected, the remaining nine
being now in hospital.' But it would serve no good purpose to give
particulars in regard to these sad occurrences.
Our French allies suffered in health during
the period of greatest cold to an extent even greater than did our own
men, the circumstance being readily accounted for by the fact that the
former were insufficiently provided with warm clothing; indeed, many of
them were dressed as when on board the transport ship in which several
months previous they had been brought, via the Red Sea, to China.
Whereas with us, every honour was shown at the burial of such soldiers
as succumbed to the circumstances of our position, no such formality was
seen by any of us in the quarter occupied by the French; but as day by
day the black wooden crosses increased in number in their cemetery,
these silent tokens told that they too had the hand of death among them.
A temple had been converted by the French into a military hospital; the
sick accommodated therein well cared for, its administration altogether
under the Intendance, the duties of medical officers limited to
professional attendance on the patients. Among the latter was a soldier
who bore marks precisely like those of our own men already alluded to as
having been made prisoners and tortured, he having been of their party.
While the winter cold was
most intense an epidemic of small-pox raged among the native Chinese,
and to a less degree among both the British and French portions of our
combined force. In the latter, General Collineau, its commanding
officer, was an early victim. As he expressed himself before he lost
consciousness, it was hard that after having escaped the dangers of
various campaigns, including thirty battles, he should come to Tientsin
to die of such a disease. He entered the army as a private soldier,
obtained each succeeding step for services in the field, culminating in
that of general officer for the Italian campaign.
Our British soldiers suffered severely in
health, and, what was remarkable, to a greater extent than did the
Sikhs, although the latter paid less attention to warm clothing and care
of their persons in other respects than the British soldier. Our
officers were affected variously; the younger, and those who had not
undergone tropical service, enjoyed the cold weather immensely; but with
those of us who had but recently undergone the wear and tear incidental
to the Mutiny campaign, things were very different, the severity of the
winter cold inducing among us serious illness. |
