The Siberian Overland Route from Peking to Petersburg, / Through the Deserts and Steppes of Mongolia, Tartary, &c.

POSTSCRIPT.

Events have progressed rapidly in China since the foregoing chapter was written. Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, after resigning his commission in the Chinese army for the reasons I have mentioned, apparently considered that it would be too hazardous at such a juncture to leave the Government entirely to its own devices. He accordingly remained, with the approval of Major-General Brown, to instruct and advise them, and he has had the satisfaction to witness the crowning success of all his labours, in the fall of Nanking, and the extinction of the Taeping rebellion.

The two provinces of Che-Kiang and Keang-soo—the richest and most populous in China—are now freed from rebels, and have had peace and order once more restored to them. It may require some little time entirely to reassure the populations of these provinces of the security of life and property in districts that have so long languished under the devastating effects of civil war; but there is now every reason to suppose that the reign of anarchy has been banished for many years to come, and that the pacified region will soon enjoy the prosperity which its natural advantages must bring, enhanced, as it must inevitably be, by the extended intercourse with foreigners which has not yet had an opportunity of bearing its full fruit.

This success of the Imperial arms has naturally resulted from the acceptance of foreign Ministers at the Court of Peking, and the introduction of China into the family of nations, which is the great triumph of the policy inaugurated by Lord Palmerston twenty-four years ago, and steadfastly followed up by that statesman through good and evil report.

Whether the scattered remnants of the Taepings will again become formidable from their concentration in the province of Kiang-si, beyond the reach of the immediate foreign aid which has led to their dispersion, will depend very much on the vigour of the Imperial Government at Peking. If it realises the gravity of the position, and the truth of the maxim that prevention is better than cure, it will adopt timely and energetic measures to anticipate a reorganisation of the Taepings.

But, however that may be, it is pretty certain that if the provisions of the Treaty were carried out in the broad sense evidently contemplated by the framers of it; if the Poyang lake and the rivers which communicate with it were freely opened to foreign trade; if Europeans were permitted to reside at the commercial marts of Kiang-si, their moral weight alone, especially after the campaign just concluded in Keang-soo and Che-Kiang, would go far to prevent any further demonstration of the rebels in that quarter. The authorities at Peking may yet find cause to regret that their suspicion of friendly foreigners has deprived them of such important auxiliaries at many of their most vulnerable points.

October 27.

WATER

THE WATER COMMUNICATION OF NORTHERN ASIA, BETWEEN KIAKHTA & THE URAL MOUN^T.^S
London. John Murray Albemarle Street.
Stanford's Geographical Estab^t London

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The first Emperor of the Manchu line originated the scheme, but it has been greatly extended by his successors.

[2] 1 tael equal to 6s. 6d.

[3] Father Gerbillon, a Jesuit, was the Chinese plenipotentiary who concluded the treaty of Nerchinsk with the Russians, in 1689.

[4] These cabbages are said to have been originally introduced from Russia.

[5] See Bell of Antermony.

[6] Huc.

[7] Histoire des Huns, De Guignes, Paris, 1756.

[8] Bell.

[9] Un. Hist., vol. iv. p. 77.

[10] De Guignes. Hist. des Huns.

[11] Memoirs of Baber. Erskine's Introd.

[12] Un Hist. vol. iii. p. 365.

[13] Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 363.

[14] Ibid. p. 371.

[15] The title of Khan was first assumed by the Geougen, in the fifth century.

[16] Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 10.

[17] Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 322, and note.

[18] Un. Hist. vol. v. p. 57.

[19] "Il est certain que les grands mangeurs de viande sont en gÉnÉral cruels et fÉroces plus que les autres hommes. Cette observation est de tous les lieux et de tous les temps; la barbarie anglaise est connue."—Emile de Rousseau. Gibbon, iii. p. 350.

[20] Scottish Congreg. Mag., Dec. 1841.

[21] Scot. Cong. Mag., Feb. 1842.

[22] First-fruits of a Mission to Siberia. Cape Town. 1847.

[23] This tax is levied on every male above 18 years of age.

[24] "Russ. Shores of the Black Sea."—L. Oliphant.

[25] Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 93.

[26] Soo-tung-po (a celebrated Chinese classic author), says, "The E and the Teih" (the former term being used to designate foreigners), "are like the brute creation, and cannot be governed by the same rules of government as those of the central nation. If liberal rules of government were applied to them, it would infallibly give rise to rebellious confusion. The ancient kings knew this well, and therefore ruled them without laws (or by misrule). This is therefore the most judicious mode of governing them."—Amherst's Voyage; Lindsay's Report.

[27] "Owing to the violence of the winds, and the rapidity of the current in certain places, the application of steam to navigation was required before the Yangtsze could be made available as a highway for transport. The decks of the steamers are now crowded with Chinese passengers, and their holds are filled with produce destined, not for foreign export, but for Chinese consumption. The practical advantages of foreign inventions are thus brought home to masses of the population in the very centre of China, and they can now avail themselves of the natural outlet for the productions of those rich internal provinces, instead of being driven to the slow and circuitous method of artificial water communication, and exposed to the exactions of the officials of the different provinces they had to pass through."—Sir F. Bruce.

[28] Shanghae, from its situation and over-crowded population, is one of the greatest sufferers from the want of pure water; and there cannot be a doubt that this circumstance has contributed, in no slight degree, to the sickliness that has prevailed there for several years past, as the increase in the population tends more and more to the defilement of the river,—the only source whence water is obtained. The question of water-supply for that settlement having been submitted to practical and experienced engineers in London, the result of their calculations is, that a system of water-works, with reservoirs beyond the influence of sewage, would provide each household with an unlimited supply of pure, filtered water, at about one-fourth of the expense which is at present incurred in merely carrying water from the river to the houses. Messrs. Simpson and Giles have further demonstrated that, at the proposed rate of one shilling per 1,000 gallons, a large return would be secured on the capital necessary to be invested in the works. We may therefore hope that at no distant day the inhabitants of Shanghae, at least, will enjoy this great blessing.

Transcriber's note:

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Page 30: "which leads them to make great sacrifices when required to do honour to the manes of their ancestors" ... "manes" has been changed to "names".

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