Should the quarrel which the English have picked with the
Chinese be pushed to extremity, it may be expected to end in a
new military and naval expedition similar to that undertaken in
1841-42, on the basis of the opium quarrel.’ The easy success of
the English on that occasion, in extorting an immense sum of
silver from the Chinese, will be apt to recommend a new
experiment of the same sort to a people who, with all their horror
of our filibustering propensities, still retain, not less than ourselves,
not a little of the old plundering buccaneering - spirit
which distinguished our common ancestors of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Yet remarkable changes in the position of
things in China, which have occurred since that former successful
plundering inroad on behalf of the opium trade, make it very
doubtful whether a similar expedition at the present day would be
attended by anything like a similar result. The new expedition
would doubtless set out, like that of 1841-42, from the island of
Hong-Kong. That expedition consisted of a fleet of two seventyfours, eight frigates, a great number of sloops and brigs-of-war,
twelve steamers, and forty transports, having on board a military
force, marines included, amounting to fifteen thousand men. The
new expedition would hardly be attempted with any smaller force;
indeed, some of the considerations we are about to state would
indicate the policy of making it much larger.

The expedition of 1841-42, sailing from Hong-Kong on the 21st
ef August, 1841, took possession first of Amoy, and then, on the
Ist of October,-of the Island of Chusan, which they made the base
of their future operations. The object of these operations was to
penetrate into and ascend the great central river Yang-tse-Kiang

as far as the City of Nankin, about two hundred miles from its
mouth. The river Yang-tse-Kiang divides China into two quite
distinct portions—the North and the South. About forty miles
below Nankin the Imperial Canal enters and crosses the great
river, affording the means of commercial intercourse between the
northern and southern provinces. The theory of the campaign was
that the possession of this important communication would be a
fatal thing for Pekin, and would force the Emperor* to make
peace forthwith. On the 13th of June, 1842, the English forces,
under Sir Henry Pottinger, appeared off Woosung, at the
entrance of the small river of that name. This river flows from the
south, entering the estuary of the Yang-tse-Kiang very near its
débouché into the Yellow Sea. The mouth of the Woosung River
forms the harbor of Shanghae, situated a short distance up. The
banks of the Woosung were covered with batteries, all of which
were stormed and carried without difficulty. A column of the
invading force then marched on Shanghae, which surrendered
without any attempt at resistance. But, though little resistance was
as yet experienced from the peaceful and timid inhabitants on the
banks of the Yang-tse-Kiang, who, after a prolonged peace of
nearly two hundred years, had now their first experience of war,
the estuary itself, and the. approach to it from the sea, were found
to present great impediments. The broad estuary of the Yang-tseKiang enters the sea from between shores half covered with mud,
and hardly discernible, as the sea for many leagues” off is a
muddy yellow, whence comes its name. Ships intending to enter
the Yang-tse-Kiang are obliged to move cautiously along the
southern shore, keeping the lead constantly going, in order to
avoid the bars of movable sand with which the approach is
impeded. These banks extend up the estuary as high as the upper
end of the great island Tsang-Ming, which lies midway in it and
divides it into two channels. Above this island, which is some thirty
miles long, the shores begin to show themselves above the water,
but the course of the channel becomes very serpentine. The tide
flows up as far as Ching-Kiang-Foo, about half way to Nankin,
and where, in fact, what has hitherto been an estuary or arm of
the sea, first takes on, for ascending vessels, the character of a
river. Before making this point, the English fleet met with some
serious difficulties. It took them fifteen days to make the distance
of eighty miles from their anchorage at Chusan. Near the Island

a Tao Kuang.— Ed.
b One nautical league equals 5.56 km.— Ed.

of Tsang-Ming several of the larger ships ran aground, but
succeeded in getting off by the help of the rising tide. Having
conquered these difficulties and approached the city of ChingKiang, the English found abundant proof that, however deficient
the Tartar-Chinese soldiers might be in military skill, they were
not lacking in courage and spirit. These Tartar soldiers, who were
only fifteen hundred in number, fought with the utmost
desperation, and were killed to a man. Before they marched to the
battle, as if anticipating the result, they strangled-or drowned all
their women and children, great numbers of whose dead bodies
were afterward drawn from the wells into which they had been
thrown. The Commander-in-Chief, seeing that the day was lost,
set fire to his house and perished in the flames. The English lost a
hundred and eighty-five men in the attack—a loss which they
revenged by the most horrible excesses in sacking the town—the
war having been conducted by the English throughout in a spirit
of brutal ferocity, which was a fitting counterpart to the spirit of
smuggling cupidity in which it had originated. Had the invaders
met with a similar resistance everywhere they never would have
reached Nankin. But such was not the case. The city of
Qua-Chow, on the opposite side of the river, submitted and paid a
ransom of three millions of dollars, which the English freebooters
of course pocketed with immense satisfaction.

Above this point, the channel of the river had a depth of thirty
fathoms,’ and, so far as the bottom was concerned, the navigation
became easy, but at some points the current ran with great
swiftness, not less than six and seven miles an hour. There was
nothing, however, to prevent ships-of-the-line from ascending to
Nankin, under the walls of which the English at length cast anchor
on the 9th of August. The effect thus produced was exactly what
had been anticipated. The Emperor was frightened into signing
the treaty of the 29th of August,*'* the pretended violation of
which is now made the occasion of new demands which threaten a
new war.

That new war, should it occur, will probably be conducted on
the model of the former one. But there are several reasons why
the English could not anticipate a similar easy success. The
experience of that war has not been lost on the Chinese. In the
recent military operations in Canton River they have exhibited
such improved skill in gunnery and the art of defense as to lead’ to
the suspicion of their having Europeans among them. In

a One nautical fathom equals 1.83 m.— Ed.

everything practical, and war is eminently practical, the Chinese
far surpass all the Orientals, and there is no doubt that in military
matters the English will find them apt scholars. Again, it is likely
that the English may encounter artificial obstacles to the ascent of
the Yang-tse-Kiang, should they again attempt it, such as do not
appear to have been met with on the former occasion. But,— what
is the most serious consideration of all—the reoccupation of
Nankin cannot be supposed to be attended with anything like the
same terror and alarm to the Imperial Court at Pekin which it
caused on the former occasion. Nankin, for a considerable period
past, as well as large portions of the surrounding districts, has
been in possession of the rebels, one or more of whose chiefs
make that city their headquarters.*'” In this state of the case its
occupation by the English might be rather agreeable to the
-Emperor than otherwise. They might do him good service in
driving the rebels from a city which, when they had got it, might
prove a possession rather difficult, troublesome and dangerous to
keep, and which, as recent experience has shown, may be held by
a hostile power without any immediately fatal results to Pekin or
the Imperial rule.

Written in early April 1857 Reproduced from the New-York

: ; ; Daily Tribune

Tribune, No. 4990, April 17, 1857 as a
leading article; reprinted in the New-York
Semi-Weekly Tribune, No. 1242, April 21,
1857 under the title “China”