Sixty Years a Queen Part 24

29. Lord John Russell.

30. Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

31. Rt. Hon. Sir George Grey, Secretary of State.

32. Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart., Secretary of State for India.

33. Rt. Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart., Secretary of State for War.]

[Sidenote: A Const.i.tutional Problem.]

Ministerialists were very indignant; the House of Lords had violated the Const.i.tution; they had refused to sanction the repeal of a tax ordered by the House of Commons, and thereby infringed the privileges of that Chamber. The next step would be that the Lords would claim the right of imposing taxation--the cherished monopoly of the House of Commons. It was certainly an awkward question, but Palmerston was equal to the occasion. He averted a popular storm by moving for a Select Committee to examine and report on the degree, if any, in which the Lords had exceeded their powers. The Committee sat for two months, and reported that no breach of privilege was involved in the refusal of the Lords to ratify the repeal of a tax. It was not the re-imposition of a tax, for, although the Lords have no power to impose taxation, a tax can neither be repealed or imposed without the concurrence of both Houses. In the end the difficulty was got over by Palmerston, who moved certain resolutions affirming the exclusive right of the House of Commons to impose or remit taxation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Commander A. T. Thrupp._} {_From Sketches made on the spot._

ATTACK ON FORTS ON THE PEI-HO RIVER, May 20, 1858.

The Chinese had completed batteries and earthworks armed with eighty-seven guns, and had obstructed the river with junks chained together. The British and French squadrons forced a pa.s.sage, and the Plenipotentiaries (Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros) proceeded to Tien-tsin and opened negotiations. The Treaty then obtained was to be ratified at Pekin within twelve months; but the Plenipotentiaries appointed in accordance with this clause met, in June 1859, a still more determined resistance.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HONGKONG AND ITS HARBOUR.

Hongkong is the princ.i.p.al centre of British trade with China. Ceded to Great Britain 1842.]

[Sidenote: War with China.]

Serious trouble had broken out again between Great Britain and China.

Mr. Bruce, brother to the Earl of Elgin, had set out for Pekin as British Plenipotentiary, in company with the French Plenipotentiary, as provided by the Treaty of Tien-tsin. They were escorted by a squadron, chiefly consisting of gunboats, under Admiral Hope; but on arriving at the mouth of the Pei-ho they found the pa.s.sage obstructed by booms and defended by recent fortifications. As the authorities at Tien-tsin returned evasive answers to the Admiral's remonstrances, he determined to force a pa.s.sage. The gunboats advanced up the Pei-ho on June 24, when suddenly a tremendous fire was opened on them from masked batteries in the forts. The _Kestrel_ was sunk, the _Lee_ had to be run ash.o.r.e to avoid sinking, the _Plover_, which carried the Admiral's flag, was disabled, so that he had to shift his flag to the _Cormorant_, and the Admiral himself, being severely wounded, had to hand over the command to Captain Shadwell. It was determined to make an immediate attempt to carry the forts by a.s.sault. A body of 1,000 men, including sixty French, were landed at 7 p.m., but, owing to the mud, which was knee, and even waist-deep, only about fifty men succeeded in reaching the furthest of three ditches surrounding the south fort. Their ammunition was wet, all the scaling ladders, except one, either had been broken by the tremendous fire from the fort or had stuck in the mud. Ten brave fellows rushed forward with this one, but three of them were shot dead at once, and five were desperately wounded. There was nothing for it but retreat. The loss in this disastrous affair was eighty-nine officers and men killed and 345 wounded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._

MONTREAL.

This is the largest town in Canada; population (1891), 216,650. On the extreme right of the picture can be seen three or four spans of the Victoria Tubular Bridge, nearly two miles long, crossing the St.

Lawrence river.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._

QUEBEC.

The Capital of the former province of Lower Canada is largely inhabited by people of French descent, and French is currently spoken.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CANADIAN HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA.

The government of Canada is (under the Sovereign) vested in a Governor-General and a Privy Council, and the legislative power is exercised by a Parliament of two Houses, called the "Senate" and "House of Commons." Canada has an area of 3,315,000 square miles, and a population of over 5,000,000 (4,833,239 in 1891).]

[Sidenote: Wreck of the "Malabar."]

[Sidenote: Occupation of Tien-tsin.]

[Sidenote: Murder of British Officers and others.]

Of course such a treacherous act could not go unpunished. An ultimatum was sent demanding an apology and the fulfilment of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, including the payment of the war indemnity of 4,000,000 taels. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the Plenipotentiaries who acted for the Allies in the Treaty of Tien-tsin, proceeded to Hongkong to enforce the demands of England and France, supported by an army under Sir Hope Grant, in which several Sikh regiments volunteered to serve, and a French contingent under General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards distinguished as Comte Palikao. The Plenipotentiaries came near to perishing on the voyage out. The _Malabar_ frigate, which conveyed them, was totally wrecked on a reef at Point de Galle, in Ceylon, those on board escaping with great difficulty, and with the loss of many valuable papers and much property. However, Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros arrived at Hongkong in another vessel on July 21. They found that the Chinese Council had returned an insolent answer to Mr. Bruce's ultimatum, which left no alternative but immediate action. The Allied Forces advanced on July 26, the English from Chefow, and the French from Tah-lien-hwan; they captured the Tangku Forts, with forty-five guns, on August 14, and the Taku Forts, containing about 400 guns, on the 20th, the English loss on the latter occasion amounting to seventeen killed and 183 wounded.

Sir Hope Grant's despatches contain cordial references to the gallantry displayed by his French allies in the a.s.sault. Tien-tsin was next occupied on August 23, and preparations were made for an immediate advance on Pekin. The Chinese forces had disappeared, but the Government, anxious at all hazards to keep the "barbarians" from approaching the capital, opened negotiations for peace, and on September 13 Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with Mr. Bowlby, the Times' correspondent, and some British and French officers, rode on to Tungchow a town within twelve miles of Pekin, to arrange the preliminaries of an interview between the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies and the Chinese. A camping ground was allotted for the Allied Forces about five miles short of Tungchow, but before Grant and de Montauban could occupy it, a large Chinese army had surrounded the position. Mr. Parkes, Mr. Loch, and their party, protected by a flag of truce, went back to Tungchow to remonstrate against this dangerous violation of the agreement; they were treacherously seized and thrust into loathsome dungeons, crowded with filthy Chinese prisoners, where thirteen out of twenty-six of them died from savage ill-treatment by their captors. Captain Brabazon, R.A., Lieutenant Anderson, and Mr.

Bowlby were among these victims, their hands and feet having been so tightly bound with cords that the flesh burst and fatal mortification ensued.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._

TORONTO.

Capital of Ontario, and the second largest town in Canada.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: EMERALD LAKE, IN THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, in pa.s.sing over the "Rockies," opens up some of the finest scenery in America.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: VANCOUVER HARBOUR, BRITISH COLUMBIA.

The western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the princ.i.p.al port on the Pacific coast of British North America.]

[Sidenote: Capitulation of Pekin.]

The Allied Army resumed its march on Pekin; the Emperor's Summer Palace, a magnificent collection of buildings, treasure-houses, and gardens, was taken on October 6; on the 12th everything was ready for the bombardment of the capital, and it was made known to the Chinese Government that this would begin the following day at noon, unless the city were surrendered previously. The Emperor had fled, but on the morning of October 13 the Governor of Pekin capitulated. The Allies entered, and before noon the English and French ensigns were flying side by side on the citadel.

[Sidenote: Destruction of the Summer Palace.]

Not till then did Lord Elgin learn the horrible fate of the captives. He decided at once that exemplary vengeance must be inflicted, but not according to the traditional custom of reprisals, by inflicting torture and death on the persons of individuals. No doubt the Chinese officials would have handed over to him as many vicarious victims as he chose to demand, but Lord Elgin decreed such a monumental act of indignation as should never be effaced from the memory of the people of China. The Summer Palace was the most precious possession of the Heavenly Dynasty.

Therein had been stored the best of the art treasures of many generations; the ingenuity of architects, gardeners, and craftsmen of all kinds had been exhausted in erecting and decorating its courts and paG.o.das and laying out the fantastic grounds. Lord Elgin ordered its total destruction. The French and English soldiers were allowed to plunder it first; jewellery, plate, and other costly articles were "looted" in immense quant.i.ty, and then the whole vast edifice was delivered to the flames. A monument was set up on the site, bearing an inscription that this was done as the punishment for national cruelty and treachery. A Convention between the British and Chinese Plenipotentiaries was concluded on October 24, and Pekin was evacuated by the Allied troops on November 5.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CITY HALL, WINNIPEG.

Manitoba is a district of enormous farms. The Capital, Winnipeg--known as Fort Garry until its incorporation in 1873--is one of the "newest"

cities in the British Empire. Its population in 1871 was 241; in 1891, 25,642. It is the centre for the distribution of the produce of Western Canada.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT AT A REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT, June 1859.

On the left is General Knollys, afterwards Comptroller of the Household to the Prince of Wales, in command of the troops.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Carl Haag, R.W.S._} {_From the Royal Collection._

THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT FORDING THE POLL TARFF, October 9, 1861.

The story of this, the last excursion taken by the Queen in company with the Prince Consort, is told in a very interesting chapter of Her Majesty's "Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands." On the previous night the Royal party had stayed, unexpected and unrecognised, at the inn of Balwhinnie, "where," says Her Majesty, "there was hardly anything to eat; only tea and two miserable starved Highland chickens, without any potatoes; no pudding, and no _fun_." But in this last particular the succeeding day's exploits certainly cannot have been deficient.]

CHAPTER XII.