God's Chinese Son

by Jonathan Spence

  With the aid of torches which lit up the room, we saw on each side a large number of onlookers; and at the end, in front of us, the two ministers who would receive us. Their splendid robes of blue satin, richly enhanced, on the chest mainly, by magnificent embroideries, their red boots, diadems wholly of carved gold on their heads, their grave and dignified bearing, and a large retinue forming a second rank behind them; all, in a word, contributed to giving to this interview a character of dignity and grandeur. . . ,42

  The mood of the meeting is encouraging. The Taiping officials talk of their religious doctrines, their Heavenly King and his mission to stamp out idolatry, and call the Frenchmen "friends" and "brothers." Not only can de Bourboulon meet with their highest ministers, they promise, but if he has "serious interests to discuss" he can meet with the Heavenly King himself.43

  When de Bourboulon enters Nanjing on December 10, he is presented with a diplomatic predicament equivalent to that faced by Bonham: for the Taiping representative Qin Rigang, one of the leading Taiping gener­als and a close friend and confidant of Hong Xiuquan, is seated in a single chair upon a raised dais, from which eminence he gestures the French legate to one of a row of chairs below him. The slight is too obvious to be accepted. De Bourboulon demands a chair upon the dais of the same kind as Qin's. Qin demurs. But just as the audience is about to be called off, a compromise is reached—the two men and their staffs will talk "infor­mally" in an adjacent room. There de Bourboulon enquires closely into the Taiping's religious beliefs, seeks guarantees for the well-being of Chi­nese Catholics under Taiping control, and reminds Qin both of France's neutrality in the current conflict and of her prior treaty agreements with the Qing that are still in force with Emperor Xianfeng. He makes no clear offers of forming a new treaty of formal agreement with the Taiping44 state.

  This reticence, along with the invocation of Emperor Xianfeng's name and title—huangdi, or "emperor," being reserved by the Taiping for God alone—leads swiftly to exasperation. Though de Bourboulon in person is spared, the wrath falls on his interpreter Clavelin, who is summoned to a special meeting with Taiping officials and treated to a sarcastic and angry diatribe. The Taiping logic is forceful; if the French revere the Qing ruler Xianfeng so much, they must be his friends; if they are Xianfeng's friends, they must see the Taiping as rebels; if they see the Taiping as rebels, then they are the Taiping's enemies; and so, in conclusion, "the better to help your friend you have come to spy on us, and to acquaint yourselves with the strengths and weaknesses of our position."45

  As if to reinforce this new and harder line, after several days of silence a message is brought to the Cassini on December 13. It is from the North King himself, "ordering" the French to visit his palace and receive his "verbal instructions." De Bourboulon, rejecting both the language and the tone of this Taiping summons, accepts the failure of his mission, and steams back to Shanghai on December 14.46

  But in his final report to the Foreign Ministry in France de Bourboulon remains more buoyant than Bonham after his earlier rebuffs. Admitting that he has not really achieved either the religious or the diplomatic results he hoped for, de Bourboulon still considers that the new intelligence he has gained more than makes up for those frustrations:

  What stands out most for me from all that I have seen is the strength of this revolutionary movement, which promises nothing less than to accomplish a complete transformation, at once religious, social and political in this immense Empire, by tradition a land of custom and immobility. Whatever doubts may exist about its ultimate success, whatever obstacles the indiffer­ence of the masses and the resources of the Tartar dynasty may yet oppose to the rebellion's triumph, it is clear to me that this revolt is one of formida­ble character and proportions; that it is led by men who, be they fanatical or ambitious, have faith in the success of their venture, and who, besides their audacity, have in their favour ideas, a strength of organisation, tactics, in

  short a moral force which gives them great superiority over their adversaries....47

  As to de Plas, on his return to Shanghai he learns that the Cassini is to be replaced by another warship and that he has been posted back to France: he feels his mission of bolstering the faith has been achieved, and he looks forward to greeting his mother once more, the mother to whom he has written almost weekly throughout the voyage, and whose letters in return have tracked him, to his joy, around the world:

  Aboard the Cassini, Shanghai, December 27 [1853] My dear mama,

  The departure of the Cassini has been a bit delayed by unexpected events, but it seems that our mission in this country is now completed.. . .

  I went just once into Nanjing, to accompany M. de Bourboulon, who himself had just one interview with ministers there. That town, once so flourishing, inspired in me a feeling of sadness similar to that which one feels in visiting the ruins of Pompeii. The area enclosed within the fortifications is immense, but I doubt if even one-third is inhabited. The ramparts, still in good condition, encircle hills covered with trees where one sees not a single dwelling; they are at least forty or fifty feet high, but if they seem formidable to the Chinese they would not be so to Europeans.. . .

  One cannot deny it: there is, in the relations of these Guangxi people with each other a family air which seems to justify the name of "brother" that they give each other. Thus all their homes are shared in common, and their food and clothing are held in public storehouses. Gold, silver, and precious goods are all placed in the treasury. One can sell nothing, buy nothing. It is up to the leaders to see to all the different needs of their subordinates. Is it not admirable that a population of over one million can be thus clothed and fed in the midst of a civil war, and in the face of an armed enemy who besieges their city!

  But now, what should one make of such a state of affairs? Will China change her masters and her religion? The insurrection of these Guangxi people is, one cannot deny it, an event of the gravest import. Let one call these people "rebels" or "brigands" as much as one wants, they have none­theless gnawed the empire to its heart. . . . Only God can say what the future has in store for China, and for Catholicism in this land."1"

  One touch of grace at his departure is the formal abjuration of her Protes­tantism by Mme. de Bourboulon, and her solemn reception into the Cath­olic church. Alcock, however, has not succumbed.49

  On first reaching Shanghai in March 1853, Captain de Plas had met both Sir George Bonham and the American minister Humphrey Marshall. He found the latter to be a man who liked to "follow a frank and tough line of conduct" in his dealings with the Chinese, and was touched when Marshall asked him if the Cassini would accompany the U.S. vessel Sus­quehanna on her projected voyage of reconnaissance to Nanjing. At the time, de Plas felt he could not take the responsibility for such a decision, given the weak state of the defenses of Shanghai.50 As it happened, the Susquehanna had already run aground near Shanghai, despite the presence of two Chinese pilots on board, and been forced to abandon the attempt. De Plas noted that Marshall, angry at the British coup in getting to Nan­jing first, vowed to make a second attempt to reach Nanjing as soon as he could get a vessel with a shallower draft than the Susquehanna put at his disposal.51 The subsequent demands by Commodore Perry for the assis­tance of all available ships in Far Eastern waters for his celebrated journey to Japan, and Perry's temporary selection of the Susquehanna as his flag­ship, frustrated Marshall's desire. De Plas dined with Perry, in August 1853 after his return, and gave full details of this initial American foray to Japan, and in December de Plas noted Perry's departure on the second voyage with three warships, the Susquehanna, Mississippi, and Powhatan.52

  Marshall, despite his "frank and tough" approach, was also a stickler for the letter if not the spirit of the "neutrality" commitinent made by the United States under the treaties signed in the 1840s, contenting himself in the spring of 1853 with collecting Taiping printed materials and sending them back to the Department of State for reference.53 When Hong Xiuquan's teache
r, the American Baptist Issachar Roberts, received an invita­tion in Canton from Hong to visit Nanjing, he at once asked Marshall in Shanghai for his permission; Roberts claimed the opportunity was parallel to that made to Paul in Acts 11:9—"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed to him,- saying, 'Come over into Macedonia, and help us.' " But Marshall expressed his disap­proval on the ground that such a trip violated the terms of the United States agreement with the Qing. Undeterred, Roberts collected the passage money from a sympathetic merchant in Canton, and traveled to Shanghai with a son and cousin of Feng Yunshan, the deceased South King, who had been in hiding in the south.1"1

  Once in Shanghai, Roberts repeated his request to Commissioner Mar­shall, who this time rebuffed him in even stronger terms, threatening (according to Roberts) to hang him if he tried. But in a private conversa­tion with an American friend, Marshall said, "Why could not the infernal ass go without saying anything to me about it? Of course I had to tell him 'no.' My position compelled me to take that stand under the treaties, but 1 should have been delighted to have him go and bring back some reports of the rebels, which I could rely upon."55 With the encouragement of Captain Fishbourne, and some local merchants, Roberts nevertheless decided to risk it and hired a small boat with a medical missionary acquaintance, Charles Taylor. They got as far as the lower reaches of the Yangzi River before they were stopped by a Qing patrol boat and ordered back to Shanghai.,6

  No American group has yet reached Nanjing by the spring of 1854, when Robert McLane replaces Marshall as U.S. commissioner, and announces that he will attempt the journey to the headquarters of "the Revolutionary Army" in Nanjing, using the Susquehanna. Roberts at once asks if McLane will take him, but the new commissioner rejects Roberts' request, though he does take two other Protestant missionaries with him. After carefully studying everything he can find on the previous delega­tions by Bonham and de Bourboulon, McLane leaves Shanghai on May 22, 1854, reaching Nanjing on the twenty-seventh.5'

  Most of the formal American correspondence with the Taiping forces is sent in the name of the Susquehanna's captain, Frank Buchanan. As has been the case with both the Hermes and the Cassini, Taiping garrisons, unfamiliar with the markings or flags of foreign vessels, and constantly jumpy that Qing forces might be traveling in their wake or under their protection, fire warning shots as the Susquehanna approaches. But despite the study McLane says he has made of the French and British experiences, and despite the Taiping explanation that they have never seen the Stars and Stripes before, Buchanan is in no mood to trifle with the Taiping:

  Sir,...

  I will tomorrow morning send a boat on shore at 11 a.m. for the answer to my communication delivered to you today by an officer from this ship, and I have to insist that this answer shall contain a full and satisfactory apology for the heedless and insulting demonstration, of your battery, on shore this morning. If the fullest and most satisfactory apology is not made by you in response to my demand, 1 shall not hesitate on my return from Nanking, to resist the insult offered to the Flag of the U.S.

  At one o'clock tomorrow I shall weigh anchor and proceed to Nanking, and then represent to your Ruler Taiping-Wan the insolence of those at Chin-Kiang-Fu, who have been so insensible to the proprieties and obliga­tions of friendly national intercourse, and the respect which the Flag of the U.S. must always command, more especially from those whom we have fully informed of the friendly and neutral character of that Flag, as you were by me, in my communication of this morning.

  I send you here enclosed a drawing of the Flag of the U.S., that you may never mistake it hereafter.

  Very respectfully

  Your obdt. Servt.

  Frank L. Buchanan58

  The relationship grows no more cordial over the next few days. Unclear over the reasons for the U.S. vessel's visit—Buchanan and McLane refuse to answer other requests for clarification—the Taiping, through formalis­ts responses by medium-level officials, stall over all Buchanan's requests tendered on McLane's behalf. The American desire to visit the famous porcelain pagoda south of the city (which, Clavelin had noted, was "located close to the retrenchments built at the foot of the walls to protect the city against imperialist [i.e., Qing| attacks" and hence was considered restricted territory), is deferred pending the East King's permission.59 An American visit to explore the city of Nanjing is held off until the Ameri­cans can show they have someone "who understands the language and reads the characters" so that they would "know the rules and customs of our Heavenly Kingdom.'"'" Tempers are not improved when a young midshipman, impatient with confinement, climbs over the city wall on his own exploring trip.61 The desire of McLane "to communicate with His Excellency Yang" and to make known "the friendly intentions" of the United States is not even passed up the chain of command, on the grounds that Buchanan "presumed to employ terms used in correspondence between equals" instead of those befitting a country "on the ocean's bor­ders" that "ought to come kneeling" and show "the principles of true submission."62

  The heart of the response received from two senior Taiping officials, as translated by the American Protestant missionary E. C. Bridgman who is acting as one of McLane's interpreters for the trip, clearly states the Tai­ping view of their cause:

  Our Sovereign, the T'ien Wang [Heavenly King|, is the true Sovereign of Taiping of the ten thousand nations in the world. Therefore all nations under heaven ought to revere Heaven and follow the Sovereign, knowing on whom they depend. We are especially afraid that you do not understand the nature of Heaven, and believe that there are distinctions between this and that nation, not knowing the indivisibility of the true doctrine.

  Therefore we send this special mandatory dispatch.

  If you can revere Heaven and recognize the Sovereign, then our Heavenly Court, regarding all under heaven as one family and uniting all nations as one body, will certainly remember your faithful purpose and permit you, year after year, to bring tribute and come to court annually so that you may become ministers and people of the Heavenly Kingdom, forever basking in the grace and favor of the Heavenly Dynasty, peacefully residing in your own lands, and quietly enjoying great glory. This is what we, the great ministers, sincerely wish. You must tremblingly obey; do not circumvent these instructions.6'

  Captain Buchanan responds at once that he finds this message "couched in language so peculiar and unintelligible as to cause |him] much astonish­ment," and that he accordingly encloses "a historical memoir of the U.S. of America, together with a drawing of their National Flag, which his excellency, the Commissioner, desires may be submitted to your Chief authorities, to prevent any misapprehension on their part."64

  That same day of May 30, at noon, a party of eight Americans leaves the Susquehanna without Chinese permission and travels on foot along the west wall of Nanjing. Denied entry to the city by the guards at the various gates, they push on farther than either the British or the French had presumed to do, curving around below the southern wall to the marshes and an abandoned fort that stands there, and passing through an almost ruined and deserted suburb before coming out at the famous porcelain pagoda.65

  The pagoda tower itself is still intact, with its shining porcelain tiles, but the circular stairway that once led to the summit of the nine-story structure—and would have given a clear field of fire or observation over the city—has been ripped out, and lies in a heap of rubble at the foot of the building. The myriad Buddhist images that once graced the build­ing—idols that they are to the Taiping—have all been defaced and muti­lated, and the decorations stripped from them. An attempt by one of the bolder Americans to clamber up and remove the golden sphere from the pagoda's summit is foiled almost before it begins, although the bravado of the attempt long lingers in Taiping minds.66 The result of this unautho­rized excursion is that all eight Americans are arrested by Taiping officials and face a series of tense interrogations, both in the suburbs and subse­quently in the city, for the remainder of the d
ay and into the evening. The Chinese interpreter used by the Taiping grows so terrified of the menace in the exchanges that by the end he is too frightened and tired to be coherent, so the final questions are put in writing. It takes the issuing of three sets of permits and papers by three separate Taiping officers before the small groups of Americans are taken out through the western gate, and returned to the Susquehanna,67 While they are being interrogated, a note is delivered to their ship stating that the Taiping authorities will not guarantee that those making similar unauthorized trips in the future might not be killed by Taiping troops.68 The next day the Susquehanna raises anchor and leaves the city.

  Summarizing these events to the secretary of state, McLane dwells on the unreasonableness of the Taiping beliefs and practices, their "mon­strous misapprehension of scriptural truth," and their incapacity to see any foreign intercourse in "terms of equality."69 But when he comes to balance off the Qing against the Taiping, it is hard for him to see either side as the worthy one:

  Thus is presented the melancholy spectacle of an enfeebled and tottering imperial government, ignorant, conceited, and impracticable; assailed at all points by a handful of insurgents, whose origin was a band of robbers in the interior, whose present power is quite sufficient to drive before them the imperial authorities . .. but who are, nevertheless, unworthy [of| the respect of the civilized world, and perhaps incapable of consolidating civil govern- merit beyond the walls of the cities captured and pillaged by a multitude excited to the highest pitch of resentment against all who possess property or betray a partiality for the imperial authorities.70