Foreign Intervention in China - Period 3 (copy)

We find that your country is sixty or seventy thousand li from China. The purpose of your ships in coming to China is to realize a large profit. Since this profit is realized in China and is in fact taken away from the Chinese people, how can foreigners return injury for the benefit they have received by sending this poison to harm their benefactors?

They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others. Have they no conscience? I have heard that you strictly prohibit opium in your own country, indicating unmistakably that you know how harmful opium is. You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries such as China. Why?

"...When the smoke blew off every Chinese had disappeared. The 18th and R.M. took possession of the Joss House on the top of the hill and the remainder occupied Houses along the shore or about the place. On examination, we found their Guns of the most paltry description and eaten by rust. All but one: a brass 32 in the center of their line, which was in splendid order and bore the inscription "John Philips made this piece, A.D. 1601." There were 7 or 8 Chinese killed on the shore and about 20 or 30 in the Junks which were actually riddled...

...In the meantime the soldiers in the suburbs discovered large quantities of Shamther (a sort of intoxicating liquor) and, as usual, numbers got drunk. Then ensued the usual scene of breaking into houses and destroying everything in their way. At last, after a great deal of bother, we got them quiet and turned into sleep in a Joss house where I slept without turning, in spite of the city every now and then treating us to a shot but terribly wide of the mark. Nor did I wake until I got a good shake from my Captain just before daylight."

• 2nd Lt. Charles Cameron of the British Army, July 4th 1840.

ARTICLE III.

It being obviously necessary and desirable, that British Subjects should have some Port whereat they may careen and refit their Ships, when required, and keep Stores for that purpose, His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., the Island of Hongkong, to be possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and to be governed by such Laws and Regulations as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., shall see fit to direct. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of Six Millions of Dollars as the value of Opium which was delivered up at Canton in the month of March 1839, as a Ransom for the lives of Her Britannic Majesty's Superintendent and Subjects, who had been imprisoned and threatened with death by the Chinese High Officers.

The
distribution
 of
 all
 land
 is
 to
 be
 based
 on
 the
 number
of
persons
in
each
family,
 regardless
 of
 sex.
 A
 large
 family
 is
 entitled
 to
 more
 land,
 a
 small
 one
 to
 less.
 The
 land
 distributed
should
not
be
all
of
one
grade
but
mixed.
…
 All
the
land
in
the
country
is
to
be
cultivated
by
the
whole
population
together.
…
 …
 During
harvest
season,
the
Group
Officer
should
direct
[the
grain
 collection
 by]
 the
 sergeants.
Deducting
the
amount
needed
to
feed
the
twenty‑five
families
until
the
next
harvest
 season,
he
should
collect
the
rest
of
the
produce
for
storage
in
the
state
granaries.
…
all
people
 under
Heaven
are
of
one
family
belonging
to
the
Heavenly
Father,
the
Supreme
Ruler,
the
Lord
 God‑on‑High.
Nobody
should
keep
private
property.
All
things
 should
be
presented
 to
 the
 Supreme
Ruler,
so
that
He
will
be
enabled
to
make
use
of
them
and
distribute
them
equally
to
 all
members
of
his
great
world‑family.
Thus
all
will
be
sufficiently
fed
and
clothed.

During the night, a crowd passed by, led by a woman Boxer---a member of the Society of the Red Lantern---who asked me my name, my business, and where I was going. As I seemed to satisfy them with my answer, they went about their business, which was the destruction of a Catholic village, and the murder of the Christians. The next morning I continued on my way, being early joined by a Boxer who invited me to dine with him, after which we separated.That night I heard the keeper of the inn at which I stopped say to a Boxer, "We have no Christians here," and I spent the night in peace. The following day a child warned me not to go through a certain village, saying that the Boxers were taking every one they suspected, and I saw the fire kindled at which they burnt twenty Christians, while I at the same time thanked the Lord for putting it into the mind of a child to warn me, and thus save me, and perhaps the people of the Legation, from a like horrible fate. The country was flooded. I was compelled to wade through water the depth of which I knew nothing about, and I was wet and discouraged. I had just emerged from the water when a man with a gun on his shoulder called out to me in a loud voice "Where are you going?"