Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . send ambas-sadors to treat for peace, and on the 29th May the pleni-potentiaries, French and English, started from Takoo toTien-Tsin where they were to meet the Chinese represen-tative. The negotiations consumed a month, the Chineseusing every artifice to secure delay and modify the condi-tion which the foreigners were forcing upon them, whilethe latter, knowing their strength, were disinclined to re-cede from their demands. The Chinese commissioner,Keying, said that the foreigners were holding a knife att
Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . send ambas-sadors to treat for peace, and on the 29th May the pleni-potentiaries, French and English, started from Takoo toTien-Tsin where they were to meet the Chinese represen-tative. The negotiations consumed a month, the Chineseusing every artifice to secure delay and modify the condi-tion which the foreigners were forcing upon them, whilethe latter, knowing their strength, were disinclined to re-cede from their demands. The Chinese commissioner,Keying, said that the foreigners were holding a knife atthe throat of China and compelling her to do somethingthat was totally foreign to her wishes. While the ambas-sadors would not admit the truth of this assertion, theycould hardly deny the fact except in a diplomatic Elgins diary shows that his private opinion on thissubject was materially different from the one he professedin public. Personally he had a great deal of sympathy forthe Chinese, but officially he could do nothing else thancarry out the orders of his 190 DECISIVE BATTLES SINCE WATERLOO. After the signing of the treaty the allies left Tien-Tsinand proceeded down the river, greatly to the delight of theimperial government, who feared that the ambassadorswould demand permission to visit Pekin and have a per-sonal audience with the emperor. The ratification of thetreaty was delayed on various pretexts, and in a generalway matters did not run smoothly. In June, 1859, Mr-Bruce, the British envoy, was stopped in the Peiho Riverwhile on his way to Pekin. Admiral Hope attemptedto force a passage, but was repulsed with a loss of 81 killedand about 400 wounded. The emperor had decided torepudiate the treaty made with Lord Elgin the previousyear, and the forts had been put in a stronger conditionthan ever before. Mr. Bruce proceeded to Shanghai and wraited instruc-tions; the French minister did likewise, but the Americanrepresentative went to Pekin by a ro
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnavalartandscience
