As I Remember
the British Consulate reenter our courtyard. We were informed that
Medhurst had weakened and refused to receive his share of the
"Kumshaws." Mr. Gouverneur was much annoyed by such vacillating conduct
and immediately notified the British Consul in emphatic language that if
he refused to accept the piratical gifts he would regard it as a
personal matter. This had the desired effect and a second time the
procession wended its way to the British Consulate. The boxes proved to
contain hams, rock candy, dates and other provisions which we
immediately sent to the American missionaries, while the sheep were
given to Mr. Sloane to do with them whatever he pleased. We found this
gentleman throughout our Chinese life to be a man of superior judgment
and an agreeable companion. After a long and successful career in the
East, he died in China just on the eve of his embarkation for America.
He never married and many years later I had the pleasure of becoming
acquainted with his brother, Samuel Sloane, the railroad magnate, at
Garrison's-on-the-Hudson; and, owing to our agreeable association with
his brother, both Mr. and Mrs. Sloane always welcomed me with great
cordiality.
I have already referred to Commander (afterwards Rear Admiral) James F.
Schenck, U.S.N. Our association with him in Foo Chow was highly
agreeable. He was our frequent guest at the Consulate and we soon
discovered in him a man of rare wit; indeed, I have understood that
fifty years ago he was considered the most clever _raconteur_ in the
Navy. Commander Schenck's Executive Officer on the _Adams_ was
Lieutenant James J. Waddell, whom we regarded as a pleasing and
congenial guest. Subsequent to his life in Eastern waters, his career
was unusually interesting. He was a native of North Carolina and,
resigning his commission in the United States service at the opening of
the Civil War, subsequently entered the Confederate Navy, where he was
finally assigned to the command of the celebrated cruiser _Shenandoah_.
This ship, formerly the British merchantman _Sea King_, was bought in
England for L45,000 by James D. Bulloch, the Naval Agent of the Southern
Confederacy in Great Britain, to take the place of the _Alabama_, which
had been sunk by the _Kearsarge_ in June, 1864. She left London in the
fall of the same year and fitted out as an armed cruiser off Madeira.
She then went to Australia and, after cruising in various parts of the
Pacific, sailed for Behring Sea and the Arctic Ocean, where she met with
remarkable success in her depredations upon Northern shipping. She
captured thirty-eight vessels, mostly whalers, and the actual losses
inflicted by her were only sixty thousand dollars less than those
charged to the _Alabama_. Captain Waddell first heard of the downfall of
the Confederacy when off the coast of Lower California on the 2d of
August, 1865--between three and four months after the event--and, as he
had captured in that interval about a dozen ships and realized that his
acts might be regarded as piratical, he sailed for England where, early
in November, he surrendered the _Shenandoah_ to the British government.
She was turned over to the United States, was subsequently sold to the
Sultan of Zanzibar and was lost in 1879 in the Indian Ocean. She was the
only ship that carried the flag of the Confederacy around the world. In
December, 1861, Captain Waddell married a daughter of James Iglehart of
Annapolis, and died in that city a number of years ago.
The American Consulate was the rendezvous of all Naval officers who came
into port, and I recall with gratification Lieutenant John J. B.
Walbach, a son of Colonel John DeBarth Walbach, a well-known officer of
the Army, Dr. Philip Lansdale, Dr. Benjamin F. Gibbs, Lieutenant George
M. Blodgett and Lieutenant (afterwards Rear Admiral) John C. Beaumont.
The latter was frequently my guest in Washington after my return to
America, and Doctors Lansdale and Gibbs I met again at the Capital,
where we took pleasure in discussing our Chinese observations and
experiences. While in China I also became acquainted with Captain and
Mrs. Eliphalet Nott of Schenectady, the former of whom was a nephew of
the venerable President Eliphalet Nott of Union College. He commanded
his own vessel, the _Don Quixote_, and was usually accompanied on his
voyages by his wife--a mode of life that impressed me as quite ideal.
One day as I was passing through the streets of Foo Chow my attention
was directed to a gayly-dressed woman seated in a chair decked with
flowers. I was informed that she was a Chinese widow who was about to
sacrifice herself upon the pyre in accordance with the custom of the
country. I subsequently learned that when this woman reached the place
appointed for the ceremony, she found an immense assemblage, including
many mandarins and her own brother, the latter of whom had agreed to
apply the torch that should launch her into eternity. The crowd,
however, was disappointed, for at the last moment her courage failed her
and she announced that she must return home at once as she had forgotten
to feed her pig! The woman's life was saved, but the disappointment of
the throng found expression in a riot which, however, was speedily
quelled by the authorities.
The Chinese nation was the victim of an outrageous wrong, and the
perpetrators were Americans and Englishmen whose unquenchable avarice
overcame their moral convictions. I refer to the iniquitous manner in
which opium was introduced into the country and subsequently sold to the
natives. Large fortunes were accumulated in this way, but it was nothing
more nor less than "blood money" wrung from the pockets of those who had
a right to expect better things from the representatives of Christian
countries. China at this time was unable to cope by force with the
Western nations, but she did not renounce the right to protect herself
from this outrage without a struggle. When, however, she asserted this
right, as she did on a certain occasion by seizing and burning the
deadly drug, she made herself liable for heavy indemnities and was
compelled to abandon the unequal struggle. In consequence of this act,
six hundred thousand dollars passed through Mr. Gouverneur's hands as
U.S. Consul. Even in recent years the Chinese Emperor has sought to
protect his subjects from the evils of opium. When I lived in China,
Congo tea was cultivated around Foo Chow, but in time it was abandoned
and the poppy took its place. A few years ago an edict was issued
prohibiting the cultivation of this flower and I understand that tea is
again a product of this region. When I resided in Foo Chow, some of the
most prominent business houses were involved in the smuggling of opium,
and one very large and wealthy firm--that of Jardine and
Matthewson--actually employed a heavily armed gunboat to assist it in
the accomplishment of this colossal outrage. It will be remembered that
when Li Hung Chang, then one of the richest men in the world, visited
this country a few years ago he frequently asked the wealthy men whom he
met where they got their money. Whether or not he had in mind at the
time the manner in which certain American and English fortunes had been
accumulated in his native land does not appear; but if his question had
been directed to the heads of some of the business houses in Foo Chow
and elsewhere in China while I was there, it certainly would have
produced, to say the least, no little embarrassment.
Poor China has suffered much from the impositions and depredations of
foreigners. Pillage and theft have marked the paths of foreign invaders
in a manner wholly inconsistent with the code of honorable warfare, and
acts have been committed that would never be tolerated in conflicts
between Western nations. It was said that the title of Comte de Pelikao
was conferred by Louis Napoleon upon General Charles Montauban for
having presented the Empress Eugenie with some superb black pearls taken
from the Imperial Summer Palace when it was looted in 1860. At the same
time and in the same manner also disappeared many almost priceless gems,
costly articles of _vertu_, treasures in gold and silver and a wealth of
ancient manuscripts; while similar outrages were ruthlessly perpetrated
in the same unfortunate city only a few years ago as the closing chapter
in the Boxer troubles. Unhappy China! She has felt the aggressive hand
of her Western "brothers" ever since the unwilling invasion of her
shores.
About this time China was the resort of many adventurous Americans, some
of whom doubtless "left their country for their country's good," with a
view of seeking their fortunes. We became very well acquainted with a
New Yorker named Augustus Joseph Francis Harrison, a master of a craft
sailing in Chinese waters. His early life had been spent in Morrisania
in New York, where he had become familiar with the name of my husband's
relative, Gouverneur Morris, and was thus led to seek our acquaintance.
One day he came to the Consulate apparently in ill health and told us he
was in a serious condition. It seems that he had employed an English
physician whose violent remedies had failed to benefit him and had
prompted him to declare that he had been mistaken for a horse! He begged
us for shelter and we accordingly gave him a room and retained him at
the Consulate as our guest. We knew but little of medical remedies, but
we did the best for him we could, and in due time were delighted to see
that our patient was convalescing. One day my husband and my daughter
Maud visited him in his room and, as a token of gratitude, he presented
to the little girl the "Pirates' God," one of his most cherished
treasures--a curious idol, which is still in her possession. On the back
of it he wrote the following history:--"This idol, together with the
whole contents of two large pirate boats, was captured after a severe
fight of three hours, they having undertaken to take us by surprise;
consequently thirty or forty were killed. The rest made good their
escape by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. The boats and contents,
too, were sold."
Foo Chow was a region frequently visited by typhoons, in consequence of
which a municipal law required houses to be but one story high. During
the latter part of our residence in China we experienced the terrors of
a storm remarkable for its severity and in the course of which a portion
of the Consulate was blown down. After spending some anxious hours in an
underground passage in the middle of the night, we were finally obliged
to take refuge in the _Hong_ of Augustus Heard and Company. I shall
never forget, as we sat in this lonely cellar with the elements raging
above us, the imploring cries of my young children, "I want to go home."
It was while this storm was raging that Mr. Gouverneur received the
following note from George J. Weller, the representative of this
well-known firm:--
My dear Mr. Gouverneur,
The Barometer is going up--the wind will probably abate a
little soon, and perhaps then Mrs. G. and the children can
come. _Make_ the coolies carry the chair. Three can do it.
The semi-tropical climate of Foo Chow, however, did not agree with Mr.
Gouverneur, in consequence of which we decided to return home. His
campaign during the Mexican War had made serious inroads upon his
health, from which he never entirely recovered. It was hoped that his
life in the East would be beneficial, but it proved otherwise.
Meanwhile, the Civil War was raging in the United States, but the news
concerning it was very stale long before it reached us. We did not
receive the particulars of the battle of Bull Run, for example, until
three months after its occurrence. In view of the turbulent state of
affairs at home, the government thought it important that Mr. Gouverneur