RUSONS DE LORD ELGTN

subjects illegally captured, who had died from the effects ol their ill-treatment in prison, and the penalty which had been inflicted for the deed ; bnt tins proposai 1 finally abandoned for reasons which I hâve explained elsewhere.

As the destruction of Yuen-ming-yuen is, however, an act to which exception may. with great apparent reason, be taken, it is my duty before closing this despatch to say a few words respecting the only modes of inflicting a spécifie punishment for the crime in question which, limited as were my means of action for the reasons above stated, I could hâve adopted as substitutes for that measure.

I might, perhaps, bave demanded a large sum of monev, not as compensation for the sulTerers, butas a penalty inflicted on the Chinese Government. But, independentlv of the objection in principle to making a high crime1 of this nature a mère money cpiestion, I hold on this point the opinion which is, I believe, entertained by ail persons, without exception, who hâve investigated the subject, that, in the présent disorganized state of the Chinese Government, toobtain large pecuniarv indemnitiesfrbm it is simply impossible, and that ail that can be done practically in the matter is, to appropriate such a portion of the Customs' revenue as will still leave to it a sufïicient interest in that revenue to induce it to allow the natives to continue to trade with forcigners. It is calculated that it will be necessary to take 4o per cent, of the gross Customs' revenue of China for about four vears inorder to procure pavment of the indemnitiesalreadv clainied by Baron Gros and me, under instructions from vour Lordship and the French Government.

Embarrassing questions respecting the occupation of Chinese territor\ are involved in this arrangement, and I do not think that it would be advisable to bind the Chinese Government by engagements which would cause the term of liquidation of the indemnises to be indefinitelv extended.

Or, I might hâve required that the persons guilty of cruelt\ to our countrvmen, or of the violation of a flag of truce, should be surrendered. But if I had made this demand in gênerai terms. snme misérable subordinates would, probablv, bave been given up, whom it would hâve been difficult to pardon, and impossible to punish. And if I had specified Sang-Ko-lin-sin, of whose guilt in violating a llag of truce évidence sufficient to ensure his condemnation bv a court-martial could be furnished, I should hâve made a demand which, it mav be confidentlv affirmed, the Chi-

3f)0 DESTRUCTION Dl PALAIS d'ÉTÉ

nese Governemenl would aot hâve conceded, and mine could not hâve enforced. I musl add that, throwing the responsabilité for the acts of Government in this way on individuals resembles too close!) the Chinese mode of conducting war to approve itself altogether to my judgment. Having, therefore, to the besl of un judgment, examined the question in ail its bearings, l came to the conclusion thaï the destruction ofYuen-mingyuen was the least objectionable of the several courses open to me, unless I could hâve reconciled it to m\ sensé of duty to suffer the crime which had been committed to pass practically unavenged. 1 had reason, moreover, to believe thaï it \\;is an act which was calculated to produce a greater effecl in China, and on the Emperor, than persons wlio look on from a distance ma\ suppose.

It was the Emperor's favourite résidence, and its destruction could not l'ail to be a blow to lus pride as well as to lus feelings. To this place, as appears from the dépositions of tlie Sikh troopers, copies of which were inclosed in despatcb to your Lordship ofthe iàth of October, he brought our hapless countrymen in order that they might undergo their severest tortures within ils precincts. Hère hâve been found the horses and accoutrements of the troopers seized, the décorations torn from the breast of a gallant French officer, and other effects belonging to the prisoners. As almost ail the valuables had already been taken from the palace, the army would go there, not to pillage, but to mark, by a solemn act of rétribution, the horror and indignation with which we were inspired by the perpétration of a great crime. The punishment was onc which would l'ail, not on the people. who may be comparatively innocent, but exclusively on the Emperor, whose direct personal responsabilité l'or the crime committed is established, not only by the treatment of the prisoners atYuen-ming-yuen, but also by the Edict inclosed in my despatch of the 22nd October, in which he offers a pecuniary reward for the lieads ofthe foreigners, adding, that he is ready to expend ail bis treasure in thèse waçes of assassination.

Je me permets de rappeler ici quelques lignes que j'écrivais lors des événements de 1900 : « Parmi les mesures que les consuls de T'ien-tsin conseillaient de prendre, se trouvait celle de détruire les tombes impériales. Chose curieuse, le seul opposant fut le consul d'Angleterre ; son scrupule est