Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the originaldocument have been preserved.
In the caption to the illustration facing page 370, KOLENGSOOshould possibly be KULANGSU.
THE ENGLISHMAN IN CHINA
Chap. xxiii.: Tsze-kung asked, saying, "Is there one word whichmay serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" The Mastersaid, "Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do notwant done to yourself, do not do to others."
THE ENGLISHMAN IN CHINA
DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA
AS ILLUSTRATED IN
THE CAREER OF
SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, K.C.B., D.C.L.
MANY YEARS CONSUL AND MINISTER IN
CHINA AND JAPAN
BY
ALEXANDER MICHIE
AUTHOR OF
'THE SIBERIAN OVERLAND ROUTE,' 'MISSIONARIES
IN CHINA,' ETC.
VOL. I.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCC
All Rights reserved
PREFACE.
Reminiscences of the Far East called up by thedeath of Sir Rutherford Alcock in November 1897prompted the writer to send a contribution on thesubject to 'Blackwood's Magazine.' Being appreciatedby the family, the article suggested to themsome more substantial memorial of the deceasedstatesman, a scheme with which the writer fell inthe more readily that it seemed to harmonise withthe task which friends had been already urging uponhim—that of writing some account of occurrences inthe Far East during his own residence there. Forthere was no other name round which these eventscould be so consistently grouped during the thirtyyears when British policy was a power in that partof the world. As Consul and Minister Alcock wasso interwoven with the history of the period thatneither the life of the man nor the times in whichhe lived could be treated apart. And the personalelement renders his connection with Far Easternaffairs particularly instructive, for, combining thehighest executive qualities with a philosophic graspof the problems with which he had to deal, he atvithe same time possessed the faculty of exposition,whereby the vital relation between the theoreticaland the practical sides of Far Eastern politics wasmade plain. The student may thus draw his lessonsequally from the actions and the reflections of thisgreat official.
The life history of Sir Rutherford Alcock is that ofthe progressive development of a sterling charactermaking in all circumstances the most of itself, self-reliant,self-support