In 1858 I spent two months at Taku and Tientsin in connection with
the tedious negotiations of that year. At the latter place I became
familiar with the dusty road to the treaty temple; and at the former
witnessed the capture of the forts by the combined squadrons of
Great Britain and France. The next year on the same ground I saw
the allied forces repulsed with heavy loss--a defeat avenged by
the capture of Peking in 1860.
In the Boxer War the relief force met with formidable opposition
at Tientsin. The place has, however, risen with new splendour from
its half-ruined condition, and now poses as the principal residence
of the most powerful of the viceroys. Connected by the river with
the seaboard, by the Grand Canal with several provinces to the south,
and by rail with Peking, Hankow and Manchuria, Tientsin commands
the chief lines of
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communication in northern China. In point of trade it ranks as the
third in importance of the treaty ports.
Three hours by rail bring us to the gates of Peking, the northern
capital. Formerly it took another hour to get within the city.
Superstition or suspicion kept the railway station at a distance;
now, however, it is at the Great Central Gate. Unlike Nanking,
Peking has nothing picturesque or commanding in its location. On
the west and north, at a distance of ten to twenty miles, ranges
of blue hills form a feature in the landscape. Within these limits
the eye rests on nothing but flat fields, interspersed with clumps
of trees overshadowing some family cemetery or the grave of some
grandee.
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