Treaties, Politics and the Limits of Local Diplomacy 161
that prohibited such practices. Consequently, it would be difβicult to stop
them. He reassured the Emperor that, in handling foreign affairs, he never
adopted a permissive attitude towards the foreigners lest he tarnish the
image of the state. Nor did he take hasty action that could create conβlict.
This was the reason that peace and harmony had generally prevailed in
the past seven or eight years. He had never tried to conceal facts, nor did
he want to trouble the Emperor with triβles that he himself could handle
properly to maintain tranquility.^43
Governor-General Liu, who was at the moment on a tour to inspect
the troops in Zhejiang, had already memorialized the throne to request
an audience with the Emperor. The imperial edict reached him on
December 15, commanding that he should follow the instructions in an
earlier edict and wait until the next autumn for the imperial audience. The
edict then mentioned the charges made in He’s memorials. In his reply on
December 26, Liu refuted the distorted claims in the same manner as Xu
had done. He assured the throne that peace and harmony prevailed in
Fuzhou; had they not, he would not have departed on the present tour.
Moreover, only a dozen or so foreigners resided in the provincial city, and
their small numbers would not allow them to make trouble.^44
Meanwhile, Governor-General Xu Guangjin’s report reached the Court
on January 12, 1851. He reported that he had asked Fujian ofβicials
serving in Guangdong about the foreign affairs in their native province.
All were critical of the Governor-General and of the Governor of Fujian
for being too submissive to the foreigners, and acting repressively against
their own people. Consequently, it was said, the foreigners had grown
increasingly arrogant and the local people were alienated. However, Xu
Guangjin cautioned that all these charges would need to be substantiated.
He would send deputies to investigate and report back to the Court, but
in consideration of the distance involved it would take two months to
gather information. He recommended that only light punishments be
given to the two high ofβicials as a warning and reminder.^45 Imperial
edicts addressed to Xu Jiyu and Xu Guangjin were subsequently issued
on January 12, 1851. The former was reprimanded for taking the lease
issue lightly and failing to report on it regularly to the Court; the latter
was commanded to conduct an investigation.^46 Earlier, on December 1,
the two patrons of the yiwu ofβicials, Grand Councillors Muzhang’a
- GCR (Beijing): Foreign Affairs, Sino-British Relations, βile 95, no. 8.
- GCR (Beijing): Foreign Affairs, Sino-British Relations, βile 95, no. 7; also in GCR
(Taipei): Monthly Record Books of Palace Memorials, DG30/Winter. - GCR (Beijing): Foreign Affairs, Sino-British Relations, βile 99, no. 2.
- YWSM: XF, III: DG30/12/11: 38a‒b.