Memoirs of Li Hung Chang

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William Francis Mannix
Houghton Mifflin, 1913 - 298 pages
 

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Page 158 - From all that I have seen I am more than ever convinced that the Kaiser and Prince Bismarck meant what they said when they averred that the German Empire was destined to become a dominant factor in Europe.
Page iii - Chinese race has produced in modern times, but, in a combination of qualities, the most unique personality of the past century among all the nations of the world. He was distinguished as a man of letters; as a soldier in important campaigns he rendered valuable services to his country; as a statesman for thirty years he maintained a recognised preeminence...
Page 129 - The nation is now passing through a crisis, and wise guidance is needed in all branches of the public service. WE ourselves have laboured diligently, night and day, to perform OUR innumerable duties, but in spite of all OUR anxious energy and care WE are in constant fear lest delay should be the undoing of the country. WE now respectfully recall the fact that Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager has on two occasions since the beginning of the reign of HM T'ung-Chih, performed...
Page 54 - What a sight for tired eyes and elixir for a heavy heart it is to see this splendid Englishman fight! I have just returned from nine days and nights with him and, if there is anything that I admire nearly as much as the superb scholarship of Tseng-kwo-fan, it is the military qualities of this fine officer. Fight — move — fight again — move again — landing his men — planning by night and executing by day — planning by day and executing by night!
Page 62 - ... Wangs" were assassinated. In his fury, it is said that Gordon searched everywhere for Li Hung Chang with a loaded pistol in his hand. He was convinced of the complicity of the Governor, who, on his side, denied that he was responsible for what had happened. I asked him why I should plot, and go round a mountain, when a mere order, written with five strokes of the quill, would have accomplished the same thing. He did not answer, but he insulted me, and said he would report my treachery, as he...
Page 237 - Under any enlightened Sovereign these Boxers, with their ridiculous claims of supernatural powers, would most assuredly have been condemned to death long since. Is it not on record that the Han Dynasty met its end because of its belief in magicians, and in their power to confer invisibility? Was not the Sung Dynasty destroyed because the Emperor believed ridiculous stories about supernatural warriors clad in miraculous coats of mail ? " I myself am nearly eighty years of age, and my death cannot...
Page xviii - There is no Government, and chaos reigns. I fear the task before me is too great for my strength of body, though I would do one thing more before I call the earthly battle over. I would have the foreigners believe in us once more, and not deprive China of her national life...
Page 15 - ... leprous missionaries of Canton, and they would run into all the holes of the centre and north and spread their vile malady. The lingering death should be applied to all those who have countenanced this foreign doctrine, or in any way aided the marauders. In 1865, at the continued success of the rebels: I hated the foreign religion more violently than all other scourges in the world ; and I prayed and hoped that not alone would the Tai Pings be destroyed, but that earthquakes, eruptions of mountains,...
Page 57 - With his many faults, his pride, his temper, and his neverending demand for money, Gordon is a noble man, and in spite of all I have said to him or about him, I will ever think most highly of him. ... He is an honest man, but difficult to get on with. Disagreements of this kind might perhaps have been tided over till the end of the campaign; but an unfortunate incident suddenly led to a more serious quarrel.
Page xiv - The French hate the Germans, and the Bussians kill the Jews, but they are all Christians when they come to China." And he refers to the action of Great Britain in forcing opium on the Chinese as "one of the worst impediments to the progress of Christianity...

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