}
N§. 73.—NOVEMBER 28, 1856.] The Hongkong Government - Gazette.
maintenance of the City defences is involved ne hate security of the people, and the pro- and preservation of order, has as- peace a very large force, and he is decided in in mind as to the course he is to pursue. Ile hard that you as well, the inhabitants of the and suburbs, thousands and tens of thousands mber, loyal and brave every one, are every ready to give evidence of your patriotic_ar- This is most praiseworthy. By uniting, art and hand, you will shew your gratitude to Emperor above, while below you give safety Let one spirit our houses and families.
te the authorities and the people. This is argest wish of the Governor General.
every que tremble and obey. A special
i-Fung, 6th year, 10th moon, 8th day, 2 November, 1856.)
Translated by
th November, 1856.
THOMAS WADE, Chinese Secretaryj.
avoid the future necessity of a course as opposed to our interests as it is offensive to our feelings, that the Admiral has made to you this simple proposition.
I have only to add, that I heartily concur with His Excellency in the necessity and propriety of what he has proposed.—I have, &c.,
(Signed) JOHN BOWRING.
YEH, Imperial Commissioner, Governor-General of the Two Kwang, fo.. Sc., makes communi- cation in reply.
On the 11th instant, I received Your Ex- cellency's letter of the 10th, with the contents of which I have acquainted myself.
Your Excellency addressed me on the 12th, and again on the 14th ultimo, respecting the seizure made of a Chinese criminal on board a Lorcha; and my replies to these letters, of the 21st and 22d respectively, in which the circum- stances of the capture and conviction of the cri- minal were clearly set forth, will, I presume, have received Your Excellency's careful atten-
Jony BowRING to YEH, Imperial Commis- tion.
sioner.
SUPERINTENDENCY OF TRADE,
10th November, 1856.
S:8-Ilis Excellency the Naval Commander- iet, Sir Michael Seymour, has communicated e copies of his late correspondence with
Excellency.
It was shewn on trial of the prisonor, that the Lorcha was built by Soo-Aching, a Chinese; a register was purchased for hier of the merchant Block for $1000, and she assumed the British Flag without being entitled to it. She was lying, at the time of the seizure, off the Dutch Folly, and, as has been clearly proved, with no esign flying; it being, as it appears, an estab- lished law with British vessels to haul down their ensign when they drop anchor, and not to hoist it again until they get under way.
3
to this question should be productive of other
A letter troubles.
was received from Mr Donham, stating that it could be no more dis- cussed, and a notice was issued by him prohibiting Foreigners from entering the City, which was put in the papers. If admission into the City was practicable in 1840, Mr Bonham need neither have written this letter nor issued this notice. Mr Bonham having so written, a representation peror by myself, theu Governor of the Province, was made to that effect to His Majesty the Em-
in concert with the late Commissioner Sou. Mr Bonham, as I have understood, addressed ‡Your Excellency's government to the same effect, and thus it was that there was not a native of any nation unaware that there would be no more dis- cussion of this question.
I have understood, too, that some time after this, in 1850, Mr Bonham despatched an officer to Tien-tsin, with an earnest request that admission into the City might be conceded, and that His Majesty the Emperor did him the honor to signify his pleasure that it should not be conceded. It will be lience apparent that this [exclusion] is the result of a feeling participated in by all raiks, of a common sentiment of the whole City popula tion, and not of any private opinion individually entertained by me.
In a letter from His Excellency Admiral Seymour, received some days ago, he says that the present proposition is in no way connected with those of former years; that his demand is simply for admission of the Foreign Representatives. The proposition made before was objected to by the entire population of Canton; the people affected by the present proposition are the same Canton people; the city is the same Canton city; it is not another and separate Canton city. How then can it be said that there is no connection whatever between the two propositions?
the hope of preventing a recurrence of the ent unfortunate state of things at Canton, Excellency has proposed that, as elsewhere, should be free intercourse between the Au-
Had it been shewn on the trial that her flag rities within and Foreign Representatives with-
was bona fide that of a British merchant vessel, the city This proposition Your Excellency
it would have been doubtless correct to follow es to entertain; you insist not only in con- ing it with the past discussions of the Treaty some other course than the one pursued; but the fact being, that a Chinese had assumed the flag t of all Foreigners to enter the City, but in
But more than this, the Capton people are ntaining that the right itself is shown to have without title, what need was there for Mr Consul
very fierce and violent, differing in temper from definitively abandoned in a despatch from Parkes to put himself forward as his advocate ?
the inhabitants of other provinces; admission Again, the twelve men seized were all taken into the City was refused you in 1949, by the In my predecessor, Mr Bonham, dated 9th
back by Heu, Assistant Magistrate of Nanbae, people of Canton, and the people of Canton of the Apl, 1849.
on the 224 ultimo; but Consul Parkes declined present day, are the people of Canton of the year The passage cited is not quoted in full by Your
eney. Referring to the non-fulfilment of to receive either them, or a despatch sent with
1849; and there is this additional difficulty in engagement entered into in 1849, Mr Bonham them from me. The letter under acknowledg mooting the question of admitting British subjects Although entered into by Keying, ment says, that had the authorities been acces-into the City now, namely, that the strong feeling enfirmed by your Emperor, it [the engage-sible to the Consul, the affair might have been against Your Excellency's countrymen having ::] has not been_carried out; the question at disposed of in a single interview.
been aggravated by the terrible suffering to which the people have been subjected without a cause, e rests where it was; and must remain in ace. The discussion of it cames, at present,
they are even more averse to the concession farther prosecuted between Your Excellency
than they were before. myself. I can but repeat my regret at the sfactory report which this evasion of the Taty will compel me to make to my Govern
Year Excellency seeks to construe as declara- her of its cessation for evermore, words simply -:fying that discussion of our Treaty right was
aded until reports of its repudiation could be ad to Her Majesty's Government. Pending der reference, Mr Bonham called on British rets to abstain from attempting to enter
CAREL
and
a
That the British Government never abated an
The Assistant Magistrate, Heu, was sent twice with the men to be surrendered: it is through him that [foreign] correspondence with me is always transmitted. Now the Assistant Magistrate is a commissioned officer of the Chinese Empire. Heretofore, any foreign business that has had to be transacted by deputy has been transacted by officers similarly deputed, and the present was a case of all others requiring common conference; but Consul Parkes had made up his mind not to consent to what was proposed.
On a subsequent occasion I sent Tseang, Prefect of Luy-chow-foo, to the Foreign Fac- tories, to consider what steps should be taken,† but the Consul now insisted on something more than [the rendition of the men captured on board the Lorcha. There being in all this no in- accessibility on the part of Chinese officials, what was there to make an immediate adjustment im- practicable?
!
of its claim, is shown by Mr Borsham's letter de 21st August, 1849. This was written ver instructions of Lord Palmerston, then pal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
Yet, on the 23d, 24th, and 25th ultimo, the Excellency Seu was requested to trans- 12 Peking. The assumption of Seu himself different forts of the city were occupied or de- reply, dated 27th Angust, 1849, that the stroyed; and, from the 27th ultimo to the 5th Carussion was no more to be renewed, was at instant, a cannonade was kept up, by which num- rejected by Mr Bonham ; and Your Excel- berless dwelling-houses in the new and old city * must be well aware, that ever since my were consumed, with considerable sacrifice of life. to this country as Minister Plenipotentiary, I still forbore, remembering how many years you oject has been foremost amongst those of have been at peace with us; but the people were Í have had occasion to advise Your Ex-Dow gnashing their teeth with rage, at the terrible y the British Government looked for a suffering to which they had been subjected. factory adjustment.
I beg to refer you particularly to my commu- tens of the 25th April, 10th July, and 27th Weber, 1854, and of the 11th June, 1855.
The tenor of your correspondence with Sir Marl Seymour, obliges me once more to remind that the Treaty right of British subjects to itted into Canton has never been aban- by the British Government. But this is not at the present moment under dis-
The Admiral is simply insisting on ir of access to the local authorities; and * reason. Had the British Consul been obtain such access on the day that the Ger's flag was torn down and her crew un- rized, the affair might have been settled interview; as it was, letter after letter be addressed to Your Excellency; several siewed to remain for days without a reply; s hour you have neither apologised for Juct of your executive, nor have you
*
Imagine it, that the simple fact being, that a seizure was made by the Chinese Government of Chinese offenders, whom it was a duty to seize, it is pretended that the British ensign was hauled down; and this is followed up by a movement of troops and a cannonade, to the infliction of terrible suffering on the people. I must beg Your Excellency to pass an opinion on such a state of things.
To come to the question of admission into the City. On Your Excellency's arrival here as Minister in 1854, you addressed me on the sub- ject. I replied in plain terms, that the real truth was, that the whole city population was opposed to it, and that there was not, on my part, either fiction of statement or design of obstruction. On the last occasion [that it was discussed], the British Plenipotentiary, Mr Bonham, saw that the trade of every house was (or would be) stopped; the foreign mercantile communities, as well, became alarmed leat the trouble incidental
*Or, fraudulently.
For any sufficient assurance that henceforward
**g and jurisdiction shall bo respected. For Excellency's pertinacity in ignoring your es on these points, has rendered ne- **ty a series of coercive measures; and it is to' Seymour.
† The words are put so as to lead the reader to sup- pose that the Prefect was to confer with the Consul. He had been sent to confer with the Admiral, as appears from Ych's letter, of the 31st October, to Sir Michael
It were best then to adhere to His Excellency Mr Bonham's policy. With my long experience of Your Excellency's intelligence and justice, I have spared no pains to make my reply both clear and specific. Let Your Excellency give careful attention to it.
I therefore reply, availing myself of the occa sion to wish Your Excellency prosperity and peace.
A special communication, addressed to His
Excellency SIR JOHN BOWRING, Her Ma jesty's Plenipotentiary, &c., &c., &c. Hien-Fung 6th year, 10th moon, 15th day, (12th November, 1856.)
Translated by
THOMAS WADE, Chinese Secretary.
+ 'Kuci-kwo,' honorable, Le., your government,- phrase unobjectionable in itself; but the word trans- iated addressed,' meaning specially to address the Throne, there should by right have been used instead of Kuei-kwo, some one of the many deferential equiva lents of Her Majesty's person or position.
YEH, Imperial Commissioner, Governor General of the Two Kwang, &c., fo., makes communi- cation in reply.
On the 16th inst., I received your Excellency's letter of the 14tli, and acquainted myself with its
contents.
In my reply to an earlier letter, I shewed by a detailed and specific statement of the whole case, that the prisoner seized on board the Lorcha, was a Chinese criminal. The letter under ac- knowledgment tells me, "the orchia" without doubt, lawfully bore the British flag, under a register granted by me.". This attests tlie truth
of what was stated in evidence before the officer sent to conduct the examination in the case of the Lorcha, viz., that having been built by Soo Aching, a Chinese, a register was purchased for her for $1000, and that she fraudulently assumed the flag of your nation. I have always under- stood foreign flags to be each one peculiar to a nation-they are never made so little of as even to be lent; how then could a foreign nation do anything so irregular as to sell its flag to China? This appears to Your Excellency a proceeding in accordance with law; all I can say is, that I am not aware that foreign nations have any such law. As I have said before, therefore, liad the flag belonged bona fide to a British merchant vessel, it would have been proper to follow some