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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
troops and armed junks, and cut off supplies of food and water, Lin demanded the surrender, for destruction, of all the opium in the European warehouses, after which every trader must sign a bond promising on pain of death never to bring any more to China. Americans and others surrendered their opium and signed the bonds.
By this time Captain Charles Elliot, R.N., was the Super- intendent of British Trade. In response to Lin's demand, Elliot ordered his countrymen to surrender their opium, and received their grudging obedience; but he refused to allow anyone to sign a bond. He finally won his point with Lin, and at the end of a siege lasting more than six weeks the British were allowed to leave unmolested for Macau.
Interest in the China trade had been steadily growing in Great Britain, and news of the siege at Canton, when it even- tually reached London, aroused public opinion to demand that the Government take measures to safeguard British lives and property in China. Relations between Elliot and Lin deteriorated, the Commissioner reiterating his demand for the signature of bonds. After the Portuguese Governor of Macau had warned Elliot that he could no longer be respon- sible for the safety of any British family remaining there, the entire British community led by Elliot removed to Hong Kong. The Chinese, who were erecting fortifications on Kow- loon peninsula, attempted to prevent local supplies of food reaching the shipping assembled in the harbour. Finally, after several incidents in and around Hong Kong waters and the breakdown of all negotiations between Elliot and Lin, hostilities broke out in November 1839.
The arrival, in June 1840, of a powerful British expedi- tionary force, without engaging in any operations of military significance, re-opened the door to discussion. Elliot, as plenipotentiary, demanded, according to his instructions, either the cession of an island to the British Crown or a treaty allowing British traders the rights normally enjoyed by foreigners in civilized countries. To the anger and shame