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13. On the 14th, Mr. STEWART LOCKHART received information from an inhabi- tant of Tái pó Hu that the matsheds were quite unprotected, and as there were rowdies about it would be well to have them occupied lest some mischievous person should burn them. As it was intended that the 25 police to be stationed there, with a Com- pany of the Hongkong Regiment, should march over on Saturday, the 15th, to have things in readiness for the ceremony of hoisting the flag, I determined to send the police in at once by launch. When they arrived they found a heap of smouldering ruins. They returned and reported the matter, and, still under the impression that the burning of the matsheds was simply an act of wanton mischief, I directed the police to return next morning, taking tents, and also the Company of the Hongkong Regiment with instructions that they were to hire some coolies and have the débris cleared away. It was evident that the Viceroy had not afforded the protection in accordance with his undertaking; but the cost of the inatshed was a comparatively unimportant matter.
14. On the arrival of the police and troops, they observed large numbers of apparently Chinese troops in uniform, who were in position on the hills to the north of Tái pó Hu village. There was also a battery of guns mounted in a regular emplacement. These people opened fire, which was sustained for a consider- able time, until the arrival of Her Majesty's ship Fame, with Captain Loxg, Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, who had gone round to arrange the position of the camp. The Fame landed a party of 16 men under Lieutenant KEYES, R.N., who joined the Forces engaged on the hill. The Fame then opened fire on the Chinese position and the troops and blue-jackets advanced, clearing away the assailants who were regularly entrenched, and capturing a flag which has on it an inscription showing it to be the flag of one of the local land Forces of China.
15. On receiving intelligence of the serious turn that events had taken, Major- General GASCOIGNE proceeded to the spot himself, with three Companies of the Hongkong Regiment and one Company of the Asiatic Artillery. He was accom- panied by Mr. STEWART LOCKHART who was instructed by me to hoist the flag on arrival and to read Her Majesty's Order-in-Council and my proclamation so as to make our position regular. Early on the morning of the 16th, I telegraphed to the Consul at Canton requesting him to inform the Viceroy that the British flag had been hoisted, and to request that all Chinese soldiers and officials, except the Customs officials, might be removed from the leased area, to which request from the Consul His Excellency sent a verbal message that he declined to give any reply. A short time after the hoisting of the flag, the entire Force was again at- tacked, but the firing was from such a distance that no casualties occurred, and when the troops proceeded to attack in turn the Chinese dispersed. General GASCOIGNE returned on Sunday afternoon and reported that he apprehended no serious difficulty.
16. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the troops were moving to the westward to search some village in which it was reported that nine men were im- prisoned who had come in from Ping Shán district to Hongkong on the 12th instant to present a petition to me praying for clemency on account of the first burning of the matsheds. On each day they were attacked. On Tuesday, the attacking Force consisted of 2,600 men who, in the neighbourhood of Kam Tin advanced across the open in excellent skirmishing order against two Companies of the Hongkong Regiment until they were within 300 yards, when they broke and fled. This was the last attack and was repulsed with some loss, which would have been much heavier had not the fire been humanely controlled when the assailants filed. Two guns were taken in Monday's pursuit, and six other guus were found thrown into a deep pond at Ping Shán.
17. Since then the villagers acknowledge that in their resistance they were hopelessly heaten, and Mr. STEWART LOCKHART reports that they are now return- ing to work. I have instructed him to make every effort to beget confidence and to remove the idea that we have come to change their customs or to confiscate their land.
18. This is a narrative of the events of the 19 days in the New Territory. But there are other facts that have a direct bearing upon the whole matter. It will be remembered that there was a difficulty about the question of the retention of the Customs stations in the leased area, as I pointed out that by the automatic action of the Convention the Chinese Customs officials could not continue to exercise their functions while the leased area remained under British jurisdiction, to which the Viceroy demurred. On the 10th instant, the Viceroy informed the Consul that there was no use in my proceeding to hoist the flag on the 17th instant as he declined
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