55.
In the two previous articles I dealt with the settlement of Hongkong by Puntis, Hakkas, Hoklos and Tankas. Now for the early 19th century.
In 1834, Lord Napier urged "the possession of the island of Hongkong in the eastern entrance of the Canton River." Sir George Best Robinson who was Chief Superintendent at Lintin from January 22, 1835 to December 14, 1836 was also constantly on the lookout for a place where British trade might be free from the extortionate greed of the mandarins. He first recommended that all British subjects should live on board merchant ships in some of the beautiful harbours in the neighbourhood of Lantao or Hongkong. Later, convinced by the attitude of the Chinese authorities that no proper understanding could be reached without first resorting to hostilities, he suggested the destruction of one or two forts and the occupation of one or two islands in the neighbourhood.
Who shall say, then, that he was not a prophet? No prophet could have anticipated more truly the origin of this colony.
In the Canton Register of 1836, a correspondent wrote: "If the Lion's paw is to be put down on any part of South China, let it be Hongkong."
In 1839, when the famous Captain Elliott was checkmating the wily Lin, all British ships in Chinese waters were ordered to assemble at Hongkong. That struggle actually ended in a victory for Lin but it led to the founding of this Colony. Lin's idea was to destroy the opium trade and resume the regular trade. This he pledged himself to his Emperor that he would do. Hence his anxiety to fence British trade back to Whampoa and Canton.
He intrigued with the Governor of Macao to drive out the British and sought to make Hongkong untenable by erecting batteries at Tsim Sha Tsui, on the spot where the Water Police Station now stands.
In this vicinity, in July 1839, a Chinese named Li Wa-hi was killed in a drunken fray with some foreign sailors. Lin's demands for redress were preposterous and his mad acts and orders rendered a return to Canton and Whampoa by British traders impossible, for the time being, at any rate.
There is in the Chinese records, an account of an unsuccessful attack by the English on Tsim Sha Tsui fort in November, 1839. The facts are, that when news of the battle of Chuenpi reached the Tsim Sha Tsui camp, the batteries opened fire on the merchant ships in the Harbour, and continued the cannonade for several days. The merchant ships, acting on Capt. Elliott's orders, moved to Tangku, and the harbour was deserted. Result a great Chinese victory, duly recorded in their annals.
In January 1840, Lin built a third fort at Tsim Sha Tsui. Of these forts and the great camp near them, Chinese traditions speak ill, and the lawlessness of the Tsim Sha Tsui Chinese was one of the arguments for the cession of Kowloon.
The possession of Hongkong by Capt. Elliot in 1841 has already been told in detail. I now pass on to incidents in the administration of Sir Henry Pottinger.
436
$
Page 175
Page 176