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WEI PEH-TH
8
The killing of a Chinese man and wounding of three boys in P'an-yü by a member of the crew of a British vessel, the London, on 27 November 1820, was the first major crisis handled by Juan Yüan involving jurisdiction over foreigners who had committed crimes against Chinese nationals. On 27 November 182o, in broad daylight, a cutter from the London, a ship belonging to the East India Company, sailed “a considerable distance" beyond Whampoa into a branch stream of the Pearl River, in search of fresh water. On the cutter was the fifth mate of the London, a man by the name of Pigott, and five other crewmen. They had a musket with them. Upon landing at P'an-yü, the men were taunted by a number of boys throwing stones and shouting "obscenities" at the foreigners. To frighten away the boys, Pigott fired two volleys, the first one loaded with peas and the second what he thought was "blank cartridge” but which turned out to be live ammunition. A Chang Shun-ts'un who was hanging up laundry at the stern of a Chinese rice boat nearby, shouted at the boys to disperse. Pigott's second shot entered Chang's chest on the left side, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, three boys all surnamed Ch'en, were wounded on the nose, foot and toes, respectively. While there was pandemonium ashore, the cutter departed, pursued by two Chinese boats, thus it was ascertained that the cutter had come from the London. Later on, despite Pigott's assertion that he had fired what he believed to be blank cartridge, indicating that at least he had known something of the consequences of his shooting at that time, the British spokesman claimed that they had known nothing about the incident until two days later, when Puiqua brought them the news that a warrant had been issued by the Chinese for the arrest of the murderer at P'an-yü.
Normal Chinese procedures under the circumstances would be to stop the offending ship from discharging and loading cargo, while demanding that the criminal be remanded to Chinese justice. After being informed of the incident, Juan Yuan gave instructions to the hong merchants to notify the supercargo of the East Indian Company in the British factory in Canton to bind the murderer over to Chinese authorities. Although the security merchant in this case was Exchin, because of the seriousness of the case, it was Puiqua who went to the British factory to apprise the Select Committee of the existence of the warrant. The Committee then proclaimed that they had known nothing about the incident until that moment. They suggested that Puiqua bribe the Chinese officials, but the hong merchant did not support the idea. Meanwhile, the Committee's primary consideration was “to avoid trouble and embarrassment to the Company's trade", but Juan Yüan had already placed an embargo on the London.