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person named "Soo Hoy-ü." Once again Legge insisted that Soo be dealt with "in some way which should mark their sense of the enormity of his conduct." Both conditions were acknowledged and accepted by all of the officials Legge spoke to. Things went so smoothly, both in ritual form and placid acceptance of what must have been very difficult conditions for the officials, that Legge was both elated and disgusted. In his own mind at the time, the officials' display of timely submissiveness under pressure appeared only little more than blatant bathos." Cohen rightly points out how this kind of situation in the decade of the 1860s placed any Qing official between the Scylla of imperial duties to follow the treaty stipulations and the Charybdis of the anti-foreignism of local gentry who carried much popular support.82 Having bent over backwards for months previous to Legge's arrival, trying to use more humane means to obtain compliance from the literatus Soo and his supporters, the district magistrate had to battle at cross purposes with the popular demonology supporting anti-foreignism and the additional shame of recent military defeats. To act too abruptly or harshly would earn the magistrate the epithet of being a “friend of foreigners,” and so even risk his imperial role as an appointed civil authority. On the other hand, any blatant refusal to respond to the treaty conditions would merit imperial disfavour and severe reprimand, possibly including imprisonment. The double bind working on officials in this Guangdong setting could not have been any stronger.
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Early in the morning after the handover ceremonies Legge was woken by the River Superintendent ("Hoppo") and urged him to get an early start in his boat headed toward Canton. After the ceremonies the day before Legge had left the keys of the house in Ch'ea's hands, nominating the former keeper of the temple of Master Kong now the keeper of the new chapel dedicated to shangdi. When Legge mentioned to the Hoppo that he wanted to leave parting words with Ch'ea, the Hoppo apparently promised to pass on any message, and so Legge compliantly entered the waiting boat and headed off before sunrise.
What motivated the Hoppo to treat Legge in this manner is