Loreha on been made on a her passage from hence to Macao, in which Sen house, the Spanish Government Agent in charge of the Mails, lost his life, and M. Page, the Secretary to the French Legation in China was desperately wounded; and this recurred within a few miles of the Harbour.
3. I enclose for your Lordship's information a Return made to me by the Superintendent of Police, of the acts of Piracy that have been reported to him since January, which will show that 13 boats have been pillaged in this neighbourhood during the past three months, - ten of which may be considered as belonging to the Colony.
4. By a glance at the map, your Lordship will at once perceive the serious difficulties that present themselves against this nefarious system being effectually suppressed; and it indeed may be said that the Pirates should be rooted out by the Chinese authorities. Nevertheless, the interests of this Colony demand that, to a certain extent, we should protect our Coasts and the waters in our immediate vicinity.
5. The various means of disguise adopted by the Pirates, the long intervals before Piracies are reported, the difficulty of distinguishing Pirate boats from trading boats, the numerous harbours in all directions accessible to their boats in the Chinese Territories, all tend to render their capture nearly hopeless, either by the boats of men-of-war or by others of European construction.
6. From various causes, Piracy is more than ordinarily rife at the present time, and is now ascertained to be carried on under an organized system; for a few days ago, a Chinaman was brought before...