paid the owners at the rate of £ 120 a chest, by twelve months'
bills on the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, was not to
extinguish the trade but to give it a fresh fillip by relieving
an overglutted market from the depressing weight of stocks .
After March 24, 1839, when 20,283 chests of opium, which
the holders could not have sold without ruin , were surrendered
to Lin, prices recovered and the opium traffic was carried on
with greater vigour and yielded larger profits than ever. By
binding sixteen men, among whom were some of the foremost
English merchants, gentlemen of high culture and refined
feelings, to abstain from all future participation in the opium
trade, which promise they all adhered to honourably, Lin merely
helped to drive the opium trade into the hands of a lower and
less scrupulous set of merchants. Lin's opium policy was an
utter failure.
His policy with regard to the legitimate foreign trade was,
moreover, equally unfortunate, because based on an utter mis-
conception of the character and power of the English, whom
Lin, like Napoleon, supposed to be nothing but a nation of
shopkeepers, whose lives and fortunes depended upon the supply
of Chinese tea, silk and rhubarb. His utter disregard of the
sacredness which Britain attributes to the life, the liberty and
the property of others, his reckless assumption that civilised
7
98 CHAPTER IX.
foreigners, temporarily residing in China, must submit themselves
to the barbarous code of Chinese penal laws and to the corrupt
judicial process of Chinese tribunals, his open and undisguised
determination to hold one set of foreign merchants responsible
with their lives for the doings of others not under their control,
his absurd affirmation of the sovereignty of China over Great
Britain and other foreign nations, and finally his persistent
refusal to give to Her Majesty's Representative in China a
dignified official status, all these measures of Lin, as the typical
representative of Chinese mandarindom, served only to force
upon the English people, aroused at last from their apathy by
the startling news of the imprisonment of the whole foreign
community, the conviction that some serious alterations in British
relations with the Chinese Empire were necessary and that
British commerce could never be safely carried on, and certainly
could never flourish in a country where British property are
alike at the mercy of a capricious, corrupt and inordinately
conceited Government . Driven out from Canton, and feeling
that British trade with China must henceforth be carried on
within sight of British shipping aud close to the sea, on which
Great Britain can hold her own against all comers , both Elliot
and the British merchants now turned a deaf ear to all Lin's
proposals for a reopening of trade, even under new regulations,
at Canton or Whampoa. Forty-two British firms signed (May
23, 1889) a Memorial addressed to Lord Palmerston, in which
they complained of the insincerity of the Canton Authorities
in their dealing with the opium trade which these Authorities had
themselves encouraged and supported for so many years, and
of the violent measures of Commissioner Lin which made it a
matter of pressing necessity to place the general trade of British
subjects in China upon a secure and permanent basis . British
merchants had no wish now to return to Canton under any
circumstances. Their eyes were turned in the direction of Macao.
Even before the imprisonment of the foreign community
at Canton had come to an end, Elliot had managed, with great
difficulty and risks, to send a message from Canton (April 13,
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 99
1839) to the Governor of Macao, throwing himself and all Her
Majesty's subjects by anticipation under the protection of the
Portuguese Government, and offering at the same time, on
behalf of the British Government, immediate facilities on the
British Treasury for the purpose of putting Macao in a state of
effectual defence and of equipping some armed vessels to keep
the coast clear. The Portuguese Governor, A. A. da Silveira
Pinto, in reply (April 13 , 1839 ), declined this offer on the
ground that his very peculiar position compelled him to observe
a strict neutrality as long as possible or until there should be
evidence of the imminent peril which, he said, Elliot seemed to
fear. Governor Pinto failed to understand that the imprisonment
of the foreign community and of Her Majesty's Representative
in China was in itself tantamount to a declaration of war. As
soon as the Canton imprisonment came to an end, Captain Elliot
(May 6 , 1839 ) wrote to Lord Palmerston stating that access to
Macao was now a matter of indispensable necessity for British
trade in China, and that the settlement of Macao could easily
be placed in a state of effective defence. He recommended that
Lord Palmerston should conclude an immediate arrangement
with the Government of Macao, either for the cession of the
Portuguese claims to the place, or for its effectual defence and
its appropriation to British uses by means of a subsidiary
convention.
By the time the Canton prisoners were free to leave and
began to take refuge at Macao, Governor Pinto had reason to
observe that Commissioner Lin's policy was as hostile to the
interests of Portuguese as to those of the British merchants.
Governor Pinto had ordered off all opium stored at Macao and
sent it (3,000 chests) to Manila, where it was safe from Lin's
clutches ; but the revenue of Macao, previously amounting to
$100,000 a year, chiefly levied on the opium trade, had now
dwindled down to next to nothing, and, besides, the Chinese
now began to blockade Macao on the land side and Commis-
sioner Lin coolly proposed to take charge of the Portuguese
fortifications. Under the influence of these circumstances
100 CHAPTER IX.
Governor Pinto gave the British refugees at first a cordial
welcome. It seemed, indeed , as if the Government of Macao
would make common cause with the British in their hour of
distress. But Commissioner Lin interfered . As soon as Elliot
requested Lin to send a special deputy to Macao to confer with
him as to the continuance of the trade, and asked for permission
to make Macao henceforth the headquarters of British commerce
in China, Lin set to work to turn the mind of Governor Pinto
against the British. Lin now relinquished his claim to occupy
the forts of Macao and promised the Governor to leave him .
in undisturbed possession of the settlement, on condition that
the Macao Government should aid him in the suppression of
the opium traffic and in driving out the English from the
place. Lin was determined to force British trade back to
Whampoa and Canton, because he had pledged his word to
the Emperor that, after extirpating the opium trade, he would
soon be able to report the peaceful resumption of the regular
British trade at Canton.
There is no evidence to show that Governor Pinto entered
into any definite understanding with Lin on the subject, but
within three months after the arrival of the British refugees
at Macao, they all felt more or less that they had ceased to be
welcome guests , and that the Governor had fallen back upon
his original position of strict neutrality.
Lin was massing troops around Macao and had also ordered
a camp to be erected opposite Hongkong on the point called
Tsimshatsui, which, as part of the Kowloon peninsula, protrudes
into the harbour of Hongkong. Lin's object was, whilst driving
out the British from Macao, to disturb at the same time their
shipping in Hongkong harbour, so as to compel the British
merchants to come back into his loving arms at Canton.
Whilst these measures were in course of preparation, an
event happened, which caused a great deal of trouble to Elliot .
Some American sailors and British lascars, belonging to the
merchant ships which, for mutual protection and defence, had
taken refuge in Hongkong harbour (since March 24, 1839 ) ,
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 101
went on shore one evening (July 7 , 1839) at Tsimshatsui, and
got into a drunken fray with the Chinese, in the course of which
a Chinaman, named Lin Wai-hi, was killed . Elliot at once
hastened to Hongkong and held a strict inquiry, terminating in
the criminal trial of some lascars by a British jury. But there
was no evidence whatever bringing home the charge of
manslaughter to any one. The Chinese Government had been
invited by Elliot to send some officers to witness the trial, but
Lin claimed the jurisdiction for himself, sent no officer to watch
the case and made a great clamour demanding of Elliot, again.
and again, that he should surrender the murderer or some British
subject in his place. Lin, moreover, now demanded , in the
most peremptory terms, that Elliot and all British merchants
should at once sign a bond declaring that hereafter British
subjects charged with any crime should at once be handed over
to the Chinese Government to be tried according to Chinese
forms of proceeding (involving examination by torture both of
the accused and his witnesses) and to be executed according to
the methods in vogue in China.
Poor Lin, he could not understand that the day for making
such demands had entirely gone by, and that, by insisting upon
them , he effectually defeated his own scheme of bringing British
trade back to Canton . But he blindly rushed on in his mad
career. He now ordered the Chinese sub-Prefect of Macao to
withdraw all Chinese servants from British residents at Macao
(July 21 , 1889 ) . Later on, he formally interdicted (August 15,
1839) the supply of provisions of any kind to British persons or
ships. When British residents at Macao supplied the places of
their Chinese servants with Portuguese, Lin forthwith requested
Governor Pinto to prohibit Portuguese subjects either serving
the British as domestic servants or supplying them with food
or drink, and issued edict after edict, ordering the departure
of British subjects on pain of severe punishment, and declaring
them all to be responsible with their lives for the surrender
of the murderer of Lin Wai-hi. A provisional Committee of
a British Chamber of Commerce had been formed at Macao
102 CHAPTER IX.
(August 3, 1839), Mr. James Mathieson acting as Chairman ,
Mr. Scott. (the Secretary of the former Canton Chamber) as
Secretary , and Messrs . J. H. Astell, G. Braine, W. Bell, G. Smith
and Hinshaw Furdonjee as provisional Committee . Captain
Elliot now consulted them and, acting in accord with their
views, informed a public meeting of the British community.
at Macao (August 21 , 1839) that, whereas the Chinese Imperial
Commissioner had prohibited the Governor of Macao rendering
any assistance to British subjects, he was unwilling to compromise
Portuguese interests any further and proposed to leave Macao
and to take refuge on board the ships in Hongkong harbour
as soon as possible. Two days afterwards Captain Elliot and
his family removed from Macao, Governor Pinto having made
no declaration of his willingness that his English guests should
remain. The whole British community meanwhile hastened to
wind up their local business affairs and prepared for another
exodus. The general excitement was increased by a disgraceful
outrage, committed by the Chinese on the crew and a passenger
(all British) of a small schooner (Black Joke) , plying between
Macao and Hongkong as a passage boat, when (with one
exception) the whole crew were murdered and the passenger
(Mr. Moss) horribly mutilated (August 24, 1839 ) . The
provisional Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce,
in almost daily session after Elliot's departure, had frequent
interviews with Governor Pinto, who was evidently in a great
state of alarm, though he expressed his determination to afford
the British community all the protection and aid in his power.
However, on the evening of August 25, he told the Committee
that he could not answer for the safety of British subjects
remaining in Macao for more than eighteen hours longer. The
Committee accordingly convened a public meeting the same night
and it was resolved to leave Macao the following day. The night
was spent in watching for an armed attack expected to be made
simultaneously on all British houses by the Chinese soldiery.
Nothing happened, however, and at noon on Monday, August 26 ,
1839, the second British exodus commenced . Men, women and
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 103
children, with bag and baggage, were hurried through the streets
of Macao amidst a terrible excitement of the whole population ,
expecting every moment a massacre by the Chinese soldiery.
The refugees assembled on the Praya in the presence of Governor
Pinto who had the whole of the Portuguese troops (some 400
Indian lascars and 500 Caffre slaves) under arms, and embarked
hurriedly on board British ships, lorchas, schooners and boats
of all descriptions, which immediately set sail for Hongkong
harbour, a mournful procession, to seek refuge on board the
ships at Hongkong.
One might well suppose that now at last the time had come
for the establishment of a British Colony on the island of
Hongkong, but no such thought was entertained yet . Driven
out from Canton , bowed out of Macao, forced to retreat to
the ships anchored in the harbour of Hongkong, the British
merchants looked back with regret to the flesh pots of Macao.
The appearance of affairs at Hongkong was indeed depressing.
On one side of the harbour there was a well-nigh barren rock,
unable to supply provisions for the two thousand British subjects.
now crowded together on shipboard in a starving condition, and
on the other side they beheld a large Chinese camp in process
of construction on Kowloon peninsula, with two shore batteries
on Tsimshatsui, one at the present Craig Millar and the other
near the site of the present Military Barracks, commanding the
best portions of the anchorage. These were not encouraging
sights . Provisions were obtainable with great difficulty from
Chinese junks and bum-boats, but prices were very high. No
wonder that fresh negotiations now commenced with Governor
Pinto. Captain Elliot, established on board the ship Fort
William, which subsequently for many years graced the harbour
of Hongkong as a receiving hulk, wrote to Governor Pinto
(September 1 , 1839) , offering to send all the British subjects
back to Macao, anl to place at the Governor's disposal H.M.S.
Volage which had just arrived, and a force of 800 to 1000
men for the defence of the Portuguese settlement. Elliot
remarked at the same time, with reference to certain Chinese
104 CHAPTER IX.
official documents in his possession, that the action of the
Chinese Government, in praising and thanking the Portuguese
Authorities for assisting them in driving forth the British
people,' was no doubt an infamous calumny, which must have
been a source of deep chagrin to the Governor. Here was
another chance for the Portuguese Government of preventing,
at the last moment, the establishment of a rival Colony at
Hongkong, and of making the fortune of Macao. But Adriao
Accacio da Silveira Pinto, Governor of Macao and its Depen-
dencies, impelled no doubt by foolish instructions from Lisbon,
slammed the door in the face of the British community. He
replied (September 3, 1839 ), in stiff but stately terms, that he
could not cease to preserve the most strict neutrality between
the Chinese and British nations, and added that the British
subjects, having retired of their own accord from Macao with
a view of not compromising the Portuguese establishment, had
by this step placed themselves under the necessity of not
landing there again so long as all the difficulties now existing
between the Chinese and the English should continue unsettled .
When Governor Pinto sealed this letter, he sealed the doom
of Macao's prosperity as a Colony and virtually established
Hongkong.
Nevertheless the time for Hongkong, though now seemingly
near at hand, had not come yet . Elliot was, on the one hand,
determined not to locate British trade again within the Bogue,
but, on the other hand, he was averse to the idea of settling on
the island of Hongkong, probably on account of its inability
to furnish provisions and on account of the proximity of the
Kowloon peninsula then occupied by Chinese troops. When
Elliot, seeing the scarcity of provisions, went with Dr. Gützlaff
in two small boats (September 4, 1839 ) to induce the villagers
near Kowloon city to furnish the fleet with provisions, three
Chinese war junks and the battery at Kowloon pier (still in
existence) opened fire upon them, which was gallantly returned
by Elliot's boats, and the junks were driven off. As to the
merchants, they likewise do not appear to have entertained any
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 105
desire yet to settle on Hongkong. They now (September 7 ,
1839) addressed a Memorial to Lord Palmerston, which was
signed by twenty-eight British firms, representing thirty-eight
sea-going British ships assembled in Hongkong Bay. But in
this Memorial there is not a word as to the establishment of
a British Colony. The memorialists complained of having been
driven out from Canton and from Macao. They stated that
they left Macao under a perfect conviction that such a course
was imperatively necessary for the general safety . They also
repeated their former declaration that, after the violent acts of
Commissioner Lin, the return of British subjects to Canton
would be alike dangerous to themselves and to the property of
their constituents and derogatory to the honour of their country,
' until such time as the power of the British Government might
convince the Chinese Authorities that such outrages would not
be endured.' These last words appear to indicate that the British
merchants expected speedy succour from home, the effective
punishment of the Cantonese Authorities, and finally re-estab-
lishment of the whole British community, on a new basis of
international equality, at Canton or Macao. Hongkong had no
chance yet.
Meanwhile Commissioner Lin, after arranging for a
re-opening of trade with Macao, on condition that the British
should remain excluded from the port, and after strengthening
the defences of Tsimshatsui, set to work to cajole the American
and other foreign merchants to remain in or return to Canton,
and did everything he could to bring about a division among
the British merchants and to set them against Elliot . Lin now
looked upon Elliot as the only hindrance in his way, and
accordingly charged him, in public proclamations, with all sorts
of crimes, in order to arouse among the Chinese people a strong
feeling against Elliot. Lin also directed the Magistrates of
neighbouring districts to issue proclamations prohibiting, under
severe penalties, the supply of provisions to the British fleet,
and commanding the people to fire upon British subjects
whenever they went on shore.
106 CHAPTER IX.
In consequence of these proceedings Captain Smith, in
command of H.M.S. Volage, gave notice of his intention of estab-
lishing a blockade of the port of Canton ( September 11 , 1839 ) ,
but when the Cantonese Authorities thereupon promised to
withdraw the offensive proclamations, the blockade was suspended
five days later. Negotiations now commenced afresh concerning
Elliot's desire to bring the British community back to Macao.
Captains Elliot and Smith had an interview ( September 24, 1839 )
with the Chinese Sub- Prefect of Macao, in the presence of
Governor Pinto, endeavouring to find a basis of agreement
between Elliot and Lin. Elliot was determined not to re-open
trade inside the Bogue . Lin was equally determined not to
let the British return to Macao. Accordingly it was proposed.
on the Chinese side, as a compromise, that British trade should
henceforth be conducted at Chuenpi, under the guns of the
Bogue forts. Lin proposed also a series of new trade regulations,
the leading ideas of which were that the Hong Merchants'
monopoly of supervising and conducting the trade as responsible
mediators should continue, and that cargoes should be at the
risk of the ship until laid down at Canton, and at the risk of
the Hong Merchants until shipped on board. This compromise
would have had a good chance of success, had not Lin coupled
with it the impossible stipulation that every merchant , before
participating in the trade, should sign a bond, agreeing that
all British subjects in China should be subject to trial and
capital punishment by Chinese tribunals according to the
provisions of the Penal Code of China. Captain Elliot having
asked a representative Committee of British merchants (Messrs .
H. Wright, G. T. Braine, W. Wallace and Wilkinson Dent)
to advise him on the subject of the proposed trade regulations,
the Committee, after consultation with the Hong Merchants,
stated (October 22, 1839) that in their opinion a trade under
the proposed new plan could not be commenced until the British
.
community had returned to Macao. Individuals from among
the British community indeed went back to Macao whilst these
negotiations proceeded . A British ship (Thomas Coutts) , the
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 107
master of which (Captain Warner), acting under legal advice
obtained in India, signed the bond of submission to Chinese
criminal jurisdiction, entered the Bogue in defiance of Elliot's
prohibition. The ship was admitted to trade and liberally treated
by the Chinese who were anxious that other British skippers
should follow the example of Captain Warner.
When Elliot informed Lin of his inability to approve of
British trade being re-opened on the proposed basis at Chuenpi,
Lin sent to Elliot (October 26 , 1839 ) a peremptory demand
that all British ships should leave the coast of China within
three days, unless the bond of submission to Chinese criminal
jurisdiction were signed at once. Captain Elliot, being aware
that Lin followed up this demand by preparing numbers of fire-
ships and assembling a large fleet of war-junks, to attack the
British ships in Hongkong Bay, and considering the anchorage
in Tungku Bay to be less liable to surprise by fire-ships, now
ordered all the British ships anchored at Hongkong to remove to
Tungku. But the commanders of thirty-five ships at Hongkong,
and the heads of twenty British firms, together with the agents
for Lloyds and for eleven Insurance Offices, protested repeatedly
(October 26 and November 9, 1839) against this order. They
were of opinion that Tungku anchorage was less safe and that ,
if Hongkong were deserted , the Chinese would occupy and fortify
the Island . The merchant ships accordingly remained , for the
present, anchored in Hongkong Harbour.
Captain Smith (H.M.S. Volage) was under strict injunctions.
from the Admiralty to avoid by all means possible any collision
with the Chinese. Observing, however, the daily increase of
troops in the neighbourhood of the shipping at Hongkong,
and the erection of batteries approaching now the beach, he
resolved to make a decided stand against further encroachments.
Accordingly he proposed (October 28, 1839 ) to deliver at the
Bogue forts a letter addressed to Commissioner Lin , demanding
that the warlike and hostile proclamations should be withdrawn
and British merchants allowed to reside at Macao. Captain
Elliot, having agreed to this measure, went the same day on
108 CHAPTER IX.
the Volage which, together with H.M.S. Hyacinth (Captain
Warren), proceeded forthwith to the Bogue forts, where Com-
missioner Lin and Viceroy Tang were at the time inspecting
the forts, fire-ships, and a fleet of twenty-nine powerful war-
junks under the command of Admiral Kwan (a direct descendant
of Kwan Ti, the god of war) . On arrival at the Bogue on the
morning of November 2, 1839, Captain Smith sent to Admiral
Kwan a letter addressed to Commissioner Lin and Viceroy Tang.
This letter, written in Chinese, contained a demand that , within
three days, a proclamation should be published withdrawing
the official orders for the destruction of English cargo ships ,
and permitting English merchants and families to reside on
shore and to be furnished with servants and supplies until the
commands of the Queen of England could be received for
the adjustment of all difficulties. In forwarding this letter by
an Interpreter ( Mr. Morrison) , Captain Smith informed the
Admiral that he would wait for the reply of Lin and Tang and
that the boat conveying the reply should carry a white flag.
Admiral Kwan civilly promised to submit the letter to their
Excellencies, but expressed a wish that the two frigates should
meanwhile move down a little further. Captain Smith im-
mediately complied with this request to show his sincerity.
Instead of forwarding a reply, however, Admiral Kwan twice
sent for Mr. Morrison to visit him, which requests were refused,
on the ground that Captain Smith's letter stated all that was
needful. Next morning, in the course of the forenoon (November
3, 1839 ) , the Chinese squadron, under Admiral Kwan, broke
ground and stood out towards Her Majesty's ships, which were
immediately got under weigh and directed towards the appro-
aching force. As soon as the Chinese observed this proceeding,
their squadron anchored in good order to the number of
twenty-nine sail, and Her Majesty's ships were hove to, whilst
a message was sent by Captain Smith to the war-junks, requesting
them instantly to return to the anchorage north of Chuenpi.
In reply Admiral Kwan stated that, if the murderer of Lin
Wai-hi were at once surrendered to him , he would draw back
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 109
his force to the Bogue, but not otherwise. The Admiral, at
the same time, returned Captain Smith's original letter, addressed
to Lin and Tang, without an answer. This was plain enough
and forthwith ensued the Battle of Chaenpi. As it is the
first naval engagement between Chinese and English ships of
war that history knows of, a detailed account of it, both from
Chinese and English sources, will be of interest .
According to Chinese history the Battle of Chuenpi arose
out of Elliot's sending two men-of-war to the Bogue with a
petition that the Chinese should have mercy on the British
ships at Tsimshatsui and not destroy them, so that he might
wait for dispatches from England . Admiral Kwan returned
the petition unanswered because the English refused to surrender
the murderer of Lin Wai-hi. Just then five Chinese war- ships
started to preserve peace on the seaboard, carrying red flags
at their mast -heads . The English mistook these flags for a
declaration of war, because in England a red flag means war
and a white one peace, and opened fire. Admiral Kwan advanced
foremost, leading on the forces in his own person, standing
by the mast of his junk, and returning shot for shot . The
figure-head of one English ship was knocked off by shots from
Kwan's guns, causing the death by drowning of many European
soldiers. When the Emperor read the account of this
engagement , he wrote on the margin, Admiral Kwan ought
to have known better than standing by the mast, whereby he
compromised the dignity of his office in the eyes of his men.'
At the time the Emperor bestowed on him, for his bravery,
the title of Batulu, and ordered a statement of officers deserving
honours and a list of the persons killed and wounded in the
action to be prepared that they might receive the rewards enacted
by law.
The English account of the Battle of Chuenpi is somewhat
6
different. The following is Captain Elliot's version. Captain
Smith did not feel himself warranted in leaving this formidable
Chinese flotilla at liberty to pass inside of him at night and to
carry into effect the menaces against the merchant vessels.
110 CHAPTER IX.
Thinking that the retirement of the two ships of Her Majesty
(Volage and Hyacinth) , before a force moved out with the
palpable intention to intimidate, was not compatible with the
honour of the flag, he determined forthwith to constrain their
return to their former anchorage. Therefore, about noon
(November 3, 1839), the signal was made to engage, and the
ships, then lying hove to, on the extreme right of the Chinese
force, bore away in a line ahead and close order, having the
wind on the starboard beam. In this way, and under sail, they
ran down the Chinese line, pouring in a destructive fire. The
lateral direction of the wind enabled the ships to perform the
same evolution from the opposite extreme of the line, running
up it again with the larboard broadsides bearing . The Chinese
answered with their accustomed spirit ; but the terrible effect
of our own fire was soon manifest. One war-junk blew up
at about pistol shot distance from the l'olage, a shot probably
having passed through the magazine ; three were sunk and
several others were obviously water-logged. It is an act of
justice to a brave man to say, that the Chinese Admiral's conduct
was worthy of his station . His junk was evidently better armed
and manned than the other vessels ; and , after he had weighed
or, more probably, cut or slipped, he bore up and engaged
Her Majesty's ships in handsome style, manifesting a resolution
of behaviour, honourably enhanced by the hopelessness of his
efforts. In less than three-quarters of an hour, however, he
and the remainder of the squadron were retiring in great distress
to their former anchorage ; and as it was not Captain Smith's
disposition to protract destructive hostilities, or indeed to do
more than repel onward movements, he offered no obstruction
to their retreat, but discontinued the fire and made sail for
Macao with the purpose to cover the embarkation of such of
Her Majesty's subjects as might see fit to retire from that place.'
We may add to this account that the Volage got some shot
through her sails and the Hyacinth was a good deal cut up
in her rigging and spars ; a twelve-pound shot lodged in her
mizenmast and one went through her main yard , requiring it
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 111
to be secured . The wretched gunnery of the Chinese hurt no
one. Their guns and powder must have been good, from the
distance they carried, but not being fitted for elevation and
depression, all their shots were too high to have any effect .
except on the spars and rigging
As soon as the news of the battle of Chuenpi reached the
Chinese army encamped at Tsimshatsui, the shore batteries
opened fire (November 6, 1839) upon the merchant ships
anchored in Hongkong harbour, keeping up a rambling can-
nonade for several days. There is a statement in the Chinese
Annals that, in November, 1839, the English unsuccessfully
attacked the fort north of Tsimshatsui, but that, as the wells
had been poisoned, and they feared a night attack, they made
off to their ships again . There is no evidence for the correctness
of this statement. Owing, however, to the above- mentioned
cannonade, the commanders of the merchant ships resolved to
yield to Elliot's previous demands and removed the ships to
Tungku. Hongkong was once more deserted .
Ever since British merchants were excluded by Commissioner
Lin from any direct share in the trade conducted at Macao and
especially since his failure to induce them to resort to Chuenpi,
and whilst Elliot prohibited their returning to Canton or
Whampoa, a great deal of freighting business had been going
on by means of trans-shipment of British cargoes to and from
American and other foreign vessels. The anxiety of British
shipowners and consignees to clear their vessels caused them to
chafe under the restraints imposed upon them by the deadlock
of understanding between Lin and Elliot . Only one English
ship, the Royal Saxon (Captain Town) , followed the bad example
set by Captain Warner. But as the animosity of Lin extended
only to loyal British merchants and ships, whilst the ships of
other foreign nationalities were treated by Lin as neutrals and
rather favoured because they signed the bond which Elliot so
abhorred, a great demand arose for neutral ships, under the
benefit of the bond, to carry cargo to and fro between the
port of Whampoa and British ships at Hongkong or Tungku.
112 CHAPTER IX.
Freights for this short route rose to $ 6 per bale of cotton to
be carried to Whampoa, and $10 per ton for Chinese produce
from Whampoa to the British ships. This depreciation of the
British flag and the enhancement of the value of other flags
went to such lengths that one British ship after the other was
sold for nominal considerations, the American Consul especially
giving his sanction to such transfers , offensive as they were to
Captain Elliot. The total exclusion of British merchants from
direct trade with China, which had been an accomplished fact
for some time, was formally declared by an Imperial Edict
published in Canton (November 26 , 1839) , to the effect that ,
whereas the English had been vacillating iu their treatment of
the opium question , it was no longer compatible with dignity
to continue to permit their trade, and the English trade must
therefore be entirely stopped from after December 6 , 1839 , and
for ever. This state of things, continuing for twelve months.
longer to the great detriment of British commercial interests,
formed eventually the most powerful cause resulting in a demand
for the cession of Hongkong.
For the present, however, Elliot strained every nerve to
induce Lin to accede to his wish that British trade should be
re-established, in some form or other, at Macao, but Lin, though
once more earnestly entreated by Elliot (December 16, 1839 ) to
consent to some compromise in this direction, proved inexorable.
Even the Portuguese Governor of Macao joined Lin in his
obstructive policy, and when Captain Elliot (January 1 , 1840)
asked Governor Pinto, in the name of Her Britannic Majesty,
to permit at least the storing of the remainder of British cargoes
in the warehouses of Macao upon the payment of the duties
fixed by the regulations of the place, he met with an equally
decided rebuff. In this unfriendly line of conduct, the
Portuguese Governor went even farther. At the beginning of
February, 1840, it happened that atrocious proclamations against
the English were again posted on the walls of Macao. Captain
Smith, seeing the lives of British subjects residing at Macao
endangered by those placards, ordered H.M.S. Hyacinth to enter
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 113
the inner harbour of Macao (February 4, 1840 ), with a view to
enable British subjects to take refuge on board . Thereupon
both Governor Pinto and the Senate of Macao waxed wroth,
declared their dignity offended, their neutrality violated and
sternly ordered the ship to leave immediately. Captain Smith
yielded and withdrew the Hyacinth on the following day.
However the very lowest ebb of the honour and fortunes of
British trade in China had now been reached, and a change
was at hand.
In England public opinion was now at last fairly aroused,
thanks to the keynote struck by the Queen's Speech from the
Throne (January, 1840) in which Her Majesty identified her
interests and the dignity of the Crown with the fate of Elliot
and the British merchants in China. Whilst regretting or
condemning the opium trade as a whole, the British public clearly
perceived that British trade with China must be re-organized
on an entirely new basis. Arrangements were quietly made
by the Government to fit out an expedition to China . Lord
Palmerston explained in the House of Commons (March 12 ,
1840) that the object of this expedition was not to commence
hostilities but to open up communication with the Emperor
of China. The good people of Great Britain did not want war
with China and especially not for the sake of the opium trade,
but they were quite satisfied that, as an Order in Council
(April 4, 1840) expressed it, satisfaction and reparation should
be demanded from the Chinese Government on account of the
late injurious proceedings of certain officers of the Emperor
of China.
The Chinese Government was meanwhile kept tolerably
well informed of what transpired in England. Commissioner
Lin had a great passion for keeping spies among the employés
of British merchants and officers, and his intelligence department
kept him supplied with translations of newspaper cuttings . Lin
accordingly was able to inform the Emperor, long before the
expedition arrived, that Elliot had applied for troops to be
sent to China ; that the Queen had directed Parliament to
8
114 CHAPTER IX.
deliberate upon the matter ; that the official body, civil and
military, were in favour, of war, whilst the mercantile interest
was for peace ; that discussion went on for several days
without any definite result ; but that at last lots were drawn
in the Lo Chan-sze Temple and three tickets were found in
favour of war which was therefore resolved on ; that Pak- mak
(Bremer), the Queen's relative by marriage, was ordered to
take a dozen or so of war-ships under his command, to
which were added twenty or thirty guardships from India.'
6
The Emperor replied, after reading this report, What can
they do, if we quietly wait on the defensive and watch their
movememts ? ' Soon after, when Lin was asked (June 1 , 1840)
by some American merchants in Canton to allow their ships
to clear with their cargoes as quickly as possible because the
British expedition would soon arrive and blockade the port,
Lin sneered at the idea of the English being daring enough
or able to effectively blockade the Canton River.
Lin, however, was too hot-tempered a man to wait quietly.
Early in the year (January 16, 1840 ) he strengthened the
defences of Tsimshatsui by building a new fort on the site of
the present Water-police Station, and supplied the Bogue forts
with some 200 new cannons of foreign construction , which he
had no difficulty in buying in Canton from friendly foreign
merchants. He was anxious to set foreigners to fight the English
but could not manage it. He then purchased several foreign
ships and had junks built in foreign style, fitted them up like
men-of- war, and ordered their crews to be drilled in foreign
fashion. But he was quick-witted enough to see, on witnessing
some trial manoeuvres, that this plan would not work, and
gave it up. So he turned all his attention to the plan he
had commenced long before, in August, 1839, by starting a
volunteer fleet, formed by engaging fishermen and pirates
at $6 a month each, with $ 6 extra for each of their families,
the funds being provided in the way common in China, viz .
by compelling well -to - do people to give voluntary ' subscriptions
for public purposes . But this volunteer fleet, let loose to
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 115
prey upon British shipping (since August, 1839) with war-
junks and fire-ships, and to prevent disloyal Chinese traders
from supplying the British ships with provisions, accomplished
next to nothing. They burned, by mistake, the Spanish brig
Bilbaino (September, 1839) , captured here and there Chinese
junks which supplied British ships with provisions, made
sundry night attacks on British vessels by sending down
upon them, with the tide, fire-ships chained together in
couples, but they did not capture a single British ship or
boat. Commissioner Lin then resorted to the usual Chinese
appeal to sordid avarice and ordered the Magistrates of the
neighbouring districts to issue proclamations offering rewards,
not merely for the destruction of British men-of-war or
merchant vessels, for which large sums of money were promised,
but for the capture or assassination of individuals. Accordingly
a price of $ 5,000 was put on Elliot's head, sums ranging from
$5,000 to $500 were offered for any English officer, according
to gradation of rank, made prisoner, and one third of the
money in each case for any British officer killed, also a
reward of $ 100 was offered for any British merchant made
prisoner and $20 for any such merchant killed. But Lin's
bounty and assassination schemes were nearly as fruitless as
his volunteer scheme. No British officer was captured or
murdered, and but few British civilians were made prisoners
or assassinated, though secret ambushes were laid frequently
and the poisoning of wells was a common practice.
In June 1840 , the ships forming the expedition began
to assemble in Hongkong harbour, and every day now brought
some man-of-war or troopship or other from England or India .
By the end of June there had arrived seventeen men - of- war
among them three line-of- battle ships (the Melville, Wellesley
and Blenheim), with four of the East India Company's armed
steamers (the Queen, Atalanta, Madagascar and Enterprise, to
which subsequently the Nemesis was added) . There were also
twenty-seven troopships, which brought three regiments (18th
Royal Irish, 26th Cameronians and 49th Bengal Volunteers) ,
116 CHAPTER IX.
a corps of Bengal Engineers, and a corps of Madras sappers
and miners, about 4,000 fighting men in all. The expedition
was under the command of Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer, subject
to the orders of two Plenipotentiaries, viz . Rear Admiral, the
Hon. George Elliot, and Captain Ch. Elliot, R.N. , the former
Chief Superintendent of Trade at Canton.
The instructions which the Cabinet had given to the two
Plenipotentiaries were, ( 1 ) to obtain reparation for the insults.
and injuries offered to Her Majesty's Superintendent and to
Her Majesty's subjects by the Chinese Government, (2) to
obtain for British merchants trading with China an indemni-
fication for the loss of their property incurred by the threats
of violence offered by persons under the direction of the
Government, and (3) to obtain a certain security that persons
in future trading with China shall be protected from insult
or injury, and that their trade and commerce be maintained
upon a proper footing.
It will be observed from the tenor of these general
instructions, that the object of the expedition was not to make
war against China, but to communicate with the Chinese
Government (at Peking ) , in order to obtain official redress and
indemnity for the past and commercial immunities and securities
for the future. The means and mode of procedure now prescribed
were exactly what so many former Canton residents and notably
Mr. James Matheson had recommended in 1836. An appeal,
against the doings of the Cantonese Authorities, was to be made
to a misinformed and misguided Emperor and negotiations were
to be instituted with the moral support of the presence of an
expeditionary force ready for war in case pacific measures should
prove fruitless. Apart from the indemnity for the opium
extorted by Lin, the opium question was not included in the
programme, and very justly so, for in the reckoning which
England had now risen up to make with China , virtually for
two centuries of ill-treatment accorded to her merchants, the
opium question was a mere accidental extra . Finally, it will
also be observed that, among the objects of the expedition , the
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 117
cession of any portion of Chinese territory, or the formation
of a British Colony in the East, was not included . This was
no doubt agreeable to Captain Elliot who, as we have seen, was
averse to the notion of appropriating Hongkong or any other
island for the purposes of a Colony and merely looked for a
safe trade station on the coast and preferably at Macao.
The Indian Government suggested to the Plenipotentiaries
that, immediately upon the arrival of the expedition in China,
the Bogue forts should be razed to the ground, and the Island
of Lantao (W. of Hongkong) occupied as a commissariat depot,
with might at some future time answer as a trade station . But ,
as the first object of the expedition was peaceful communication
with Peking rather than war at Canton, the two Plenipotentiaries
agreed to abstain from any demonstration involving bloodshed
as long as possible. However, to prevent any misunderstanding
at Canton, Commodore Bremer was directed to give notice (June
21 , 1840) that a blockade of the port of Canton, by all its
entrances, would commence on June 28, and further, in order
to have a point d'appui for the expected negotiations in the North,
Commodore Bremer proceeded at once with an advanced force
to take possession of the Island of Chusan, which was accordingly
done (July 5 , 1840 ) by the occupation of Tinghai.
Admiral Elliot and Captain Elliot, following (June 30,
1840 ) in the wake of Commodore Bremer with the remainder
of the expedition , endeavoured first to induce the Authorities of
Chelkiang (the province to which Chusan belongs) to forward
to Peking a dispatch signed by Lord Palmerston and addressed
to the Imperial Authorities at Peking, but eventually they
proceeded to Tientsin where the dispatch was delivered to the
Viceroy of Chilli, called Kishen . According to Chinese history,
Lord Palmerston's dispatch, after making certain statements
intended to enlighten the Emperor as to the doings of the
Cantonese Authorities, made the following demands, viz. ( 1 )
payment of an indemnity for the value of the opium extorted
by Lin, (2 ) the opening of five treaty ports (Canton, Amoy,
Foochow, Tinghai and Shanghai) , ( 3) terms of official com-
118 CHAPTER IX.
munication on the basis of international equality, (4) payment
of the costs of the expedition , (5) a guarantee that one set
of merchants, should not be held responsible for the doings of
another, and ( 6 ) the abolition of the Hong Merchants' monopoly.
It will be observed that here also neither the cession of
Hongkong, nor the establishment of a Colony anywhere else,
was included in the programme. But as the Governor General
of India had referred to Lantao, and as the Plenipotentiaries,
immediately after the capture of Tinghai, organized a complete
civil, judicial and fiscal administration for the whole Island
of Chusan, as if it was to be a British Colony, the chances of
Hongkong now seemed even farther removed than ever.
The Emperor's eyes were opened at last when he perused
Lord Palmerston's dispatch, and seeing that he had either to
concede the British demands or go to war, he is said to have
observed, as he laid down the dispatch, that ' Lin caused the
war by his excessive zeal and killed people in order to close
their mouths .' Lin's enemies at Court now poured into the
Imperial car all sorts of whispers , in consequence of which both
Lin and Tang (the former Viceroy of Canton, now Viceroy
of Folkien ) were degraded . Kishen was appointed Imperial
Commissioner to arrange the Canton affairs, but he was hampered
by the direction to consult Lin and Tang as to the measures to
be taken. Eleepoo, the Viceroy of Nanking, was also appointed
Imperial Commissioner and directed to proceed to Ningpo
(opposite Chusan) to settle the Chusan affairs. After various
negotiations with Eleepoo, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries
concluded at Chusan a truce (November 6 , 1840 ) on an undefined
general understanding that the peaceful negotiations, which had
commenced, should be continued and concluded at Canton by
Kishen, and that meanwhile the English would hold Chusan.
as a guarantee .
Whilst the Plenipotentiaries were occupied in the North,
Commissioner Lin, though chafing under the blockade of the
Canton River, continued at first his former course of egging
on the scum of the people to acts of violence against the English
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 119
and placarded the walls of Macao again with inflammatory
denunciations directed against the English residents at that
place. The Rev. V. Stanton, officiating as British Chaplain
at Macao, was kidnapped on the shore ( August 5 , 1840 ) and
kept under close confinement in a common prison in Canton ,
until he was released by Kishen (December 12, 1840 ) . Owing
to Lin's interference with the supply of provisions at Macao,
four British gunboats shelled and captured the Chinese barrier
fort near Macao (August 19, 1840 ) ; otherwise no serious
movement of any importance took place near Canton until the
conclusion of the truce.
When the news of the Chusan truce reached Macao ,
disappointment, doubt and anxiety prevailed among the British
community. As soon as the two Plenipotentiaries arrived , five
British firms (Dent, Bell, Mevicar. Gribble Hughes and Dirom)
sent a joint address to Captain Elliot, inquiring, whether the
truce of Chusan implied a suspension of the Canton blockade,
whether it had been determined that British trade should in
future be carried on outside the Bogue, or whether it be
contemplated that English ships should enter the Bogue and
trade be carried on, temporarily, at Macao. To this inquiry
Captain Elliot replied from Tungku (November 27 , 1840 ) ,
declining to answer these questions on the ground that he was
ignorant of the intentions of the Chinese Government. But, as
Admiral Elliot , suffering under a severe illness, had to resign
his post and to return to England (December 1 , 1840 ) , leaving
to Captain Elliot the conduct of the negotiations as sole
Plenipotentiary, it was generally assumed that Elliot would
press for British trade to be conducted thenceforth outside the
Bogue, business being conducted exclusively at Macao. Sir
H. S. Fleming Senhouse partially succeeded Admiral Elliot in
the command of the flect, the command of the whole expedition
remaining in the hands of Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer.
At Canton, the Chinese officials and people were in a similar
state of uncertainty and misgiving, until Kishen's arrival
(November 29 , 1840 ) . When Elliot sent the steamer Queen,
120 CHAPTER IX.
under a flag of truce, to the Bogue (November 20, 1840 ) , to
announce his arrival and to deliver a dispatch by Eleepoo
addressed to Kishen, she was fired upon by the Bogue forts,
and the solid shot which the Queen dropped into the forts in
return for the discourtesy were presented to Lin in great triumph,
but an apology was tendered subsequently. In sending this
apology the Chinese officials, for the first time, addressed Elliot
in terms of proper respect . As soon as Kishen arrived in
Canton , he was entreated by the officials, literati and gentry
of Canton, not to give up a stone of their fortresses nor an
inch of their territory, but to resume hostile operations at once .
Kishen, however, had formed a better estimate of the power
of foreign arms, strategy and discipline, and was honestly
determined to make peace, yielding, however, as little as possible.
But as he by this policy ran counter to popular feeling and
lost the confidence and hearty co -operation of all his local
subordinates, his position was extremely difficult. Negotiations
were accordingly protracted from day to day and from week to
week without any ground being gained. Elliot having asked
for a port outside the Bogue, where British ships might load
and unload their cargoes, Kishen thought of offering to Elliot
either Amoy or Hongkong. But having been directed to consult
Lin and Tang, the latter, a man of keen statesman-like foresight,
urged that Amoy was the key of Fohkien, and that Hongkong,
occupying a central position in Cantonese waters, would be a
perpetual menace to the Cantonese Authorities if the English
were to fortify the Island of Kwantailou (Hongkong) and the
peninsula of Kowloon .' Thus Kishen found himself hermed
in at every step. Lin and Tang secretly counteracted his policy
by their influence upon Kishen's local subordinates and Kishen
noticed a mutinous spirit all around himself. Lin's intelligence
department also would not serve Kishen with a good will and
the latter was driven to confide all interpretation work to a
man, Pao Pang, who was looked upon by the Chinese as a traitor
and by Elliot as a menial, having been formerly Mr. Dent's
favourite butler in the old factory days.
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 121
At the beginning of January, 1841 , Elliot found himself,
after six weeks of negotiations, no nearer a settlement than
he had been before. He determined, therefore, to bring matters
to a crisis and sent to Kishen an ultimatum (January 6, 1841 )
to the effect that, unless some definite basis for an agreement
was proposed by Kishen by 8 A.M. on the following day, the
Bogue forts would be taken possession of forthwith. No answer
having been received next morning, the action , thenceforth to
be known as the Second Battle of Chuenpi, commenced, at
9.30 A.M. on January 7 , 1841 , when the fleet attacked the two
Bogue forts, Chuenpi (also called Shakok) on the East and
Taikok on the West of the Bogue, whilst the troops ( 1,461 men
all told) were landed in the rear of the forts and took them
by assault. Within an hour and a half, eighteen Chinese war-
junks were destroyed , some 500 Chinese soldiers were killed,
some 300 more wounded, while the loss on the English side
men wounded (mostly by explosions in blowing up
Chinese powder magazines ) , and none killed . At 11 o'clock
the action was over and the British flag fluttered lustily in the
breeze over the smouldering rains of the Bogue forts.
The Chinese historian gives the following account of the
Second Battle of Chuenpi. Whilst the guns of the English
fleet bombarded the two forts in front, a force of about 2,000
Chinese traitors scaled the hills and attacked them in the rear.
A hundred or more of these were blown up by exploded mines,
but the rest, far out-numbering the garrison of 600 men, came
swarming up notwithstanding. Two or three hundred more
were killed by our gingalls, but at last our powder was exhausted ,
and the steam-boats got round the forts and burned our fleet .
The other three forts, farther up the river, commanded by
Admiral Kwan, Rear-Admiral Li and Captain Ma respectively,
had only a few hundred men in them, who could do nothing
but regard each other with weeping eyes. Admiral Kwan sent
Li to Canton to apply for more troops, but Kishen was obdurate
and simply spent the night in writing ont further peace
proposals which he sent by Pao Pang to Elliot . Hongkong
122 CHAPTER IX.
was now offered, by Kishen, in addition to the opium indemnity
and the Chehkiang prisoners were exchanged for Tinghai. '
The last sentence of this Chinese account of the Second
Battle of Chuenpi is of special importance, as it fixes the source
from which the proposal to cede the Island of Hongkong to the
British Crown emanated . It was Kishen and not Elliot who
proposed the cession. As to the Chehkiang prisoners ' here
referred to, there is some mistake here. Kishen's proposal was
to cede Hongkong as a trade station (like Whampoa ) and
in exchange for the Bogue forts and Chusan (Tinghai) . Sub-
sequently, the Chehkiang prisoners ,' that is to say, the crew
and passengers of the troopship Kite, which stranded ( February
15 , 1841 ) by accident on a shoal near Tinghai and fell into
Chinese hands, were naturally surrendered by the Chinese when
Tinghai was evacuated.
After the capture of the Bogue forts, Admiral Kwan came
with a flag of truce, begging for an armistice, in order to give
the High Commissioner time to consider certain propositions
he intended offering for Elliot's acceptance. The armistice was
granted and shuffling negotiations recommenced . At last, on
January 20 , 1841 , was concluded the Treaty of Chuenpi .
By this Treaty, four preliminary propositions were agreed
to by the Chinese and British Plenipotentiaries, to the effect, ( 1 )
that the island and harbour of Hongkong (not including
Kowloon peninsula) should be ceded for ever to the British
Crown, and the Chinese batteries on Tsimshatui dismantled in
return for the demolished Bogue forts, ( 2) that an indemnity
of six million dollars should be paid to the British Government
in six annual instalments, the first being paid at once, (3 ) that
direct official intercourse between the two countries should be
conducted on a footing of international equality, and (4) that
the trade of the port of Canton should be opened within ten
days after the Chinese new year (therefore on February 1 , 1841 )
and be carried on at Whampoa, until further arrangements should
be practicable at Hongkong. All other details were to stand
over for further negotiation . It must be added, however, that
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG, 123
the first of the foregoing preliminaries of peace was coupled with
a proviso, subsequently disapproved by the British Government ,
to the effect that all just charges and duties to the Empire of
China, upon the commerce carried on at Hongkong, should be
paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa .' These words
indicate that the understanding which Kishen and Elliot , by
a mutual compromise, attached to the cession of Hongkong at
that time was, that Hongkong should be a hybrid cross between
a treaty port of China and a British Colony, the soil being owned
by Great Britain but trade charges levied by Chinese officials.
Such a mixed constitution would have proved a source of endless
friction between the two Governments, besides being a negation
of the free traders ' desire of a free port.
In notifying Her Majesty's subjects of the successful
conclusion of the Chuenpi Treaty (January 20, 1890) , Captain
Elliot informed them that, pending Her Majesty's further
pleasure, there would be no port or other charges to the British
Government at Hongkong. Elliot, at the same time, offered
the protection of the British flag to the subjects, citizens and
ships of foreign Powers, that might resort to Her Majesty's