As to Hongkong, it appears from Chinese records that
Yikshan had secretly reported to the Emperor, that Hongkong
had but a feeble garrison of Indian troops, and that among the
large Chinese population that had flocked to that Colony, he
had secured the services of 3,000 Chinese residents of Hongkong
who had promised to rise against the foreigners at the proper
time, whilst the remainder of Chinese residing in the Colony
were all desirous to return to their Chinese allegiance. To
provide a popular leader for this movement, the Emperor selected
Kiying for the purpose of organizing a sudden massacre of all
foreigners at Hongkong. At the same time, a Censor, Soo
Ting-kwai, reported to the Throne, that the moment was
propitious for a general attack on the British positions in China,
because the Nepaulese had commenced war against them in
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 151
India and the British commanders in China had thereby been
compelled to send many of their ships to India to rescue their
countrymen there. Kiying was accordingly ordered by the
Emperor to proceed immediately to Canton, with a view to direct
the attack to be made on Hongkong, but soon after he had
started he was recalled again, because the Emperor had learned
that Nanking was threatened by the British forces. The
preconcerted attack on the British positions at Ningpo and
Chinhai was now made at once (March 10 , 1842 ) but failed .
Not only were the assaults immediately repelled, but the British
forces now resumed the offensive, capturing the district cities of
Tszeki (March 15, 1842 ) and Chapu (May 18 , 1842 ) and moving
northward in the direction of Nanking . Through the recall of
Kiying and the advance of the British forces, the intended rising
in Hongkong came to nothing. Rumours of a proposed attack
on Hongkong were repeatedly referred to in the local papers
(April 21 and July 28 , 1842) but found no credence among
the European community. Nevertheless Admiral Cochrane and
General Burrell deemed it prudent (about the middle of July)
to make a counter-demonstration by proceeding with a small
squadron up the Canton River as far as Whampoa. This
measure had the desired effect . But the British residents of
Hongkong never knew what a serious danger they had escaped.
Yikshan and the Viceroy of Canton commenced (since
February, 1842 ) negotiations with the French, or, if the Manchu
Annals (partly translated by Mr. E. H. Parker) are to be trusted ,
had offers to build war-ships for use against the English thrust
upon them. Yikshan and Kikung had several interviews with
M. de Challaye, the French Consul at Canton, and Colonel de
Jancigny (the latter having just arrived on a commercial
mission to China) . Possibly, the aim of M. de Challaye was
merely to tender the mediation of the French Government with
a view to arrange terms of peace, whilst M. de Jancigny was
looking for orders for French manufacturers of warlike stores.
Yikshan reported to the Emperor the offers of assistance he
had received from the French, but added, ' the enemy's designs
152 CHAPTER XI.
are unfathomable and possibly they are really assisting the
English in an underhand way and acting as spies on us for
them.' The Manchu Annalist further states that the French
hung on from February to June (1842) awaiting our commands
and at last, in June, proceeded to Wusung, but the English
were already far up the Yangtsze.' But, whilst the Cantonese
officials distrusted this first syndicate represented by Colonel de
Jancigny, a wealthy private citizen of Canton, Poon Sze- shing,
received permission from the Emperor to employ Colonel de
Jancigny to order out from France a number of war vessels,
guns, and torpedoes (then quite a novelty), for use against
the English, and to re-organize, with de Jancigny's advice,
the whole Cantonese navy .
These intrigues were, however, too late in the field . Whilst
the Cantonese were wasting public and private funds in
purchasing new and expensive munitions of war, the English
expedition in Central China made a speedy end of the war.
After the fall of Wusung (June 16, 1842 ) and Shanghai (June
19 , 1842 ) the Chinese Commissioners offered terms of peace .
Sir H. Pottinger, who had rejoined the expedition (June 22,
1842 ) , informed them what the demands of England were, but
declined entering upon any negotiations with the Commissioners
until they had received the authority of the Emperor to
concede those demands. Sir H. Pottinger also issued a public
proclamation (July 5, 1842 ) in which he informed the Chinese
people of the real points at issue between England and China.
This proclamation brought forward four complaints and three
demands. The complaints were, ( 1 ) that, whilst English
merchants had for two centuries patiently suffered continuous
ill-treatment at the hands of Cantonese officials, this systematic
ill-usage exceeded all bounds when Commissioner Lin, in 1839 ,
instead of seizing the actual offenders, Chinese and foreign,
implicated in the opium traffic, forcibly confined an English
officer and English merchants and threatened them with death ,
so as to extort from them what opium there might be in China
at that time, in order to gain favour with the Emperor ; (2) that
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 153
the Ministers at Peking, men without truth or good faith,'
after concluding a truce and sending Kishen to Canton to arrange
terms of peace, suddenly changed their minds, replaced Kishen
by Yikshan and commenced a war of extermination , thus
compelling the English to take the Bogue Forts, to bring Canton
itself to submission, and to take from it a ransom for the
punishment of such ill faith ; ( 3) that the High Commissioner
Yuekien and other high officers, like Tahunga, had tortured and
killed shipwrecked Englishmen , reporting such brutal outrages
committed on defenceless individuals to the Emperor as victories
gained in battle ; and finally (4) that the Cantonese Authorities,
seeking to confine to themselves the profits of the foreign trade
and extorting, through the Hong Merchants, illegal payments
from the foreign merchants, disguised everything under false
statements to the Emperor. The demands which the English
nation was thus in justice entitled to make were (1 ) compensation
for losses and expenses, (2) a friendly and becoming intercourse
on terms of equality between officers of the two countries, and (3)
the cession of insular territory for commerce and for the residence
of merchants and as a security and guarantee against future
renewal of offensive acts.
This appeal to the conscience of the nation, and this
impeachment of the Manchu Government at the bar of public
opinion in China, had a very great effect . It was, as many
Chinese themselves acknowledged, a truthful exposition of the
real issue of the conflict between China and England, caused
by the treatment accorded to foreigners at the hands of Chinese
officials, who acted on the supposition of China's absolute
supremacy and in defiance of international equality. Moreover,
this proclamation, whilst justifying the cession of Hongkong
and the occupation of Chusan, gave to the opium question that
accidental and extraneous position which it really occupied in
the history of this first Anglo-Chinese war.
Whilst the British forces were steadily advancing towards
Chinkiang and Nanking, the minds of the Chinese officials and
people in the North were filled with dread. The superiority
154 CHAPTER XI.
of British strategy, arms and discipline, over the best Chinese
military resources and efforts, were painfully obvious to the whole
nation. All through the maritime provinces, public opinion
now began to turn in favour of making peace with the English,
the people having to their surprise noticed that the English
confined their warlike operations to retributive dealings with the
Government troops and spared the people themselves as much as
possible. Yikshan now wrote to the Emperor that the Cantonese
were all in league with the foreigners. A feeling of despair
began to take possession of the statesmen, officials and military
leaders of China, and a positive panic fell on them when a total
eclipse of the sun, the usual presage, according to Chinese
superstition, of national disaster, occurred (July 8 , 1842 ) during
1
the advance of the English fleet on Nanking. With the capture
of Chinkiang (July 21 , 1842 ) the key to the Grand Canal, the
principal channel of the food supply of North- China, fell into
the hands of the English. Kiying, Eleepoo and Niu Kien now
(July 22 , 1842 ) offered terms of peace again, but were
more told to go and get first of all the Emperor's approval of
the British demands as a whole, and then they might come and
discuss details. The expedition steadily continued its onward
move towards Nanking. On August 9, 1842 , the troops were
landed a few miles from Nanking, a reconnaissance was made,
and two days later everything was in readiness for an assault on
Nanking city (August 11 , 1842 ) , when an armistice was applied
for and granted for the purpose of obtaining the Emperor's
sanction of the formulated British demands, in order to conclude
on that basis a formal treaty of peace. The stipulations were
forwarded (August 13, 1842 ) to Peking by special messenger,
and, on his return with the Emperor's approval, the Treaty
of Nauking, between Her Majesty the Queen of England by
Sir H. Pottinger on the one side, and the Emperor of China
by the Commissioners Kiying, Eleepoo and Niu Kien on the
other side, was solemnly concluded (August 29, 1842 ) . Major
Malcolm started next day for London , with one copy of the
Treaty, to lose no time in obtaining Her Majesty's signature,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 155
whilst another copy was immediately forwarded to Peking and.
returned thence with the Emperor's signature a fortnight later
(September 15, 1842 ) .
The demands agreed to by the Treaty of Nanking were :
(1) peace and friendship between China and England ; ( 2) the-
opening of five ports, Canton ,, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and
Shanghai, for the residence of British merchants, and their
families, under the extra-territorial jurisdiction of British.
Consular officers ; (3) the cession of Hongkong : (4) payment
of an opium indemnity of six million dollars ; (5) payment of
the Hong Merchants' debts, amounting to three million dollars ;.
(6 ) payment of twelve million dollars war expenses ; (7 ) all
payments to be made, with interest at 5 per cent., within fixed
periods ; (8 ) release of all prisoners of war ; (9 ) a general amnesty
in favour of all Chinese who had served the English during
the war ; ( 10 ) a fair and regular tariff of export and import
duties and transit charges ; ( 11 ) fixed terms of equality to be
used in official correspondence ; (12 ) withdrawal of British troops .
from Nanking, Chinkiang, Chinhai , Chusan, and Kulangsoo
on certain conditions ; ( 13 ) ratifications of the Treaty to be
exchanged as soon as possible. This Treaty is more noteworthy
for the stipulations omitted than for those included in it. The
prohibition or legalisation of the opium trade was not referred
to . The war had not been undertaken for the sake of opium.
China was therefore justly left free to settle the opium question
at her own sweet will. More remarkable is the omission to
secure for Chinese settlers on Hongkong freedom of commercial
intercourse with the mainland of China, in the sense of the
Foreign Office instructions of February 3, 1841. Mandarindom
was left unaccountably free to make or mar the fortunes of
Hongkong as a settlement for Chinese.
Whilst negotiating the provisions contained in the third
article of the foregoing Treaty, Sir H. Pottinger was informed
by the Commissioners, that the cession of Hongkong had some
time ago been approved by the Emperor, and needed no further
confirmation. Sir H. Pottinger, however, wished the cession
156 CHAPTER XI.
of Hongkong to be discussed de novo, and informed the
Commissioners, as he himself subsequently (January 21 , 1843 )
stated in writing to a Committee of British merchants, that,
the British Government holding Hongkong could not in any
way disadvantageously affect the external commerce of China ,
because the English Government had no intention of levying
any kind of duties there,' and that Hongkong was merely
to be looked upon as a sort of bonded warehouse in which
merchants could deposit their goods in safety until it should
suit their purposes to sell them to native Chinese dealers or to
send them to a port or place in China for sale.'
This is a point of considerable importance, as it indicates
that the free-port character of Hongkong was the preliminary
understanding on which the third article of the Nanking Treaty
and the cession of Hongkong to the British Crown was now
based . The future discontinuance or continuance of the freedom
of the port of Hongkong is therefore by no means an open
question left to the discretion of the Colonial or Imperial British
Governments, but the latter is absolutely bound by the Nanking
Treaty, as negotiated by Sir H. Pottinger, to maintain the
freedom of the port from all export or import duties of any sort.
It was on this understanding that the Chinese Govern-
ment issued, with Sir H. Pottinger's express approval, an edict
allowing free and unrestricted intercourse to all vessels from
treaty ports in China to Hongkong, and vice versû, on payment
of the export or import duties, as well as anchorage or harbour
charges, legally due at the ports to which goods may be carried
or from which they may be shipped within the Chinese Empire.
The Chinese Government having thus acted on the promise of
Sir H. Pottinger that Hongkong should remain a free port,
the British Government would seem to be bound in good faith
to maintain the freedom of the port inviolate.
The Article referring to the cession of Hongkong runs
thus : It being obviously necessary, and desirable, that British
subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and
refit their ships when required and keep stores for that purpose,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 157
His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the
Queen of Great Britain, &c., the Island of Hongkong, to be
possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, her Heirs and
Successors, and to be governed by such laws and regulations as
Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., shall see fit to
direct .' The reason here given why Hongkong should be ceded
is rather curious. It appears to be rather Elliot's than Pot-
tinger's view of the raison d'être of a British possession called
Hongkong . We should not be surprised to find that the English
rendering of this third Article of the Nanking Treaty is a
literal translation of the Chinese text of the corresponding
Article of the Chuenpi Treaty. If it was obviously ' necessary
in 1843 , that English merchants should have dockyards and
dockyard stores in a separate locality on the Chinese coast, it
is very strange that Lord Palmerston and the Cabinet, that
Parliament and the nation, could not be brought to see it,
though the Mathesons, and Stauntons, and Robinsons and others.
did everything to demonstrate that necessity and desirability
from 1833 to 1836. Moreover, it was obviously a sort of
bonded warehouse, with dwelling houses, out of the reach of
the avarice, corruption and oppression of Chinese officials that
was needed, far more than dockyards and dockyard stores. And
it was a Colony rather than a mere trade station or dockyard
that Hongkong had become by the time, when this curious
third Article of the Nanking Treaty was drafted.
Chastised and humbled as China was by the terms of the
Treaty of Nanking, one might suppose that now at last the
Chinese had been taught to surrender, once for all, their claim
of supremacy over all foreign nations. But the popular Chinese
theory, that as there is but one sun in the heavens, so there
can be but one supreme ruler over all under heaven,' which
proposition all mankind ought indeed to be ready to assent
to in a religious sense, was so ingrained in the diplomatic mind
and language of China, in the sense of China's political
supremacy, that, within four months after the conclusion of
the Nanking Treaty, the Emperor issued an Edict (December 24,
158 CHAPTER XI.
1842), ordering Eleepoo ' to meet Pottinger and immediately
explain to him that the Celestial Dynasty has for its principle,
in governing all foreigners without its pale, to look upon them
with the same feeling of universal benevolence with which she
looks upon her own children .' To this non plus ultra of
diplomatic cant-for cant it seemed to be in view of the
Emperor's rejoicing over the destruction of life caused in
Hongkong by the typhoon, and in view of the wholesale murders
committed by Tahunga and approved by the Emperor- Sir
H. Pottinger replied in good earnest . He at once informed
the Emperor, that his Royal Mistress, the Queen of England ,
acknowledges no superior or governor but God, and that the
dignity, the power, and the universal benevolence of Her Majesty
are known to be second to none on earth and are only equalled
by Her Majesty's good faith and studious anxiety to fulfil her
Royal promises and engagements . After this castigation, thus
quietly administered by Sir H. Pottinger, the Chinese officials
were not only careful to exclude from diplomatic correspondence
their usual stock phrases of Chinese political supremacy, but
the Viceroy Kikung actually employed the phrase ' the two
countries ' which, in Elliot's time had provoked the ire and
sarcasm of Viceroy Tang, and wrote to Pottinger (April 16 ,
1843 ) frankly admitting that the two countries are now united
in friendship .'
The news of the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty was
received throughout China with a sigh of intense relief.
Everywhere the preparations for war were immediately dis-
continued. In fact the official measures taken everywhere along
the coast indicated plainly that the Provincial Authorities were
sincerely determined to abide by and carry out the provisions
of the Treaty in good faith. In Canton, the militia was
disbanded (October 13, 1842 ) and all temporary forts were
dismantled. There was indeed a brief popular outburst of
excitement in Canton (November, 1842) , when it was rumoured
that building lots in the Honan suburbs would be appropriated
for dwelling houses for foreign merchants and their families,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 159
and a mob made an attack upon the factories and partially
burned them ( December 7, 1842 ) . But the excitement was
all over the very next day, when Sir Hugh Gough went up
to Canton to investigate the state of things. Within a fortnight
after this ebullition of popular temper, it was so evident that
China meant to abide by the Nanking Treaty, that the military
and naval forces were sent back to England, and over 50
transports and ships of war left Hongkong harbour (December
20, 1842) homeward bound. The war was over. The piping
times of peace had come, and now it was the mission of
Hongkong to smooth down the animosities of the past and to
cement friendship between the two countries in the future.
Sir H. Pottinger at once set to work (January, 1843 ) to
complete the remainder of his successful diplomatic mission, by
settling the details of tariff duties and trade regulations. For
this purpose he had frequent consultations with a representative
Committee of British merchants consisting of Messrs . A.
Matheson, G. T. Braine, W. Thomson, D. L. Burn, and W. P.
Livingston. After the death of Eleepoo (March 4, 1843) ,
Kiying was appointed Chief of the Imperial Commission, and it
was at once foreseen that he would heartily work together with
Pottinger in settling all details. The Viceroy of Canton (Kikung)
also kept up friendly relations and cordially accepted Pottinger's
offer (April 16, 1843) to co-operate with him in putting down the
wholesale smuggling (partly in English craft) then going on,
with the connivance of the Hoppo's underlings (as the Viceroy
himself admitted), on the Canton River. Previous to Kiying's
arrival, the two other members of the Imperial Commission,
Wang An-tung and Hienling, visited Hongkong (May 11 , 1843)
were freely introduced to Hongkong society, dined twice with
Sir H. Pottinger, drove out in a carriage (the first that passed
the gap) to the Happy Valley, spent an evening at the Morrison
Education Society's Institution (on Morrison Hill), attended a
parade of artillery under Major Knowles, witnessed the investiture
of Sir W. Parker, by Sir H. Pottinger, as Knight Grand Cross
of the Bath, and returned to Canton thoroughly charmed with
160 CHAPTER XI.
English civilization. Immediately after Kiying's arrival (June
4, 1843 ) , Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, who had meanwhile
returned from London with Her Majesty's signature and the
Great Seal of England affixed to the Nanking Treaty, proceeded
to Canton (June 6, 1843 ) and invited Kiying to exchange the
ratifications of the Treaty at Hongkong. Kiying acceded to the
request, repaired to Hongkong (June 23 , 1843) , with Hienling
and Wang An-tung, and the exchange of ratifications was
solemnly performed (June 26, 1843 ) at Government House
(then situated on the spur above the Gaol) . A guard of honour
was in attendance, a large number of residents was present, and
at the moment when the ratifications were exchanged, a royal
salute was fired and responded to from the forts and shipping.
Next, Her Majesty's Proclamation, declaring Hongkong to be
a possession of the British Crown, was read by Lieutenant-Colonel
Malcolm , in the presence of the Imperial Commissioners.
Subsequently, Kiying having retired, the Royal Warrant was
read, appointing Sir H. Pottinger Governor of Hongkong and
its Dependencies. A large dinner party, given in the evening,
concluded the festivities .
Four months afterwards a Supplementary Treaty, concluded
by Sir H. Pottinger and the Imperial Commissioners, was signed
(October 8, 1843) at the Bogue (Foomoonchai ) , by Kiying and
Sir H. Pottinger on behalf of their Majesties, the Emperor of
China and the Queen of England. Besides providing all the
detailed trade-regulations to be observed at the five open ports
of China, this Supplementary Treaty, the stipulations of which
were to be as binding and of the same efficacy as if they had
been inserted in the original Treaty of Nanking, contains several
articles specially referring to Hongkong.
The extradition of criminals was provided for by Article IX.
which stipulated that all Chinese criminals and offenders against
the law, who may flee to Hongkong or to British ships of war
or to British merchantmen for refuge, should be delivered up
on proof or admission of their guilt. Article XIV provided , for
the purpose of effectually preventing piracy and smuggling, that
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 161
an officer of the British Government should examine the registers
and passes of all Chinese vessels visiting Hongkong to buy or
sell, and that any Chinese vessel arriving in Hongkong without
such register or pass should be considered an unauthorized or
smuggling vessel, forbidden to trade, and to be reported to the
Chinese Authorities. Article XV provided for the recovery of
debts, incurred by Chinese residents of Hongkong, through the
English Court of Justice, or, if the debtor should flee into.
Chinese territory, through the British Consul at an open Treaty
port. Article XVI provided that the Hoppo of Canton should
furnish the corresponding British officer in Hongkong with
monthly returns of passes granted to Chinese vessels to visit
Hongkong, and that the British officer in Hongkong should
forward similar monthly returns to the Hoppo . Article XVII
provided for small craft plying between Hongkong, Canton and
Macao, being exempt from all port charges if they carried only
passengers, letters or baggage, to the exclusion of all dutiable
articles. Those of the foregoing articles, which referred to
a British officer doing in Hongkong the work of the Chinese
revenue preventive service, and which would have practically
confined Chinese trade with Hongkong to trade between the
five open ports and Hongkong, were disapproved by the Home
Government as much as by the local mercantile community.
No such British officer was ever appointed, and fifteen years
later (June 26 , 1858 ) the whole Supplementary Treaty was
formally abrogated. The object aimed at by those two Articles
(XIV and XVI) , the Chinese Government sought later on to
attain by the so - called Custom's Blockade of Hongkong, and
the duties, assigned by those two Articles to a British officer,
are at the present day discharged by the English staff of the
Kowloon Imperial Maritime Customs Office, established in
Hongkong.
As regards that Article of the Nanking Treaty which
provided for the payment by the Chinese Government of an
opium indemnity amounting to six million dollars, the London
Gazette of August 25, 1843, gave notice to those entitled to
II
162 CHAPTER XI.
compensation, being holders of the certificates given, in 1839,
by Captain Elliot for British-owned opium , that they might
apply, on or after August 30, 1843, for payment at the Treasury
Chambers, at the following rates, per chest, viz .: Patna, £ 66
78. 74d.; Malwa, £ 64 118. 2d.; Benares, £ 61 11s . 3d.; and
Turkey, £ 43 3s. 5. This arrangement, based on the average
prices realized in Canton during 78 days, from September 11 to
November 27 , 1838, caused much dissatisfaction , as it was alleged
that the merchants thus received, after four years' delay, scarcely
one half of what they originally had paid for the opium directly
to the East India Company, besides losing four years ' interest
on their capital. But on the other side it might have been
urged, that, at the time when the opium was taken possession
of by Commissioner Lin, the market was overstocked, sales
impossible, and, if Lin had not destroyed the opium but returned
it to the merchants, they could not have sold it for anything
like what they finally received for it.
CHAPTER XII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT.
January 26 to August 10, 1841 .
HAVING, in the preceding chapter, given an outline of the
political events connected with the cession of Hongkong
to the British Crown, we now take up the thread of its internal
history.
On the very day when the Treaty of Chuenpi was concluded
(January 20, 1841 ) , Captain Elliot issued a circular at Macao,
addressed to Her Britannic Majesty's subjects, informing them
that the Island and Harbour of Hongkong had been ceded to
the British Crown. The news of the cession of Hongkong was
conveyed to England by the steamship Enterprise which left
China on January 23 , 1841. Captain Elliot explained in his
circular of January 20, 1841 , that Her Majesty's Government
had sought for no privilege in China for the exclusive advantage
of British ships and merchants, and that he therefore only
performed his duty in offering the protection of the British
flag to the subjects, citizens and ships of foreign Powers that
might resort to Her Majesty's Possession at Hongkong. A
general invitation was thus given to all the merchants of other
countries to utilize the proposed new British trade station for
commercial purposes . At the same time, Captain Elliot expressly
stated that all just charges and duties to the Chinese Empire
were to be paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa.
The Chinese Government was left at liberty to deal with
Hongkong by levying, outside the port and boundaries of the
Colony, charges and duties on exports from or imports into
Chinese territory. This was probably all that Elliot intended ,
164 CHAPTER XII
and in these respects he simply gave to Hongkong the same
position which Macao had so long maintained .
The Island of Hongkong having been formally taken
possession of, for the purposes of a trade station, in the name
of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (January 26, 1841 ) , Captain
Elliot, as Chief Superintendent of the trade of British subjects
in China, and holding full powers under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom, to execute the office of Her Majesty's Com-
missioner, Procurator, and Plenipotentiary in China, issued on
January 29 , 1841 , his first local proclamation (the original
of which is, however, dated February 2 , 1841 ) . In this
proclamation, Captain Elliot , after making due reservation of
Her Majesty's rights, royalties, and privileges, declared that
the Government of the Island should be exercised, pending Her
Majesty's further pleasure, by the person filling the office of
Chief Superintendent of the trade of British subjects in China .
The next point in Captain Elliot's proclamation of January 29,
1841 , was that it established two different systems of government
and two separate codes of law for the administration of justice
in Hongkong. Natives of the Island, and all natives of China
resorting to Hongkong, were to be governed, pending Her
Majesty's further pleasure, according to the laws and customs
of China, every description of torture excepted. But all persons
other than natives of the Island or of China, should fall under
the cognizance of the Criminal and Admiralty jurisdiction at
the time existing in China and enjoy full security and protection
according to the principles and practice of British Law, This
natural bifurcation reflected, at the first formation of the
settlement, the fundamental incompatibility of the Chinese and
European systems of civilization , by creating two separate forms
of government and two separate codes of law, corresponding
with the two separate communities, Chinese and European,
which were about to settle at Hongkong and which immediately
proceeded to divide the town into separate European and Chinese
quarters. But regarding this bifurcation, thus provisionally
introduced , the pleasure of Her Majesty was subsequently made
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 165
known, from time to time, gradually extending, by special
Ordinances and executive Regulations, the sphere of English
forms of government and the application of English Law. This
was, however, done cautiously and gradually, in proportion
as the two local communities, European and Chinese, were,
by the slow process of the interaction of English and Chinese
modes of thought, life and education, brought a little nearer
to each other. This process (though hardly perceptible) is still
going on at the present day, but executive regulations and legal
enactments have all along proved utterly futile whenever they
went too far ahead of the successive stages reached by this
extremely slow process of race amalgamation which depends
more on the silent influences of English education, English
speaking and English modes of living than on the exercise of
the rights and powers of the Crown. The Chinese, though the
most docile people in the world when under fair government,
proved utterly intractable whenever the Executive or the
Legislature of the Colony rushed into any unreconciled conflict
with deep-seated national customs of the Chinese people.
By a second proclamation-issued conjointly by Sir J. J.
Gordon Bremer, Commander-in-Chief, and by Captain Elliot,
as Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, on February 1 , 1841 — all
natives of China, residing in Hongkong, were informed that
they were all, by the fact of their residing on the Island ,
which was now part of Her Majesty's Dominions , subjects
of the Queen of England, to whom and to whose officers they
must pay duty and obedience. Moreover, it was added, that
the inhabitants are hereby promised protection , in Her Ma-
jesty's gracious name, against all enemies whatever and they
are further secured in the free exercise of their religious rites ,
ceremonies and social customs, and in the enjoyment of their
lawful private property and interests.' It must be noted that ,
in the case of this stipulation, not only is the usual reservation
until Her Majesty's further pleasure ' omitted , but for it is
substituted the positive affirmation that this promise was given
in Her Majesty's gracious name.' Anyhow, Her Majesty never,
166 CHAPTER XII.
in the whole history of the Colony, made her pleasure known
contrary to the just principles of religious and social toleration
here guaranteed to Chinese semi-civilized pagans, who were
thereby, more than by anything else, induced to flock to
Hongkong and settle on the Island . The same proclamation.
added, to the statement of the previous proclamation concerning
the rule that Chinese in Hongkong should, until Her Majesty's
further pleasure, be governed according to Chinese laws, customs
and usages (every description of torture excepted), the detailed
provision that, pending Her Majesty's further pleasure, the
Chinese in Hongkong should be governed by the elders of villages
(Tipos), subject to the control of a British Magistrate. Regarding
this point Her Majesty's further pleasure was made known
many years after (Ordinance 8 of 1858), when an attempt was
made to improve the working of the Tipo system by giving
them official salaries. Some years later, when this measure
proved fruitless, the Government discarded the Tipo system
altogether. Yet, although this system is now officially not
recognized and has been replaced by the Registrar General's
Office, the Chinese secretly adhere to their own system faithfully.
The Chinese people in town are at the present day under the
sway of their own headmen (the Tungwa Hospital Committee),.
and the people in the villages are ruled by their elders, as
much as ever.
As regards commerce, this same proclamation stated that
'Chinese ships and merchants resorting to the port of Hongkong
for purposes of trade, are hereby exempted, in the name of
the Queen of England, from charge or duty of any kind to
the British Government,' but, it was added, that the pleasure
of the Government would be declared from time to time by
further proclamations .
According to a (seemingly incorrect) statement resting on
the authority of Commander J. Elliot Bingham, who was at
this time First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Modeste, the terms of the
Chuenpi Treaty included also the surrender by the Chinese,.
as neutral ground, of the peninsula of Kowloon ' meaning
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 167
probably only Tsimshatsui) . Mr. Bingham also states that, when
the Chuenpi Treaty was disavowed by the Imperial Government ,
•
it was seized by the British troops by right of conquest,' a
6
garrison being kept in Fort Victoria ' ( probably on the site
of the present Barracks), where many commissariat and other
stores were deposited .
During the course of February, 1841 , numerous parties of
British and foreign merchants and missionaries came over from
Macao to prospect the capabilities of Hongkong and to select
sites for warehouses and residences. By the end of March and
the beginning of April, 1841 , shanties, labourers ' matsheds ,
roughly-built store-houses (called godowns) , Chinese shop- keepers '
booths, European bungalows and houses of all descriptions began
to rise up. The first buildings erected in Hongkong are said
(on the evidence of Mr. W. Rawson ) to have been the so-
called Albany godowns (near Spring Gardens) of Lindsay & Co.
Next rose up the buildings at East Point, where Jardine,
Matheson & Co. established themselves. Later on buildings
were erected in the Happy Valley and here and there along the
hill side as far as the present centre of the town. While the
Military and Naval Authorities commenced settling at West
Point, erecting cantonments on the hill side (on the site of
the present Reformatory and later on above Fairlea) and large
Naval Stores (near the shore in the neighbourhood of the
present Gas Company's premises) , the Happy Valley was at first
intended by British merchants for the principal business centre.
However, the prejudices of the Chinese merchants against the
Fungshui (geomantic aspects) of the Happy Valley and the
peculiarly malignant fever which emptied every European house
in that neighbourhood almost as soon as it was tenanted, caused
the business settlement to move gradually westwards. Hill sites ,
freely exposed towards the South-west and South -east, as well
as to the North , were soon discovered as being less subject to
the worst type of malarial fever, and were accordingly studded
with frail European houses mostly covered at first with palm-
leaves. A number of wooden houses were imported from
168 CHAPTER XII.
Singapore and erected on lower storeys of brick or stones. But
at first the only substantial buildings erected by private parties
were a house and godowns built at East Point by order of Mr.
A. Matheson who foresaw the permanency of the Colony at a
time when most people doubted it . The native stone masons,
brick-layers, carpenters and scaffold builders, required for the
construction of roads and barracks (by the Engineer corps of
the Expedition ) and for the erection of mercantile buildings ,
were immediately followed by a considerable influx of Chinese
provision dealers (who settled near the site of the present Central
Market, soon known as the Bazaar ' ), and by Chinese furniture
dealers, joiners, cabinet makers and curio shops, congregating
opposite the present Naval Yard, and along the present Queen's
Road East, then known as the Canton Bazaar.' The day
labourers settled down in huts at Taipingshan, at Saiyingpun
and at Tsimshatsui . But the largest proportion of the Chinese
population were the so-called Tanka or boat people, the pariahs
of South-China, whose intimate connection with the social life
of the foreign merchants in the Canton factories used to call
forth an annual proclamation on the part of the Cantonese
Authorities warning foreigners against the demoralising influences
of these people. These Tan-ka people, forbidden by Chinese
law (since A.D. 1730 ) to settle on shore or to compete at literary
examinations, and prohibited by custom from intermarrying
with the rest of the people, were from the earliest days of the
East India Company always the trusty allies of foreigners . They
furnished pilots and supplies of provisions to British men -of-
war, troopships and mercantile vessels, at times when doing so
was declared by the Chinese Government to be rank treason ,
unsparingly visited with capital punishment. They were the
hangers-on of the foreign factories of Canton and of the British
shipping at Lintin , Kamsingmoon, Tungku and Hongkong Bay.
They invaded Hongkong the moment the settlement was started,
living at first on boats in the harbour with their numerous
families, and gradually settling on shore. They have maintained
ever since almost a monopoly of the supply of pilots and ships'
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 169
crews, of the fish trade and the cattle trade, but unfortunately
also of the trade in girls and women . Strange to say, when
the settlement was first started , it was estimated that some 2,000
of these Tan-ka people had flocked to Hongkong, but at the
present time they are about the same number, a tendency having
set in among them to settle on shore rather than on the water
and to disavow their Tan-ka extraction in order to mix on equal
terms with the mass of the Chinese community. The half-caste
population in Hongkong were, from the earliest days of the
settlement of the Colony and down to the present day, almost
exclusively the off-spring of these Tan-ka people. But, like the
Tan-ka people themselves, they are happily under the influence
of a process of continuous re-absorption in the mass of the
Chinese residents of the Colony.
In addition to this spontaneous influx of Chinese provision-
dealers, artizans, labourers and boat-people, there commenced
also, early in 1841 , a natural trade movement, which, if war-times
had been protracted or if the Chinese Mandarins and the policy
of the Hongkong Government had permitted its continuance,
would have resulted in the gradual transfer to Hongkong of
the larger portion of the Macao and Canton junk-trade and
made Hongkong the trade centre of the whole coast of the
Canton Province and the great depot of the entire China trade.
We have on this point the valuable evidence of Mr. A. Matheson
(given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons
on May 4 , 1847 ). Prior to our taking possession of Hongkong,
and for some time after, all the native traders between Canton
and the East Coast passed through the harbour, and generally
anchored there. When the first Europeans settled in Hongkong,
the Chinese showed every disposition to frequent the place ;
and there was a fair prospect of its becoming a place of
considerable trade. The junks from the coast made up their
cargoes there, in place of going to Canton and Macao ; these
cargoes consisted of opium, cotton shirtings, a few pieces of
camlets, and other woollens, and Straits produce, such as pepper,
betel-nut, rattans, &c .' Mr. William Scott, another former Canton
170 CHAPTER XII.
and Hongkong merchant, gave simillar evidence (May 18 , 1847 )
to the effect that, in the first instance, there was no disinclination
whatever on the part of the respectable Chinese shopkeepers,
and other useful people, to come to the Colony. Lieutenant-
Colonel Malcolm's evidence (June 1 , 1847) confirms the
foregoing statements. In a few months,' he said, ' an extensive
trade sprung up and immense quantities of piece goods were
sold on the island , which were transported to the mainland in
native boats. Small vessels were passing hourly between Canton
and Hongkong carrying the goods which were sold by sample
at the former place, and daily vessels were coming from the
north to obtain supplies for the other ports .' Both Mr.
A. Matheson and Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm further stated
that this prosperous state of things, brought on rather suddenly,.
continued until an equally sudden reaction set in about two years
later (in 1843) . In our own opinion , this early trade movement
was simply the natural result of the interference caused by the
war of 1841 with the junk trade of the Canton river. The junk
trade having once gravitated towards Hongkong, it took some
time, after the declaration of peace in 1842 , to return to its
original channel. But, certainly, had the free trade policy been
maintained in Hongkong, a large share of the junk trade might
have been retained in the Colony.
With the return of the troops from Chusan, the harbour
of Hongkong began to be crowded again with men- of-war and
troopships, and a Naval Court of Inquiry was he'd in Hongkong,
(April 25, 1841 ) to accertain the causes of the extraordinary
rate of mortality which had decimated the troops stationed at
Chusan in 1840 .
An augury of the rapid progress which the new settlement
of Hongkong was expected to make, was the appearance (May 1 ,
1841 ) of the first Hongkong Government Gazette. In the first
number of this Gazette (printed yet at Macao) Captain Elliot ,
as charged with the Government of Hongkong, notified that ,
pending Her Majesty's further pleasure, he had appointed (April
30 , 1841 ) Captain W. Caine (26th Cameronian Regiment) Chief
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 171
Magistrate of the Island of Hongkong to exercise authority, for
the preservation of the peace and the protection of life and
property, over all non-Chinese inhabitants (those of the Army
and Navy excepted) according to the customs and usages of
British police law, and over all Chinese inhabitants according to
the laws, customs and usages of China, as near as may be,
every description of torture excepted . But all cases requiring
punishments exceeding a fine of $100, or imprisonment of over
3 months, or, in case of flogging, more than 100 lashes, or
capital punishment, were to be remitted to the judgment of the
Head of the Government. Captain Caine was at the same time
appointed Superintendent of the Goal, which had been hastily
constructed, but as all minor offences committed by the Chinese
were punished by a free resort to bambooing, the Gaol, small as
it was, was never crowded while this rough and ready system
of adminstering justice by means of the bamboo continued in
force.
The next Gazette (May 15 , 1841 ) published the first Census
of Hongkong. By some clerical blunder, however, the hamlet
of Stanley, which never counted more than a few hundred
inbabitants, was put down as having 2,000 Chinese inhabitants ,
and accordingly received the false description of the capital (of
Hongkong) , a large town.' It never was anything of the sort.
Correcting this first Census table accordingly, we find that there
were in Hongkong, in May 1841 , altogether 5,650 Chinese
residents, viz. 2,550 villagers and fishermen, scattered over 20
hamlets among which Shaukiwan and Wongnaichung take a
prominent place, 800 Chinese in the Bazaar, 2,000 Chinese living
in boats on the harbour, and 300 labourers from Kowloon. The
Census also states that at that time the population of Tsimshatsui
(not included in the Census) amounted to 800 Chinese.
One of the most important measures of Captain Elliot's
regime was the declaration of the freedom of the port which
constituted in fact the most powerful incentive to bring trade
to Hongkong. By a proclamation issued at Macao (June 7 ,
1841) , Captain Elliot informed the merchants and traders at
172 CHAPTER XII.
Canton and in all parts of the Empire, that they and their ships
have free permission to resort to and trade at the port of
Hongkong where they will receive full protection from the High
Officers of the British nation and that, Hongkong being on the
shores of the Chinese Empire, neither will there be any charges
on imports and exports payable to the British Government.'
By these words Captain Elliot appears to assign , as a raison
d'être of the port of Hongkong, the topographical fact that
Hongkong is situated within the waters of China. It is just
possible, though we have no further grounds for the inference,
that Elliot may have cherished the notion that the Chinese
Government were justified in levying, outside the limits of
Hongkong, in Chinese waters, duties on all goods entering or
leaving the harbour of Hongkong. If so, he virtually treated
Hongkong as an open port of China, whilst admitting the
Island to be Her Majesty's Possession . Sir Henry Pottinger
subsequently rectified this assumption by a clear distinction
of the British Possession of Hongkong from the five ports of
China, opened by the Nanking Treaty.
That Elliot now had reason to believe that a permanent
settlement on Hongkong Island would eventually receive the
formal sanction of the Home Government, appears from the fact
that he now advertized (June 7, 1841 ) a sale, by public auction,
of the annual quit-rent of 100 lots of land, having water
frontage, on Saturday the 12th instant, as also of 100 town or
suburburban lots.' As many merchants had purchased land
from natives, Captain Elliot notified them at the same time that
arrangements with natives for the cession of land were to be
made only through an officer deputed by the Government and
that all native occupiers of land would be constrained to establish
their rights. It was originally intended to dispose by this first
land sale of a sufficiently large number of lots, situated both
North and South of the present Queen's Road, which had been
already roughly staked out by this time. But it was found
impossible to survey and stake out, in time for the sale (though
postponed from 8th to 14th June) , more than 40 lots, all situated
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 173
along the shore, North of Queen's Road, and having each a sea
frontage of 100 feet. Six of these lots were reserved for the
Crown, one remained unsold, but the remaining 33 lots, put up
at an upset price of £ 10 , were sold (June 14, 1841 ) at an average
rate of £71 , prices ranging from £20 to £265 per lot. Those 33
lots amounted in the aggregate to an extent not much exceeding
nine acres. The annual payment bid for them was £ 3,032 .
This amounts to an average of £ 7 88. 6d. per 1,000 square feet,
a price which is equal to a rate of more than £323 per annum
for the acre. The principle of the sale was somewhat undefined ,
but it was understood to be an annual rate of quit rent, if that
tenure should be sanctioned by the Home Government, coupled
with the condition of prepayment of one year's rent, and a deposit
of $500 (which, however, was never claimed by the Government)
as a guarantee that the purchaser would, within six months, spend
at least $ 1,000 on buildings or other improvements of the lot.
There are on record several criticisms of this first land sale.
Sir H. Pottinger stated (March 27 , 1841 ) that the tenure which
Captain Elliot proposed to obtain was wholly unprecedented and
untenable, and later on (November 19, 1844) he added that
Captain Elliot had not been armed with any authority to dispose
of the public lands. Mr. A Matheson (May 4 , 1847 ) gave it
as his opinion that, had a sufficient number of sea frontage lots
been put up for sale, the rate would not have much exceeded the
upset price of £ 10, but that, owing to the number of lots being
quite disproportionate to the number of competitors, a keen
competition drove the price up to £ 100 and upwards, for some
lots, and that the average of this was afterwards (unjustly)
retained by the Government as the standard of value. The
purchasers, somewhat sanguinely but honestly believed themselves
entitled to receive eventually a perpetual lease at the prices at
which they had bought the land, because Captain Elliot wrote
(June 17, 1841 ) to Jardine, Matheson & Co. and to Dent
& Co., declaring his purpose to move Her Majesty's Govern-
ment either to pass the lands in fee simple for one or two
years purchase at the late rates or to charge them in future with
174 CHAPTER XII.
no more than a nominal quit rent, if that tenure continues to
obtain.' When later on (April 10, 1843 ) it was understood that
the Government would only grant leases for 75 years, the
Hongkong merchants had a real grievance which they thenceforth
nursed industriously until they brought it before Parliament in
1847.
The purchasers of those lots, who may be considered as the
first British settlers on Hongkong, were the following firms
or individuals, viz.: Jardine, Matheson & Co.; Heerjeebhoy
Rustomjee ; Dent & Co.; Macvicar & Co.; Gemmel & Co .;
John Smith ; D. Rustomjee ; Gribble, Hughes & Co.; Lindsay
& Co.; Hooker and Lane ; Holliday & Co.; F. Leighton & Co.;
Innes, Fletcher & Co.; Jamieson and How ; Fox, Rawson & Co.;
Turner & Co.; Robert Webster ; R. Gully ; Charles Hart ;
Captain Larkins ; P. F. Robertson ; Captain Morgan ; Dirom
& Co.; Pestonjee Cowasjee ; and Framjee Jamsetjee. This sale
was followed by the erection of godowns and houses, and the
building of a seawall, the road alongside of which was thenceforth
(in imitation of Macao parlance) called the Praya . The following
places were the first to be utilized for commercial buildings, and
private residences of merchants, viz .: West Point, the Happy
Valley, Spring Gardens, the neighbourhood of the present Naval
Yard (Canton Bazaar) ; the sites now occupied by Butterfield and
Swire, by the Hongkong Hotel, by the China Mail, by the
Hongkong Dispensary (which can trace back its history to 1841 ) ;
the slope below Wyndham Street ; Pottinger Street, Queen's Road
Central (the Bazaar) ; the site below Gough Street enclosed by
a ring fence (Gibb, Livingston & Co.) ; Jervois Street (where the
first Chinese piece goods trade settled) , ending in the Upper
Bazaar ; the Civil Hospital site ; and Saiyingpun .
Captain Elliot, whose attention and presence was required
by the troubles brewing at Canton, consequent upon the disavowal
of the Chuenpi Treaty. appointed Mr. A. R. Johnston, the
Second Superintendent of Trade, to be Acting Governor of
the Island of Hongkong . Mr. Johnston accordingly assumed
charge of the local Government on behalfof Captain Elliot
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 175
(June 22 , 1841 ) , assisted by Mr. J. R. Morrison , the Chinese
Secretary. How little these three men, trained in the East
India Company's service, understood the important bearing
which the maintenance of free trade principles had on the future
welfare of the new Colony, appears from the fact that in one
of his earliest dispatches Mr. Johnston forwarded (June 28,
1841 ) , with Captain Elliot's approval, a recommendation framed
by Mr. Morrison to impose in England a differential duty of a
penny per pound on tea imported from Hongkong. Happily
the sinister suggestion was not listened to. But a mournful
time now set in at Hongkong . With the progress made in
terracing the hill sides, in road making, and excavating sites
for houses, a peculiar malarial fever spread everywhere, thence-
forth known as Hongkong fever. This fever arose wherever
the ground, having been opened up for the first time, was
exposed for some time to the heat of the sun and then to heavy
rains. The troops encamped at West Point, above the present
Fairlea (where the cantonment lines can still be traced) and
below it, suffered most particularly. But the Chinese settlers
at the foot of the same hill in the district called Saiyingpun
(lit. Western English Camp) suffered likewise severely. Deaths
now became frequent occurrences also among the European
community, hospitals had to be hastily constructed , and the
first cemetery (near the present St. Francis' Chapel, above
Queen's Road East ) began to fill. The death , by fever, of the
Senior Naval Officer, Sir H. le Fleming Senhouse (June 13,
1841 ) cast a gloom over the whole community.
Moreover, this outburst of sickness was but the precursor
of a terrific typhoon which soon after swept over the Colony.
During the night from July 21st to 22nd, 1841 , the harbour
and the new settlement on shore presented a weird scene of
heart-rending disasters . The overcrowded and badly built hospi-
tals were all levelled to the ground, mat houses, booths and
shanties were shattered and their fragments whirled through
the air. Almost every bungalow or house on shore was unroofed,
6 foreign ships were totally lost, 4 were driven on shore, 22
176 CHAPTER XII.
were dismasted or otherwise injured, and the loss of life among
the Chinese boat population was very great. The general
impression among foreign residents during that dreadful night
was that thelast days of Hongkong seemed to be approaching.'
Nevertheless, as soon as the typhoon was over, everybody set
to work with unabated energy to repair the damages . The sick
were sent on board improvised floating hospitals, the barracks,
mat houses, bungalows, godowns, booths and huts were speedily
made habitable again. When the typhoon recurved and, during
the night of 25th to 26th, again burst over Hongkong, and
levelled once more to the ground every frail structure, the
residents of Hongkong had learned a valuable lesson : they now
commenced to build a new style of godowns, such as should
stand a typhoon , and houses which combined with spacious
verandahs also strong walls and substantial roofs . There was
little loss of life during the two typhoons among the European
community. The Chinese boat people were the principal sufferers.
Nevertheless His benevolent Majesty, the Emperor of China,
rejoiced when he heard the news. Kikung and Eliang, the
Viceroy and Governor of Canton, sent a hasty memorial to
Peking, stating that at Hongkong innumerable foreign ships had
been dashed to pieces, that innumerable foreign soldiers and
Chinese traitors had been swept into the sea, that all their tents
and matsheds, the new Praya, and so forth, had been utterly
annihilated and that the sea was literally covered with corpses.
On receipt of this news, the Emperor went forthwith in festive
procession to the temple of the dragon god of the seas, and
solemnly returned thanks for the destruction of Hongkong. An
Imperial Edict , published with rejoicing all over the Empire,
also proclaimed the judgment that had fallen on Hongkong,
with the same display of inhumanity, contrary to the leading
principle of Confucian ethics which declares humaneness to be
the essential characteristic of civilized humanity.
This typhoon, by which Captain Elliot and Commodore
Bremer were overtaken on their way (in the cutter Louise)
from Macao to Hongkong, and themselves shipwrecked and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 177
well-nigh captured by the Chinese, was followed a few weeks
later by a conflagration (August 12, 1841 ) which destroyed the
greater part of the Bazaar. The very first period in the history
of Hongkong brought thus to the front the three great enemies
of local prosperity, fever, typhoons and conflagrations . Never-
theless the settlers persevered and the number of inhabitants
steadily continued to increase from month to month . The
provisional Government also continued to perfect its organization .
A Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate was now appointed ,
in the person of Lieutenant W. Pedder, R.N. , with Mr. A. Lena
as Assistant Harbour Master. The hill, on which the Harbour
Master established his quarters, has ever since been known as
Pedder's Hill. The Public Works Department was organized
by the appointment of Mr. J. R. Bird as Clerk of Works .
Finally arrangements were made for the establishment of a Civil