Hospital for foreign seamen. This was done under the influence
of the generous offer of a donation of $ 12,000 by Mr. Herjeebhoy
Rustomjee (June 23 , 1841 ) , and the arrangements were placed
under the direction of a Committee consisting of Messrs.
A. Anderson (Assistant Surgeon to H.M. Superintendents),
James Matheson and J. R. Morrison. Unfortunately, however,
the Committee neglected to secure payment of the donation.
On July 29, 1841 , H.M.S. Phlegeton arrived in Hongkong
with dispatches informing Captain Elliot of the disapproval of
the Chuenpi Treaty by Her Majesty's Government and of the
appointment of Sir H. Pottinger as Plenipotentiary. Captain
Elliot's administration ended on August 10, 1841. A fortnight
later he left Macao, with his family, accompanied by Sir
J. J. Gordon Bremer, en route for Europe (August 24, 1841 ) .
As he embarked on the Atalanta, a Portuguese fort fired a
salute of thirteen guns, but we read of no public address
presented to him, nor of any honours bestowed either by the
Hongkong community or by the Government on the man who
found Hongkong a barren rock and left it a prosperous city.
The new settlers on Hongkong, feeling the grievances they had
in connection with Elliot's attitude towards the opium trade
12
178 CHAPTER XII
trade and his dishonoured Treasury bills, and subsequently
learning the disavowal by the Government of his land sales, were
unable at the time to do justice to Elliot's real merits. They
indeed gave to what was once the most romantic glen on the
•
Island the name Elliot's Vale, ' but in later years, when it was
shorn of much of its beauty, called it ' Glenealy. Early in 1842,
Sir Robert Peel, who soon after appointed Elliot as Consul-
General for Texas (June 1 , 1842 ) , did some tardy justice to
Elliot's memory by stating in the House of Commons, that,
without giving any opinion on the conduct or character of
Captain Elliot, during the occupancy of his difficult and embar-
rassing position at Canton, he nevertheless was disposed, from
his intercourse with him since he returned home, to repose the
highest confidence in his integrity and ability.'
CHAPTER XIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HENRY POTTINGER.
August 10, 1841 , to May 8, 1844.
IR Henry Pottinger arrived (August 10, 1841 ) in Macao
S after what was then called ' an astonishingly short passage
of sixty-seven days, by the overland route. It is stated that
his arrival was warmly hailed by all the British residents. No
wonder, for with his advent as Her Majesty's Sole Plenipotentiary
and Minister Extraordinary to the Court of Peking (charged
also with the duties of the Chief Superintendency of Trade)
doubts, as to the permanency of the British occupation of
Hongkong, began to vanish. Not that he proclaimed the Queen's
approval of the cession of the Island, or that he came to
undertake the Government of the new settlement. But Sir
Henry at once gave to those that met him the impression that
the days of vacillation and yielding to Chinese cunning and
duplicity were over, and that England was going now simply
to state its grievances, formulate its demands and insist upon
immediate redress .
Sir H. Pottinger did not disturb Mr. Johnston in his office.
of Acting Governor, and that meant a good deal . As the latter
had now ceased to be Superintendent of Trade, Sir Henry
appointed him Deputy Superintendent. But what confirmed
the general belief now gaining ground that Hongkong would
never be surrendered by the British Government, was an
announcement which Sir H. Pottinger made in a Notification
issued at Macao (August 12 , 1841 ) stating that ' the arrangements
which had been made by his predecessor (Captain Elliot) ,
connected with the Island of Hongkong, should remain in force
until the pleasure of Her Majesty regarding that Island and those
180 CHAPTER XIII.
arrangements should be received .' Mr. Johnston accordingly
continued his duties as Acting Governor, whilst Sir H. Pottinger
went North with the expedition, and occupied towards Sir Henry
the same position which he had previously held in relation to
Captain Elliot . In fact, Mr. Johnston acted on behalf ' of
Sir H. Pottinger as Governor of the Island until Sir Henry
himself assumed the Government of the Colony.
About noon on August 21 , 1841 , Sir H. Pottinger arrived in
Hongkong by the steam-frigate Queen. He landed immediately,
visited all the departmental offices, inspected the public works
and expressed himself much pleased with the appearance and
evident progress of the new Colony. In consequence of dispatches
which arrived just then, he directed Mr. Johnston to discontinue
all further grants or sales of land, but allowed Captain Elliot's
arrangements to remain as he found them. He gave orders for
the expedition to start for the North at once, leaving behind
seven war-vessels, with the steamer Hooghly under the command
of Captain J. Nias, C.B. , to guard the harbour and mouth of the
Canton River, whilst Major-General Burrell, with a garrison
consisting of a wing of the 49th Regiment, the 37th Madras
Native Infantry and the Bengal Volunteers, was to see to the
defence of the Colony. Literally overwhelmed and oppressed
with the variety of affairs that demanded instant attention, Sir
H. Pottinger returned in the evening on board the Queen, paid
another hurried visit to some of the Government offices next
morning and then started (August 22 , 1841 ) to overtake the
expedition, having spent in the Colony barely twenty-four hours.
The work of organizing the administrative machinery of the
Government now continued unchecked . A Colonial Surgeon's
Department, under Mr. H. Holgate, was established (August,
1841 ) but subsequently disallowed . A Notary Public and Coroner
was appointed (September, 1841 ) in the person of Mr. S. Fearon,
who acted also as Interpreter and Clerk of Court. Captain
G. F. Mylius took charge of the Land Office (September, 1841 ),
with the able assistance of Lieutenant Sargent who acted as land
surveyor and made the first map of building lots. A small
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 181
granite Gaol building, on the site now occupied by Victoria
Gaol, was completed, and the erection of a Court House near
the site of the present Masonic Hall was commenced (October,
1841 ) . At the same time Colonel Burrell constructed a fort on
Kellett Island for the protection of the eastern section of the
harbour, destroyed two masonry forts erected by the Chinese at
Tsimshatsui in 1839, and constructed in their place two batteries
for heavy pieces in the same locality. On the arrival of the
French Frigate Erigone (December 8 , 1841 ) , which brought
Colonel de Jancigny on a commercial mission to China, the port
was for the first time saluted . The American men-of-war delayed
this courtesy for several years longer.
The progress of Hongkong was furthered by disturbances
which occurred at Canton (December 14, 1841 ) , causing a number
of European merchants to remove their offices from Canton to
Hongkong, and by the blockade of the Canton River by Captain
Nias' Squadron ( December 1 , 1841 ) which caused numbers of salt
junks to resort to Hongkong and to make the Colony, for some
time after, the centre of a considerable trade in salt. On his
return from the North (February 1 , 1842 ) , Sir H. Pottinger at
once countermanded this blockade and ordered restoration to be
made to the Chinese whose junks and cargoes had been sold by
auction. He also discovered to his great annoyance, that the
Acting Governor, Mr. A. R. Johnston , under a misconception of
the hurried instructions given to him on August 22, 1842 , had
framed rules for fresh grants of Crown -land and had allowed
additional lands to be assigned to applicants. Sir H. Pottinger,
therefore, now renewed his prohibition against granting land to
general applicants. Nevertheless, he did make some grants
to persons chiefly in the employ of the Government and also to
some of the charitable institutions such as the Morrison
Education Society, the Medical Missionary Society (Dr. Hobson),
the future St. Paul's College, and the Roman Catholic Church.
Without reference to Elliot's former declarations of the
freedom of the port, Sir H. Pottinger issued (February 6 , 1842 )
a proclamation notifying that, pending the receipt of the Queen's
182 CHAPTER XIII.
gracious and royal pleasure, the harbour of Hongkong ( like that of
Chusan) should be considered a free port and that no manner
of customs, port duties or any other charges, should be levied
on any ships or vessels of whatever nation or on their cargoes.
He then proceeded ( February 15 , 1842 ) to Macao and removed
the whole establishment of the Superintendency of Trade from
thence to Hongkong (February 27 , 1842 ) . The staff of this
Department (under Mr. A. R. Johnston, as Deputy Superin-
tendent) , consisted of E. Elmslie (Secretary and Treasurer) ,
J. R. Morrison (Chinese Secretary and Interpreter) , L. d'Almada
e Castro, A. W. Elmslic , and J. M. d'Almada e Castro (Clerks),
Rev. Ch. Gützlaff and R. Thom (Joint Interpreters), J. B.
Rodriguez, W. H. Medhurst, and Kazigachi Kiukitchi (Clerks) .
These two measures of Sir Henry, the removal of the Superin-
tendency to Hongkong, and the encouragement he held out, by
the confirmation of the freedom of the port, to Chinese and
foreign vessels to resort to Hongkong, were generally viewed, in
combination with the purchase of the Commissariat Buildings,
and the large sums now spent in the erection of barracks,
hospitals, naval and victualling stores, as an indirect intimation.
that the settlement on Hongkong would sooner or later receive
official recognition as a British Colony. Even the news of the
debate which took place in the House of Commons on the subject
(March 15 , 1842), unsatisfactory as it was, did not shake the
faith now generally placed in the future of Hongkong . For the
words of Sir Robert Peel (who had meanwhile stepped into the
place of Lord Palmerston) that, really, during the progress of
hostilities in China, he must decline to commit the Government
by answering the question as to what were the intentions of
the Government regarding the Island of Hongkong,' were read
by the residents in the light of the above measures of Sir
H. Pottinger.
Ever since this belief in the permanency of the British
occupation of Hongkong gained ground, some of the leading
British merchants, instead of merely opening branch offices at
Hongkong, began to break up their establishments at Macao
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 183
and Canton and to remove their offices to the new settlement .
Contrary to the views of a minority which stubbornly preferred
Canton, they expected that Chinese trade would speedily gravitate
towards Hongkong, if but the freedom of the port were strictly
and vigorously maintained by the Government. Indeed, the
experience of the Colony's first eighteen months fully bore out
the soundness of their views. As soon as the rumour of the
expected permanency of the new settlement began to spread
abroad, there set in a rapid and steady influx of Chinese traders
as well as artizans and labourers flocking together in Hongkong
from all the neighbouring districts, and business was flourishing .
In October 1841 , the total population of Hongkong, including
both the troops and residents of all nationalities, was estimated to
amount to 15,000 people, three times the amount at which the
population stood six months previous. With the advent of the
cool season (October, 1841 ) sickness was noticed to decline all
of a sudden and the spirits of the community were considerably
cheered by the appearance, on the new Queen's Road, of the
first carriage and pair imported from Manila, as a sign of the
coming comforts of civilization .
A fresh indication of the intentions of the Government
to retain permanent possession of Hongkong, was given by a
Notification of Sir H. Pottinger, which appeared in the first
locally printed newspaper, the Friend of China and Hongkong
Gazette, issued on March 24, 1842, under the editorship of
the Rev. J. L. Schuck and Mr. James White (subsequently
M.P. for Brighton ) . In this Notification ( dated Hongkong
Government House, March 22, 1842) Sir H. Pottinger announced
his intention of appointing a Land Committee to investigate
claims, to mark off boundaries, to fix the direction and breadth
of the road, now for the first time called ' Queen's Road , ' and
other public roads, to order the removal of encroachments,
and to assign new locations for dwellings of Europeans and
Chinese. At the same time, Sir H. Pottinger expressly notified
that no purchases or renting of ground from the natives,
formerly or now in possession, would be recognized or confirmed,
184 CHAPTER XIII.
unless the previous sanction of the constituted Authorities should
have been obtained , it being the basis of the footing on which
the Island of Hongkong has been taken possession of and is
to be held pending the Queen's royal and gracious commands,
that the proprietary of the soil is vested in and appertains
solely to the Crown.' The same principle was also applied to
reclamations of foreshore. But the fact that Sir H. Pottinger
referred in a public document to an officially recognized and
defined footing on which the Island had been taken possession
of, convinced everybody now that the formal recognition of
Hongkong as a British Colony had already been decided upon
and was only delayed pending diplomatic and war-like dealings
with the Peking Government .
The promised Land Committee, consisting of Major Mal-
colm , Captain Meik, Lieutenant Sargent, Surgeon W. Woosnam,
and Captain J. Pascoe, was appointed (March 29 , 1842 ) and
instructed to recommend the amount of remuneration to be
given to native Chinese, for ground which was in their possession
previous to the British occupation of the Island and which
had been appropriated, to select spots for public landing places,
to define the limits of cantonments, to fix the extent of the
ground to be reserved for H.M. Naval Yard and for private
commercial ventures in the shape of patent slips, and finally
to recommend a watering place with a good running stream of
water to be reserved for the shipping. The points previously
mentioned and not now included in the instructions of the
Committee were no doubt left to the discretion of the Land
Officer, Captain Mylius, who had been provided with a new
Assistant, Mr. E. G. Reynolds. The separation of the Land
Office from the Public Works Department was, however, soon
after disapproved (May 17 , 1842 ) by the Home Government.
Another important problem which Sir H. Pottinger now
took in hand was the regulation of the currency of the settle-
ment. For this purpose he took the dollar for a standard and
fixed the rate at which Indian coins and Chinese copper cash
were to be accepted as legal tender. A proclamation (March
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 185
29, 1842 ) stated , that two and a quarter Company's rupees
should be equal to one dollar ; one rupee and two annas (or
half a quarter) equal to half a dollar ; half a rupee and two annas
equal to a quarter dollar ; 1,200 cash equal to one dollar ; 600
cash equal to half a dollar ; 300 cash equal to a quarter dollar ;
533 cash equal to a rupee ; 266 cash equal to a half a rupee ;
and 133 cash equal to a quarter of a rupee. Subsequently
(April 27 , 1842 ) Sir H. Pottinger issued, at the suggestion
of the leading English firms, a further proclamation declaring
Mexican or other Republican dollars to be the standard in all
matters of trade unless otherwise particularly specified ..
Sir H. Pottinger organized also a Post Office (under
Mr. Fitz Gibbon, succeeded by Mr. Mullaly and R. Edwards) ,
which was to receive and deliver, free of any charge, letters
or parcels. This office was located on the hill just above the
present Cathedral, and the communication between the office and
the ships was under the charge of the Harbour Master. The
erection of substantial barracks on Cantonment Hill (S. of present
Wellington Barracks) and at Stanley and Aberdeen , was also
taken in hand and pushed on vigorously.
All these measures of Sir H. Pottinger contradicted the
rumour which was persistently going about that the cession of
Hongkong was not officially recognized and that the Government
was prepared to relinquish Hongkong in case the Chinese
Government should, in the coming negotiations, raise any serious
objection on that score, and to be satisfied in that case with the
opening of some treaty ports. That the Home Government had
at this time, in order not to prejudice the pending negotiations
with the Chinese Government, left the question of the permanency
of the new Colony in abeyance, is evident from the fact that
in June, 1842 , just before leaving Hongkong to rejoin the
expedition, Sir H. Pottinger received a dispatch from the Earl
of Aberdeen directing that this Island should be considered
a mere military position and that all buildings & c. , not required
in that light, should be discontinued .' Sir H. Pottinger, however,
knew perfectly well that the necessities of British trade would
186 CHAPTER XIII.
be sure to bring sooner or later a ratification of the cession of
Hongkong, regarding which he stated in a dispatch to Lord
Stanley (July 17, 1843) that he had always been of opinion
that the sole or at least chief object of it was to secure an
emporium of trade. The fact that Sir H. Pottinger's measures
all rested on the assumption that the occupation of Hongkong
would never be annulled, gave a fresh impetus to the growth of
the settlement. In March, 1842 , the population , then estimated
at over 15,000 people, was stated to include 12,361 Chinese,
mostly labourers and artizans, attracted to Hongkong by the high
wages obtainable here, and numbers of large buildings were
reported to be in course of erection . The Central Market, then
South of Queen's Road, opposite its present site, was formally
opened (June 10, 1842 ) and farmed out to a Chinaman (Afoon ) ;
all the roads were improved and extended , a good road, in the
direction of Stanley, completed as far as Taitamtuk (June, 1842 ) ,
and a picnic house built at Little Hongkong by Mr. Johnston ,
Major Caine and a number of other private subscribers .
Apart from all these signs of material progress, there are
also evidences of the higher interests of religion and education
receiving now recognition and attention in Hongkong. The
building of a Roman Catholic church was commenced , in June
1842, on a site in Wellington Street granted by Government .
A Baptist chapel was opened in Queen's Road (July 7 , 1842 )
by the Rev. J. L. Schuck, by subscriptions obtained from the
foreign residents and visitors. The Morrison Education Society
of Canton and Macao, which for years past had supported various
Mission Schools in the Straits and in China by money grants
and (in 1841 ) started at Macao a training school (under Mr. and
Mrs. Brown) , now arranged to remove its establishment to
Hongkong and commenced (October, 1842 ) building a large
house on Morrison Hill on a site granted by Sir H. Pottinger
(February 22 , 1842 ) , who became the patron of the institution
(April 5, 1842 ). In antumn 1842 , a Naval Chaplain, Mr. Phelps
and Mr. A. R. Johnston started a subscription by means of which
a room was erected on the site of the present Parade ground
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 187
for occasional services in connection with the Church of England
or any other Protestant denomination .
When the news of the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty
and the consequent confirmation of the cession of Hongkong
reached the settlers (September 9 , 1842 ) , no particular rejoicing
took place, for the recognition of the cession had all along been
to the local community a mere question of time or of official
etiquette. The merchants were yet unaware of the serious crisis
now at hand for the commerce of the Colony in consequence of
the cessation of the war and the opening of five Chinese ports.
On the contrary, the expectation appears to have been entertained
that these measures would forthwith enhance the prospects of the
Colony. We are nearly bewildered, ' apostrophized the Editor of
the Friend of China (September 22 , 1842 ) , at the magnificence
of the prosperous career which seems now before us. Our Island
will be the single British possession in China. What more in
praise of its prospects can we say than this ? Already we hear
of teeming projects fraught with good for our Island.' The
conclusion of the war and the departure of the fleet and troops,
which considerably desolated the harbour, affected for the present
the social life of the community far more than its commerce,
which continued in its old grooves yet for a little while longer.
With the return to Europe of the expeditionary forces, which left
behind (December 24, 1842 ) only 700 men as a garrison, the
settlement now entered at last upon its normal condition of a
purely commercial community.
Consequent upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking,
the British Government took immediate steps for the formal
organisation of a distinctly Colonial Government at Hongkong,
by transferring the management of local affairs from the Foreign
Office to the Colonial Office. The Superintendency of Trade
and the direction of the new Consular Service in China, subject
to the Foreign Office, were, however, for the present combined
with the office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the
Colony. On this basis an Order in Council was issued (January
4, 1843) establishing in Hongkong the Court of Justice, with
188 CHAPTER XIII.
Criminal and Admiralty Jurisdiction, which nominally had
existed, since the time of Lord Napier, in Chinese waters, under
an Order of the Privy Council of December 9 , 1833. This Court
was now endowed with jurisdiction over British subjects residing
within the Colony or on the mainland of China or on the high
seas within 100 miles of the coast thereof. Three months later
(April 5 , 1843 ) , the Privy Council issued Letters Patent, under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, erecting the settlement
on the Island of Hongkong into a Crown Colony by Charter,
and on the same day a Royal Warrant was issued, under the
Queen's Signet and Sign Manual, appointing the Chief Superin-
tendent of Trade, Sir Henry Pottinger, Baronet, K.C.B., as
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong
and its Dependencies, to enact laws and to govern the Colony
with or without the assistance of a Council. A grand ceremony
was performed at Government House on May 20, 1843 , when
Sir William Parker, by order of the Queen, invested Sir
H. Pottinger with the insignia of a Knight Commander of
the Order of the Bath . When the ratifications of the Nanking
Treaty were exchanged (June 26, 1843 ) between Sir H. Pottinger
and the Chinese Commissioners who had come to Hongkong for
the purpose, the Charter of Hongkong and the Royal Warrant
were read out at Government House before a large assembly
of residents, and subsequently published (June 29 , 1843 ) by
proclamation in the Gazette. The same proclamation fixed the
6
name of Her Majesty's new possession as the Colony of
Hongkong,' (not Hong Kong, as previously used) , and the name
of the city as Victoria.' The Governor, having previously
(June 17, 1843) sworn in Mr. Johnston ( Deputy Superin-
tendent of Trade ) , Major Caine ( Chief Magistrate ) and
Mr. C. B. Hillier (Assistant Magistrate) , as the first Justices
of the Peace, now appointed 43 more persons, among whom
there where 15 officials, as additional Justices of the Peace. As
these unofficial Justices represent the leading merchants of
this earliest period of the Colony, we append their names.
They were, A. Jardine, A. Matheson, W. Morgan , W. Stewart,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 189
G. Braine, J. Dent, F. C. Drummond, D. L. Burn, W. Le
Geyt, P. Dudgeon, T. W. L. Mackean, H. Dundas , C. Kerr,
J. F. Edger, A. Fletcher, J. A. Gibb, W. P. Livingston,
W. Gray, H. R. Parker, J. Holliday, J. Wise, J. A. Mercer,
P. Stewart, J. White, A. Wilkinson and J. M. Smith. The
office of Deputy Superintendent of Trade having been abolished,
Mr. Johnston was now appointed Assistant and Registrar to the
Superintendent of Trade, with about the same staff as before.
The Colonial Government was now organized as follows :-Sir
H. Pottinger (Governor), Captain G. T. Brooke (Military
Secretary and A.D.C. ) , Captain T. Ormsby ( Extra A.D.C.),
Major-General G. C. D'Aguilar ( Lieutenant Governor), Lieuten-
ant-Colonel G. A. Malcolm (Colonial Secretary) , R. Woosnam
(Deputy Colonial Secretary) , Ch. E. Stewart (Treasurer and
Financial Secretary) , J. R. Morrison (Chinese Secretary and
Interpreter, afterwards succeeded by Rev. Ch . Gützlaff) , Rev.
V. Stanton (Colonial Chaplain) , R. Burgass (Legal Adviser),
A. Anderson (Colonial Surgeon) , L. d'Almada e Castro (Chief
Clerk) , D. Stephen (Book-keeper), Major W. Caine (Chief
Magistrate) , Ch. B. Hillier ( Assistant Magistrate ) , D. R.
Caldwell (Interpreter) , Lieutenant W. Pedder (Harbour Master) ,
A. Lena (Assistant Harbour Master ) , A. T. Gordon ( Land
Officer and Civil Engineer), Ch . St. George Cleverly (Assistant
Surveyor) , W. Tarrant ( Assistant to Land Officer), M. Bruce
( Inspector of Buildings) , and F. Spring (Postmaster) . An
Executive Council was formed, consisting of the Hon. A. R.
Johnston and the Hon. W. Caine, and a Legislative Council,
from which for the present unofficial members were shut out ,
was constituted. It consisted of the Hon . A. R. Johnston , the
Hon . J. R. Morrison (who died soon after, greatly lamented),
and the Hon . W. Caine, with R. Burgass (the Governor's
legal adviser) as Clerk of Council. A public seal was supplied
to the Colony from England (September 5, 1843 ) and Her
Majesty's approval was obtained (December 6, 1843) for the
above-mentioned appropriation of the name Victoria for the
rising city of Hongkong.
190 CHAPTER XIII.
During the year 1843, the religious and missionary agencies
in the Colony bestirred themselves considerably in the general
interest. Funds had been raised in 1842 for the erection of a
Colonial Church, at first intended to be a sort of Union Church
for both Churchmen and Nonconformists. A Colonial Chaplain
having been appointed in England at the request of the local
Government, which disapproved the proposed union, services
were conducted (since June, 1843 ) by Naval Chaplains in a
"
temporary structure now called the Matshed Church,' and a
building (the present St. John's Cathedral) was ordered to be
commenced at Government expense and meanwhile dedicated
to St. John (October 17 , 1843) , though building operations were
delayed for several years as the Home Government postponed
its sanction. It was , however, locally decided that the Colonial
Chaplain should have sole charge of the Church . The Chaplain,
Rev. V. J. Stanton, preached his first sermon in the Colonial
Matshed Church on December 24th, 1843. The R. C. Prefect
Apostolic, Fra Antonio Feliciani, consecrated the building
erected by him at the corner of Wellington and Pottinger Streets
as the R. C. Church of the Conception, on June 18th , 1843, when
a Seminary for native clergy was opened in connection with it .
The Mohammedans built (in 1843) a Mosque on the hill thence-
forth called Mosque Gardens (Moloshan) . The Chinese, who
had already four temples from 75 to 100 years old, viz . one at
Aplichow (dating from 1770 A.D. ) , one at Stanley, one in Spring
Gardens (Taiwongkung) , and one at Tunglowan (Causeway Bay),
commenced building their City Temple (Sheng-wong-miu) on
the site of the present Queen's College. The American Baptist
Mission, under Dr. Deane and Dr. Ball, started in 1843 a Chinese
(Tiechiu) Church in the Upper Bazaar (Sheungwan Market) . In
addition to the establishment of the Morrison Education Society's
School on Morrison Hill (opened November 1 , 1843 ) , Dr. Legge
of the London Missionary Society transferred to Hongkong the
Society's Malacca College, opening (November, 1843 ) a Pre-
paratory School and a Seminary for the training of Chinese
ministers, which was (in autumn 1844 ) located on the London
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 191
Mission premises in Aberdeen and Staunton Streets as the Anglo-
Chinese College (Ying-wa Shü-ün ) . The Colonial Chaplain,
Rev. V. J. Stanton, immediately on his arrival (December 22,
1843) , made preparations for the opening of a Training School
for native ministers in connection with the Church of England,
on a site previously granted for the purpose by the Government
(May 26, 1843 ) , under the name of St. Paul's College. In
autumn 1843, the Protestant Missionaries of Hongkong (Legge,
Medhurst , Milne, Bridgman and J. Stronach) commenced the
work which eventually resulted in a new Chinese translation of
the Bible, known as the Delegates Version, the best in style and
diction (though not in literal accuracy) that has ever been
produced to the present day.
Several Hospitals also were established during this year.
The Medical Missionary Society of Canton and Macao (originally
established in 1838 through the efforts of Dr. Peter Parker,
and largely aided by the London Missionary Society ) opened
a Hospital (June 1 , 1843) , under Dr. Hobson of the London
Mission, on the hill now occupied by the Naval Hospital (above
Wantsai) . The Seamen's Hospital (on the site of the present
Civil Hospital) , started (as above-mentioned ) at the instigation
of a promise of a donation by Mr. J. Rustomjee (which was never
paid), was built by means of a public subscription of $6,000
and with additional funds generously advanced by Jardine,
Matheson & Co., and opened by the Committee, in August, 1843
(with 50 beds) , under the charge of Dr. Peter Young (of the
6
Hongkong Dispensary, then located in the Bird Cage, ' South
of its present location) , who gave his services gratuitously .
These Hospitals, together with the Naval and Military
Hospitals (on the site of the present Barracks near Hawan) were
soon overcrowded with patients. For in summer 1843 occurred
an extraordinary outbreak of Hongkong fever which, during
the six months from May to October, carried off by death 24
per cent. of the troops, and 10 per cent. of the European
civilians. It was noticed that this virulent fever ravaged chiefly
the extreme eastern and western ends of the settlement, whilst
192 CHAPTER XIII.
the central parts of the city and especially the Gaol escaped
almost untouched. At Westpoint Barracks (above Pokfulam
Road), where the Indian troops had lost nearly half their number
in 1842, sickness was so universal in 1843, that the European
troops stationed there were hastily removed (July 20, 1843 ) on
board ships in the harbour. In the year 1843, the total strength
of the European and native troops was only 1,526 , but, as 7,893
cases were treated in the hospitals during the same year, it
appears that on an average each man passed through hospital
more than five times during that dreadful year. The deaths
among the troops on the Island amounted to 440, out of 1,526
men, or 1 in 3 , the cause of death being fever in 155 cases,
dysentery in 137 cases, diarrhoea in 80 cases. The number
of men invalided or unfit for duty was such that frequently
no more than one half of the men of a company were able
to attend parade and sometimes there were hardly five or six men,
out of 100, fit for duty. The sanitation question was now
at last taken up by the Government, and a Committee of Public
Health and Cleanliness was appointed (August 16, 1843 ) with
authority to enforce rigid sanitary rules among all classes of
residents, but no effective measures were undertaken . Those
rules were subsequently formulated by Ordinance No. 5 of March
20, 1844 .
The land policy of the Government caused considerable
dissatisfaction among the merchants. There was no objection
on the part of the mercantile community to a revenue being
derived from land ; on the contrary they were of opinion that,
Hongkong being guaranteed to be a free port, long leases and
annual rents should be the sole source of revenue, to the exclusion
of all other forms of taxation, such as duties on goods sold by
auction, auctioneers ' licence fees, registration fees, market farms,
etc. Mr. A. Matheson expressed the unanimous views of
Hongkong merchants when he stated that it was a most
unadvisable course for the Government to attempt raising any
other revenue than the land rents, at any rate until the Colony
should have advanced considerably in wealth and population.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 193
But the great grievance of the merchants was that the conditions
of Captain Elliot's sales of land had not been fulfilled by the
Government, and that merchants who, trusting in the good faith
of the Government, had bought land and expended large sums
on buildings in the expectation to have a permanent property
at an annual quit rent, did not get the land granted to them
in perpetuity but were peremptorily called upon to take leases of
75 years only or to surrender their land . There were minor
complaints, that some of the sales of January, 1844, were
fictitious, that there was a great deal of deception practised in
the purchase of land in 1843 and 1844 by parties who bought
land without really intending to hold it, aud that such practices.
had been encouraged by negligence on the part of the Government
in enforcing the conditions of sale and in collecting the land
rents. The Colonial Treasurer ( R. M. Martin ) corroborated some
of these statements by the allegation he made that, out of the
whole amount of land-sales from June 1841 to June 1844 ,
amounting to £ 3,224 per annum, only £ 641 had actually been
paid. Land jobbing, in fact, was at that early time already
one of the great evils of Hongkong . But it was not confined
to merchants only, for the same Colonial Treasurer alleged that,
with the exception of the Attorney General ( P. J. Stirling) and
himself, almost every individual connected with the Government
was identified with the purchase and sale of building land in
the Colony. In fact it is evident that the land sales of 1843
and 1844 gave rise to the first local outburst of the gambling
6
mania . Men of straw,' said Mr. A. Matheson, ‘ gambled in
land and raised the price of it upon those people who were
bona fide purchasers .'
Proceeding on the legally correct but historically false and
unjust assumption that the lawful land tenure of Hongkong
dated from the exchange of treaty ratifications , the Secretary
of State had laid down the following principles as a basis for
the future land policy of the Government, ( 1 ) that the Governor
should abstain fron alienating any land for any time greater
than might be necessary to induce tenants to erect substantial
13
194 CHAPTER XIII.
buildings, ( 2 ) that no grants or sales of land that had taken
place previous to the exchange of the Treaty ratifications should
be deemed valid, ( 3 ) that all equitable claims and titles of
land-holders should be inquired into with a view to confirmation,
(4 ) that the payment of rents should commence from the day
when the Treaty ratifications were exchanged , and (5 ) that
henceforth no lan should be sold except by public auction, at
a reserved minimum price, equal to the value of the annual
rent. On this basis, the Governor appointed (August 21 , 1843 )
a Committee, consisting of A. T. Gordon, Land Officer and
Colonial Engineer ( Head of the new Public Works Department),
Captain de Havilland ( Assistant Surveyor), Ch . E. Hewart
(Financial Secretary) , assisted by R. Burgass (Legal Adviser) .
The instructions of this Committee were, ( 1 ) to inquire into the
equitable claims and titles of all holders of land, ( 2 ) to define
the classes to which particular lots should henceforth belong,
(3 ) to fix their annual rent, and (4) to arrange for the sale
of further lots. The Committee accordingly inquired into and
settled all claims on land previously sold, and granted leases of
75 years in all cases of proved ownership . It was on the basis
of the above-mentioned principles, that the land-sale of January
22, 1844, was held, when about 25 acres of land, divided into
101 lots, each about 105 feet square, were sold for £ 2,562 annual
rental, prices ranging from £ 11 to £ 88 annual rental, at an
average rate of £ 20 per lot or £ 100 per acre. The solution of
the land question was pushed a step further by the establish-
ment of a Registry Office ( Ordinance No. 3 of 1844 ) , which
provided ready means for tracing all titles to landed property.
It was laid down by law that thenceforth all deeds, wills,
conveyances and nortgages relating to land, should be registered
within a certain time after execution . But what kept discontent
rankling in the minds of many was the fact that the Crown had
refused and in spite of all remonstrances persisted in refusing
to confirm, as a matter of right, Captain Elliot's land sales,
disavowing in fact any grants of land made prior to the signing
of the Treaty, and prohibiting the granting of perpetuities.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 195
The newly-established Legislative Council commenced its
sittings on January 11 , 1844, and displayed an extraordinary
amount of energy. Within four months the Council compiled,
considered and passed twelve Colonial and five Consular Or-
dinances, that is to say about one Ordinance each week. The
Council began its labours by grappling, boldly rather than wisely,
with one of the congenital diseases of the Chinese social organism ,
which has survived to the present day, viz . Chinese bond-
servitude, a contractual relationship which, from a moral point
of view, is indeed but a form of slavery but which differs widely
from that kind of slavery to which the Acts of Parliament had
reference. Ordinance No. 1 of 1844, intended to define and
promulgate the law relating to slavery in Hongkong, was
promptly launched by the Council ( February 28, 1844) , but
wisely disallowed by the Secretary of State on the ground that
the English laws as to slavery extend by their own proper force
and authority to Hongkong and require no further definition or
promulgation. Among six other Ordinances passed on the same
busy day (February 28, 1844) , there was one (No. 2 of 1844)
intended to regulate the printing of books and papers and the
keeping of printing presses, which the community considered
needless and premature but which remained on the statute book
until 1886. Another (No. 3 of 1844) , organising the Land
Registry, above mentioned, also became law. A third (No. 4 of
1844) , intended to obviate an evil which, to the present day,
troubles the Colony in connection with the practice of shipmasters
to leave behind destitute seamen (locally called beachcombers) ,
was unfortunately disallowed . Another batch of five Ordinances
was passed on March 20 , 1844. One of them (No. 5 of 1844)
dealt with the preservation of order and cleanliness and was
subsequently repealed by No. 14 of 1845. Another (No. 6 of
1844) provided that, pending the arrival of Chief Justice
Hulme, all civil suits should be settled by arbitration . Another
Ordinance (No. 7 of 1844) limited legal interest to 12 per cent.,
whilst again another prohibited the unlicensed distillation of
spirits (No. 8 of 1844) . Three more Ordinances were passed on
196 CHAPTER XIII.
April 19 and two on May 1 , 1844, dealing with the illegitimate
trade with ports North of 32° N. L. ( No. 9 of April 10, 1844) ,
with the regulation of summary proceedings before Justices of
the Peace (No. 10 of April 10, 1844 ) , with the licensing of public
houses and the retail of spirits (No. 11 of May 1 , 1844) and with
the establishment and regulation of a Police Force (No. 12 of
May 1 , 1844) .
Unfortunately, however, the zeal of the Government in
organizing the various departments of the Civil Service , in push-
ing on the erection of costly public buildings, and in legislating
for a Colony which was yet in its swaddling clothes, appeared now
to the colonists to outrun, not only the actual growth of the
community, but even its prospective future for years to come.
There were indeed twelve large English firms established in
Hongkong, representing numerous constituencies in the United
Kingdom. There were further half a dozen Indian firms,
chiefly Parsees, but ever since the Treaty of Nanking and the
introduction of steam navigation, the share of the Parsees in
the China trade had commenced to dwindle down rapidly,
being gradually pushed out by Jewish firms from Bombay, and
those Parsees who remained preferred to conduct their business
at Canton. There were further some ten or so private English
merchants of smaller means. Then one might point to the many
brick godowns, commercial offices and private residences scattered
along the shore. There were shipwrights ( Kent and Babes ) and
even a patent slip at East Point, where Captain Lamont launched
(February 7, 1843 ) the first Hongkong-built vessel (the Celestial,
80 tons). There were, besides the Friend of China (established
March 17, 1842 ), actually two other newspaper offices, the Eastern
Globe and the Canton Register. The former of these papers
published (January 1 , 1843) a long list of local buildings and a
series of lithographs of public edifices was published in London
about the same time. In spite of this architectural activity.
Sir H. Pottinger reported (January 22, 1844) that the erection
of houses could by no means keep pace with the demand for
them. Even so late as November 19, 1844, Lord Stanley pointed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 197
out that the terms fixed for the disposal of land bad evidently
been no discouragement to building speculations. There were
some large floating warehouses in the harbour, notably the
Hormanjee Bomanjee belonging to Jardine, Matheson & Co. ,
and the John Barry belonging to Dent & Co. Finally, there
was a brisk business done in opium by half a dozen British
firms. Unfortunately, however, as to other business, there was
since the commencement of 1844 next to none in Hongkong,
although the Chinese population continued to increase and
reached, in April 1844, a total of 19,000 Chinese, including now
even a sprinkling of some 1,000 women and children. The
cessation of the war, the opening of the port of Shanghai
(November 17 , 1843 ) and of four other Chinese ports, coupled
with the gradual increase of steamers in place of sailing vessels,
had disorganized the old lines of business both on the Chinese
and on the foreign side, had scattered and drawn away to those
open ports capital and enterprise at the expense of Hongkong.
In addition to these causes detrimental to Hongkong, the Chinese
Authorities did everything in their power to discourage trade
with Hongkong, whilst the Hongkong Government appeared to
the merchants to work into the hands of the Mandarins. All the
sanguine expectations, entertained since 1841 , that business would
flourish at Hongkong just as it used to flourish at Whampoa,
gradually vanished from month to month ever since the exchange
of the Treaty ratifications. Hongkong now seemed in 1844 to
be at best a second Lintin, the flourishing centre of a limited and
illegal trade in opium, but palpably shunned by the legitimate
Chinese trade. Numbers of Chinese merchants in Canton would
have been willing enough to send down to Hongkong junks
laden with tea, rhubarb, camphor, silk and cassia, and to send
back those junks to Canton freighted with India cotton or yarn
or English piece goods, but the Cantonese Authorities set their
faces against it like a flint. It had been the fond dream of British
merchants that, whilst indeed foreign vessels could only trade
with the five open ports, natives of China would be allowed to
bring goods from any port of China, and convey British goods
198 CHAPTER XIII.
from Hongkong, in Chinese junks, to any part of the coast of
China, so that Hongkong would become the centre of a vast junk
trade, and of a coasting trade possessing infinite capabilities of
expansion. We can well imagine what was their disappointment ,
when they learned that the Chinese copy of the Supplementary
Treaty, signed at the Bogue (October 8 , 1843 ) , contained , over
Sir Henry's signature, the following words, not to be found
in the English text : -At ports within the other provinces
and within the four provinces of Canton, Foochow, Kiangsu
and Chehkiang, such as Chapou and the like places, all of
which are not open marts, Chinese merchants shall not be
permitted there arbitrarily to apply for permits to go to and
from Hongkong, and if any persist in doing so, the Coastguard
Officer at Kowloon shall, in concert with the British Officer
(at Hongkong), forthwith make investigation and report to
their superiors.' When Sir H. Pottinger, a few months previous,
announced (July 22, 1843) the successful conclusion of a Sup-
plementary Commercial Treaty, embodying rules and regulations
for the conduct of trade at the open ports and a detailed tariff
of duties, he had unfortunately accompanied the announcement
by some well meant exhortations addressed to British merchants
in general, though intended for a few low class individuals,
implicated in systematic smuggling transactions. These exhorta-
tions, by their vituperative generalities rather than by any
definite insinuations, had given great offence and caused the
beginning of a breach, between Sir Henry and the mercantile
community, which widened as the miscarriage of the Supple-
mentary Treaty concluded at the Bogue became apparent. Sir
Henry made a great secret of some of the provisions contained
in the Supplementary Treaty of October 8 , 1843. It was known
that Article XII contained the startling words, it is to be
hoped that the system of smuggling which has heretofore been
carried on between English and Chinese merchants, in many
cases with the open connivance and collusion of the Chinese
Custom -house Officers, will entirely cease.' But for a long time
it was not known that, on this ground, Articles XIV and XVI
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 199
not only confined the Chinese junk trade of the Colony rigidly
to the five Treaty -ports (virtually to Canton alone) , but required
the appointment of a British Officer in Hongkong who was to
report to the Chinese Customs Officers the nature of the
cargo and other particulars of every Chinese vessel resorting to
Hongkong and to condemn and report, as an unauthorized or
smuggling vessel , every junk trading between Hongkong and
any unauthorized port of China. As regards further provisions,
injurious to the interest of the Colony, the Journal des Débats
stated later on (Monday, September 30, 1844 ) what at the
time was the subject of acrimonious discussion in the Colony,
that Sir H. Pottinger, in concluding the Supplementary Treaty ,
had been the victim of unworthy trickery (supercherie) ; that
the Chinese diplomatists, profiting by the ignorance of the
English Plenipotentiary, both of commercial affairs and of the
Chinese language, and by the bitter feeling which existed between
him and the English merchants who would have been able to
advise him, bribed by a sum of money the interpreter who
was employed to replace the late Mr. Morrison ; that thus the
Chinese diplomatists slipped into the Chinese text , unbeknown
to Sir H. Pottinger, alterations and suppressions bearing on all
the provisions made but particularly on the 13th and the 17th
Articles, the immediate effect being that these Articles now
strike with nullity the establishment of Hongkong, exclude
the Colony from any participation by transit or coasting trade
in the commerce of the different nations with the five ports ,
and, in fine, restrain, almost as before the war, the commerce
(of Hongkong) to the port of Canton alone. Some of the
passages of the Chinese text, which were suppressed in the version
submitted to and published by Sir H. Pottinger, were, according
to the Journal des Débats, translated in England by the most
learned professors of the Chinese language as follows. Article
XIII. Every Chinese merchant who shall purchase merchandise
at Hongkong can only ship it in Chinese bottoms provided
with passports delivered at Hongkong. These passports and
these permits will be viséd at every time and on every voyage
200 CHAPTER XIII.
by the officers of the Chinese Custom-house in order to avoid
•
contravention .' Article XVII. Both (vessels from Hongkong
of under 75 or 150 tons) one and the other, shall pay one
mace per ton each time they shall enter port (at Canton). All
1
that shall exceed 150 tons will be considered as large vessels
coming from abroad and, following the new tariff, shall pay
five mace per ton. As to Foochow, Amoy, Ningpo and Shanghai,
as no coasting vessels enter those ports, it is useless to make
any regulations with regard to them .' These two articles, says
the Journal des Débats, ' coincide and link together with a degree
of art which we could not but admire, if their consequences
were not equally injurious to the coasting trade of all nations.
by excluding them, or nearly so, from the four ports so recently
opened. In point of fact, according to the text of these articles,
it becomes exceedingly ruinous to land at Hongkong merchandise
destined for the Chinese continent....Thanks to the drawing
up of the Supplementary Treaty, freedom of commerce with
the northern ports is become illusory, the privilege nominal.'
With reference, no doubt, to the foregoing statement of
the Journal des Débats, which is, however, supported, as to the
correctness of the translation here given, by statements which
previously appeared in the Chinese Repository ( March 1844) ,
in the Friend of China (April 13 , 1844) and subsequently (July
31 , 1844 ) in the Commercial Guide, Sir Henry, later on
(December 11 , 1844) , made the following remarks at a public
entertainment given in his honour at the Merchant Tailors'
Hall in London. A very erroneous impression went abroad
through, I believe, some papers on the continent, that there
had been some mistake committed in the (Supplementary) Treaty.
That is quite incorrect. It arose from the necessity of my
making public an abstract of the Treaty, while the Chinese
published the whole, and a translation was made with many
important omissions. Having been asked seriously whether
there was any ground for the allegation that mistakes had been
committed, I am happy to say that there was no cause whatever
for alarm.'
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 201
In the absence, however, of any positive denial of the
points really complained of, this negative and evasive statement
of Sir H. Pottinger failed to satisfy the mercantile community
of Hongkong. They did not for a moment believe the absurd
allegation that Sir H. Pottinger's interpreter had been bribed,
but they were convinced that, when Sir H. Pottinger signed
the Chinese text of the Supplementary Treaty, he was ignorant
of some of the objectionable provisions it contained , and that
by his known aversion to a literal English version to be submitted
to him for publication, and by his being content (for unexplained
reasons of his own ) with an English abstract, the Chinese
Mandarins were enabled to slip into that version which they
submitted to him for signature, provisions which, while looking
in a free English translation like harmless prolixity of diction,
had the effect of limiting the Hongkong coast trade to dealings
with Canton under arbitrary restrictions (differential duties) and
excluding it (by a flourish of the pen) from the other open ports.
Sir H. Pottinger, it was said, fumed and fretted when he
discovered how he had been duped by Kiying and the other
Commissioners, whom he and all Hongkong had honoured as
exceptionally meek and truthful men. The Cantonese Authorities
had all along put an embargo on all trade with Hongkong, but
now claimed Sir H. Pottinger's express authority for doing so.
At all the Treaty ports the Chinese officials frowned at any
reckless Chinaman who had the hardihood to apply for a permit
to ship goods to Hongkong, telling him that he was a base
traitor to the national cause and ought to be dealt with accord-
ingly. On June 7 , 1841 , Captain Elliot had ' clearly declared
that there will be an immediate embargo upon the port of
Canton and all the large ports of the Empire if there be the
least obstruction to the freedom of Hongkong.' Had Sir H.
Pottinger now carried out this threat, the Chinese would have
yielded at once. But he shrank from a renewal of the war
and from the confession that he had been duped by Kiying as
much as Elliot was duped by Kishen . So he confined himself
to diplomatic remonstrances, a game in which Europeans have
202 CHAPTER XIII.
always been worsted by Chinese Machiavellis. Under these
circumstances, not only were Chinese merchants afraid of entering
upon any commercial dealings with British or Chinese firms in
Hongkong, but even among the mass of the Chinese population
of the districts near Hongkong the notion got abroad that
the Hongkong Governors were powerless in the hands of the
Mandarins, and that the Chinese Authorities might punish
artizans and labourers, resorting to Hongkong or settling down
in the new Colony, by subjecting their relatives on the mainland
to extortion and maltreatment. As trade could only be brought
to Hongkong by guaranteeing perfect freedom from custom
and excise exactions and inspiring native and foreign merchants
with confidence in the Colonial Government. Sir Henry's
Supplementary Treaty, by destroying both the freedom of the
port and confidence in the independence of the Hongkong
Government, unwittingly annihilated for the time all chances
of Hongkong becoming the centre of the coasting trade.
Successful as a diplomatist, dictating the terms of peace forced
upon the Chinese at the point of the bayonet, Sir Henry
appeared now to have been an utter failure when he attempted
to negotiate a Commercial Treaty on equal terms with astute
Chinese diplomatists. The principal points for which Sir H.
Pottinger may be blamed consist in his leaving the important
opium question entirely in statu quo ante and in omitting to
secure for Chinese subjects residing in Hongkong freedom to
trade (in Chinese bottoms at least) with the whole of China . It
is said that when this truth at last forced itself upon the recogni-
tion of Her Majesty's Government, the proposal to raise Sir
Henry to the peerage, in reward of the glorious negotiation of
the Nanking Treaty, was dropped in view of this signal failure
of the Supplementary Commercial Treaty.
The Chinese had yet other objections to Hongkong . The
sea all around the Island was infested by pirates whose head-
quarters and stores of supplies were (falsely) believed to be under
the direction of a Chinese resident of Hongkong enjoying official
patronage. Sir H. Pottinger endeavoured (since May, 1843)
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 203
to induce the Chinese Authorities to co-operate with him in
putting down piracy in Hongkong and Canton waters , but his
efforts were neutralized by corruption on the Chinese side and
resulted only in further measures militating against the freedom
of the port. For no other reason did the Canton Authorities
condescend to co-operate with Sir Henry in this matter, but
because it enabled them to persuade Sir Henry to place additional
restrictions on Chinese junks visiting Hongkong. Moreover,
as pirates ruled the sea all around Hongkong, so highway
robbers and burglars seemed to have things their own way
all over the Island. Government House even was entered by
burglars (April 26, 1843) , three mercantile houses (Dent's,
Jardine's, Gillespie's) were attacked in one and the same night
(April 28 , 1843 ) , the Morrison Institution was plundered by
robbers who carried off the Chief Superintendent's Great Seal
(May 19 , 1843) , and James White's bungalow was attacked
and held by an armed gang until some sepoys opened fire upon
them (February 23, 1844) . No European ventured abroad
without a revolver, and a loaded pistol was kept at night under
every pillow. The principal merchants kept armed constables
in their employ for the protection of their property , having
no confidence whatever in the Colonial constables . Jardine,
Matheson & Co. kept twelve armed men to protect their premises
at East Point at an expense of £ 60 a month. Every private
house inhabited by Europeans had its watchman going the
round of the premises all night and striking a hollow bamboo
from time to time in proof of his watchfulness . The scum of
the criminal classes of the neighbouring districts looked upon
Hongkong as their Eldorado and upon English law as a mere
farce. Major Caine's floggings seemed to have no terror for
them, and imprisonment in the Gaol, the healthiest locality
of Hongkong, appeared to the half-starved gaol-birds of Canton
a coveted boon. The Government now (May 1 , 1844) made
arrangements, a fortnight before Sir H. Pottinger left Hongkong,
to organize a Police Force, thenceforth known among the Chinese
as ' green coats ' (Lukee), but as the discharged English and
204 CHAPTER XIII.
Indian soldiers of whom the corps was made up were helpless,
in their ignorance of the native language, without the assistance
of Chinese constables, and as the latter were of the lowest
order, this establishment of a Colonial police made things rather