taxation, as it became thereby an article of increased commercial
importance . He seems, however, to have been oblivious of the
fact that, as salt is a heavily taxed Imperial monopoly in China,
his action in abolishing the salt tax in Hongkong merely gave
a fillip to the Chinese contraband trade carried on by the salt
smugglers in the Colony.
Sir J. Bowring paid much attention to the condition of
the Police Force . Being at first dissatisfied with its organisation,
he appointed (August, 1855) a Commission to inquire into the
police system of the Colony and invited the public to give
evidence verbally or in writing. Some changes were made in
the constitution of the Force (in 1857 ) and at the close of his
administration Sir John considered the outward appearance,
discipline and general efficiency of the Police Force to have
greatly improved. He stated that the complaints under this
head, which formerly were frequently addressed to the Govern-
ment, were in 1858 much diminished in number. Considering
the indifferent materials from which the selection , for economical
reasons, had necessarily to be made, Sir John considered the
state of the Force to be satisfactory and creditable to its
Superintendent ( Ch . May) .
It could not be expected that crime would decrease during:
a period of such extraordinary commotion . Yet the criminal
record of Sir John's regime compares, with the exception of the
unique attempt to poison the whole foreign community, by no
means unfavourably with that of other periods of the history of
Hongkong. Indeed , although Hongkong was at this time more
than ever the recipient of the scum of Canton and of the vilest
and fiercest of the population of South-China, the experienced
Superintendent of Police (Ch. May) , himself an ex -Inspector of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 337
Scotland Yard, reported in 1857 that the proportionate number
and gravity of offences committed in Hongkong was considerably
less than that of the British metropolis. The execution (in
1854) of two Europeans, who had murdered a Chinese boy on
the ship Mastiff, greatly impressed the Chinese residents with
the equality of justice dealt out by British tribunals . In 1854
and 1855, gangs of robbers, having their lairs on the hillside
or on the Peak, engaged in occasional skirmishes with the police
(April 24, 1855) and made a daring attack (November, 1855)
on some shops in Aberdeen, when several constables were
wounded while the robbers sailed away with their booty in a
junk. The conviction (June, 1854 ) of a Chinese boatman and
his wife of the murder of a Mr. Perkis, the attack made by
an armed gang on the comprador's office of Wardley & Co.
(December, 1855) , a similar attack made on shops at Jardine's
Bazaar (January 1 , 1856 ) , when several private policemen of
Jardine, Matheson & Co. were wounded, and finally the murder
(April 1 , 1857 ) of Mr. Ch. Markwick by his Chinese servant,
were the principal crimes, unconnected with the war, that
attracted public attention during this period. In the latter case,
the Registrar General (D. R. Caldwell) pursuing the murderer
with the assistance of a gunboat to his native village, obtained
his surrender by the threat of bombarding the village. The
Secretary of State subsequently expressed his disapproval of
this measure. Nevertheless the District city of Namtao was
(March 19 , 1859 ) actually bombarded by H.M.S. Cruiser (Captain
Bythesea ) to compel reparation for the sum of $ 4,500 which,
as the comprador of the Registrar General's Office alleged , had
been stolen by Namtao braves from a Hongkong passage-boat
in which he had an interest. These were high-handed measures
inspired by the war-spirit of the time rather than by justice.
Sir J. Bowring believed that the spot where almost all
crime was concocted in Hongkong was to be found in the
unlicensed gambling houses of Taipingshan. In connection
with this belief, and in view of the apparent impossibility of
finding constables who would not wink at and profit by existing
22
338 CHAPTER XVII.
abuses rooted in the inveterate Chinese habit of gambling,
Sir J. Bowring boldly proposed to Lord John Russell
(September 4, 1855) and subsequently to Mr. H. Labouchere
(February 11 , 1856) to regulate the vice that could not be
suppressed and to adopt the system in vogue at Macao of
controlling Chinese gambling houses by licensing a limited
number of them . The Lieutenant- Governor (W. Caine), the
Acting Colonial Secretary ( Dr. Bridges) and the Attorney
General (T. Ch. Anstey) , strongly supported the Governor's
arguments, which were fortified by a considerable array of
favourable reports, received from India, the Straits, the Dutch
Possessions and the Governor of Macao ( I. F. Guimaraes) as to
the good results of such a control of Chinese gambling. None
but the Superintendent of Police (Ch. May ) and the Chief
Magistrate (C. H. Hillier) raised a voice of warning. Accor-
dingly a draft Ordinance, relating to public gaming houses
and for the better suppression of crime, ' prepared by Dr. Bridges
and assented to by all the Members of Council ( Mr. Hillier
excepted), was submitted to H.M. Government (April 17, 1856) .
Although the measure met with a blank refusal on the part of
Mr. Labouchere , who would not even consider it, Sir J. Bowring
again and again, but in vain, represented to Mr. Labouchere's
successors (Lord Stanley and Sir E. B. Lytton ) his ardent
conviction that the system of licensing vice for the purpose of
controlling it was as legitimate in the case of gambling as in
the case of prostitution and opium smoking, and that the
existing state of things resulted in general corruption of the
Police. The problem was left to be taken up ten years later
by Sir Richard MacDonnell.
That piracy was specially rampant during this period was
natural. The periodical onslaughts which British men-of- war
made on the pirates swarming in the neighbourhood of Hongkong
appeared to make little impression. Captious critics, both in
the Colony and in Parliament, and particularly European friends
of the Taiping Government, occasionally threw out doubts
whether all the junks destroyed by British gunboats were actually
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 339
piratical craft or Taiping rebels or peaceful but in self-protection
heavily armed traders, officially traduced by Chinese informers as
pirates. H.M.S. Rattler made a successful raid against pirates
at Taichow (May 16 , 1855 ) . H.M. Brig Bittern burned 23
junks and killed 1.200 men at Sheifoo (September, 1855 ) with
the loss of her own commander killed and 19 men wounded.
H.M.S. Surprise, assisted by boats of H.M.S. Cambrian, captured
a whole pirate fleet at Lintin (May, 1858 ) and in result of this
action as many as 134 large cannons were sold in the Colony by
public auction and purchased by Chinese (probably confederates
of pirates) at the rate of $234 a pair. H.M.S. Magicienne,
Inferible, Plover, and Algerine, destroyed (September, 1858)
40 junks, 30 snake-boats, a stockaded battery and several piratical
villages. H.M.S. Fury and Bustard captured 12 junks near
Macao (December, 1858 ) and in the same neighbourhood H.M.S.
Niger, Janus, and Clown burned 20 junks and killed some 200
men ( March, 1859 ) . Mr. Caldwell, by whose information and
guidance all these expeditions were undertaken, enjoyed the fullest
confidence of the Authorities but incurred, at the same time,
much obloquy and animosity on the part of European friends of
the Taipings and particularly among the Chinese friends and
abettors of the pirates. On 1st June, 1854, a foolish rumour
gained credence among the local Chinese population that an
immense piratical fleet was coming to attack and plunder the
Colony. After the ontbreak of the Arrow War such rumours
were frequently in circulation owing to the general increase of
piracy. As many as 32 piracies were reported in Hongkong
between November 1st , 1856 , and 15th February, 1857. After
that they decreased in frequency. Only 5 cases of piracy were
reported in March, 5 more in May and June, and 11 cases
between June 28th and August 17th, 1857. One of the foreign
associates of pirates, Eli M. Boggs, an American, was convicted
(July 7 , 1857 ) of piracy and sentenced to transportation for
life, and a notorious pirate chief, Machow Wong, was sentenced
(September 2 , 1857 ) to 15 years' transportation (to Labuan) .
In October, 1857, the schooner Neva was attackel by pirates who
1
340 CHAPTER XVII
murdered the captain and two of the crew. Piracy continued
to worry the junk trade until March 1858 , and the capture of a
Hongkong passage-boat (Wing-sun) made some stir (January
17 , 1858 ), but after that time the numberof piracies sensibly
decreased and no further attack on European vessels occurred
until the day preceding the Governor's departure, when the
S.S. Cumfa was plundered by pirates (May 4, 1859 ) .
Owing to the long-continued disturbances in the Canton
Province, the population of Hongkong increased , with some
strange fluctuations (in 1856 and 1858 ) , from 56,011 people in
the year 1854 to 75,503 people in 1858 , the average annual
increase, during the five years of Sir J. Bowring's administration ,
being only 6,915 , though in the years 1854 and 1855 the annual
increment amounted to 16,954 people . Sir John explained these
fluctuations by saying that the returns of 1857 and 1858 were
under-estimated by error and that the ambulatory habits of the
Chinese residents might account for the inaccuracies of the
census of 1856 which reported 71,730 persons residing in
the Colony (exclusive of troops) . Referring to the year 1856 ,
Sir John reported an increase in the respectability of the Chinese
population and stated that a better class of people had com-
menced settling in Hongkong. It was also noticed in 1857
that the average proportion of Chinese females residing in the
Colony was far higher than it had ever been before.
In his report for the year 1854, the Colonial Surgeon (J.
Carroll Dempster) urged upon the Government the necessity of
securing drainage and ventilation for Chinese dwellings . He
stated that smallpox was the principal scourge of the Colony in
1854. In spring 1855, fever raged among the Chinese population , 1
some 800 deaths being reported between 6th February and 28th
April. Increased activity of the sanitary department caused,
in October 1856 , just after the commencement of the Arrow
War, much excitement among the Chinese residents owing to
the heavy fines imposed by the Magistrates under the new
Nuisance Ordinance (8 of 1856 ) and mobs of turbulent Chinese
paraded the streets . The year 1857 was reported upon by the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 341
next Colonial Surgeon (Dr. Menzies) as having been distinguished
by more than average unhealthiness consequent upon the failure
of the usual amount of rain . But the next year was positively
disastrous. When Dr. Harland (the successor of Dr. Menzies)
died of fever in the year 1858 , it was noticed that he was the
fourth Colonial Surgeon who had fallen a victim to the climate.
His successor, Dr. Chaldecott, reported, as a novel appearance in
the Colony, the outbreak of true Asiatic cholera and hydro-
phobia . Whilst insisting upon the urgent need of improving the
sanitary condition of the Colony, repeatedly pointed out by his
predecessors, Dr. Chaldecott stated that this first appearance of
Asiatic cholera was, if not entirely owing to, at least fearfully
aggravated and extended by, the neglect of proper drainage and
cleanliness, the results of which must act with double force in
a community so crowded together as that of Victoria, and in
a climate so favourable to the decomposition of animal and
vegetable products." He reported that Asiatic cholera in
Hongkong first attacked the worst lodged and worst fed part
of the Chinese community, then some Indian servants, next the
European seamen both ashore and afloat and at the same time
some of the soldiers of the garrison and the prisoners in the
gaol, and that it finally, in three cases, attacked the higher class
of European inhabitants of the Colony and in one of those cases
proved fatal. The residents of Macao suffered at the same
time from the disease and cases occurred among the Allied Forces
at Canton and in some of the men-of-war in the River. The
disease afterwards visited the East Coast, reached Shanghai and
then raged with great virulence over a large part of the Japanese
Empire.
The erection of waterworks was repeatedly mooted during
this period and particularly in the year 1858. Sir J. Bowring
publicly stated that some of the opponents of his Praya scheme
(Members of Council) had openly avowed their purpose of
swamping the surplus revenue, accumulating for Praya purposes,
by diverting it to other and hitherto unauthorized public works,
and that it was for this sinister purpose that the construction of
342 CHAPTER XVII.
waterworks was prominently put forward. One of the principal
advocates of the waterworks scheme was the Colonial Secretary
(W. T. Mercer) . Observing that the pancity of the hill streams
on the northern side of the Island renders the procural of a
sufficient water supply for the city a matter of extreme difficulty,
and noticing also that this want is specially felt in the winter
season when conflagrations are most frequent among the Chinese
houses, he suggested to lead the water from Pokfulam round the
side of the hill, attracting at the same time the smaller rivulets
crossing the course of the proposed aqueduct. The Surveyor
General estimated the cost of this undertaking at £25,000.
Sir J. Bowring, however, opined that it was not the business
of the Government to furnish individuals with water any more
than any other necessaries of life and that therefore the annual
income of the Colony was not fairly applicable to such specula-
tions. Sir John suggested the formation of a joint-stock
company, but pointed out, at the same time, the difficulty of
collecting a water rate from the Chinese population .
In the sphere of commercial affairs, Sir J. Bowring was
unfortunate in coming, almost immediately after his arrival in
China, into collision with the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce.
When the capture of Shanghai by the Taipings brought the
Imperial customs office of that port to a standstill ( September
7 , 1853 , to February 9 , 1854) , Sir G. Bonham had suggested
that British merchants continuing trade there should deposit, in
the Consulate, bonds for the eventual payment of customs dues ..
The merchants demurred, on the ground that the Chinese
Government could not claim duties, as it had ceased to exercise
authority and to afford protection, and that American, Prussian
and Austrian vessels actually came and went without paying duty
on their cargoes. Sir J. Bowring had, before leaving London,
discussed the matter with Earl Clarendon and understood him
to say that those duties must be paid. By the time Sir John
reached Shanghai, the Chinese customs office had been re-
established (February 10, 1854) , but, after working irregularly,
ceased again (March 28, 1854 ) , whereupon the foreign Consuls -
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 343
agreed to collect duties by promissory notes. Sir John having
informed the Chamber of Commerce of Earl Clarendon's decision ,
the British merchants handed in their bonds for arrears of duties
down to July 12 , 1854. After making an arrangement with the
U.S. Minister that a European Inspector should be appointed
to collect temporarily the duties payable to the Chinese Govern-
ment, Sir John returned to Hongkong (Angust, 1854 ) and ,
to his great surprise, found there a dispatch awaiting him in
which the Foreign Office, acting under the advice of the Crown
Lawyers, instructed him to return the bonds to the parties by
whom they were given. Sir John forthwith ordered restoration
of those bonds which covered the period from September to
February, but retained the other bonds, as he interpreted his
instructions to authorize his doing so . But when the Shanghai
Chamber once more appealed to the Foreign Office, Earl
Clarendon told a deputation of the East India and China
Association (November, 1854) that Sir J. Bowring had received
positive instructions not to interfere in any way with the collec-
tion of duties. Sir John now suffered unmerited obloquy as the
Shanghai merchants, supposing him to have acted throughout
in a manner contrary to his instructions, censured his action in
the matter as markedly insincere and autocratic. So much more
does it redound to the credit of those same merchants, that they,
as soon as the news of the Parliamentary condemnation of Sir
John's character and conduct in connection with the Arrow
War reached Shanghai (April, 1857 ) , immediately passed reso-
lutions enthusiastically defending his character and justifying his
general conduct and policy.
The commerce of the Colony flourished throughout this
administration. The conclusion of Sir John's treaty with Siam
caused, since May, 1855, large shipments of Siamese produce
to pour into Hongkong. This caused an immediate revolution
of the rice trade which now fell largely into foreign hands,
whence resulted a welcome reduction of prices, as famine rates
had been ruling in Canton. The opening of Japan, by the
Convention concluded (October 14, 1854) by Admiral Sir James
344 CHAPTER XVII.
Stirling, had no such immediate effect upon the trade of
Hongkong, but laid the basis of an important though slowly
developing branch of commerce. So also the trade with the
Philippine Islands, materially furthered by the opening (June
11 , 1855 ) of the ports of Saul, Iloilo, and Zamboanga (on the
island of Mindanao) , waited only for the establishment of regular
steam communication to benefit Hongkong more extensively
by an annually increasing demand for British manufactures.
Chinese emigration continued to develop from year to year.
An emigration officer was appointed by Sir John ( May, 1854)
with good effect. The first ship-load of emigrants to Jamaica
was reported (November, 1854) to have arrived safely at
Kingston. The efflux of emigrants to California and Australia
(especially to Melbourne) continued to increase. As many as
14,683 Chinese emigrants were shipped from Hongkong in the
year 1855, and 13,856 in 1858. The prohibition placed at one
time (September 1 , 1854) on the coolie trade to the Chincha
Islands, when that trade was believed to result in the most
aggravated form of slavery, was withdrawn again ( February 3,
1855) as measures had meanwhile been taken for the better
treatment and regular supervision of Chinese labourers on those
Islands. About the same time new regulations concerning the
diet and provisions of Chinese passengers in emigrant ships were
made (March 7, 1855) . Hongkong continued to be the port from
which all South-China emigrants, able to pay their passage,
preferred to embark for foreign countries. The existence at one
time (March, 1857 ) of closed coolie barracoons in Hongkong
was a shocking discovery, and was immediately put down . Sir
John thought the Chinese Passenger Ordinance too stringent as
regards Chinese emigrants paying their own passage, though for
the emigration of hired labourers under contract he considered
the Act much needed. The disturbed condition of affairs within
and without the Colony did not interfere much with the trade
of the Colony. The junk trade, indeed, fell off suddenly in
1857, during the pause in the hostilities when the Canton River
was virtually closed to Hongkong junks, and decreased by
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 345
270,244 tons in one year, but it speedily recovered again. The
foreign shipping returns for the five years of this administration
show an average yearly increase of 487 vessels, representing
251,350 tons, being 68 per cent. The tonnage increased from
300,000 to 700,000 tons of square-rigged vessels . The junk
trade improved on the whole in similar proportions. Aided
during this period by a great extension of the lines of com-
munication connecting Hongkong with other parts of the world,
the Colony not only continued to be the headquarters of all the
great commercial establishments in China, but became by this
time the most extensively visited port in the Pacific.
The currency question was not advanced in any way by
Sir J. Bowring. By order of the Colonial Office he published
(July 9 , 1857 ) a notification to the effect that Australian
sovereigns and half-sovereigns should have legal currency in
Hongkong. But he urged upon the consideration of Her
Majesty's Government the inconvenience of making the sover-
eign the standard of exchange in a country where gold is
not legal tender. He also inveighed against the absurdity of
keeping the accounts of the Government in Sterling in a
Colony where not a merchant, shopkeeper or any individual has
any transaction except in dollars and cents. Sir J. Bowring
went even further and urged the Lords Commissioners of H.M.
Treasury to sanction the introduction of a British dollar and
the establishment of a Mint in Hongkong. Unfortunately, this
sage proposal was rejected by the Treasury Board on the plea
that the mercantile supporters of Sir J. Bowring's notions were
merely some Shanghai merchants who had, from dissension
among themselves, prevented the introduction of Mexican dollars
into that place and whose obvious interest it was to advocate
any scheme which, if it succeeded, relieved them from difficulty
and, if it failed, would cost them nothing. Sir J. Bowring's
call for a British dollar was not only considered a risky
and expensive experiment but premature in view of the fact
that Sterling money remained, under the terms of the Royal
proclamation of May 1 , 1845 , the standard of value" in Hongkong,
346 CHAPTER XVII
In this, as in some other respects, Sir John's ideas were in
advance of his time.
How far behind the times some worthy men in Hongkong
kept lagging, is evidenced by the fact that in spring 1856 the
Lieutenant- Governor, Colonel W. Caine, revived the old sugges-
tion, first made by Captain Elliot (June 28 , 1841 ) and then
repeated by misguided Hongkong merchants (December, 1846) ,
that Parliament should impose a differential duty of one penny
per pound in favour of teas shipped from Hongkong. Colonel
Caine thought that, if this measure were adopted, the result
would need no demonstration. Sir J. Bowring, however,
incisively remarked in his covering dispatch, that the whole
system of differential duties was, in his view, obnoxious in
principle, fraudulent in practice and disappointing in result .
After this, no more was heard of the scheme.
Among the minor commercial topics which ephemerically
occupied the attention of the public, may be mentioned the
complaint made by the Postmaster General regarding the irregular
arrival of mail steamers (December 10 , 1854), the breaking up
of the Hongkong and Canton Steam Packet Company (December
13 , 1854) , and a decision given by the Supreme Court (May 2 ,
1855 ) to the effect that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company must forward parcels without unnecessary
delay and have no right to leave any of the parcels for Europe
behind, at any point on their route, to make room for other
cargo.
The fact that the commercial reputation of the Colony had ,
even by this time, not yet been re- established in England, became
painfully evident by an article which appeared ( December 17 ,
1858) in the Times and caused much comment in the Colony.
Hongkong was there represented as feeling humiliated and dis-
placed by the opening of so many Treaty ports in China. It was
alleged that all the success of British arms in China, so valuable
to the rest of the world and so important to the great interests
of humanity, was rather carped at by Hongkong merchants,
owing to their natural tendency towards their own individual
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 347
interests. The notion of the writer was apparently that of Mr.
M. Martin, whose influence came here once more (for the last
time perhaps ) to the fore, that the Colony was misplaced at
Hongkong and should be removed to Chusan, if a British Colony
was at all wanted in China. All the advantages of Hongkong
were said to consist exclusively in its proximity to the single
privileged port of Canton, the writer labouring under the
supposition that Hongkong's successes were merely derived from
Canton's difficulties .
The educational history of this period is characterized by
a sensible decline of the voluntary schools . The Anglo -Chinese
College, numbering from 30 to 85 scholars, was closed at the
end of the year 1856 owing to the results not justifying its
continuance. Though it had trained some useful clerks for
mercantile offices, it had failed from a missionary and educational
point of view, and, recognizing the failure, Dr. Legge courageously
closed this College. St. Paul's College continued for some years
longer, but Sir J. Bowring, weighing its results in the official
6
scales, pronounced it likewise a failure. For the last six years '
6
he said, 250 pounds a year has been voted by Parliament to the
Bishop's College for the education of six persons destined to the
public service, and not a single individual from that College has
been yet declared competent to undertake even the meanest
department of an interpreter's duty, though I have no doubt of
the Bishop's zeal and wish to show some practical and beneficial
result from the said Parliamentary grant. To the missionaries
alone I can at present look for active assistance, and their special
objects do not usually fit them for the direction of popular and
general education.' A new educational movement was initiated.
(March 6 , 1855 ) by a public meeting which, complaining that
Hongkong was still without a Public School for English children,
who were educationally less cared for than the Chinese, esta-
blished amid general enthusiasm a school (thenceforth known as
St. Andrew's School) under a representative and highly popular
Committee (the Hon . J. F. Edger, A. Shortrede, James Smith,
B. C. Antrobus, C. D. Williams, Douglas Lapraik, F. W. M. Green,
348 CHAPTER XVII.
and Geo. Lyall). But though this School was well started
and continued under the fostering care of Mr. Shortrede , the
conviction soon forced itself upon public recognition that the
Committee's original idea of confining the School to the tuition
of the children of British residents was impracticable. Weighed
in the popular scales, this School was also found wanting , though
it lingered on for a few years longer. But while the principal
voluntary schools thus declined during this period , and the
smaller day schools established by the Protestant and Catholic
missions for the benefit of the Chinese also continued in a lan-
guishing condition , the 13 Government Schools, giving a purely
Chinese education , flourished and developed both in attendance
and in organisation, through the appointment (May 12, 1857)
of an Inspector, the Rev. W. Lobscheid . The Acting Colonial
Secretary (Dr. W. T. Bridges ) , while stating ( March, 1857 ) that
nothing could well be at a lower ebb than the local educational
movement, recognized distinct signs of healthy vitality in the
Government Schools (small as they were) which he personally
visited.
There is but little to record concerning the religious affairs
of this period . Great indignation was aroused when Sir
J. Bowring declined (May 25 , 1855 ) the request of Bishop Smith
that the Governor should appoint the 6th June, 1855 , as a day
of fast and humiliation , with reference to the Crimean War and
in imitation of the popular action taken in England . Sir John
incurred the unjust condemnation of most religiously inclined
people in the Colony, but his action was strongly approved by
the Colonial Office because the proclamation of a public fast day
is a prerogative which even the Sovereign, as the head of the
Church of England, may exercise only in the form of an Order
in Council. A few years later, Bishop Smith came (October 18,
1858 ) again to the front by the publication of a stirring letter
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury in review of the
Tientsin Treaty as favourably affecting the prospects of Chris-
tianity in the East . This letter, in which the zealous Bishop
appealed to the Church for renewed missionary efforts in China,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 349
had considerable effect both in England and on the Continent .
In May, 1858, a public subscription was raised in Hongkong to
obtain, under the advice of Sir F. G. Ouseley, the Oxford
Professor of Music. an organ (to cost £ 125 ) and a first- class
organist. In result a highly trained and talented musician
(C. F. A. Sangster) was sent out (in 1860) and he conducted
the Cathedral choir for 35 years with great success.
While the social life of Hongkong continued on the whole
to center in Government House, Sir J. Bowring occupied to some
extent the position held by his literary confrère and one of his
gubernatorial predecessors, Sir J. Davis. Both men were about
equal in genius and equally unpopular in Hongkong. It was
often remarked that the friends and admirers of Sir J. Bowring-
and that he had such, there is ample testimony-were mostly
non-English . A correspondent of the New York Times (January
4, 1859 ) represented in glowing colours Sir John Bowring's
sociability and intellectuality, alleging that one secret of Sir
John's unpopularity in the detestable society of Hongkong ' was
the democratic simplicity he adhered to in his style of living.
Among the occurrences which gave colour to the social life of
this period, the following incidents may be enumerated , viz . the
arrival (August 1, 1854) of the U.S. store-ship Supply, the
officers of which had just surveyed extensive coal beds in
Formosa ; the arrival (August 14, 1854) of the American ship
Lady Pierce with her owner Silas E. Burrows ; the strike
(September 12 , 1854) of local washermen who demanded better
pay the presentation (September 14, 1854) by the American
community of Canton and Hongkong of a service of plate to
Commodore Perry in command of the U.S. Squadron ; the arrival
(November 1 , 1854 ) from the Arctic Ocean of the discovery-ship
Enterprise ; a public farewell dinner given (November 20 , 1858 )
to the officers of the 59th Regiment (2nd Nottinghamshire)
which had been nine years in China ; the series of theatrical
entertainments (since January, 1859 ) given by the officers of
the 1st or Royal Regiment who issued season tickets for the
purpose.
350 CHAPTER XVII.
The following facts may be mentioned as indicative of the
progress made by the Colony during this period, viz. the form-
ation, at the instance of Mr. W. Gaskell, of a local Law Society
(October 28 , 1854) ; the organisation of a volunteer fire brigade
(January 23) and a Chinese fire- brigade ( March 7 , 1856 ) ; the
improved lighting of the town, including now also Praya East
and Wantsai , 100 oil lamps being added (October 1 , 1856 ) to
the previously existing 250 oil lamps, and the lighting rate
providing for the whole expenditure (Ordinance 11 of 1856 ) ;
the establishment at Pokfulam of a number of villas for use as
sanatoriums and of farms laid out to grow ginger and coffee
(June, 1856 ) ; the establishment by Mr. Douglas Lapraik and
Captain J. Lamont of new docks at Aberdeen (June, 1857) .
The measure of turmoil which the Colony underwent, during
this period, through warfare without and within, was added to by
accidental calamities. Even before the emissaries of Cantonese
Mandarins invaded Hongkong as patriotic incendiaries, some
serious conflagrations took place in the central part of the town
( February 16 , 1855 ) , in Taipingshan (January 27 , 1856 ) and
at the western market (February 23, 1856 ) . A harmless shock
of earthquake was felt in Hongkong ( September 28 , 1854 ) , heavy
rains did a great amount of damage to drains, roads and Chinese
houses (June 22 , 1855 ) , and a typhoon passed very near to the
Colony (September, 1855 ) causing much injury to the shipping
and the piers, besides burying a number of houses at Queen's
Road West by a land-slip, the immediate consequence of the
heavy rain which accompanied this typhoon.
The obituary of this period includes, among others, the
names of Mrs. Irwin (July 21 , 1857 ) , Colonel Lugard
(December 1 , 1857 ) , Dr. W. A. Harland (September 12 , 1858 ),
and Acting Attorney General J. Day ( September 21 , 1858 ) .
Since the death of J. R. Morrison (in 1843 ) , no event in
Hongkong was mourned so generally and so deeply as the death
of Dr. Harland, who since 1844 had acted as Resident Surgeon at
Seamen's Hospital and latterly as Colonial Surgeon, and died of
fever contracted while charitably attending on the Chinese poor.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 351
Sir J. Bowring's administration terminated at a time
( May 5 , 1859 ) when the passionate comments of the English
press, reviewing the Parliamentary discussions of Hongkong's
misdeeds , reached the Colony and thereby reproduced a consider-
able amount of popular excitement. Sir J. Bowring departed,
like Sir J. Davis, amid the execrations of a large portion of
the European community and the blustering roar of farewell
condemnations poured forth by local editors. In one respect
Sir J. Bowring fared even worse than his predecessors . Neither
Sir H. Pottinger, nor Sir J. Davis, nor in fact any Governor
of Hongkong before or after him, not even Sir J. Pope Hennessy ,
was so extravagantly abused as Sir J. Bowring. The venomous
epithets and libellous accusations, continuously hurled at him by
the public press (China Mail excepted) until the very moment
of his departure, are unfit to be mentioned. It clearly was
his personal character rather than his policy that provoked the
ire of his political opponents. As in the case of Sir J. Davis,
so now the European community marked their dislike of the
Governor by lavishing extra favours on the departing Admiral
while ignoring the Governor's exit . On 16th March, 1859, the
leading merchants presented to Sir Michael Seymour, K.C.B. ,
a magniloquent address and a draft on London to the amount of
2,000 guineas for the purchase of a service of plate, to mark the
sense of the Hongkong community of his great services and of
the respect entertained for him personally. In his reply,
Sir Michael gracefully referred to the advantages he had enjoyed
in having had, previous to the arrival of Lord Elgin, the advice
and experience of Sir J. Bowring to aid him. But when, a
few weeks later, the Governor left the Colony, the European
community presented neither address nor testimonial, sullenly
ignoring his departure, until the rare event of a public auction
held at Government House (May 20, 1859) drew the European
community together in sarcastic frolics over their ex-Governor's
goods and chattels,
The Chinese community, however, stolidly indifferent to
the dissentient views of foreign public opinion, came forward
352 CHAPTER XVII.
right loyally. Two stately deputations of Chinese waited on
Sir J. Bowring at the last moment of his departure and expressed
the genuine esteem in which he was held among all classes of
the native population, by presenting him with some magnificent
testimonials including a mirror, a bronze vase, a porcelain bowl
and a bale of satin which bore the names of 200 subscribers.
The spontaneous character of these presentations was undoubted
and did much to cheer the departing Governor's heart.
On his way home by S.S. Pekin, Sir J. Bowring had the
misfortune of being shipwrecked in the Red Sea, but he reached
England in safety. He, the advanced Liberal, received the
thanks of a Conservative Ministry for his faithful and patient
services in Hongkong, but he was, on the other hand, given the
cold shoulder in the lobby of the House of Commons by some
of his former political friends. After his retirement from the
public service on a liberal pension, he lectured frequently on
Oriental topics ; wrote papers on social, economical and statistical
questions ; gave addresses at meetings of the Social Science
Association, the British Association, the Devonshire and other
Societies : studied Chinese and composed religious poems, some
of which possess enduring value. Calmly looking back at the
close of his life over all the varied events of his chequered history,
and viewing his career in China as but a small portion of his
life work, Sir J. Bowring penned, in his auto- biographical
recollections, the following memorable words. 'My career in
China belongs so much to history, that I do not feel it needful
to record its vicissitudes . I have been severely blamed for the
policy I pursued , yet that policy has been most beneficial to
my country and to mankind at large. It is not fair or just to
suppose that a course of action, which may be practicable or
prudent at home, will always succeed abroad.' Sir J. Bowring
died peacefully on 23rd November, 1872 , having just completed
his eightieth year.
G
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HERCULES ROBINSON .
September 9, 1859, to March 15, 1865.
T the close of Sir J. Bowring's administration , the condition
A
of the Colony and its reputation in England were such
that the selection of a new Governor was as difficult a matter
as it had been when Sir H. Pottinger or Sir J. Davis vacated
the post . It was evident, on the one hand, that now a man
was wanted who possessed not only common sense but combined
with the firmness of a strict disciplinarian the fine tact and
large views of a man whose mind is seasoned with humanity and
able to bring into ripening maturity what seeds of goodness had
been sown . But, on the other hand, the sanitary, social and
moral reputation of Hongkong was so bad that the offer of the
governorship of Hongkong afforded no encouragement to a man
of such high abilities as were required for this office. Sir
Hercules Robinson was precisely the man that was wanted to
clear out this redoubtable Augean stable in China. Though he
occupied at the time an insignificant governorship on the opposite
side of the globe, he probably did not feel in the least flattered
by the offer of the Hongkong appointment, unless he looked at
it as implying, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, a
compliment to his abilities. Sir Hercules had originally served
in the 87th Fusiliers and, on his retirement from the Army,
found civil employment during the Irish famine ( 1846 to 1849)
under the Commissioners of Public Work and Poor-Law Board
in Ireland. He had subsequently ( 1852) acted as Chief-
Commissioner to inquire into the fairs and markets of Ireland
and, in recognition of his services, been promoted to the
Presidency of Montserrat ( 1854) . Then he became Lieutenant-
23
354 .. CHAPTER XVIII.
Governor of St. Christopher ( 1854) and combined with the latter
post the dormant commission of Governor-in-chief of the Leeward
Islands. Consequent upon his courageous acceptance of the
governorship of Hongkong, he was created a Knight Bachelor
in June, 1859.
Sir H. Robinson, destined by Providence to reap where his
predecessors had sown, arrived in Hongkong on September 9th,
1859 , and took on the same day the oaths of his office as
Governor and Commander-in-chief and Vice-Admiral, being the
first Governor of Hongkong entirely dissociated from the Super-
intendency of Trade and from the diplomatic duties of H.M.
Plenipotentiary in China. During his tenure of office, Sir
Hercules was twice absent on furlough, first for a brief visit to
Japan (July 17 to September 8 , 1861 ) , and subsequently for a
longer term (July 12 , 1862, to February 11 , 1864) , during which
he visited England and transacted (in autumn , 1863) some
business for the Colonial Office as a Member of the Commission
appointed to inquire into the financial condition of the Straits
Settlements. On leaving Hongkong on the latter occasion (July
12, 1862 ) , after but three years of his administration, so great
was the change already wrought in the commercial, financial
and administrative condition of Hongkong affairs, that he was
presented on his departure with enthusiastic addresses from the
local Volunteers, the Bishop and all the Members of Council,
congratulating him on the undoubted success achieved . During
his absence from Hongkong, the government of the Colony was
on both occasions, as well as after his final departure,
administered by the Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) who
faithfully and successfully continued the line of policy initiated
by Sir Hercules. The recognition of the improved status which
the Colony had gained by this time found expression in the
permission now (January 23, 1863) given to the Governor of
Hongkong to wear the uniform of the first class.
By the time when Sir H. Robinson arrived in Hongkong
(September 9, 1859), the Superintendency of Trade had already
been removed to Shanghai where Sir F. W. Bruce (since June,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. .355
6, 1859 ) , as H.M. Minister in China, was waiting for instructions,
after the defeat of the British fleet at the Peiho (June 25 ,
1859). British and French relations with China were at a
standstill . The U.S. Minister Ward had attempted (June 27,
1859 ) to get the start of the Allies and to be the first to obtain
an audience of the Emperor, but found himself treated in the
precise form of a barbarian tribute bearer and retired discomfited .
After much delay, a plan of action was agreed upon between
England and France, and by order of Lord John Russell
(November 10 , 1859) a mild form of an ultimatum was presented
to the Chinese Authorities ( December, 1859 ) . Whilst this
ultimatum was under the consideration of the Chinese Ministers,
the Viceroy of the two Kiang Provinces in Central China (Ho
Kwei-sin) , pressed by the Taiping rebellion , urged his Govern-
ment to make peace with England and France and actually asked
the Allies ( March, 1860) for military assistance against the
Taipings. But the moment this became known in Peking, an
order went forth for his arrest and he was punished as a traitor.
A defiant reply to the ultimatum of the Allies was now issued
(April 8 , 1860 ) , such as left no room for further negotiations.
The Chinese Government bluntly declared that they had never
intended to carry out the provisions of the Tientsin Treaty.
The Allies were not prepared for an immediate resumption of
the war, but the Island of Chusan was meanwhile (April 21 ,
1860) occupied by the British fleet . Happily, in spite of renewed
protests against the war policy initiated by Lord Palmerston
and regardless of the fresh denunciations of Sir J. Bowring's
action, hurled against him by Mr. Bright and Mr. Sidney Herbert
(March 16 , 1860) , Parliament decreed that the honour of Great
Britain was at stake. Lord Elgin had to return to China with
a new army to do over again the work he had botched by his
misplaced meekness. As soon as the re-inforcements arrived in
China, the Taku forts were carried by assault and Tientsin occupied
(August 26 , 1860). Finally, after a shocking demonstration
of Chinese official treachery and barbarity, Peking was taken
(October 13, 1860) , the Imperial summer palace burnt by way
356 CHAPTER XVIII.
of retribution ( October 18 , 1860 ) , and the Peking Convention
(October 24, 1860) secured at last the ratification of the long
dormant Treaty of Tientsin. In accordance with the demand
of the Allies , the conduct of international affairs was now
transferred from Canton to Peking and the Tsungli Yamen was
created (January, 1861 ) as a special department for foreign
affairs. After the death of the irreconcilably hostile Emperor
Hienfung (August 22, 1861 ), Prince Kung came to the front
and by a coup d'état (November 1 , 1861 ) made himself virtually
Prime Minister of a new regency, the heads of which were the
Empress Dowager and the Empress Mother of the infant Emperor
Tungchi. Next , Prince Kung established the Foreign Maritime
Customs Service which was ably organized by Mr. H. N. Lay
with the assistance of Mr. (subsequently Sir) Robert Hart.
During Mr. Lay's absence in England ( 1862 to 1863) to bring
out a flotilla of gunboats under Captain Sherard Osborne, R.N. ,
Sir R. Hart gained the entire confidence of the Chinese Govern-
ment. Mr. Lay was, owing to his imperious refusal to place
that flotilla under the orders of the Provincial Authorities,
dismissed by Prince Kung (July 19 , 1864) and Sir R. Hart
obtained the supreme control of the Foreign Customs Service.
With the aid of the Allied Forces (since February 21 , 1862 )
Shanghai was delivered from a threatened attack of the Taipings
and, thanks to the services of the Ever-Victorious Army under
General Ch. Gordon (January 6 , 1863, to June 1 , 1864) , the
Taiping rebellion was crushed by the capture of Nanking (July
19, 1864) and peace restored in the Empire for awhile.
During this time the relations of Hongkong with the
Chinese Government had steadily improved. As long as the
occupation of Canton by the Allied Forces continued (January
5 , 1858, to October 21 , 1861 ) , Hongkong was virtually the
port of supply for Canton city. The renewal of the war with
China, in 1860, also gave a fresh stimulus to Colonial activities
in various directions and the commissariat and transport services,
required by the Allied Forces from October, 1859, to the close
of the year 1860, caused the shipping interests of the Colony to
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 357
develop enormously for a time, whilst the war itself raged at
a distance.
The principal benefit of a lasting character that Hongkong
derived from this second war with China consists in the
acquisition of the Kowloon Peninsula. The first official sug-
gestion of the great importance attaching to Kowloon appears to
have originated with a naval officer. On 2nd March, 1858 ,
four months before the conclusion of the Tientsin Treaty,
Captain W. K. Hall, of H.M.S. Calcutta, forwarded to the local
Government copy of a letter addressed by him to the Earl of
Hardwicke. In this letter, Captain Hall represented that the
present opportunity of obtaining the cession of Kowloon Point
and Stonecutters ' Island should not be lost, especially as another
Power might occupy these vantage points to the great detriment
of Hongkong. Captain Hall argued that the Kowloon Peninsula
would afford much needed sea-frontage for commercial building
lots and additional barrack accommodation ; that the British
occupation of Kowloon would remove the danger with which
the mercantile shipping, anchored during the typhoon season in
close proximity to the settlement of lawless Chinese vagabonds
at Tsimshatsui, was threatened ; that H.M. Naval Yard ought
to be transferred to Kowloon and its present side utilized for
barracks ; and that Stonecutters' Island would be useful for a
quarantine establishment and for the strengthening of the defences
of the Colony. It seems that General Ch . van Straubenzee at
once took up Captain Hall's suggestion and reported to the War
Office (in March, 1858) that he had forwarded to Lord Elgin
a recommendation to include among the claims to be made at
the conclusion of the war the cession of Kowloon Peninsula .
Lord Elgin, who never did anything for Hongkong that he
could help and did not even take the trouble to conceal his
aversion to the Colony, refused to entertain the suggestion of
the annexation of Kowloon . He said he had no instructions
on the subject. Accordingly the Treaty of Tientsin (June 28,
1858) left Hongkong in the exact position in which it was under
the Treaty of Nanking. Sir J. Bowring, however, drew the
358 CHAPTER XVIII.
attention of the Colonial Office to the importance of Kowloon ,
and in the following year (March 29, 1859) distinctly recom-
mended its annexation by cession in the following words. The
possession of the small peninsula opposite the Island is become
of more and more importance. To say nothing of questions of
military and naval defence, it would be of great commercial and
sanatory value, while to the Chinese it is not only of no value,.
but a seat of anarchy and a source of embarrassment . I hope-
therefore that measures will be taken for obtaining a cession
of this tract of land .' In October, 1850 , the Downing Street
Authorities urged this recommendation upon the consideration
of the War Office in connection with the renewal of the war
with China, and on March 12th, 1860 , Mr. Sidney Herbert
(then Secretary of State for War) , agreeing with this proposal,
dispatched to Hongkong a memorandum on the military oc--
cupation of Kowloon . Strange to say, on the very same day
(March 12 , 1860) Sir H. Robinson forwarded to Sir F. W. Bruce,
at the urgent suggestion of Sir H. Parkes, a memorandum on
the civil occupation of Kowloon. Sir H. Parkes had been
urging the Governor to take the peninsula on a lease which he,
as Chief of the Commission in occupation of Canton, believed
he could easily obtain from the Cantonese Viceroy Lao Tsung-
Kwong. Sir Hercules was at first unwilling to ask for a lease
because the charter of the Colony made no provision for such
an arrangement . He shrank from asking the Chinese Govern-
ment to grant, as a favour, ground which at the moment was
needed for the prosecution of the war. Indeed a part of the
peninsula had, with the Governor's sanction , already been
informally utilized (since February, 1860 ) as camping ground.
Nevertheless Sir Hercules forwarded Sir H. Parkes' proposition.
to Sir F. Bruce on March 12th, 1860. The next day (March
13, 1860) a new advocate of the annexation of Kowloon, and
one who afterwards claimed to have originated the idea, arrived
in Hongkong, in the person of General Sir Hope Grant, G.C.B. ,.
the commander of the English expedition . His statement is as
6
follows. On the opposite coast, and within three-quarters of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 359
a mile, was the promontory of Kowloon , a spot of which I was
most anxious to gain immediate possession-firstly, because its
occupation was absolutely essential for the defence of Hongkong
harbour and the town of Victoria ; secondly, because it was an
open healthy spot, admirably suited for a camping ground on
the arrival of our troops ; thirdly, because at the conclusion
of the war it would be a salubrious site for the erection of
barracks required for the Hongkong garrison ; and lastly, because,
if we did not take it, the French probably would . This tract
was about two miles in breadth and was particularly healthy,
owing to its being exposed to the south- west monsoon . There
were, however, difficulties in the way. Mr. Bruce, our Plenipo-
tentiary, had sent an ultimatum to the Chinese Government
allowing them a month to reply and war had not yet been
actually declared ; so the forcible seizure of the promontory
would not have been quite legal. ' From Sir H. Parkes' journal
it appears that on March 16th, 1860, he had a consultation with
Sir H. Robinson and General Grant, and this is what he says of
it. 6 After hearing what I had to say, both Sir H. Robinson
and Sir Hope Grant came round to my way of thinking as to
the desirability of getting a lease of Kowloon , although they had
already begun to land troops... Sir H. Robinson is all eagerness
that it should be settled forthwith and that I should get back
to Canton to arrange it as speedily as possible.' As soon as it
was found that Sir F. Bruce also approved of the proposed lease,
Sir Hercules formally authorized Sir H. Parkes to arrange a
lease. Viceroy Lao made no difficulty and on March 21st , 1860 ,
signed, sealed and delivered a lease which granted the Kowloon
Peninsula in perpetuity to Harry Smith Parkes, Esquire, Com-
panion of the Bath, a Member of the Allied Commission at
Canton, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.'
On March 24th, 1860, Colonel Macmahon gave notice to the
Chinese occupants of Kowloon that no further settlers would
be allowed to come there in future but all orderly people already
located there would be protected and outlaws driven away.
When Lord Elgin arrived (June 21 , 1860), the occupation of
360 CHAPTER XVIII.
Kowloon was happily an accomplished fact which he could not
undo. Accordingly he arranged in his Peking Convention
(October 24, 1860) that the lease of Kowloon should be cancelled
and that the peninsula should with a view to the maintenance
of law and order in and about the harbour of Hongkong, be
ceded to H.M. the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Her
heirs and successors, to have and to hold as a Dependency of
Her Britannic Majesty's Colony of Hongkong.' It was further
stipulated in this Convention that Chinese claims to property on
the peninsula should be duly investigated by a Mixed Commission
and payment awarded to any Chinese (whose claims might be
established) if their removal should be deemed necessary. In
pursuance of these stipulations a Commission was appointed
( December 26 , 1860 ) and the ceremony of handing over Kowloon
Peninsula to the British Crown was solemnly performed (January
19, 1861 ) in the presence of a large assembly and some 2,000
troops . One of the Cantonese Mandarins delivered a paper full
of soil to Lord Elgin in token of the cession . Sir Hercules and
Lady Robinson and Sir H. Parkes assisted at this function
and the royal standard was hoisted amid the cheers of the
assembly and the thunders of salutes fired by the men-of-war in
the harbour and by a battery on Stonecutters ' Island . This was
the last official act performed in China by Lord Elgin who with
unfeigned relief left Hongkong forthwith (January 21 , 1861 )
for England by way of Manila and Batavia. His name was
perpetuated in Hongkong by its being given to a terrace which at
the time was a fashionable quarter of the town. Sir H. Robinson
had appointed Mr. Ch . May to act as British Commissioner in
conjunction with some Chinese deputies to adjust native claims
and to mark out the boundary, for which purpose he was assisted
by Mr. Bird of the Royal Engineers ' Department, who surveyed
and mapped out the whole peninsula . But now arose the
question how to allot the ground between the Colony, the Army
and Navy. Sir Hercules appointed for this purpose a Board in
which Mr. Ch . St. G. Cleverly represented the Civil Government,
Colonel Mann, R.E., the Army, and Captain Borlase, R.N., the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 361
Admiralty. But this Board reported (March 7 , 1861 ) their
inability to come to any agreement. The matter had to be
referred home. Sir Hope Grant claimed -that the idea of
appropriating the peninsula had originated with the Military
Authorities ; that the Colonial Office had approved of the
occupation of Kowloon for military purposes ; that the lease
had been obtained by his own authority ; that the peninsula ceded
by the Peking Convention should therefore be converted into
a purely military cantonment separate and apart from the
Government of Hongkong ; that at any rate the highest and
healthiest ground of the peninsula should immediately be utilized
for the erection of barracks. Plans for the latter were forwarded
by General Grant without delay ( April , 1861 ) and approved, with
some alterations, by the War Office (March 13 , 1862 ) . On the
other hand, Sir H. Robinson represented to the Colonial Office
(February 13, 1861 ) -that the idea of appropriating Kowloon
did not originate with the Military Authorities ; that the
Hongkong Government, in originally mooting the acquisition
of Kowloon, had in view the necessity of providing for the wants
of the general population as well as of the military garrison ;
that the lease was obtained under his own authority ; that the
Peking Convention expressly declared the peninsula to be ceded
as a Dependency of the Colony of Hongkong ; that the peninsula
is indispensable to the welfare of the Colony, it being required
to keep the Chinese population at some distance and to preserve
the European and American community from the injury and
inconvenience of intermixture with the Chinese residents ; that
the peninsula is further needed by the Colony to provide storage
accommodation , room for docks, for hospitals, for private
residences and for air and exercise ; that the site specially claimed
by the Military Authorities is indispensable for the foregoing
purposes and that, without that site, it would be almost worthless
to the Colony to have Kowloon at all. Strange to say , these
incontrovertible arguments of Sir H. Robinson, which the
subsequent history of Kowloon proved to have been based on
truth, were brushed aside by the simple fiat of the Imperial
362 CHAPTER XVIII.
Government. The wants, the welfare and the development of
the Colony were mercilessly sacrificed to Imperial military
interests which after all were soon found to be ill-served by this
unrighteous appropriation . But that, in addition to the serious
and permanent injury thus inflicted upon the Colony, an annual
military contribution was likewise demanded, can be explained
only by the assumption that Her Majesty's Government was
kept in ignorance of the serious blow which the prosperity of
Hongkong received by being deprived of the advantages which
the civil occupation of Kowloon would have afforded. The