of 31,660 tons when compared with the returns of 1859. The
difference is explained by the extraordinary increase of the
shipping business occasioned, in the year 1860, by commissariat
and transport services connected with the war in North China.
It may also be noted that the American tonnage decreased
in 1861 while British shipping took a proportionate bound in
advance, owing to the effects of the Peking Convention which
extended the scope of British commerce in China. Owing
to the frequency of ships being wrecked on the Pratas Shoals,
application had been made in 1860 to the Home Government
regarding the erection of lighthouses on those rocks, but the
Board of Trade declined ( May 2 , 1861 ) to move in the matter.
The somewhat Utopian scheme of connecting Calcutta
with Canton and Kowloon by a railway, was brought under
the consideration of the Chamber of Commerce (June 30, 1859)
by Sir MacDonald Stephenson who subsequently, after the
completion of his railway undertakings in India, visited
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON, 389
Hongkong and exhibited (February 28, 1864) a wall map
illustrating his scheme of connecting Calentta, Hongkong and
Peking by a railway. The question whether such a railway would
benefit or injure the interests of the Colony was much debated .
Sir M. Stephenson's scheme was, however, entirely premature
and met with no encouragement on the part of the Chinese
Government. At the close of the year 1861 arrangements were
made to get the commerce of the Colony worthily represented
at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1862. A Committee
(Dr. Ivor Murray, J. J. Mackenzie, J. D. Gibb, W. Walkinshaw,
and Dr. W. Kane) was officially appointed and forwarded to
London a considerable number of articles fairly illustrating
the principal features of local trade . The starting of the French
Messageries Maritimes line of mail steamers (January 1 , 1863 )
caused a material increase in the facility and rapidity of
communication with Europe . The monopoly which the Penin-
sular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company had held as mail
carriers was now ended and the competition benefitted the public
in a variety of ways. Communication with Canton was also
improved, during this period, by the enterprise of two local
American firms (Russell & Co. and Augustin Heard & Co.)
which vied with each other, since 1859, in providing for the
Hongkong and Canton trade roomy palatial river-steamers which
ran both night and day (White Cloud and Kinshan).
December, 1863, Hongkong was also placed in regular steam
communication with North- Borneo and some business was done
by importing coal from Labuan. In the tea trade a new
departure was made in 1864 by forwarding, as an experiment ,
5,000 pounds of tea by the overland route to England.
The problem involved in the sanitation of the Colony was
left by Sir H. Robinson in the hopeless condition in which he
found it. The outbreak, in Hongkong, of several epidemics
and the fear of cholera invading the Colony from abroad
necessitated some action . But it led to nothing further than
the appointment, in 1862 , of a health officer of the port
(Dr. L. Richardson) , the allotment of Green Island as a
390 CHAPTER XVIII.
quarantine station, and the appointment of a Commission
productive of reports which led to nothing. In the year 1859
a mild epidemic of ophthalmia appeared in the gaol and rapidly
spread throughout the Colony, attacking both natives and
Europeans. As it also appeared at Canton, Amoy and Foochow,
it was thought that it had been caused by atmospheric rather
than local agencies . But in November, 1859, the Colony was
threatened by an epidemic of diphtheria which, however, was
happily limited to 10 cases and of these only two proved fatal.
It was noted that the summer of 1859 was unusually severe
as there was, previous to 4th June, a continuous drought of almost
eight months' duration and the thermometer was for several
weeks at an average height of 90 degrees . During the next
two years ( 1860 and 1861 ) the health of the Colony was
exceptionally good, and it is noteworthy that both years were
stated to have been conspicuous for the absence of violent
extremes of temperature. The long talked- of scheme of a medical
sanatorium, to be established on Victoria Peak, was at last
carried out but did not receive a fair trial. At the recom-
mendation of the principal medical officer of the station, the
Military Authorities opened, in spring 1862 , a well-built
sanatorium on the plateau below the flag- staff and filled it with
patients (of an unsuitable class) . But, before the close of the year,
the military doctors condemned the scheme as a manifest failure,
on the ground that nearly every case sent up had been attacked
with diarrhoea of an intractable nature and that all medical
cases had been aggravated rather than improved . The fate
which had pursued the Island as a whole, and the Kowloon
Peninsula in particular, asserted its power also as to the first
settlements on the Peak : the first occupation produced discase,
and patience and discretion were required to overcome the
difficulty. It took years before Peak residence, strongly
advocated by Mr. Granville Sharp, who took a lease of the
deserted sanatorium, rose into favour. A small epidemic of
cholera (25 cases) broke out in the gaol on October 17 , 1862 .
but did not spread farther. Owing to the outbreak of cholera
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 391
in Shanghai, the Governor appointed (December 29 , 1862 ) a
Sanitary Commission (Chief Justice Ball, Colonel Moody,
Surveyor General Cleverly, Hon. J. J. Mackenzie, Doctors
Murray, Home and Mackay, with H. Holmes as Secretary) .
This Commission was in session all through the year 1863 .
The Commissioners became the object of much ridicule when
they offered (March 9 , 1863 ) a prize of $ 100 for the best
scheme for the drainage of the town, without fixing a limit
of expenditure. It was generally considered that the paltry
reward offered was on a par with the understanding the
Commissioners appeared to have of the gigantic nature of the
problem involved . The year 1864 afforded, however, evidence,
satisfactory to the Government, of the continued healthiness
of the Colony, and it was pointed out that the Police Force,
though more exposed than any other body of men in Hongkong,
enjoyed remarkable immunity from disease.
The paralysis which, during the preceeding period , had come
over the educational movement among Protestants and Catholics ,
was succeeded, from the commencement of the administration
of Sir H. Robinson, by an extraordinary revival of energy. On
the Protestant side, Bishop Smith started (in 1859 ) the Diocesan
Native Training School, which had a prosperous career until the
close of the present period and was located ( in autumn, 1863 ) in
the newly-erected buildings on Bonham Road. St. Paul's College
also received a new lease of life under the tuition of Mr.
(subsequently Dr. ) J. Fryer and prospered as long as he remained
in charge. Quite a new branch of educational work was started
(in 1861 ) by Miss Baxter who, beside much Samaritan activity
among all classes of the community and valuable zenana-work
among Chinese women, commenced to labour for the education
of the Eurasian children in the Colony . For this purpose Miss
Baxter established, in Mosque Terrace and in Staunton Street,
schools which were subsequently amalgamated and located in
Baxter House on Bonham Road (now No. 8 Police Station) . At
the same time Miss Magrath laboured in a similar direction ,
while Miss Legge and the ladies of the Berlin Foundling House
392 CHAPTER XVIII.
were engaged in the education of Chinese girls . Taking a more
prominent position, and striking out a new path, Dr. Legge
came forward as an educational reformer. During the preceding
administration he had closed his Anglo-Chinese College as an
acknowledged failure in the line of religious Anglo -Chinese
education. He now set to work, with the support of Sir H.
Robinson, to convert all the Government Schools, which had
hitherto been conducted in the interest of religious education,
into professedly secular institutions. To begin with , the Govern-
ment Gazette announced (January 21 , 1860) the formation of
a new Board of Education for the management of the Government
Schools. Dr. Legge was thenceforth, though Bishop Smith
retained the nominal chairmanship, the presiding spirit of this
Board and ruled it with the ease and grace of a born bishop.
In the absence of Bishop Smith, and after obtaining the
resignation of the missionary Inspector of Schools ( Rev. W.
Lobscheid) , the new Board took up (July 3, 1860) Dr. Legge's
plan of merging the Inspectorate of Schools in the Headmastership
of a grand Central School, which was to become the centre of
secular education, and delivering the Government Schools from
the bondage of St. Paul's College and its Bishop . It was
essentially a non-conformist liberation scheme which preferred
secularism to episcopalianism . Sir H. Robinson approved
(January 9 , 1861 ) this plan of Dr. Legge, which Sir J. Bowring
had previously refused to take up. The Legislative Council
also endorsed the scheme (March 25, 1861 ) and sanctioned the
purchase and enlargement of premises (in Gough Street ) .
These were forthwith filled with some 200 Chinese boys, by the
amalgamation of three existing Government Schools which thus
constituted the new Government Central School. A Headmaster
and Inspector of Schools, who was to be kept for some years in
the leading strings of the Board, was procured ( February 18 , 1862 )
in the person of Mr. (subsequently Dr. ) F. Stewart , from Scotland,
with the approval of Bishop Smith . Dr. Stewart thenceforth
laboured, for the next sixteen years, as the faithful disciple of
Dr. Legge, to maintain the reign of secularism in the sphere of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 393
local education. Under his disciplinarian regime the Government
Central School gradually became a highly popular institution and
retained its hold upon public favour so long as it bore the
impress of Dr. Stewart's own personality. But the establishment
of this Central School was the ruin of the once equally popular
St. Andrew's School, latterly under the tuition of Mr. J. Kemp.
On the site of St. Andrew's School, closed in 1861 , Dr. Legge
erected his new Union Church which was removed thither from
Hollywood Road in July, 1863 .
This remarkable revival of educational zeal among the
Protestant leaders was aided , and to some extent outstripped,
since 1860, by a contemporaneous renewal of educational
energy on the Roman Catholic side. The newly arrived Father
(subsequently Bishop) T. Raimondi occupied at once among
Catholic educationists the same prominent and fruitful position
which Dr. Legge, whom he much resembled also in character
and shrewdness, occupied among the Protestants. Bishop
Raimondi, however, became the strongest opponent in the
Colony of that educational secularism which Dr. Legge had
established and to which the Protestant missionaries meekly
submitted for many years thereafter. From the time of Bishop
Raimondi's arrival, the English R. C. Schools, which had
previously commenced to supply local offices with English-
speaking Portuguese clerks, redoubled their efforts. The Italian
and French Convents also extended their operations in the line
of female education and an industrial Reformatory for vagabond
children and juvenile offenders, which the Chief Justice (January,
1863) had pointed out as one of the great wants of the Colony,
was started by Bishop Raimondi ( September, 1864 ) and removed
in the following year to more commodious premises erected on
ground granted by the Government (March 24, 1865 ) at
West Point.
The Hongkong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was felt
(in 1859 ) to be in a moribund condition . After some ineffectual
attempts made by Dr. Legge to revive a general interest
in sinological studies, the local Branch was wound up and its
394 CHAPTER XVIII.
valuable library embodied in that of the equally moribund
Morrison Education Society. Both libraries were stored at
the London Mission Printing Office . The Morrison Education
Society continued to exist for a few years longer in the form of a
Committee administering, for purposes of religious education , the
funds ($ 13,000 ) still in hand, and distinguished itself (December,
1860 ) by a narrow partisan spirit in excluding from support
the schools of a missionary (Dr. A. Happer) who had given
offence to a member of the Committee (J. Jardine) by inaccurate
statements concerning the percentage of opium smokers in China .
Dr. Legge made a last but futile effort to extend the scope of
the Society by appealing to the public (December 27 , 1861 )
for additional subscriptions.
St. John's Cathedral was enriched (in 1860) by the erection
of a good organ which was inaugurated (December 25, 1860 )
under the direction of the newly arrived organist (C. F.
A. Sangster) who soon after organized and trained an efficient
choir which has been maintained ever since. Consequent upon
the retirement of Bishop Smith, the Legislative Council voted
(September 13, 1864) for the Bishop of Victoria a pension of
£300 per annum . A suggestion was, however, embodied in
this vote to the effect that the Home Government should pay
half of the sum on the ground that the Bishop's services had
been devoted as much to Imperial as to local interests . The
charity of the community was strongly manifested (in 1862 and
1863) by a unanimous endeavour to afford all possible relief
to the Lancashire and Cheshire operatives thrown out of
employment in consequence of the cotton famine caused by the
outbreak of the American war. All classes of foreign residents
agreed to give, in addition to special donations, a regular
monthly contribution of $2 per head. Special collections were
made in all places of worship and concerts were given by
amateurs of all nationalities to swell the funds. In this manner
a sum of $ 15,000 was raised and forwarded to the Mansion
House Committee in London in September, 1862, and further
contributions amounting in the aggregate to $ 11,162 were
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 395
dispatched in January and March, 1863 , Mr. D. Lapraik
acting as Honorary Treasurer. On the other hand an official
appeal by the London Committee of the Shakespeare Memorial
Fund (October 16 , 1863) for monetary contributions met with
scant response on the part of the community, although
Sir H. Robinson strongly supported the movement . The
community of Hongkong, while holding Shakespeare's memory
as sacred as a king's , had their own ideas as to how to pay
tribute to the English King whom no time or chance or
Parliament can dethrone and how to preserve the memory of
the one who is a monument without a tomb and is alive still
while his book doth live. ' It was noteworthy, but not noticed
at the time, that this appeal to the community was signed by
Richard Graves MacDonnell, as one of the London Committee's
Secretaries, who perhaps himself did not anticipate the fact,
any more than the colonists, that he was to be their next
Governor.
Hongkong's social life was, in the early part of this period ,
more or less affected by the excitements and the influx of
strangers connected with the renewal of the war with China .
The defeat of the British fleet at the Peiho (June 25, 1859 ) ,
while it depressed the foreign community of Hongkong, appeared
to evoke no feeling of any sort among the Chinese population.
Indeed, those Chinese who gave any thought to the matter,
seemed rather to regret this temporary success of Mandarin
treachery. But the capture of Peking in 1860 and particularly
the flight of the Emperor, whose tablet has ever since been
removed from the altar of his ancestors, was felt by all but
Triad Society partisans as a national disgrace . In the early
part of the year 1860, the Kowloon camp with its military
parades, and most particularly the war games and evolutions
performed by Probyn's Horse, were an object of general
attraction for sightseers, both native and foreign. The return
of the Allied troops in November and December, 1860, gave to
Hongkong society for a while quite a martial aspect . By a grand
levée held by Lord Elgin at Government House (January 10 ,
396 CHAPTER XVIII.
1861 ) , and by the ceremony of handing over Kowloon Peninsula
to the British Crown (January 19, 1861 ), the leading spirits
of the war period bade farewell to the Colony . Before the
close of January, 1861 , the expedition had departed and
when the small force left in occupation of Canton city (until
October 21 , 1861 ) likewise left for Europe, the social life of
Hongkong resumed its ordinary aspects. Club life, however,
encountered during this period some lively disturbances. The
Hongkong Club had been established to promote the interchange
of good feeling among the representatives of the Civil Service,
the Army and Navy, and the mercantile community, and to
receive strangers visiting Hongkong. Nevertheless it happened
occasionally, and in the years 1859 and 1860 with distressing
frequency, that persons were blackballed who from their social
or official position had a claim to admission . This caused much
animated dissension. In April 1860, the Club Committee made
a rule, requiring cash payment in the case of naval officers,
which might have remained harmless, but when a public paper
indiscreetly discussed the matter and stated that this rule had
been occasioned by an enormous amount of bad debts burdening
the Club finances, a little tempest arose. The naval officers
on the station assembled in full force (April 18 , 1860 ) and
demanded of the Committee the names of naval officers, whose
bills remained unpaid, with a view to their liquidation . When
the Committee refused to give up the names , the naval officers
withdrew from the Club in a body, the military officers also
threatened to withdraw, and dissensions dragged on till the
close of the year, when the dispute was at last amicably settled
(December, 1860 ) . A fresh disturbance of Club life arose, in
1864, in connection with the riots between sailors, soldiers
and police. The Volunteer Corps was called out to take the
place of the military in patrolling the streets. It so happened,
on the evening of 14th September, 1864, that the Volunteer
Corps, on returning from patrol duty, was made to fall out
in frout of the Club. Some of the members of the Club invited
their friends among the Volunteers to join them in some
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 397
refreshments. It was a breach of the rules, which the patriotic
duties of the Volunteers might have excused , but when the
intruders from among the Volunteers were forthwith hooted
out of the Club, there ensued an extraordinary amount of
animosities which for a long time after this incident lacerated
social life within and without the Club.
Sports flourished during this period . The Victoria Regatta
Club, which had been virtually extinct, was revived (June 28,
1860) , under the leadership of Mr. T. G. Linstead. The Racing
Club was also re-animated by the interest that Sir H. Robinson
took in the annual races which , in February 1861 , closed with
a Government House Ball in addition to the usual subscription
Ball . In January, 1862, racing men were much stirred up by
the question of excluding from the annual races all professional
riders or jockeys. Renewed excitement was called forth, in
October, 1864, by a request which Sir H. Robinson addressed
to the Racing Club Committee, to rail off a box in the Grand
Stand for his own use at the next meeting. After much
discussion , this request was refused by the Committee as
unusual and out of keeping with the democratic spirit and
purpose underlying the national institution of horse racing.
Athletic sports for sailors and soldiers were first held on a
large scale on the race course on 16th March, 1860, and by
the encouragement which Lady Robinson gave to this movement
it became, like the Garrison Sports, a popular annual festival.
At the instance of some members of the German Club, which,
under the directorship of Mr. W. Nissen became a popular
factor of social life, an international Gymnasium Committee
was formed (November 24, 1862 ) and a matshed gymnasium
was erected near the racket court on military ground. A novel
and most singular sport was occasioned (February 1863 ) by
the appearance in the harbour of a stray whale which was
forthwith chased with improvised harpoons and pursued far
out to sea by crowds of amateur whalers.
Dramatic and musical pursuits were not neglected. The
Garrison Theatre was, as during the preceding period , frequently
398 CHAPTER XVIII.
utilized by the officers of the garrison for the entertainment of
the community in general. But considerable irritation arose
during the last few months of 1859 when it was found that the
issue of season tickets, though offered to the public at fixed rates,
was restricted to certain classes of society. The exclusion of
Parsee merchants gave special offence and had to be withdrawn.
The consequence was that theofficers of the garrison, after
making, during the next year's season , another attempt to
discriminate between upper and lower strata of Hongkong
society, entered, in December, 1862 , into a sort of amalgamation
with the civilian Amateur Dramatic Corps. This measure
resulted later on (June 13 , 1864) in the re-construction of the
old Royal Theatre, a humble matshed structure which by this
time had fallen into a hopeless state of dilapidation. A Choral
Society, a revival of the old Madrigal Society, was formed, in
1862 , at the impulse and under the directorship of Mr. C. F. A.
Sangster and gave its first public concert (July 10, 1863 ) in aid
of the fund then being raised for the building of a City Hall .
A curiosity, if not a nuisance, in the musical line appeared in
Hongkong in the form of a hurdy-gurdy worked by an Italian.
Among the public festivities of this period, the most note-
worthy entertainment was a Ball which the Prussian Minister
to China, Count Eulenburg, gave (November 28, 1861 ) to the
Governor and the community of Hongkong The Hon. A.
Burlingame, U. S. Minister, was also present. The starting of
the Messageries Maritimes line of mail steamers was celebrated
(December 22 , 1862) with considerable éclat by a magnificent
public Ball given on board the S.S. Impératrice. As to other
prominent incidents of the social life of this period, there may
be mentioned the gloom cast over society by the premature death
of the Prince Consort (December 14, 1861) , the arrival of the
widow of the famous Arctic explorer, Lady Franklin (April,
1862) , the vote passed in Legislative Council (February 6, 1863)
to congratulate H.M. the Queen on account of the approaching
marriage of the Prince of Wales, the presentation of a farewell
address on the occasion of the departure of Chief Justice Adams
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 399
(March 21 , 1863) , and the public rejoicing (February 29, 1864)
which the news of the birth of the Prince of Wales' first son
occasioned .
Chinese social life was, at the beginning of the year 1861 ,
much agitated by a general mania for gambling, which occasioned
grave dissensions. Clan fights even were indulged in, owing to
gambling house quarrels. The evil was so widespread that the
mass of local shopkeepers petitioned the Governor (June, 1861 )
to suppress the extensive gambling which, they said , was going
on in every part of the town with the connivance of the Police.
Chinese servants in European employ were likewise giving an
unusual amount of trouble in connection with this gambling
mania. Sir H. Robinson, shrinking from the idea of grappling
with the source of the evil in the line proposed by Sir J. Bowring,
and knowing no solution of this knotty social problem, publicly
suggested ( in 1862 ) that a remedy for the systematic dishonesty
of native domestics be sought in the establishment of a registry
of servants. An attempt was actually made in this direction ,
but, as on all subsequent occasions, registration was resisted by
the natives and failed to gain the confidence of the public. An
attempt made (March 31 , 1864) to remove the general complaints
against Chinese washermen by the establishment of a French
laundry met unfortunately with persistent opposition on the part
of Chinese dhobies and with insufficient encouragement on
the part of the public.
One of the healthiest and most useful exhibitions of public
spirit that Hongkong ever witnessed was the Volunteer movement
of the year 1862. Two years before, the idea of starting a
rifle corps had been suggested by a letter published in the
China Mail (January 31 , 1860 ) . But it was not till January,
1862, that active steps were taken, resulting in a public meeting
held at the Court House (March 1 , 1862 ). This meeting
resolved to establish a Volunteer Corps and moved the Govern-
ment to sanction by Ordinance (2 of 1862) the enrolment
of any resident of Hongkong, irrespective of nationality. Captain
(subsequently Lieutenant- Colonel) F. Brine, R.E. , was appointed
400 CHAPTER XVIII.
commandant and the first officers elected by the members of
the Corps were W. Kane, R. B. Baker, J. M. Frazer, and
J. Dodd . A battery of artillery was first organised . Later
on (December, 1862) a band was formed. In spring, 1863. a
rifle corps was added and in December, 1864 , Volunteers were
enrolled from among the foreign residents at Canton in a rifle
company attached to the Hongkong Corps. The Government
sanctioned (February 7 , 1863 ) an annual outlay of £ 195 on
condition of there being at least 75 effective Members of the
Corps . The Volunteers made their first festive appearance in
public on 16th February, 1863, on the occasion of the presenta-
tion of colours (by Mrs. W. T. Mercer) and of a silver bugle
(by Mrs. Brine), when Bishop Smith acted as Honorary Chaplain
of the Corps . The ceremony was followed by an inauguration
dinner held at St. Andrew's school-room and presided over by
the Administrator (W. T. Mercer). To keep up the enthusiasm ,
in spite of the discouragement arising from the apathy which
the heads of mercantile firms displayed towards the movement,
rifle competitions were organized (April 6 and 7 , 1863 ) , when
the first medal of the British National Rifle Association was won
by Mr. H. J. Holmes and testimonials were presented to the
Honorary Musketry Instructor, Lieutenant K. D. Tanner, and to
the Drill Instructor, Corporal Goodall, R.A. The Corps also
took part in the Queen's Birthday Parade in May, 1863. The
spirit of the Corps increased with its numbers throughout the
years 1863 and 1864. Subscription cups were frequently shot
for. A march-out to the Happy Valley, with firing practice in
the presence of the Governor and a large assembly (March 8 ,
1864) and particularly an armed expedition to Macao (November
19 to 21 , 1864) undertaken in response to a courteous invitation
by the Portuguese Governor (Isidoro F. Guimaraes), infused
fresh life into the Corps. On 5th December, 1864, Lady
Robinson distributed at the Public Gardens the prizes won at a
public rifle competition , including the National Rifle Association-
medal (won by Sergeant Moore) . At the close of this period
the strength of the Corps was as follows, viz. Band 25, Artillery
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 401
84, Rifles ( including the Cantou detachment) 91 , honorary
members 67, total 267 men . The officers of the Corps at this
time were Major Scott ( 22nd Regiment) , A. Coxon, H. J. Tripp ,
H. Cohen, H. J. Holmes, W. J. Henderson , F. I. Hazeland and
T. G. Linstead.
The erection of a Clock Tower, a City Hall and a Sailors'
Home constitutes another exhibition of the public spirit that
animated the community at this time. At the suggestion of
Mr. J. Dent, a public meeting (July 28, 1860 ) took into
consideration the proposal to erect by public subscription a
clock tower (80 feet high) with town clock and fire bell, the
tower to be connected with a drinking fountain, and arrangements
were also to be made for the dropping of a time ball. A
Committee was appointed (J. Brodersen, J. H. Beckwith,
D. Lapraik, G. Lyall, C. St. G. Cleverly) to collect subscriptions,
which at first flowed in generously. Delay in the execution
of the scheme soon caused the enthusiasm to cool down,
subscriptions stopped, the scheme had to be curtailed, all the
decorative features of the original pretty design had to be
abandoned , and the result was an ugly tower obstructing the
principal thoroughfare. Mr. D. Lapraik came generously to the
rescue of the Committee and provided, at his own cost,
the town clock, which sounded for the first time on new year's eve
(December 31 , 1862), ushering in the year 1863. Mr. J. Dent
also stepped in and erected, apart from the Clock Tower, a
drinking fountain (December 15, 1863) which now graces the
front of the City Hall. The dropping of a time ball had to be
indefinitely postponed. The Government, however, took over
(May 22 , 1863 ) the maintenance of the tower and its clock.
At the close of the year 1861 , the erection of a Theatre and
Assembly Room' was publicly discussed , a provisional Committee
was appointed to make all preliminary arrangements and plans
were exhibited at the Club in October 1862 , calculated on an
6
expenditure of $34,000 . The name of the City Hall,' and the
combination in one building of a theatre, a library and a suite
of assembly rooms, having been agreed upon, the Government
26
402 CHAPTER XVIII.
made a free grant of the site (February 23, 1864) . At a public
meeting ( May 19 , 1864 ) it was stated that a sum of $20,000
had been obtained by donations, subscriptions and concerts ;
that, a further sum of $80,000 being required, shares had been
offered at $ 100 each ; that Mr. Robert Jardine had generously I
taken up shares to the amount of $ 50,000 , and that there
remained shares of the face value of $30,000 to be taken up
by the public. As in the case of this City Hall, so in the case of
Sailors' Home, the heads of the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.
distinguished themselves by their princely liberality . Recog-
nizing the duty incumbent on those who mainly benefit by the
sailor's industry and toil, to consider and care for his welfare,
Mr. Joseph Jardine, seconded by his brother, Mr. Robert Jardine ,
started a scheme for the erection of a Sailors' Home and set aside
for the purpose at first $20,000 . The community of Hongkong
supplemented this sum by liberal donations and the Government
eventually (July 5 , 1861 ) gave a fine site at West Point. A
public meeting, held at the Club (February 4, 1861 ), elected
Trustees (A. Fletcher, C. W. Murray, J. D. Gibb, J. Heard ,
W. Walkinshaw, D. Lapraik, R. H. Reddie, H. T. Thomsett,
Rev. W. R. Beach) and called for further subscriptions. After
an attempt to obtain the site of the present Horse Repository had
failed, building operations commenced in 1862 at West Point.
Meanwhile, however, public interest slackened and subscriptions
ceased flowing in. By the time the building was opened
(January 31 , 1863 ) by Sir H. Robinson and Mr. J. Whittall, the
funds were exhausted . The Government refused (May 14, 1863)
to give a grant and difficulties multiplied . In autumn , 1864,
Mr. Robert Jardine gave a further donation of $25,000 in
aid of the fund and undertook to carry on the Home at his
own expense for three years. It was hoped that by the end
of that time the public would once more come forward and
maintain the institution by annual public subscriptions.
The successful expansion of private and public enterprise
by which this period is distinguished, and the extraordinary
prosperity which the Colony in general enjoyed at this time,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 403
resulted in a considerable extension of the city in size and beauty,
Hongkong having now no equal in China with regard to health
and comfort. Most of the vacant building lots within easy
distance of the city were now built over and, though the city did
not extend further to the eastward, the western suburbs were
considerably expanded and numerous European residences were
erected on the hill side near West Point. In 1860 and 1861
the Chinese settlement at Shaukiwan grew largely in importance
as a depot for the exportation of salt fish. Owing to the delay
in the settlement of the Kowloon land dispute, and in consequence
of the doubts entertained as to the sanitary aspects of Peak
residence, general attention was directed to Pokfulam where an
ornamental villa settlement had been started by this time ( 1862 )
around Douglas Castle, in the vain hope of securing there a
public health resort. Sir H. Robinson, however, had more
faith in the Peak. He had a path cut (December, 1859) which
led to the top of Victoria Peak and, after recovering from the
Military Authorities the site of their abandoned Sanatorium,
arrangements were made, in March 1860, for the erection on that
site of a bungalow for the use of the Governor. The laying
out of the Public Gardens, on the rising ground directly
south of Government House, was undertaken by the Surveyor
General's Department at the sole expense of the Government.
Mr. Th. Donaldson was appointed (October 7 , 1861 ) Curator,
seeds and plants were procured from Australia and England
and, on the completion of the work, the Gardens were thrown
open to the public under certain regulations (August 6, 1864) .
In October, 1864, the military band commenced giving pro-
menade concerts in the Public Gardens at stated intervals. It
was noticed, in 1864, that a general increase had taken place
in the vegetative surroundings of the town, and that the
increased attention , given to the cultivation of trees along the
public roads and around European dwellings on the hill side,
had already done very much to displace the pristine barrenness
of the site on which the city was built by patches of beautiful
shrubbery.
404 CHAPTER XVIII.
The literary activities of the Colony were manifested by
the publication, in Hongkong, of Sir T. Wade's Hsin-ching-lu,
a work on the Mandarin Dialect (June, 1859 ) , by the issue
of a Chinese edition of the Daily Press ( 1860) , and especially
by the appearance, through the liberal patronage of the firm
of Jardine, Matheson & Co. , of the first volume of Dr. Legge's
translation and commentary of the Chinese Classics (May, 1861 ) .
The botany of Hongkong was scientifically explored by
Mr. G. Bentham, who published the results (in 1861 ) in a
volume entitled Flora Hongkongensis and dedicated to Sir
H. Robinson. A few years later (in 1865) , Mr. T. W. Kingsmill
published, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, a detailed notice of the geological features
of the Island.
The administration of Sir H. Kobinson encountered a
moderate number of public disasters . A typhoon which passed
(August 15, 1859 ) to the S.E. of Hongkong, causing but slight
damage in the Colony, was succeeded two months later (October
13 , 1859 ) by another typhoon which destroyed most of the
wharves and piers, caused some collisions in the harbour, and
damaged the roofs of many houses, but it was not accompanied by
loss of life. The disappearance, about this time, of the schooner
Mazeppa, which was lost with every soul on board ( October,
1859 ) , led to a judicial inquiry, on the basis of an action for
libel preferred by the owners, into the allegation that the vessel
had left Hongkong in an unseaworthy condition . The allegation
was proved to be false, though, owing to the contradictory
nature of the evidence, not withont causing social altercations
which at the time convulsed a section of the community. A
terrible rain storm broke over the Colony in the following year
(August 18, 1860 ) and not only burst most of the drains,
but caused the collapse of some houses in the Canton Bazaar
(in Hawan) which involved the death of five persons. A
typhoon , suddenly passing the Colony on 27th July, 1862 , caused
a considerable loss of life, and by an extraordinarily heavy rain-
fall, occurring on June 6, 1864, many lives were lost through
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 405
the collapse of houses, and property was destroyed to the value of
$500,000. Fires in town were comparatively rare during this
period, which is, however, in respect of the European quarter,
distinguished by the somewhat unusual occurrence of an extensive
conflagration which destroyed (October 19 , 1859 ) the Roman
Catholic Church in Wellington Street and a number of European
business establishments in Queen's Road and Stanley Street, viz .
the stores of Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Rickomartz, the Victoria Exchange,
the Commercial Hotel and others. Among further disasters of
this period may be mentioned the fire on board the S.S. Cadiz
(January 10 , 1863 ), the drowning of four deserters from the
ship Oasis (May 1 , 1863 ) , the drowning (above referred to)
of 38 Chinese convicts at Stonecutters' Island (July 23 , 1863 ) ,
and the death by suffocation ( March 8 , 1865 ) of three soldiers
engaged in excavating the hillside at Scandal Point. The
year 1860 was distinguished by the death of four public
officers, viz. the Harbour Masters Newman and Gunthorpe, the
Assistant Surveyor General Walker, and the Crown Solicitor
Cooper Turner. To this list may be added the name of Dr.
Enscoe, Surgeon of Seamen's Hospital, who died a few years
later (September 30, 1863) .
Sir H. Robinson left Hongkong on 15th March, 1865 ,
having been promoted to the Governorship of Ceylon. His
departure was marked by two complimentary public enter-
tainments, viz . by a dinner given at the Club by the members
of the Civil Service ( March 11 , 1865 ) and by a Ball given in
the Theatre Royal by the community (March 13, 1865 ) . Among
the guests was the Duke of Brabant, then crown prince of
Belgium, a first cousin to Queen Victoria.
The verdict of public opinion on the merits of Sir H.
Robinson's administration, as expressed in the local papers, was
to this effect, that Sir Hercules was exceedingly favoured by
fortune in respect of the all-important fact that his term of
administration happened to coincide with a period of irrepressible
prosperity (not at all of his making) , such as was without a
parallel in the history of the Colony ; that the most remarkable
406 CHAPTER XVIII.
feature in this season of prosperity was the wonderful advance
in the value of building land by which many individuals, as well
as the Colony as a whole, found themselves rich in an unexpected
manner ; that Sir H. Robinson turned these adventitious
circumstances to good account for the benefit of the public weal
and of his own reputation ; that nevertheless he left the residents
heavily taxed, the town undrained , the sanitation of the place
neglected, owing to his paying more attention to laboured balance
sheets and the accumulation of a surplus than to public works
and the most vital interests of the Colony ; that his duties
carried him to the extreme verge of his abilities and that he
would certainly have been infinitely less successful as a Governor
if he had not enjoyed the assistance of Mr. W. T. Mercer who,
as Colonial Secretary, so ably assisted him in every respect and
maintained his policy, as Administrator, during the long period
of the Governor's absence ; that Sir H. Robinson, while naturally
affable and possessed of pleasing social manners, treated the
Colony, especially during his first few years, with a certain
amount of contempt ; that he habitually displayed towards the
unofficial Members of his Council much self-willed obstinacy, and
affected towards his official subordinates a tone of dignified reserve
and disciplinarian rigour which was rather humiliating to the
officials at the head of the different departments ; that the former
bitterness between officials was kept quiet, and that the amount
of social engineering required on the Governor's part to keep
matters smooth, was perhaps the most creditable feature in his
tenure of office ; that Lady Robinson exercised in private society
a most extensive and beneficial influence which went a long
way to atone for the Governor's social shortcomings ; but that,
taking all in all, Sir H. Robinson had been the most fortunate
and successful Governor the Colony was so far ever ruled by.
After leaving Hongkong, Sir H. Robinson served as
Governor of Ceylon ( 1865 to 1872) and, whilst administering
the government of New South Wales ( 1872 to 1879 ) , arranged
the cession to England of the Fiji Islands ( 1874 ) . He next
became Governor of New Zealand ( 1879 to 1880 ) , Governor
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 407
of the Cape of Good Hope and Griqualand West and H. M. High
Commissioner in South Africa ( 1880 to 1889 ) , President of
the Royal Commission for the settlement of the affairs of the
Transvaal ( 1881 ) , Governor of Bechuanaland ( 1885 ) , was sent
on a special mission to Mauritius (October, 1886 ) , resigned
office in 1889 , and acted as a Director of the London and
Westminster Bank (until March, 1895 ) when, though an
octogenarian by this time, he resumed office in South Africa
to rectify the confusion which had arisen there since his
retirement.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER AND
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL .
March 15, 1865, to April 22, 1872.
FTER the departure of Sir H. Robinson ( March 15 , 1865 )
A
there ensued an interregnum, the government of the Colony
being administered for a whole year by the former Colonial
Secretary, the Hon . W. T. Mercer, who continued, with fidelity and
ability, the policy of Sir H. Robinson . The work and events
of this year, which was commercially and financially marked
by a rapidly growing stagnation and depression, have been sum-
marized by Mr. Mercer (May 30, 1866 ) in a dispatch published
by Parliament. He statel, -that the Companies' Ordinance (1 of
1895 ) was the principal legal enactment of the year ( 1865 ) ,
next to the series of Ordinances consolidating the criminal
law for which the Colony was indebted to Judge Ball and Mr.
Alexander ; that the summer of 1865 was a specially unhealthy
season, distinguished by much sickness and serious mortality,
so much so that it attracted the attention of Parliament and
occasioned the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the
mortality of troops in China ; that the water supply of the
Colony, though materially improved, remained manifestly inade-
quate, requiring further provision to be made ; that piracy was,
in 1865, as rife as ever and likely to continue so until the
Chinese Maritime Customs Service (under Sir R. Hart) could
be induced to co-operate with the British Authorities for the
suppression of piracy in Chinese waters ; that the Indian con-
tingent of the Hongkong Police Force had proved a failure but
that the Superintendent of Police (Ch . May), who condemned
the proposal of trying once more the Chinese Force, thought.
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER. 409
that the Indian Police had not had a fair trial ; and, finally,
that a deputation of Chinese merchants had urged upon Sir
Rutherforth Alcock, H.M. Minister in China, when he passed
through Hongkong in autumn 1865 , that the support of H.M.
Government should be given to Sir M. Stephenson's railway
scheme (connecting Calcutta with Canton and Hongkong), but
that the question, whether such a scheme would eventually benefit
or injure the interests of Hongkong, was a knotty problem .
There is but one incident of this interregnum which requires
detailed mention . A native of the Poon-yü District (E. of
Canton city), carrying on business in Hongkong under the
name How Hoi-low alias How Yu-teen , was claimed (April 21 ,
1865 ) by the Viceroy of Canton, in virtue of the Treaty of
Tientsin, as having committed robberies in China. The Viceroy
addressed the usual communication to the Governor (Mr. Mercer)
and on 1st May, 1865 , the accused was brought before the
police magistrate (J. C. Whyte) under Ordinance 2, of 1852
(above mentioned ) , defended by counsel ( E. H. Pollard) and
committed to gaol pending reference to the Governor, a prima
facie case having been clearly made out. Under the advice
of the Attorney General ( H. J. Ball) , Mr. Mercer directed
(May 3, 1865 ) the rendition of the prisoner who was forth-
with handed over to the Chinese Authorities and executed in
Canton in the usual manner by decapitation. On May 30th,
1865 , the editor of the Daily Press, by his overland issue
(Trade Report) , gave currency to the allegation which had not
been made at the trial, neither by the prisoner nor by his
counsel, that the unfortunate man was neither robber nor pirate,
but a political refugee, the veritable Taiping prince known
as Mow Wang, that he was unjustly surrendered by the
British Government and executed by the Chinese in a manner
involving actual cannibalism. Although it was known at the
time, and stated by a Canton journalist, that the real Mow
Wang had, according to General Gordon's testimony, been mur-
dered by the other Taiping Wangs on November 29th, 1863 ,
previous to the surrender of Soochow, this sensational fiction
410 CHAPTER XIX.
found credence in England. The London Standard (July 22 ,
1865 ) took it up and the redoubtable Colonel Sykes, M.P. , moved
the House of Commons (February 8, 1866) to ask for the
production of documents bearing on the subject, which were
accordingly published (March 20 , 1866 ) . Although these
documents clearly shewed the unfounded character of the
allegations made against the Hongkong Government, the inquiry
served a good purpose, as it directed the attention of H.M.
Government to the fact that such renditions had all along
been conducted by direct requests addressed by the Cantonese
Authorities to the Hongkong Government and that the exclusion
of any supervision, on the part of the British Consul at Canton,
of the treatment accorded by the Chinese Mandarins to prisoners
rendited by the Hongkong Government, exposed them to
inhuman barbarities. Orders were therefore made by the
Colonial Office, that thenceforth all communications between
the Hongkong Government and the Chinese Authorities must ,
in every case, be conducted through H.M. Diplomatic Agent
in China or through H.M. Consul ( August 19 , 1865 ) , and
further that no prisoners should thenceforth be surrendered
by the Government of Hongkong to the Chinese Authorities.
unless guarantee be given that the rendited prisoner be not
subjected to any torture (September 11 , 1865 ).
But this interregnum was not merely a period of insignificant
transition . Its real character was that of a woeful reaction and
general disillusion. During Sir H. Robinson's administration ,
the Colony had taken a bound in advance, both in wealth and
population, so sudden and so great, that now, in the face of
an equally unexpected and extensive decline of its commerce.
prosperity and finances, it was generally felt that Sir Hercules'
system of administration required retrenchment and re-adaptation
to vastly altered circumstances. As the financial sky became
more and more overcast with clouds, even former admirers of
Sir Hercules ' policy admitted that he had taken too roseate a
view of the resources of the Colony. Trade and commerce were
now labouring under a heavy depression . The whole commercial
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER. 411
world was passing through a crisis. Great houses were falling
on all sides. Hongkong, connected now with every great bourse
in the world, was suffering likewise and property was seriously
depreciated . Credit became instable. Men were everywhere
suspicious, unsettled in mind, getting irritable and economically
severe. Yet great public works, the Praya, the new Gaol, the
Mint, the Water-Works, the sea wall at Kowloon , commenced or
constructed in a period of unexampled prosperity, had now to
be carried on, completed or maintained , from the scanty resources
of an impoverished and well-nigh insolvent Treasury. New laws
were clearly needed for the regulation of the Chinese whose
gambling habits were filling the streets with riot and honey-
combing the Police Force with corruption. Crime was rampant
and the gaols overflowing with prisoners . Piracy, flourishing
as ever before, was believed to have not only its secret lairs
among the low class of marine-store dealers but the support of
wealthy Chinese firms and to enjoy the connivance of men in
the Police Force. A sense of insecurity as to life and property
was again, as in days gone by, taking possession of the public
mind. The cry among the colonists now was for a strong and
resolute Governor, one who would give his undivided attention
to the needs and interests of the Colony and govern it accordingly,
undeterred by what the foreign community of Hongkong now
called the vicious system of colonial administration in vogue
at home.' Sir J. Bowring, they said, had attended to everything
under the sun except the government of the Island . Sir H.
Robinson, they opined , had governed the Colony to please his
masters in Downing Street and with a view to advance himself
to a better appointment . And as to Mr. Mercer, everybody
agreed that he deliberately let well enough alone .' The sort
of man the colonists now desired for their next Governor was
a dictator rather, with a strong mind and will, than a weak
faddist or an obsequious henchman of the machine public. The
cry was for a Cæsar.
As Providence would have it, it so happened that it was just
such a man, a Caesar every inch of him, that the Colonial Office ,
412 CHAPTER XIX.
casting about for a successor to Sir Hercules, selected. The
choice of H. M. Government fell (October 4, 1865 ) on Sir
Richard Graves MacDonnell, an Irishman who had a splendid
record of varied and long services to recommend him. He had
entered Trinity College ( Dublin ) in 1830, gained honours both
in classics and in science, and graduated B.A. ( 1835 ) and M.A.
( 1838 ) , to which honours was added, later on, the degree of
Hon. LL.D. ( 1844) . Having been called to the bar both in
Ireland ( 1838 ) and at Lincoln's Inn ( 1840 ) , he was appointed
Chief Justice of the Gambia ( 1843 to 1847 ) . As Governor of
the Gambia (1847 to 1851 ) he conducted several exploring
expeditions in the interior of Africa, for which services he was
created C.B. (1852) . Sir R. G. MacDonnell next served ( 1852)
as Governor of St. Lucia and St. Vincent. In 1855 he was
created Knight Bachelor and appointed Captain-General and
Governor-in-chief of South Australia, which government he held
till March, 1862. After serving two years ( 1864 and 1865 ) as
Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Richard was promoted to the Gover-
norship of Hongkong where he took over, on 11th March, 1866,
the reins of office from the Administrator, the Hon . W. T. Mercer.
Within a few days after his arrival in the Colony, Sir
Richard found himself painfully disillusioned . By his interviews
with the officials in Downing Street, he had been led to believe
that he would find in Hongkong a full treasury, a steadily-
increasing revenue, public works of all sorts finished or so
nearly completed that little remained to be done, a Mint ready
to commence operations and sure to pay well, and a competent
official staff, purged by the labours of Sir Hercules of every taint
of corruption. To his intense surprise and disappointment,
Sir Richard found the position of affairs well-nigh reversed.
The interregnum, rapidly developing the mischief which had
secretly been brewing during the closing year of Sir H. Robinson's
administration, had wrought an astounding transformation scene,
of which the Colonial Office was as yet blissfully ignorant.
For several months after this crushing revelation which burst
upon him immediately upon his arrival, Sir Richard stayed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 413
his hand while he silently but deliberately went round, from
one department to the other, probing by the most searching
investigation the extent and nature of the mischief wrought .
The colonists wondered and groaned owing to the Governor's
seeming inactivity, whilst a wholesome fear was instilled in the
minds of all officials by the Governor's repeated and most
unexpected surprise visits, and by his minute questionings as
to every financial, executive and administrative detail, such as
had never been inquired into before . But when he once had
satisfied himself as to the real position of affairs, he set to
work as a determined reformer, launching one measure after
the other, regardless of the hostile criticisms of local public
opinion and impatient even of the restraints which successive
Secretaries of State sought to put upon his dauntless energy.
In the face of much opposition and suffering severe opprobrium
on all sides, Sir Richard went on with his labours as a reformer,
honestly and fearlessly striving to do right and content to be
judged in the future when his measures would have produced
their natural results. He had not to wait very long before
the Hongkong public, abandoning their early prejudices, frankly
recognized his worth. After four years' untiring exertions, reasons
of health compelled him to ask for a furlough, intending to
proceed only to Japan, where he had spent a few weeks in
1868 (October 29 to December 12 ) for a brief rest. But the
Colonial Office thought it expedient that he should, by a visit
to England, combine, with the object of recruiting his health ,
the pressing duty of explaining to the Secretary of State the
grounds of his divergent policy, distasteful in some respects to
the Colonial Office. When he was about to start on this trip
to Japan and England (April 13, 1870 ) , the community of
Hongkong, having by this time taken the correct measure of
their Governor's character and work, unanimously acknowledged
that he had the true interests of the Colony at heart, according
to his own views of what was best, and that he had, sincerely
and in many respects most successfully, striven to administer
the government and to legislate for the Colony's ultimate good
414 CHAPTER XIX.
and advancement, without fear or favour of the Colonial
Office or of local opinion. It was publicly stated (April 5 , 1870)
even at that time that the measures which proved the most
beneficial were precisely those on which he met (on the part
of the public) with most difficulty.' At the meeting of the
Legislative Council ( March 30, 1870) previous to his departure,
the Chief Justice (J. Smale) expressed the sentiments of the
whole community when he eulogized the Governor on the great
success obtained by his able and vigorous policy and stated
that Lady MacDonnell had, by her urbanity of manner and
kindness of heart in extending gentle courtesies to all, filled
her exalted station so that no lady, who had ever presided at
Government House, left the Colony more or more generally
regretted than Lady MacDonnell. On the same occasion, the
Hon . H. B. Gibb, speaking also on behalf of the other non - official
Members of Council, endorsed the eulogy pronounced by the
Chief Justice. During the absence of the Governor, Major-
General H. W. Whitfield, ably seconded by the Colonial Secretary
(J. Gardiner Austin) , administered the government of the Colony .
Sir Richard returned to his post on 8th October, 1871 , and
remained at it to the close of his administration .
During his whole tenure of office, Sir Richard had no
questions of a diplomatic nature to deal with, apart from those
which grew out of Hongkong's relations with China. The first
case of this class occurred immediately after the Governor's
arrival, when the S.S. Prince Albert, owned by Kwok Acheung,
the popular comprador of the P. & O. Company, was seized by the
Chinese Customs officers (May 26, 1866) on the ground of her
resorting to a port on the West Coast not opened by Treaty.
Although Sir Richard, who considered the action of the Chinese
officers to have been illegal, could do but little to obtain a
modification of the sentence of confiscation, as H.M. Consul at
Canton (D. B. Robertson) had acquiesced in that decision , yet he
obtained the release of the vessel on payment of a fine of $4000 .
But the spirit and energy which Sir Richard displayed on the
occasion gained him considerable popularity. He was more
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 415
successful in the case of the attempt made, in October, 1867 , by
the Canton cotton -dealers' guild, to remove the whole cotton
trade from Hongkong to Canton . As soon as he had the facts
before him, shewing that the Canton guild had made regulations
imposing a system of fines on any Chinese merchants who should
violate their prohibitions by buying cotton or cotton yarn in
Hongkong, Sir Richard addressed, through the Consul, such
strong remonstrances to the Viceroy of Canton, that the latter
yielded and issued a proclamation (November 29 , 1867 ) absolutely
prohibiting the measures contemplated by the guild . With the
same promptness and energy Sir Richard interfered at the close
of the year 1871 , when the Administrator of Chinese Customs
(Hoppo) at Canton openly made a rule, on which he had secretly
been acting for years, that all foreign-laden Chinese junks in South
China, intending to sail for Hongkong from any Chinese port, must
first report at Pakhoi or Canton before proceeding to Hongkong.
This hostile attempt to confine the whole native coast trade
between South China and Hongkong to dealings between Treaty
ports and Hongkong was energetically taken up and seemingly