a few weeks later (October 20, 1879) a letter to the Governor.
in which he requested that the Police should be instructed to
bring every person, known to have a purchased servant, before
the Magistrate, to be dealt with mildly. The Chief Justice at the
same time alleged that kidnapping was encouraged by the social
habits of foreigners in Hongkong, that a class of mean whites
548 CHAPTER XXI.
was springing up in Hongkong and living in abject misery, and
he claimed that it was the duty of the Government to put down
a system which, by debasing all moral tone, tended to crime .
To rebut the arguments of Sir John Smale, Dr. Eitel wrote
(October 25, 1879) an exhaustive report on the origin and charac-
teristics of Chinese slavery and domestic servitude in Hongkong .
The whole dispute was thereupon referred to the Secretary of
State, and reviewed in a debate in the House of Lords (June
21 , 1880) , when Lord Stanley of Alderley, favourably criticizing
Dr. Eitel's report, stated that the Attorney General had been
wrong in his exposition of the law, but that , on the other hand ,
the Chief Justice had rushed into wild exaggerations . Lord
Kimberley remarked, on the same occasion, that the custom of
adoption was deeply interwoven with the forms of Chinese society,
and that care must be taken not to confound the habits and
institutions of the Chinese with what prevailed in other parts of
the world. After this, the brief turmoil caused by the local
slavery question disappeared as quickly as it had arisen. The
Poleung Kuk, however, did good work in bringing kidnappers to
justice, and on 24th March. 1881 , the Chief Justice, having
observed a steady decrease in kidnapping crimes, complacently
ascribed it to his own efforts. He stated from the Bench that
Chinese public opinion now appeared to have been educated to
a great sense of the evils of kidnapping and the worst of the evils
arising out of domestic servitude, that his denunciations of these
crimes had produced an awakening of the Chinese conscience, and
that a large proportion of the Chinese community now desired to-
•
improve the tone of social thought in China . Slavery of every
kind,' he said, ' is doomed in China ; it is merely a question of
education through discussion and time."
The question of Colonial defence was agitated for several
years during this administration . All through summer 1878 .
rumours of war with Russia were current . Whilst this war fever
lasted, the Volunteer Ordinance ( 2 of 1862 ) was re-published
(May 4 , 1878 ) and a new Volunteer Corps was formed and
placed (May 16 , 1878) under the command of Captain Dempster,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 549
subsequently succeeded by Captain A. Coxon , under whom
Mr. W. Danby served as Lieutenant. By 1st June, 1878 , the
names of 142 gentlemen, who had been enrolled in the Volunteer
Force, were published in the Government Gazette. Torpedoes
were constructed at the Naval Yard and torpedo practices
were held in the Lyeemoon . The batteries also were put in a
temporary state of defence and guns were mounted in some.
In January, 1879, the Governor received instructions to proceed
with the necessary works in order to place several batteries,
thrown up during the preceding year, in a condition of per-
manent defence, and operations were immediately commenced
at North Point. The Home Government, having at last woke
up to a recognition of the need of a comprehensive system of
Colonial defence, appointed (September 8, 1879 ) a Royal
Commission, headed by the Earl of Carnarvon, to inquire into
the state of the defences of the Colonies. The instructions of
this Commission were published in Hongkong (December 17,
1879) and, at the request of the Commission , a local Committee
set at once to work to report on questions connected with
the defences, armament and provisioning of Hongkong. The
rumours of an impending war between Russia and China gained
in probability in spring 1880 and thus kept up public interest
in the matter of Colonial defences. In summer, General Gordon,
known as Gordon Pasha, spent a week in Hongkong and Canton
(3rd to 9th July, 1880 ) and made various suggestions as to
the defences of Hongkong, advising especially the removal of
the Naval Yard, Barracks and Military Stores, to Causeway
Bay. On his return from a visit to Li Hung-chang in Tientsin,
he published in the China Mail the main part of the advice
he had given to the Chinese Government, and made a brief,
but fruitless, attempt to interest the leading Chinese merchants
of Hongkong in a proposal to concert measures towards the
expulsion from China of the Manchus and the restoration of
a Chinese Dynasty. The war fever was now dying out and
dissensions arose in the Volunteer Corps. The Commandant,
Captain A. Coxon , and Lieutenant W. Danby resigned (July
550 CHAPTER XXI.
13, 1880) and were succeeded by Captain J. J. Francis and'
Lieutenant J. McCallum. A turret ironclad, the Wivern, with
whose seagoing qualities fault had been found in England, was
sent out to Hongkong (June 2 , 1880 ) at the suggestion of the
Governor, to be permanently stationed here for harbour defence.
The last flickering up of the dying war spirit was observed
on the occasion of a grand naval review held at Tsimshatsui
(December 30, 1880 ) , but by the beginning of the year 1881 the
war cloud had passed away, by the consent of Russia to restore
Kuldja to the Chinese, and the whole question of Colonial
defences was shelved.
The year 1877 was on the whole a fairly good one for
mercantile men. Business, although rather restricted in extent,
was of a healthy character. Shares were steadily rising, though
there was little speculation, and real property became more
valuable. But a change took place in 1878. Freights now
commenced to fall, profits on goods of all descriptions became
smaller and smaller, and wild speculation took possession of
the share market, with the usual result of inflation followed
by subsequent depreciation . Still, there were no bubble companies
kept afloat merely by the credulity of the public, and stocks
were in a sound condition . But a general depression crept
into all commercial branches, locally as well as in China and
Japan, and several local firms of very old standing failed . At
the beginning of the year 1879 freights were 30 low that the
carrying trade ceased to be remunerative. Shipowners began
to think of laying up their vessels rather than run them at
a loss. Accordingly a Conference of London steamship owners
formed ( September, 1879) a combination to regulate the tonnage
on the berth, to prevent the accumulation of cargoes, and to
protect each other from loss . Through want of coherence
among the signatories of these Conference rules, rather than
through outside competition, the combination failed and the
rules were cancelled (January 5 , 1880 ) so far as Hongkong
was concerned. But apart from freights, the year 1879 was
in other respects also a year of great depression . Arrivals of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 551
foreign ships declined to the extent of 5.28 per cent. , the greatest
decline being on the part of vessels under Continental flags.
Money was scarce in the Colony and quotations for most stocks
continued to fall, though known to offer good investment for
capital. Sterling exchange declined until the dollar touched
38. 6d. and the tael fell below 5 shillings. Never, it was said ,
was trade less profitable in Hongkong. However, with the
year 1880 , a general improvement set in. Trade now shewed
a disposition to be more brisk and remunerative, than it had
been for years before. Speculation was kept within reasonable
limits, time bargains, owing to the bitter lessons of 1878 , were
now regarded as dangerously hazardous ventures, and stocks
accordingly kept on a sounder footing. The H.C. & M. Steamboat
Company received a new lease of life by a friendly arrangement
with the opposition line of Messrs. Butterfield and Swire. In the
year 1880 the sugar refining industry of Hongkong commenced
to be a great source of wealth to Hongkong, and the East
Point Company solidified for the time all the local sugar interests
by purchasing the concerns of dangerous competitors . Neverthe-
less there was room for yet another large sugar factory, and
next year (July 6, 1881 ) ground was purchased at Quarry Bay
by Mr. E. Mackintosh for Messrs. Butterfield and Swire , who
immediately commenced the erection of new and extensive sugar
works . The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank attained in 1880
to a commanding position in the China Trade, being content
to mind its own legitimate business. Year after year, throughout
this period , the Bank made a substantial addition to its reserve
fund, it being the intention of the Directors to raise the reserve
fund to a level with half the amount of the paid up capital .
Most noticeable was, by the end of the year 1881 , the growing
favour in which the Bank was held by investors . Its shares
continued to rise and stood at 116 per cent . premium at
the beginning of 1882. The announcement in the London
Gazette (November 14, 1881 ) of the charter of incorporation of
the British North Borneo Company, was hailed in Hongkong
with great satisfaction. It was generally considered that the
552 CHAPTER XXI.
new territory, though thinly peopled, was capable of great
development, that labour could be readily supplied from China
and that the situation of North Borneo, midway between
Hongkong and Singapore, was even of political and strategical
importance.
The old problem of the Customs blockade, the only point
regarding which Sir John might have usefully redeemed his
promise to protect local commercial interests, was not brought
a single step nearer solution during his administration . In 1877 ,
Sir A. Kennedy, before leaving the Colony, forwarded to the
Secretary of State his recommendations with reference to that
clause of the Chefoo Convention which referred to the Mixed
Commission that was to settle the blockade question , and the
Legislative Council recorded (February 26, 1877 ) its sense of
obligation to the efforts of Sir Arthur to remove the impediments
to commercial intercourse between Hongkong and China. But
for more than two years nothing further was done in the matter,
except by the blockade officers who became more audacious than
ever in their interference with the trade of the Colony, and
by mild remonstrances forwarded by Sir J. Pope Hennessy to
the British Consul in Canton whenever Chinese petitioners
presented a specially strong grievance. For the blockade officers
now attempted to levy their exactions on non-dutiable articles
of daily consumption , and although this was resisted and even-
tually, owing to the representations made by the Consul to the
Viceroy of Canton , abandoned , the blockade officers succeeded
in confining the exemption from duties to positively fresh
provisions, and then went further and excluded even cattle
from the catalogue of non-dutiable articles . When Sir Thomas
Wade passed through Hongkong (April 7 , 1879), on his way
to England, the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce told
him that they considered the Convention as a retrograde measure.
needing careful revision, and that, although five new ports
(Wuhu, Wenchow, Ichang, Pakhoi and Hoihow ) had been
opened under its provisions, it was their earnest hope that Lord
Salisbury would refuse to ratify it. Great was the surprise of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 553
community, when it was reported that, in a debate in the House
of Lords ( May 9, 1879 ) , Lord Salisbury had stated that the
Governor of Hongkong had reported that the grievance, which
a certain clause of the Chefoo Convention intended to remove
by the appointment of a Mixed Commission , had ceased to exist
and that therefore there was no further reason to appoint the
Commission . This was the more puzzling as , a few weeks before
this news arrived in the Colony, Sir John had admitted in
Legislative Council ( May 29, 1879) , in speaking of the blockade,
•
that there is something pressing on the junk trade of the
Colony that prevents its expansion . ' When Sir Th. Wade again
passed through Hongkong ( December, 1879) , he suggested to a
Committee of the Chamber that the blockade stations would not
be removed by the Chinese until the Colony devised some scheme
by which the Chinese Government could collect the revenue
fairly due to them . Sir John , taking the same view, now gave
some hints of the plan by which he proposed to remove the
blockade. He stated in Legislative Council (December 30, 1879 )
that, if the trade in salt were put down and an undertaking
entered into for the collection of duty on opium, the Chinese
Government would be willing to remove the taxing stations.
Practically, therefore, the question was whether the Colony was
willing to sacrifice the freedom of the port in order to gain
the removal of the blockade, or, in other words, whether the
Colony would prefer to have Chinese Customs offices in town
or Chinese blockade stations outside the harbour. Such was
Sir John's plan, so far as he unfolded it. The determination
shown by him, on all occasions, to court the good-will of the
Chinese Authorities, combined with his habitual disregard of
•
the views of the British trader,' as he called the mercantile
community of Hongkong, caused the community to mistrust any
scheme for the abolition of the blockade emanating from Sir
J. Pope Hennessy . Hence there ensued now the general apathy
of hopelessness, which Sir John was careful not to disturb, and
thus it happened that the blockade question was allowed to
slumber all through the year 1880. On 10th March, 1881 , the
554 CHAPTER XXI.
Chamber of Commerce, once more appealed to the Secretary of
State for the abolition of the blockade and invited the principal
Chambers of Commerce in the United Kingdom to support their
petition, but this movement did not produce any results during
Governor Hennessy's term of office.
The currency question entered upon a retrograde movement
now, owing to the greater influence the Chinese gained at this
time. Seeing that it had become an established custom in Hong-
kong to prefer a clean currency and to accept broken silver or
chopped dollars only at a discount of one per cent., the Canton
Cotton and Yarn Guild passed a resolution (April, 1877) that
Chinese dealers in Hongkong should suspend trade with any
foreign firm refusing to accept broken silver at par value of
currency. At first the European merchants made joint resistance
to this attempt to force broken silver and chopped dollars upon
their acceptance . But the local Chinese dealers supported the
movement initiated by the Canton Cotton Guild and presented a
petition to the Registrar General asking the Governor to make
broken silver a legal tender. Sir John hesitated . Unfortunately,
however, individual foreign merchants yielded (May 5, 1877) to
the pressure brought to bear upon them by the Chinese, and
by 19th May, 1877 , the demands of the guild, through want
of unanimity among the European merchants, were generally
accepted . The latter now confined themselves to memorialize the
Government against the Chinese proposal to make broken silver
(including chopped dollars) a legal tender. The memorialists.
did not propose to prohibit the practice of chopping dollars,
but earnestly deprecated an compulsion to be brought upon
merchants unwilling to accept chopped dollars as currency .
A year later ( March 7 , 1878 ) the Chamber of Commerce,
recognizing that there was no prospect of the proposed British
dollar being coined in England by the Imperial Government,
pronounced now in favour of reviving the Hongkong Mint.
It was alleged that the former closing of the Hongkong establish-
ment was a premature and ill - advised measure, that there were
now excellent guarantees for the success of the undertaking, and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 555
that the profits derivable from the subsidiary coins alone would
pay the expenses of the Mint . It was also stated that if the
Government objected to undertake the management of the Mint,
it might be started by a private Company under Government
supervision. Sir John , however, shelved the whole question .
Meanwhile attention was drawn to the manufacture in the
Colony, at the village of Tokwawan, of immense quantities of
Annamese cash for exportation to Annam and Tungking, where
no State Mint existed . Some of the manufacturers of these
cash were tried in the Police Court ( Hon . C. B. Plunket ) but
discharged, as no offence against English law was brought home
to them . But thereupon the Colony itself was flooded with these
cash, until a notification was published in the Gazette (October
29, 1879) warning the people that the circulation of these cash
in the Colony was illegal . On 23rd February, 1880 , the Chamber
of Commerce resolved to memorialize the Government, requesting
that action be taken with a view to make the Japanese yen
current in Hongkong, the Chinese community having (February
5, 1880 ) petitioned the Government to the same effect . Although
this was in entire accordance with Sir John's own wishes,
no action appears to have been taken in the matter by this
administration.
In the sphere of emigration, considerable irritation was
caused in January, 1878, by the case of two ships which took
emigrants under the belief that permission would be granted.
but at the last moment Sir John refused to sign the warrant .
The S.S. Perusia, the first steamer of the new China- Peru line,
had thus to sail (January 13, 1878 ) without her cargo of
emigrants, and the charterers of the American ship Charter
Oak were put to serious loss, having filled the ship with
emigrants for Honolulu, but being met, at the moment of her
intended departure (January 15, 1878), with a refusal on the
part of the Governor to sign the warrant, because the Tungwa
Hospital Committee had represented to him that the emigrants
would be lured into slavery. The consequence was that trade
with Honolulu was for several years afterwards conducted from
556 CHAPTER XXI.
Whampoa and taken up by the China Merchants S. N. Co. ,
which sent one of their steamers, Hochung (October 20, 1879) ,
to Honolulu with a large number of emigrants, and endeavoured,
through Captain C. C. Moreno, to negotiate a treaty between
China and Hawaii. The only emigration that Sir John sanc-
tioned was emigration to Demerara ( December 23 , 1878 ) and
subsequently to Antigua. Emigration to the Australian Colonies
the Governor was specially averse to and he discouraged it (in
1881 ) in a manner which caused strained relations between Sir
John and the Harbour Master's Department. The reason was
that the labouring classes of several Australian Colonies began
(since 1878) to agitate for the total exclusion of Chinese labourers
and artisans. In this connection, Sir John took special credit
to himself for having stopped what he called deportation of
criminals to Australia (November 22 , 1879) . It appears that for
several years the practice had obtained in Hongkong of allowing
Chinese prisoners under sentence of deportation to elect the
country, China or otherwise, to which they wished to go, and
in case any one preferred to go to Australia, he was allowed to
do so, the Police seeing him on board, to make sure that he left
the Colony. Thus it happened that in several cases men left
the Gaol to emigrate to Australia, and this was the practice Sir
John stopped. A few years later, there was a debate in Council
(August 23, 1881 ) which brought out the difference of opinion.
that separated the community from the Governor on the question
of emigration, as on almost every other subject. The Hon.
F. B. Johnson drew attention to the unrestricted right which
persons of any nationality in Hongkong had, to go to another
country, and stated that Chinese profited greatly by their sojourn
in foreign countries, that trade follows wherever they go, and that
Hongkong benefits largely from the passenger traffic and from
the trade which that traffic gives rise to. On the other hand
Sir John declared that Chinese emigration was not desired by
foreign countries and that the Chinese Government was opposed
to it because it took the bone and sinew out of the country.
However, in spite of Sir John's opposition to Chinese emigration,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 557
the natural outflow of the Chinese population continued, though
in a diminished degree, to utilize the facilities for emigration
offered by Hongkong in some form or other.
Apart from the foregoing subjects, there were but few
minor questions of commercial interest agitating the mind of
the community during this period . In June, 1878 , the Gunger
case aroused some transient indignation against the Spanish
authorities at Manila, the S.S. Gunga having, after striking
ou a reef on her way from Hongkong to Australia, put into
Manila in distress for coal, when the Spaniards seized her
on account of some informality in declaring the ship's cargo.
Another matter of transient interest was the proposal made
at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce (March 4, 1879 ) ,
to establish a general exchange and commercial sales-rooms
where merchants might meet on a common platform, membership-
being open to all classes and nationalities. A few months later
(May 28, 1879) the promoters of the Hongkong Commercial
Exchange secured offices at the Marine House, and at a meeting
held at the City Hall rules were drawn up and a Secretary
(E. George) appointed to work this institution , which collapsed
almost as soon as it was started .
The junk trade of the Colony did not develop, but shewed
rather a steady decrease, during the first four years of this
period. A slight increase took place in 1881 , as compared
with the preceding year, but whilst in 1877 as many as
26,500 junks with 1,798,788 tons entered and cleared in
Hongkong, the corresponding figures for 1881 are 24,339
junks with 1,680,025 tons, and this in spite of a considerable
increase of the Chinese population . The rise and fall of the
commerce of Great Britain appears to exercise very little
influence on the junk trade of the Colony which is more
affected by the increase of the Chinese population of Hongkong,
by the varying degrees of strictness exercised at the blockade
stations and the variations of the policy of the Canton Provincial
Authorities, than by the commercial movements of London or
Manchester. As regards the import and export trade of
558 CHAPTER XXI.
Chinese merchants in Hongkong, the development of the
China Merchants S. N. Co. was of great moment. This
Company, in which Chinese merchants of Hongkong hold
a large share, and which was practically the creation of
Li Hung-chang, the Viceroy of Chihli , succeeded , after many
mistakes and losses, in making good reports and paying fair
dividends ( 10 per cent. in 1881 ) , besides writing off a liberal
sum for depreciation of its fleet . After establishing a Chinese
Insurance Company, Li Hung-chang's next step was to
run steamers to Honolulu (October, 1879 ) , and when this
measure was found unremunerative, a new departure was taken
(October 11 , 1881 ) , by putting a steamer on the berth for
London, with a view to commence direct trading between
England and China and to to establish a firm of Chinese
establish a
merchants in the City of London. An association was formed
for the purpose in Shanghai and Hongkong with a capital
of £ 150,000. The avowed object was to wrest the China
Trade from foreign hands and to carry the struggle into the
enemy's camp. Sir J. Pope Hennessy encouraged this enterprise
on the ground that the interests of the Imperial trade would
be furthered by bringing the English manufacturer and the
Chinese consumer nearer together, though it might be to the
detriment of the British intermediaries of the trade in
the Colony . But, as the Company had no experienced men
to start the business in London , and as it naturally met with
uncompromising opposition from British merchants and shippers,
the attempt proved a conspicuons failure. Even more short-
lived was another project, which Sir John did his utmost to
encourage and which, in his farewell summary of the condition
of the Colony, he triumphantly pointed to as a sign of
progress, viz. a proposal to start, at Belcher's Bay, a Dock
to be worked with exclusively Chinese capital for the purpose
of docking the steamers owned by the China Merchants
S. N. Co. and other Chinese firms. It was merely a paper
scheme, and as Li Hung-chang naturally declined to benefit
the Colony in any way, it fell to the ground. There was at
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 559
one time a third gigantic scheme on foot . Li Hung-chang
memorialized the Throne on the subject of opium and
dispatched (August 8 , 1881 ) the Taotai Ma Kien-chung on a
secret mission to the Viceroy of India, to ascertain how far
the Indian Government would be willing to meet his proposal
that India should year by year gradually reduce its opium
production , whilst China would make good from year to year
the deficit of Indian opium revenue, on a sliding scale which
was to terminate after a certain period, when the whole area,
originally devoted to opium plantations, would have been
gradually brought under cereal cultivation, thus preventing
any serious injury to the revenues of India . In direct
connection with this scheme of the Viceroy, there was a
further project, devised in Hongkong by Mr. Ho Amei, but
contemptuously rejected by Sir John . Mr. Ho Amei proposed
to start in Hongkong, under the sanction and control of the
Chinese Government, a Company with a capital of twenty
million dollars, for the purpose of purchasing all the opium
required for Chinese consumption sent from India and then
distributing it to the various ports. It was supposed that
this scheme would make smuggling impossible, do away with
the necessity for the numerous existing Li-kin stations and
put a stop to the prevailing evasion and misappropriation
of Li-kin duties in China. But the whole scheme failed
because the Indian Government declined the Viceroy's proposal.
An equally unsatisfactory result had the project of Mr. Ho Amei,
to start at Aberdeen salt-pans to manufacture sea salt for
exclusive consumption in the Colony. Ignoring the fact that
salt is an Imperial monopoly in China, and that therefore
the manufacture of salt in Hongkong would give an immense
stimulus to the existing forced contraband trade in salt, to
the injury of Chinese revenue and in violation of the
friendly relations between the two countries, the Chamber
of Commerce (March 10, 1881 ) viewed the proposed manufacture
of salt in opposition to the Governor's views as an enterprise
as legitimate as that of refining sugar. Sir John would not
560 CHAPTER XXI.
entertain the scheme for a moment. A fifth project of the
Chinese community was the establishment of a Chinese
Chamber of Commerce, which was to take over all the extraneous
functions of the Tung-wa Hospital Committee. Sir John
encouraged this project and suggested to combine with the
Chamber of Commerce a Chinese Industrial Museum. The
plan was often discussed, petitions and deputations pressed it
upon the Government , year after year, but although the
Governor finally ( February 20, 1880 ) promised to recommend
a Government grant of $ 10,000 , in addition to the grant of
a piece of ground, nothing was really done.
The sanitation of Hongkong was, during this administration,
a subject fruitful of bitter strife, as it brought the Surveyor
General, the Colonial Surgeon and the Military Medical Authorities
into direct opposition against the views of the Governor. The
annual reports of the Colonial Surgeon for the years 1879 and 1880
having been suppressed by the Governor, our records are incom-
plete. However, the Registrar General's statistics of the annual
death-rate per 1,000 of the whole population (being 26.81 for
1877, 29.60 for 1878 , and 32.14 for 1879 ) show a steady increase
for the first three years of this administration, followed by a
considerable decrease in 1880 (28.71 ) and 1881 (24.07 ) . As no
material changes were made in the system of sanitation, it seems
that the rise and fall of mortality during those years had nothing
to do with the Governor's attitude towards, or inactivity in,
matters of sanitation. The increase of sickness in 1877 is
accounted for by meteorological conditions, the heat registered
during that year having been in excess of anything experienced
during the preceding eight years, while the rainfall (77.24) was
below that of previous years ( 104.02 in 1876) . As to the year
1878 shewing a rise in the mortality tables, the Colonial Surgeon
reported that the health of the Colony was exceptionally good in
1878, and during the year 1879, when the mortality among the
Chinese population rose to 33.11 per 1,000, the health of the
troops was even better than in 1878. The common practice
during this period was, when things sanitary were found fault
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 561
with in Hongkong, to lay the blame on the Governor. Owing
partly to the annual philippica of the Colonial Surgeon, who
asserted that large numbers of Chinese houses in Hongkong had
been rebuilt on plans wanting in all sanitary principles, as they
drained mostly into the subsoil, and principally on account of the
trenchant representations, regarding the alleged mismanagement
of sanitary affairs in Hongkong, made by Deputy Surgeon General
McKinnon to the War Office, the Secretary of State sent (June,
1881 ) Mr. O. Chadwick, C.B. , at the expense of the Colony, to
inquire into and report to the Colonial Office on the sanitary
condition of Hongkong . Apart from the prejudice in favour of
the dry carth system which the Governor had, the only branch
of sanitation , in which he positively interfered , was the working
of the C.D. Ordinance, and in this respect also the Governor's-
action ran counter to the views of the local sanitary authorities.
Sir John appointed (November 12 , 1877 ) a Commission (T. C.
Hayllar, W. Keswick, E. J. Eitel ) to inquire into the working
of Ordinance 19 of 1867. But beyond abolishing the most
glaring abuses which had connected themselves with the local
system, and bringing together a mass of information as to
the local history of this branch of sanitation, the Commission
produced no result.
In educational matters, the real good, which Sir John did
for the education of the youths of the Colony by a reform of the
Grant-in-Aid Scheme, escaped public attention almost entirely.
As regards the Government Central School, then the most popular
educational institution of Hongkong, there appeared (December
1, 1877) a pamphlet questioning the raison d'être of this School.
The anonymous author argued that the Government should
confine its operations to promoting elementary education, leaving
all higher education to be organized on the voluntary principle
and to be paid for by those who value it . The pamphlet was
believed to express the Governor's views and caused accordingly
disquieting apprehensions. The Central School, however, con-
tinued as before. What the Governor did for, or against, the
School, had practically no effect at all, except that the erection
36
562 CHAPTER XXI.
of new buildings was stopped. On the ground that political and
commercial interests rendered the study of English of primary
importance in all Government Schools in the Colony, a principle
which an Educational Conference (February 25, 1878 ) , appointed
by the Governor, strongly enunciated, the Governor urged (but
without effect ) that more attention should be paid in the Central
School to promoting the speaking of English, that attendance
at Chinese lessons should be made optional, and that smaller
classes and a larger staff should be organized . An attempt
which the Governor made, by the appointment (August 27 ,
1880 ) of an Education Commission (F. Stewart, E. L. O'Malley,
J. M. Price, Ph . Ryrie, W. Keswick, E. J. Eitel , E. R. Belilios),
to substitute five elementary district schools for the preparatory
classes of the Central School, and to convert the latter into a
Collegiate Institution, miscarried entirely. A Normal School,
for the training of Chinese teachers of English, was established
(September 1 , 1881 ) but was condemned by the Education
Commission. The separation of the offices of Headmaster of the
Central School and Inspector of Schools, the appointment (March
7, 1878 ) of a separate Inspector as Head of the Education
Department (E. J. Eitel) , and the revision of the Grant-in-Aid
Scheme ( 1879 ) met with no opposition. The latter measure
revolutionized the educational system of the Colony. By a
few verbal alterations in the Grant-in-Aid Code, approved by
the Secretary of State, the secular system was confined to the
Government Schools, whilst all the Grant-in-Aid Schools were
set absolutely free to devote their whole time to education
(whether secular or religious) in both primary and secondary
subjects. The consequence was that, whilst Sir J. Pope Hennessy
on his first arrival in Hongkong (in 1877 ) found 41 schools
reported as existing in the Colony, with 2,922 scholars, he left
behind him, on his departure from Hongkong (in 1882 ), 5,182
scholars enrolled in 80 schools under Government supervision .
The Roman Catholic community had St. Joseph's Church
re-opened for services (June 3, 1877 ) and a new Church, of the
Sacred Heart, at Westpoint, built for them (March 22, 1879)
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 563
on ground granted by the Government . The German community
erected a Lutheran Church (March 12 , 1879 ) in connection with
the Berlin Foundling House. The first Chinese civil marriage
was solemnized at the Registrar General's Office on 7th June,
1877. The Sunday labour question was brought before the
Government (May 1 , 1879 ) by the joint action of the Protestant
and Catholic clergy. A Memorial presented by them requested ,
that on Sundays all labour should cease in the Colony and that
Statute 29th of Charles II . should be put in force. The question
was referred to the Secretary of State, but Sunday labour con-
tinued in Hongkong unchecked.
Such was the mutual incompatibility of temperament , views
and ways, between Sir John and the European community, that
he deliberately assumed a position of eutire isolation, whilst the
European community felt, year by year, less and less disposed
to disturb his insularity. Apart from Sir John's general policy.
there were special causes which irritated the community . Such
were, for instance, his interference (October 24, 1879 , and
February 5, 1881 ) with the rules of admission to the City Hall
Museum, his attempt to confiscate the steam-tug Fame (October
28, 1879 ) , and his prohibition of the sale of refreshments at the
City Hall Theatre ( February 25 , 1880 ) . As regards amusements,
however, the community was, during this period , well provided
for. In addition to the established periodical treats provided
by the Amateur Dramatic Corps, the Choral Society, the Hor-
ticultural Society, the Victoria Recreation and Regatta Clubs ,
the Liedertafel of the Club Germania, and the Race Club, this
period is distinguished by some specially successful celebrations,
among which mention is due to St. Patrick's festival ( March 17,
1879 ) , the centenary of the birth of the Irish poet Tom Moore
(May 28 , 1879 ), the Masonic Ball of 15th January, 1880, the
anniversary of Washington's birthday ( February 23, 1880 ) , and
the tercentenary of Camoens (June 10, 1880). As to other
social events those deserving mention are the semi -extinction
of the Humane Society (May 13, 1878) , the formation of St.
John's Lodge under the Scottish Constitution ( November 30,
564 CHAPTER XXI.
1878), a banquet and presentation of an address in honour of
Professor Nordenskjold (November 3, 1879 ), the starting of
jinrikshas in the Colony (April 22 , 1880) , the establishment
of a Polo Club (April 27, 1880), the presentation of an address
and testimonial to the Hon. W. Keswick (May 14, 1881 ), the
arrest of Messrs. Rapp and Schmidt by a Customs cruiser while
on a shooting expedition (November 26, 1881 ) , and the
appointment of Mr. C. P. Chater as Masonic District Grand.
Master of South China ( February 2 , 1882 ) .
The charity of the Hongkong community was, during this
period , called forth and exercised to an extraordinary degree .
To the relief of the famine in North China the Hongkong
community contributed (from April, 1877 , until August, 1878 , )
an aggregate sum of $ 132,000 . Floods in Canton necessitated
(in May, 1877 ) a separate appeal which in a day or two produced
$5,000 . The Freemasons raised separately funds (October, 1877 )
for the relief of sufferers from famine in India, and in January,
1878, a subscription was started for the sufferers from the Yesso
explosion, when Messrs. Douglas Lapraik & Co. headed the list
with a subscription of $ 10,000 . An Amateur Concert was given
(December 12 , 1878 ) on behalf of sufferers by the failure of the
City of Glasgow Bank. An Irish Famine Relief Committee was
started (March 8, 1880) and collected $36,000 . The Hon. E. R.
Belilios having (October 15, 1878) placed in the Governor's
hands the sum of £ 1,000 for the erection of a statue of Lord
Beaconsfield, used this sum, when Disraeli deprecated the honour,
to establish a Medical Scholarship Fund ( October 7 , 1879 ) ,
subsequently changed (November 29, 1883 ) into the Belilios
Scholarship Fund, and gave to a row of houses opposite the
City Hall, which he erected at the time, the name Beaconsfield
Arcade. A Medical Mission Committee (J. C. Edge, Dr. Young,
and H. W. Davis ) , having. since October 1871 , established a
public dispensary in Taipingshan, made (January 13, 1872 ) an
appeal to the community and commenced taking steps which
ultimately resulted in the establishment of Alice Memorial
Hospital.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 565
Several gales passed over Hongkong in 1879 ( 10th July,
13th July, 10th October), one in 1880 ( 23rd September) and
two in 1881 (21st August, and 14th October) , but with the
-exception of the last gale, by which many small craft were
wrecked and some lives lost, these gales did no serious damage.
Besides the case of the China Merchants' Steamer Haishin, which
went ashore in Fat-tau-moon , opposite Sheko, there was but
one extraordinary disaster. The S.S. Yesso was being moored
alongside the wharf, when one of her boilers burst (November
22, 1877) and 87 persons were scalded to death. There was no
unusual number of conflagrations during this period, but the
average number of houses destroyed on the occasion of fires was
much greater than anything previously experienced, indicating
a defective condition of the Fire Brigade.
The history of the ship-building movement during this
period is characterized by keen competition , ending in the
triumph of the H. & W. Dock Company. The most prominent
landmarks in this struggle were the launch of the Customs
Cruizer Li Chi from Captain Sands ' slip at Westpoint (March
5, 1878 ) ; the launch of the S.S. Kiungchow, built by W. B.
Spratt & Co. (July 28, 1878 ) at Spring Gardens ; the launch
of the S.S. Zephyr from Captain Sands' slip (November 23,
1878) ; the purchase of the late Captain Sands' slips by the H.
& W. Dock Company (September 1 , 1879) ; the starting of
opposition Docks at Shamshuipou by the Cosmopolitan Dock
Company (February 3 , 1880) , and the purchase of these Docks
by the H. & W. Dock Company (December 31 , 1880 ) . As to
other local industries, there is to be recorded the establishment
of an iron foundry at Shaukiwan ( June 6 , 1878 ) , the attempt
made by the Kaiming Company to start a match factory at
Yaumati (June 15, 1880 ) and the registration (December 31 ,
1880 ) of a new Ice Company. On 1st April, 1877 , postal rates
were reduced (to 16 cents for a letter to England) and local
rates lowered by one half. A further reduction in postal rates
(to 10 cents for a letter to any country of the Postal Union)
was made in 1879, when an almost uniform postal tariff was
566 CHAPTER XXI.
introduced, and an exchange of money orders arranged with
India and most of the Australian Colonies. Telegraphic cable
connection was extended to Manila ( May 1 , 1880) and to Canton
(March, 1882 ) , whilst the town was provided with telephones ,
there being on one occasion (June 24, 188 ! ) three Telephone ·
Companies applying for permission to establish lines in the
Colony. A short-lived line of steamers was started (January 13 ,
1878) to connect Hongkong with Peru ; the S.S. Washi com-
menced to run regularly between Hongkong and North Borneo
(June 13 , 1878 ) ; the Mitsu Bishu Company started a new line
of connection with Japan (October 12 , 1879 ) , and the Austro-
Hungarian Lloyds extended their steamship traffic by bringing :
Hongkong into regular monthly connection with Triest (Aprik
1 , 1881 ) . To the foregoing evidences of prosperity may be
added the establishment of an Anglo-Chinese Debating Society
(March 4, 1880) and the starting of a third daily newspaper, the
Hongkong Telegraph (June 15, 1881 ) , by Mr. R. Frazer Smith .;
The obituary of this period includes an extraordinary number
of prominent citizens :-H. Thorburn , Acting Manager of the
Chartered Bank (April 19 , 1877) ; W. H. Bell , lessee of the
Daily Press (May 16 , 1877 ) ; Captain G. U. Sands, founder of
the Patent Slip and Dock Company ( October 28 , 1877 ) ; J. J.
dos Remedios , Consul General for Portugal (July 30, 1878 ) :
John Jack, proprietor of the Hongkong Distillery ( August 15 ,
1878 ) ; Hon. Ch . May, Colonial Treasurer (April 23 , 1879 ) ; ·
Captain E. Punchard, commander of coast steamers (July 12,
1879) ; Rev. H. H. Kidd, Colonial Chaplain (July 31 , 1879)
Hon . C. B. Plunket, Police Magistrate (December 21 , 1880 ) ;
Captain R. W. Hutchinson, commander and owner of several
steamers (January 30, 1881 ) ; Mrs. McIver, wife of Superinten-
dent P. & O. Company (February 11 , 1881 ) ; Sir Richard Graves
McDonnell (March, 1881 ) ; T. G. Lindstead, Masonic District
Grand Master (April , 30, 1881 ) ; W. R. , Landstein, merchant
(June 21 , 1881 ) ; Pastor Klitzke of the Berlin Foundling House :
(July 3, 1881 ) ; Rev. C. G. Booth, Military Chaplain (January .
14, 1882) . 4 i +
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 567
In October, 1881 , it was stated that the question of the
Governor's rule or misrule would shortly be brought before
Parliament. This was not done, but in February, 1882, it was
generally understood that the Governor was about to leave the
Colony for good. The Tungwa Hospital Committee gave the
Governor a farewell banquet (February 27 , 1882 ) , and when Sir
John, after a stormy debate in Legislative Council, announced
(March 1 , 1882 ) his approaching departure, the Hon . Ph. Ryrie,
expressing his own views, praisel the Governor as having been
a longer time at his post than any of his predecessors . Two
complimentary addresses were presented to Sir John on the eve
of his departure, one by a Chinese deputation and the other by
the Portuguese community (March 6, 1882 ). On 7th March,
1882 , Sir John left Hongkong ostensibly on leave for six months,
but it was understood at the time that his return was beyond
the bounds of probability. Later on, when a contrary rumour
reached the Colony, the strongest remonstrances were addressed
by the leading British merchants to the Authorities at Downing
Street and thereupon all doubts as to the permanent severance of
the tie between Hongkong and Sir J. Pope Hennessy (beyond the
payment of a pension ) were removed, and the Colony entered,
after five years of incessant turmoil, upon a season of quiet
and steady work. Sir John himself carried with him to another
Governorship ( Mauritius ) the same odd perverse antipathies, and
roused there also, among the British community, the whirlwind
and the storm which it required the interference of Sir Hercules
Robinson to assuage. The abrupt termination of Sir John's
official career was rendered tragic through its being followed
by his premature death (October 7 , 1890) at a moment
when re-entrance upon the scenes of Parliamentary life seemed
open to him and to offer a vista of success in the sphere of
Irish politics . Requiescat in pace.
CHAPTER XXII.
A SHORT SUMMARY.
1854 to 1882.
HE epoch in Hongkong's history which opens with
TH
the administration of Sir John Bowring (1854) and
closes with that of Sir J. P. Hennessy ( 1882 ) is characterized
by the severance (since March, 1857 ) of the ties which had
united the interests of the Colony with the Imperial policy
of Her Majesty's Government in China. When the successive
Governors of Hongkong ceased to act as Her Majesty's
diplomatic agents in China, it was not merely that the
connection of the Colony and its Governors with the Foreign
Office ceased and determined. The change involved the
subordination of Hongkong's interests to the desire, always
uppermost in the mind of H.M. Minister in Peking, to keep
on good terms with Hongkong's implacable enemies, the
Chinese Mandarins. The first Governor of this period,
Sir J. Bowring, was not only deprived of the office of H.M.
Representative in China, but found his successors in that
office to sacrifice the welfare of the Colony to a maudlin
policy of cringing subservience to China as a fancied equal
of Europe and a supposed great and mighty Empire. And the
last Governor of this period, Sir J. P. Hennessy, whose one
desire was to obtain that same post, exhibits the strange spectacle
of a Governor of Hongkong deliberately acting on the false
assumption that the Imperial interests of Great Britain and
of peaceful relations with China are irreconcilably hostile to
the local interests of the Colony.
The earliest portion of this narrative is occupied with the
story of that struggle between China and Europe, in which,
A SHORT SUMMARY. 569
for two long centuries, Manchu arrogance and tyranny has,
thanks to the apathy of the East-India Company's Directors,
the upper hand over the representatives of European commerce
and civilization, and keeps them locked up within the narrow
limits of the Canton Factories. The latest portion of this
volume exhibits that same Manchu tyranny, undeterred by
repeated defeats and humiliations, because aided and abetted
by H.M. Ministers and Consuls in China, surrounding the
hated Free Trade Colony of Hongkong by a narrow circle of
Customs stations and maintaining an effective blockade which
to the present day disgraces British relations with China. All
honour to Great Britain's magnanimous forbearance in the
interest of what her Crown lawyers consider to be the just
demands of international law. Covered by that law, Mandarindom
still seeks to strangle the Free Trade movement of the Colony
and still slanders the fair name of the Colony by regarding
that amount of smuggling, which everywhere in the world
naturally results from oppressive and irregular taxation and
peculation, as an inherent vice of the native population of
Hongkong. But a divine Nemesis is watching over all these
things and Mandarindom will eventually discover its mistake
when British patience is exhausted . An effective solution of
the problem can, however, hardly be expected so long as the
present division between the Colonial and Foreign Offices
continues. This division which, in its practical working in
the Far East, bristles with unavoidable jealousies and irrecon-
cilable antagonisms, impedes the natural process of bringing
China into subordination to Europe. The furtherance of that
process demands a special Ministry charged with the direction
of all Her Majesty's possessions and interests in the East and
bringing British Colonial and Imperial policy into a working
and effective unity.
Historically speaking it seems undeniable that, as in the days
of the East- India Company at Canton, so in the more recent
history of Hongkong, European merchants have ever been the
leaders and the Chinese merchants the indispensable hangers -on
570 CHAPTER XXII.
and go-betweens of the China Trade, and that this twofold
commerce made immense strides for the benefit of both parties
from the moment when it came under the impulse of the mighty
spirit of free trade, which fused the interests of European and
Chinese merchants into indissoluble unity. If we view the
history of the China Trade from the standpoint of Europe's
relations with China, it is clear that the tendency, which God
put into the movement that commenced at Canton two centuries
ago and which resulted in the establishment of this British
Colony, was the inchoative union of Europe and China, by the
subordination of the latter to the former, and this by means
of free trade coupled with enlightened and humane local
government. The genius of British free trade and political ;
liberty constitutes unmistakeably the vital element in the historie :
evolution of Hongkong. Hence it is that co-operation with
this divine tendency of things is the unalterable condition of
success. Every measure, every event in the history of Hongkong,
that is in harmony with this general innate tendency, is in
part a fulfilment of Hongkong's mission in the history of the
universe.
That this view is correct, may be inferred from the historic
fact that nothing ever seriously endangered the existence of
this Colony but tampering with the free trade palladium of
Hongkong. Few of the Governors of this epoch recognized
the importance of this truth, and among the merchants
even there was often entire forgetfulness of this principle.
Sir A. Kennedy, no doubt, thought he was doing the right
thing when he introduced lighthouse dues, and the mercantile
community submitted to the measure without a murmur.
Sir R. MacDonnell came near the truth when he saw the
essential importance of Hongkong in its convenience as a .
commercial depot and recommended that the shipping interests
be better looked after. The only Governor of this period
whose eyes were fully open on this point, was Sir J. Bowring .
The following words, taken from one of his published :
dispatches, are worth remembering... Believing that . the .
A SHORT SUMMARY. 571
satisfactory development of our prosperity is mainly due to the .
emancipation of all shipping and trade from fiscal vexations
and exactions, I trust no custom-house machinery will ever be
introduced, either for the collection of tariff or harbour dues or
for any purpose which may check the free ingress and egress
of all shipping to and from the port nor the free transfer of
commodities from hand to hand. Hongkong presents another
example of the elasticity and potency of unrestricted commerce
which has more than counterbalanced the barrenness of the soil,
the absence of agricultural and manufacturing industry, the
disadvantages of its climate and every impediment which would
clog its progress .'
The greatest revolution that ever upheaved the affairs of
Hongkong came from a purely commercial source, from the
sphere of its shipping interests. I refer to the opening of the
Suez Canal. For several years after that momentous event ,
Hongkong commerce seemingly followed its old impetus in much
the same lines as before. But step by step it was seen that a
change had come over Hongkong's dream, amounting to a com-
plete revolution . The markets in England for silk, tea and other
Chinese exports had been entirely ruled by the prices paid in
China. Now the price realised in England became the norm
and guide of all purchases to be made in China. As to imports
iuto China, the change wrought, by bringing the English
manufacturer into closer connection with the Chinese consumer,
was equally formidable. The China Trade now drifted into the
hands of home capitalists. Successful trading on credit , formerly
so common in Hongkong, became year by year rarer and large
monied firms only appeared to profit in the long run.
But the remarkable thing is that even the political and
strategical importance of Hongkong was immensely enhanced
by that same commercial event. It was the opening of the
Suez Canal which placed Hongkong in line with Gibraltar
and Malta and made it combine their functions as applied
to the Far East . Hongkong now dominates the China Sea
as Malta dominates the Mediterranean and strategically closes .
572 CHAPTER XXII
the road to India from the East as Gibraltar opens the
gateway from the West. As the opening of the Suez Canal,
with its consequent increase of European trade with China,
enhanced the importance of Hongkong as a commercial em-
porium, so the universal employment of steamers in the navies
of all the great Maritime Powers, which likewise followed from
the opening of the Suez Canal, gave Hongkong a new important
function to fulfil as the only coaling station of the British navy
in the Far East . But, as it took Hongkong merchants several
years to realize how much nearer, to London, Hongkong now
was, so it took Her Majesty's Government and the British public
several decades of years to realize the increased political and
strategical importance Hongkong had assumed, by that same
commercial event, in the general scheme of British Colonial
defence, and its consequent need of first class fortifications.
As to the individual Governors of this epoch, one feels
tempted to say that apparently each man begins the world afresh
and the last man repeats the blunders of the first .' However,
it is remarkable how little really depended upon the character,
wisdom or energy, of any of these exalted individuals . Sir J.
Bowring, the man of ideas, had rare capabilities and was brim-
ming over with fruitful schemes, but, to use Lord Clarendon's
6
words, events which could not be foreseen and which got (or
rather all along were) beyond his control ' left him stranded
powerless. Sir H. Robinson, Fortune's favourite, was apparently
the most successful Governor of Hongkong, thanks to an
adventitious prosperity of commerce, but if his administration
had fallen into his successor's time of financial insolvency, he
would have been deprived of all the means of success and left
as helpless as his successor. Sir R. MacDonnell, the autocrat,
was perhaps the greatest, most energetic and powerful, Governor
that ever ruled over this much-ruled Colony, but adverse circum-
stances, bad times, opposition on the part of the colonists and
dissensions with the Colonial Office rulers, clipped the wings
of his usefulness and success. Sir A. Kennedy, the amiable,
is the model of a successful and most popular Governor who
A SHORT SUMMARY. 573-
achieved local immortality by doing as little as possible whilst
making himself personally pleasant to the Colony as well to the
Downing Street officials. As to Sir J. P. Hennessy, the less
said the better. His acts speak powerfully enough. The centre
of his world was he himself. But with all the crowd of dark
and bright powers that were wrestling within him , he could
not help doing some good and the Colony emerged out of the
ordeal of his administration practically unscathed . No, what
makes or mars the fortunes of Hongkong is not the wisdom
or foolishness, the goodness or badness of its Governors. There
is an indomitable vitality within and a Supreme Governor
above this British Colony, and these powers irresistibly push
on and control the evolution of Hongkong until its destiny
be fulfilled in accordance with a plan which is not of man's
making.
Several important social problems were taken up during
this period. In the case of the gambling question , first investi-
gated by Sir J. Bowring, worked out by Sir R. MacDonnell in
a spirited but unsuccessful manner, and religiously eschewed
by his successors who, however, did not escape the curse of this
rampant evil, all that can be said is that the Sphinx will have-
to solve its own riddle, for no one seems able or courageous
enough to deal with the problem. As to the Contagious Diseases
question, a solution was sought , in a more or less half-hearted
manner, by several Governors of this epoch, but, as no great
results were expected, public expectation was not seriously
disappointed . Strange to say, the problem of municipal govern-
ment, raised by the Parliamentary Committee of 1817 , and
diplomatically handled by Sir G. Bonham, was allowed by the
mercantile community to remain dormant through the whole
of this epoch. Stranger still, the only Governor who alluded
to the subject was autocratic Sir R. MacDonnell who suggested
to H.M. Government that the Colony should be allowed, as
far as possible, the liberty to expend, on local improvements
and works, all the available public income that can be raised from
the community for these purposes ." But the strangest thing
574 CHAPTER XXII.
was that, while the foreign community remained silent on the
subject, the Chinese residents came forward of their own accord
and requested the organisation of a distinctly Chinese Municipal
Council for their own particular benefit, and obtained a Police
of their own and a consultative voice as to the management , by the