Company in China, and the difficulties which soon re
sulted therefrom , concerning the mode of conducting
our negociations with the Chinese for the future, will
be remembered by most readers ; and, whatever part
the questions arising out of the trade in opium may
have afterwards borne in the complication of difficul
ties, there is little doubt that the first germ of them all
was developed at the moment when the general trade
with China became free. This freedom of trade, too,
was forced upon the government and the company in a
great degree by the competition of the American inte
RETROSPECT . 175
rests;; and by the fact that British trade came to be
carried on partly under the American flag, and through
American agency, because it was prevented from being
brought into fair competition in the market, under the
free protection of its own flag.
The unhappy death of the lamented Lord Napier,
principally occasioned by the ill treatment of the Chi
nese, and the mental vexation of having been compelled
to submit to the daily insults of the Chinese authorities,
in his attempts to carry out the orders of his govern
ment, will be remembered with deep regret. With the
nature of those orders we have here nothing to do. No
one can question Lord Napier's talent, energy, and de
votedness to the object of his mission.
The attempts of Captain Elliot, when he afterwards
took upon himself the duties of chief superintendent, to
carry out the same instructions, were scarcely less un
fortunate. And , finding, as he publicly stated , that
“the governor had declined to accede to the conditions
involved in the instructions which he had received
from her majesty's government, concerning the manner
>
of his intercourse with his Excellency,” the British flag
was struck at the factories at Canton, on the 2nd of
December, 1837, and her majesty's principal superin
tendent retired to Macao .
During the year 1838, very serious and determined
measures began to be adopted by the Chinese authori
ties, directed generally against the trade in opium ; and
imperial edicts threatened death as the punishment, for
both the dealers in and the smokers of the drug. Se
veral unfortunate Chinese were executed in consequence .
176 CHINESE MOB.
Attempts were now made to execute the criminals in
front of the foreign factories along the river side, con
trary to all former usage and public right. A remon
strance followed, addressed to the governor, who, in
reply, gave them a sort of moral lecture, instead of a
political lesson, and then condescendingly admitted,
that “ foreigners, though born and brought up be
yond the pale of civilization, must yet have human
hearts.”
Nevertheless, in the following December, 1838, the
insulting attempt was again repeated, close under the
American flag -staff, which was not then placed, as it
has since been, in an enclosure, surrounded with a brick
wall, and high paling. The flag was immediately hauled
down by the consul, in consequence of the preparations
which were going on, for the erection of the cross upon
which the criminal was to be strangled .
At first, a few foreigners interfered, and without vio
lence induced the officers to desist from their proceed
ings. But gradually the crowd increased, and, a Chinese
mob, when excited, is fully as unruly as an English
one ; and thus each imprudent act, as usual, led to ano
ther. No Chinese authorities were at hand to control
the disturbance ; stones began to fly in all directions ;
and the foreigners, who by this time had come forward
to the aid of their brethren, were at length, through the
increasing numbers of the mob, fairly driven to take re
fuge in the neighbouring factories. Here they were
obliged to barricade the doors and windows, many of
which were, nevertheless, destroyed, and the buildings
endangered, before a sufficient force of Chinese soldiers
ARROGANCE OF THE CHINESE . 177
had arrived to disperse the mob. In the evening, how
ever, quiet was perfectly restored.
In the mean time, the alarm had spread to Whampoa,
whence Captain Elliot set out, accompanied by about
one hundred and twenty armed men, for Canton, and
arrived at the British factory late in the evening. Both
parties were now clearly placed in a false position, yet one
which it would have been very difficult to have avoided .
During many preceding months, the unfortunate Hong
merchants had been in constant collision with their own
government, on the one hand, and with the foreign mer
chants, on the other. There was scarcely any species of
indignity to which they were not exposed, and they
were even threatened with death itself. The Chinese
government had daily become more overbearing towards
all foreigners ; and its habitual cold and haughty tone
had grown into undisguised contempt and unqualified
contumely. Their treatment of Lord Napier had been
considered on their part as a victory ; and their suc
cessful repulse of all Captain Elliot's advances was
viewed by them as an evidence of their own power, and
of Great Britain's weakness .
It has been already stated in the first chapter, that
Sir Frederick Maitland, who had a short time previ
ously paid a visit to China in a line of battle ship, had
left those seas altogether just before the collision took
place ; and, in proportion as the foreigners were left
unprotected, so did the Chinese become more over
bearing.
At the same time, it cannot be denied that their de
termination to put a stop, as far as possible, to the
VOL . I. N
178 ENERGY OF ELLIOT .
opium-trade was for the time sincere ; though their
measures might have been hasty and unwarrantable. A
few days after the preceding disturbance, Captain Elliot
distinctly ordered that “ all British owned schooners,
or other vessels, habitually or occasionally engaged in
the illicit opium traffic within the Bocca Tigris, should
remove before the expiration of three days, and not
again return within the Bocca Tigris, being so en
>
gaged . ” And they were at the same time distinctly
warned, that, if “ any British subjects were feloniously
to cause the death of any Chinaman, in consequence of
persisting in the trade within the Bocca Tigris, he
would be liable to capital punishment ; that no owners
of such vessels so engaged would receive any assistance
or interposition from the British government, in case
the Chinese government should seize any of them ; and
that all British subjects employed in these vessels would
be held responsible for any consequences which might
arise from forcible resistance offered to the Chinese go
vernment, in the same manner as if such resistance
were offered to their own or any other government, in
their own or in any foreign country.”
So far Captain Elliot evinced considerable energy
and determination ; but he, probably, had scarcely
foreseen that the shrewd and wily government of China
would very soon put the question to him , “ if you can
order the discontinuance of the traffic within the Bocca
Tigris, why can you not also put an end to it in the
outer waters beyond the Bogue ?”
As it seems scarcely possible to avoid all direct
allusion to the difficult question of the traffic in opium ,
THE OPIUM QUESTION . 179
I shall take this opportunity of saying a very few
words upon this important subject. A detailed ac
count of its remarkable history, and of the vicissitudes
which attended it, both within and without the Chinese
empire, would afford matter of the greatest interest, but
could hardly find a place in this work.
In former times, as is well known , opium was ad
mitted into China as a drug, upon payment of duty. It
was brought there in very small quantities by the East
India Company ; and even the prohibition which was
ultimately laid upon it was regarded by the Chinese
themselves as a mere dead letter. Indeed , precisely in
proportion to the difficulty of obtaining the drug did
the longing for it increase.
The great events which sprung out of this appetite
of a whole nation for “ forbidden fruit,” on the one hand,
and of the temptations held out to foreigners to furnish
it to them, on the other, may be considered as one of
those momentous crises in a nation's history, which
seem almost pre-ordained, as stages or epochs to mark
the world's progress . Hence, therefore, the opium
question must of necessity be viewed as much in a poli
tical as in a moral light; and, when we look impartially
into the history of recent occurrences in China, we
cannot doubt that “ Opium ” was frequently made a
handle of by the authorities, in order to justify many
of their questionable acts in relation to foreigners.
No wonder that China, resting haughtily upon the
pedestal of her antiquity, and far excelling all surround
ing nations in civilization and well-ordered government, >
should have becomeproud and inaccessible ! Honoured
N 2
180 CHINESE REFORMERS.
as she was by many, courted by some, and, at the same
time, ignorant of all except her own people, it was
natural that she should appear to despise their ad
vances, when she professed to dread their contamination.
Her resources are immense, and would be even greater
than she herself believed, or foreigners had dreamt of,
had she but the power to guide, or the will to be guided,
in the proper direction for their development. Her
fear of retrograding from the middle point to which
she had attained led her to dread every attempt to
advance, and thus she became feeble in the midst of
strength, and really powerless when professing invin
cibility.
The very fact of our having appointed Lord Napier,
a man of greater rank and influence than had ever be
fore been sent there as superintendent of trade, was
flattering to their vanity. And it is curious enough
that, at the very time when a mercantile crisis was
growing up at Canton, a political intrigue, or, as it
might be called, a cabinet crisis, was breaking out at
Pekin. In fact, strange as it may appear, it is believed
in China, upon tolerably good authority, that there
was actually a reform party struggling to show its head
at Pekin, and that the question of more extended inter
course with foreigners was quite as warmly discussed as
that of the prohibition of the import of opium or of the
export of silver.
Memorials were presented to the emperor on both
sides of the question ; and his Majesty Taouk -wang, being
old and personally of feeble character, halted for a time
و
“ between two opinions, " alternately yielding both to .
THE EMPRESS OF CHINA . 181
the one and to the other, until he at length settled
down into his old bigotry against change, and felt all
the native prejudices of a true son of Han revive more
strongly than ever within his bosom.
The hesitation which was at first shown by the Eng
lish encouraged those who still doubted ; and the first
success of the schemes of the Chinese, upon finding the
foreign community so little protected, emboldened
even the timid . Their arrogance grew more daring
with their success ; and the governor of Canton sought
to gain favour at court by his sudden endeavours “ to
control the foreigners,” and tried to raise his own for
tunes by upholding the inaccessible dignity of the great
Celestial Empire .
But the question of the Opium-trade, or Opium laws,
which, for some time, had been really a party matter,
like the corn-laws in our own country, became at length
a question of interest and importance to the whole
nation , and was magnified in its relations by the very
discussion of the points which it involved .
It is said that the head of the reform party (if it can
so be called) in China was a Tartar lady, belonging to
the emperor's court, remarkable for her abilities no less
than her personal attractions, and possessed of certain
very strong points of character, which made her as much
feared by some as she was loved by others. She was
soon raised even to the throne itself, as the emperor's
wife, but lived only a few years to enjoy her power.
Her influence soon came to be felt throughout the whole
of that vast empire ; it was the means of rewarding talent,
and of detecting inability. She seemed to possess,
182 THE EMPRESS OF CHINA .
in a marked degree, that intuitive discernment which
sometimes bursts upon the female mind as if by in
spiration. She was blessed with a tone and energy of
character in advance of her age and of her country. She
had many grateful friends, but she had raised up for
herself many bitter enemies; party feeling ran high,
and became at length too powerful even for an Empress.
Gradually her influence diminished, the favour of the
emperor declined , her opponents again got the upper
hand, and at length she pined away under the effects of
disappointment and perhaps injustice, and died. But
her influence, so long as it lasted, was unbounded, and
was felt through every province.
Her principal adherents and dependants naturally lost
their power when that of their mistress was gone. The
question of more extended trade with foreigners was
now again set aside ; the old feelings of bigotry and
national pride resumed even more than their former
vigour. Opium at once became the instrument, but
ostensibly PATRIOTISM became the groundwork, of their
measures . The old national feeling against foreigners
throughout the empire was revived ; and, in the midst
of it all, as if ordained to hasten on the momentous
crisis which waited for its fulfilment, the son of the
emperor himself died in his very palace,from the effects
of the excessive use of opium .
Even before this unfortunate event, strong measures
had begun to be adopted in some parts of the empire
against the preparers and smokers of the drug. As is
usually the case when one party has become victorious
over another after a severe struggle, the course which
THE OPIUM -MANIA . 183
they advocate is followed up with even more than their
former vigour. When once the advocates of a severe
compulsion for stopping the use of opium, and with it
the export of silver, had gained the upper hand in the
cabinet, measures of a very stringent kind were imme
diately adopted , as if with the full determination of
giving them a fair trial.
The evil had certainly reached a very high pitch ;
and, from having been formerly confined to the wealthier
and more indolent classes, it spread its deadly grasp
among the lower grades, so that even the lowest at
length came to be confirmed debauchees. Not that their
fair earnings could generally enable them to procure
enough of so costly an article, but because they were
led to deprive themselves and their families of other
comforts, and even necessaries, in order to obtain the
means of gratifying their irresistible longing for the
poison. Not unfrequently was even crime itself commit
ted in order to obtain the means ; and the opium - shops,
particularly in the maritime towns and villages, became
the last resort of all the thieves, vagabonds, gamblers,
and bad characters throughout the district.
The demand for opium, and consequently its price,
increased remarkably, and the numerous statements
which have been published under this head have not
been by any means exaggerated. It penetrated the most
secret haunts, in proportion as the danger of using it more
publicly increased ; and, the more numerous were the
edicts which were issued against it, the greater did the
craving for the forbidden luxury, amounting almost to
a national MANIA , go on increasing day by day. The
184 THE OPIUM MANIA .
MORAL LECTURES of the emperor, which appeared in the
Pekin Gazette, were very pretty to read, but very futile
in their effects. And if the great despotic Ruler
over hundreds of millions of people, whose very word
was law, still found himself totally unable to exclude
the drug (even under the severest prohibitions) from his
own palace, is it to be wondered at that all his strongest
measures should have totally failed in withdrawing the
mass of the nation from the temptation ?
The enormous profits derived from the clandestine
sale of opium induced many of the Chinese to embark
in it as a speculation, who neither used it themselves,
nor were habituated to any other commercial traffic.
Official men both smoked and sold it ; hundreds of people
gained a livelihood by the manufacture or sale of opium
pipes, and other apparatus connected with its use ; and
even the armed soldier often carried an opium-pipe in
his girdle, with the same unconcern as he did the fan
case which is very commonly a part of his costume.
All this was going on throughout a great portion of
the empire, during the time that the question of its
legalization or of its sterner prohibition was being so
warmly debated at court, and discussed throughout the
country. But the general impression was, that the
importation of the drug would be legalized , and there
was little apprehension of the violent persecution which
soon commenced.
It may here be fairly urged, nor can it indeed be de
nied, that the government of Pekin had a perfect right
to make strong representations and remonstrances to the
government of any other country whose subjects might
THE OPIUM MANIA . 185
be engaged in acting contrary to the promulgated edicts
of the emperor ; but, on the other hand ,the government
of that other country (whichever it might chance to have
been) would also have an equal right to reply, “ If you
have not the means or want the disposition to prevent
your own high officers and paid servants from both en
gaging in the very acts of which you complain, and
from even encouraging the infraction of your laws by
foreigners, how can you expect that We can prevent our
distant traders from supplying them , either privately or
publicly, with that for which they are ready to pay so
high a price ? " On the contrary , instead of the foreigners
imposing it upon them as a condition of trade, it was the
Chinese themselves who begged and prayed that it might
be supplied to them ; who sought out the opium-selling ves
sels at long distances, and were even then only permitted
to receive it by paying hard cash for it. So determined
were the Chinese to possess it at any cost, that they fre
quently were willing to purchase it for its own weight
in silver, balanced fairly the one against the other in the
scales. Boats belonging to the Custom House engaged
in the traffic. The governor of Canton himself, Tang
by name, was known to have employed his own boat to
fetch it ; and so publicly and undisguisedly was the traffic
carried on, that a stipulated sum was paid to the officers
for every chest landed, precisely as if it had been a bale
of cotton or a box of glass.
It cannot be doubted, however, that, after the death
of the emperor's Son, public attention throughout the
empire became more strongly than ever directed to the
increasing evils of the use and abuse of opium. Many
186 A CRISIS .
instances of its pernicious effects now rose to the re
collection of individuals who would otherwise have
scarcely dwelt upon them. The agitation of the ques
tion had indeed led to party feeling upon the subject ;
but still, among many pretenders, some really honest
men appeared, who claimed and tried to earn for them
>
selves the character of “ patriots.” The thunders of
the emperor against foreigners began to take effect, and
the violent prejudice and ignorant presumption of nu
merous excited spirits assumed a higher and more
stirring name, of which, however, it was scarcely wor
thy. Measures of a severer kind now began to be
adopted, and the reaction throughout the empire was
almost universal, because the shock had not been ex
pected ; it came upon them like an earthquake.
Yet the justice of it appeared evident to many, for
the evils had been concealed from none. It seemed as
if all on a sudden the highroad to official favour and
distinction could be found solely through the degree of
energy shewn in ferreting out the lowest opium -smokers,
and in publicly giving up the very pipes which were
used ; indeed , it has been said that this enthusiasm was
carried so far, that pipes were actually purchased for the
purpose of giving them up to the officers, as if it indi
cated a voluntary surrender of a vicious habit. These
were all displayed as emblems of victory, and the most
zealous were the best rewarded , while the government
itself became astonished at its own apparent success.
It now thought itself irresistible, and despised the
foreigners more than ever.
A grand crisis was produced by these proceedings in
OPIUM- SMUGGLING . 187
the interior of the country. All traffic of an extensive
kind became nearly stopped ; the prisons were filled
with delinquents ; and a great parade was made of the
“ stern severity ” of the government, on the one hand ,,
and of the obedient submission of the people, on the
other. Yet, in spite of all this public display, that
traffic itself was in reality as flourishing as ever, although
perhaps it might have changed hands. Opium was more
eagerly sought after than before ; the price of it rose in
proportion ; and, precisely as had been predicted by the
free trade or reform party in Pekin , it was found im
possible to prevent its introduction into the country by
the people themselves, even by the threat of death itself.
Fishermen carried with them a single ball, and made a
large profit by its sale ; women pretended to be drop
>
sical or “ interesting ” in their situation, and carried it
in their clothes ; the temptations and the profits were
so large and irresistible, that hundreds of modes were
discovered for conveying it from place to place, in spite
of the penalties which awaited detection. The behead
ing of a few men , and the imprisonment of others, did
not deter the mass ; the delicious intoxication of the
precious drug proved far too attractive to be controlled
by the horrors of death or torture.
The truth is, however specious the edicts and writings
of the Chinese may appear on paper, they are perfectly
futile in reality, when the will of the people and the
absence of any early prejudice is opposed to their accom
plishment
Without further pursuing a subject which, though
deeply interesting, has been already so much a matter
188 THE CRISIS .
of discussion, we may at once come to the conclusion,
that the passion of the Chinese for the pernicious intox
ication of opium, was the first link in the chain which
was destined to connect them at some future day with
all the other families of Mankind. The abolition of the
privileges of the East India Company first opened the
door for the general trade of all foreign nations upon an
extended scale ; but the trade in opium, which the Chi
nese were determined to carry on, in spite of all oppo
sition of their own government, and with a full know
ledge of the pernicious consequences which resulted
from it, was apparently the ordained instrument by
means of which the haughty tone and the inapproach
able reserve of their government were to be at length
overcome .
It has been already stated , that the national hatred
of all foreigners was encouraged by the outcry against
opium ; and yet it was the national mania for the use
of this tempting poison which brought them more than
ever into contact with the foreigners. IIenceforth, the
Chinese must belong to the great family of civilized
man, and extend her intercourse with all nations. One
would almost think that Cicero had the Chinese in view
66
when he said , Qui autem dicunt civium rationem
habendam, externorum negant, hi dirimunt communem
humani generis societatem, quâ sublatâ, beneficentia,
liberalitas, bonitas, justitia funditus tollitur.”-Cic. de
Repub., lib. iii.
We now come to the period of the famous Commis
sioner Lin's appointment to Canton. This was indeed
the climax of all the perplexities. Lin himself was the
CHARACTER OF LIN . 189
Robespierre, the Terrorist, the reckless despot, who
represented aa certain party in the empire, who consci
entiously believed that they could terrify not only their
own countrymen , but even foreign nations as well, into
patient submission to their will and subjection to their
prejudice.
It would be presumption to attempt to discuss the
character of Lin , in the manner in which it deserves to
be handled, because he was a man of so extraordinary a
stamp that, without having personally seen and watched
him, it would be impossible to estimate him by the ordi
nary rules of intelligence. But his acts suffice to draw
the outline of his character, quite as much as the latter
would have enabled you to predict his acts. He seems
to have been composed of good and bad qualities in
equal proportions, but always of a violent kind. He
was a man who, in any other country than China, would
have been either distinguished as a Demagogue or branded
as a Tyrant, precisely as circumstances chanced to lead
him into a particular channel. He was reckless of con
sequences, so long as he could carry out his will without
control. He was violent, yet not selfish ; changeable,
yet always clinging to his original views ; severe, and
even cruel and inexcusable, in the measures by which he
sought to gain his ends ; yet, in reality, he is believed
to have meant well for his country, and to have had the
interests and the wishes of the Emperor, his Master,
always at heart. He certainly believed that he could
control both the people under his own government,
and the foreigners who came into contact with them , by
force ; and his very errors seem to have arisen from ex
190 CHARACTER OF LIN .
cess of zeal in the cause which he adopted. His talent
was unquestionable.
In alluding, hereafter, to his successor, Keshen , I
shall have occasion to contrast them together ; yet, how
ever great may have been the difference of character
between Lin and Keshen , it was quite insignificant in
comparison to that between Lin and Captain Elliot. It
seemed scarcely possible to bring two men together
more thoroughly dissimilar in their character or mode
of proceeding. Lin appeared to look down upon Elliot,
not only as a foreigner, but as an individual; and the
name of EngliSHMAN, as representing one of a Nation,
was far more formidable to him than that of Elliot as
representing a Government.
Lin became intoxicated with his own success ( for the
time, at all events) in whatever he undertook ; and ex
pected all his orders to be executed with the same
energy and facility with which he gave them utterance.
It is said, moreover, that he procured a copy of a
remarkable work called a “ Digest of Foreign Customs,
Practices, Manners," & c. in which bad deeds rather
than good ones, and even the names of individual mer
chants, were brought forward1 ; and that he studied this
book with constant pleasure .
On the 10th of March, 1839, this redoubtable com
missioner reached Canton , having travelled with extra
ordinary speed from Pekin, whither he had been called
to receive his appointment at the hands of the emperor
himself, who is said to have even shed tears, as he
parted with him .
He lost not a moment, upon his arrival at Canton, in
LIN AND ELLIOT . 191
setting all the powerful energies of his mind to work , to
devise means of accomplishing his ends . He determined
to endeavour to put a complete stop to the traffic in
opium, both on the part of his own people and on that
of foreigners ; and his great aim was to “ control, curb,
and humble,” the foreign community generally.
From this time forth it became very evident that
great and complicated events must be looked for upon
the political horizon . Even Captain Elliot himself
could hardly hope that his little star of diplomacy could
light the road to a solution of the difficulties, without an
ultimate resort to arms .
It is true that, for a brief interval previous to Lin's
arrival, the prospect seemed to brighten considerably.
Captain Elliot had partially succeeded in establishing
direct official intercourse with the governor of Canton ;
for it had been at length agreed that all sealed commu
nications coming from the chief Superintendent should
be delivered into the hands of the Governor, and the seal
broken by him only. This was a great point gained ; and
Elliot seems to have managed it with considerable tact.
Nevertheless, the correspondence could not be said even
now to be carried on upon terms of " perfect equality ; "
and even this concession was quite as much aa matter of
necessity to the Governor as it was to Captain Elliot ;
for the cessation of intercourse had been a source of
equal embarrassment to them both.
The Governor, Tang, in immediate anticipation of
Lin's arrival, now took upon himself to read aa lecture to
foreigners upon their “ dullness and stupidity;" told
them how grateful they ought to be for “ past favours,"
192 GOVERNOR TANG .
and expatiated in true Chinese style “ upon the ex
tremely tender compassion with which they were che
rished by the Great Emperor.” But then he trium
phantly added that “ China had no need of them, nor
of their trade, and had very little concern about them ;
yet, at the same time, it could not bear to refuse them
the tea and rhubarb of the central land, upon which
their very lives depended . ” And then he significantly
concluded by warning them “ that, as ' stern severity '
was now the order of the day, by sea and by land, he
intended to shut up the Port, and stop the foreign trade
for ever !"
All this sounded very energetic, and was put forth
merely to prepare the way for the new Commissioner,,
and in order to have something to show him on his
arrival . This Governor Tang was essentially a crafty,
cringing, self- interested man ; he derived immense
sums from opium, and his own son was said to be em
ployed in the clandestine traffic, against which the father
was uttering severe denunciations, followed by severer
persecutions.
Thus, while some thought Tang to be a model of good,
others knew him to be a rogue ; at the same time, he
always contrived to enrich himself. Lin afterwards
suspected , and perhaps even discovered his delinquen
cies ; and Tang became a willing and submissive instru
ment, if not a cringing sycophant. But his day of
punishment came at last.
TRADE IN OPIUM . 193
CHAPTER XI.
Trade in opium almost stopped before Lin's arrival - Lin is said to be the
people's friend — And the foreigner's enemy-His energy Demands
what arms the foreigners possess at Canton — Threatens to set the
" mob " upon them — Calls for the surrender of the opium , both in the
inner and outer waters – Offers a bond for signature — Prohibition to
leave Canton or Whampoa -- His impatience - — Emperor's orders - -
Concession of one demand produces another— Threats — No English
vessel of war to protect the English — Insult at the “ Bogue” - Elliot
demands passports for the English - Is a prisoner at Canton -- Lin's
triumph — Expected arrival of American ships of war — Provisions re
fused to foreigners - Demand for opium received - Bond signed by the
foreign community - Opium to be delivered up, under conditions
Lin surprised at his own success ~ Breaks his own agreement - Sixteen
gentlemen detained — Destruction of the opium at the Bogue — Captain
Elliot sends intelligence to Calcutta and Bombay - Captain Elliot
-
prohibits trade — Lin's irritation — Loses his revenue from it — Wishes
the English to trade, in spite of the order — Drives the English out of
Macao — And threatens to poison them at Hong Kong— Unable to
.
control his own people — Arrival of the Volage - Notice of blockade
Chinese yield --Hyacinth and Volage attacked by Chinese war-junks
- Occurrences at Macao - Captain Smith’s proceedings — Lin's sham
fight at the Bogue Arrival of Rear -Admiral Honourable George
Elliot, with reinforcements.
It is worthy of notice that, just previous to the
arrival of Commissioner Lin at Canton, the opium-trade
had received such a check, that it might be said to have
been for the time almost entirely suspended. We have
VOL . I. o
194 ENERGY OF LIN .
seen the strong measures taken by Captain Elliot
against it, which proved that he looked upon it with no
favouring eye ; and, in short, at that time the opium
vessels had left the river altogether. But Lin was not
a man to do things by halves : he had come down , pant
ing with haste, to commence active operations of some
kind or other. Nor can it be said that he ever sought to
enrich himself by gain . He had formerly, when go
vernor of a province, earned the character of the People's
Friend ; and he seemed now more determined still to
win the appellation of the Foreigner's Enemy. He had
belonged to the party opposed to the Empress's influence,
and, had she survived and continued in power, he would
never have been sent on so dangerous a mission. But,
when once the liberal party, and the advocates for the
legalization of the opium -trade, upon the grounds of the
impossibility of excluding it by prohibition, had been
defeated , it became almost a point of honour, certainly
of pride with Lin, to show how successfully he could
carry out the views of the high Chinese, or exclusive
party.
From the very moment of Lin's arrival , clothed with
unlimited power, his restless energy
energy ,, and his quick pene
trating eye, made every officer of his government cower
down before him . Indeed , there was hardly an officer
of the province, from the governor downwards, who did
not feel conscious of guilt, corruption, and peculation .
From high to low, from rich to poor, Lin determined
that a reign of terror should commence. He had lists
prepared, containing observations upon the characters
of all the public officers, of the Hong merchants, and
ENERGY OF LIN . 195
even of the foreigners. He seemed determined to wage
war with every body. And, as a proof that his inten
tions against the foreign community were any thing but
conciliatory, within a few days after his arrival he sent
round the Hong merchants to the different factories, to
ascertain, by intrigue and persuasion , what weapons the
foreigners were in possession of, and what means they
had at hand for their own immediate defence .
It is scarcely to be credited, that people should have
been so blind to Lin's views, or to their own safety, as
to render an account which he had no right to demand,
and no power to exact . Some few of the foreign mer
chants refused to give any information upon the sub
ject ; but, as the majority of them did so, of course it
was regarded by Lin as an act of “ dutiful submission ,”
and with it his courage rose in proportion. A procla
mation was directly afterwards issued , telling them that,
“ if they did not at once reform and repent, he would
not only sweep them away with the imperial troops,
but would arouse the common people of the land, the
very mob, to annihilate them altogether.'
Perhaps he little knew the dangerous position in
which the government of any country places itself, when ,
in a sort of pet of the moment, it rouses the mad pas
sions of aa mob. At Canton, at the present moment, the
populace no longer fear the government in the same
degree as they once did ; and , the very people that took
to their heels, like “ obedient children , ” at the very
sight of the Kwangchowfoo, or Prefect, and a few sol
diers before the factories in December, 1838, pelted
and drove away the same Officer from the very same
0 2
196 PROCLAMATION OF LIN .
spot in December, 1842, when the old British factories
were totally destroyed .
Having privately arranged all his plans, and , be
lieving that the foreigners were sleeping, Lin now or
dered that all the opium in the inner waters, and also
in the store ships in the “ outer waters, ” should be given
up to the officers of his government ; and that a bond
should be drawn up in “ Chinese and foreign character,
stating clearly that the ships afterwards to arrive there
shall never, to all eternity, dare to bring any opium ; or,
if they did so, that their whole cargo should be confis
cated, and all their people put to death, [by Chinese
officers) and, moreover, that they would willingly un
>
dergo it as the penalty of their crime. ”
This proclamation certainly caused a little panic in
Canton, and it was precisely what the Commissioner de
sired ; and, the more the foreign merchants seemed
disposed to meet his Excellency's views, as far as lay in
their power, so much the more did the demands of the
Commissioner rise. Every concession on the part of
Captain Elliot, or the merchants, was to him aa victory
gained , and the forerunner of greater ones. Threats
thundered forth against the heads of the Hong mer
chants rebounded in threats of all sorts, and alarming
statements from them to the foreigners. There seems
to be some reason for supposing that, in the commence
ment of the business, it was intended by Lin that a cer
tain compensation should be granted to foreigners for
the value of the opium surrendered . Gradually, how
ever, as he thought himself getting stronger, this inten
tion was quite lost sight of ; and almost at the same time
LIN AND ELLIOT . 197
an edict came out, forbidding all foreigners to apply for
permission to go down to Macao — in fact, preventing
thern from leaving Canton or Whampoa.
At this period, not ten days had elapsed since Lin's
arrival at Canton, and there had not been sufficient
time even to reply to his proclamation, only issued the
preceding day, respecting the opium and the bond.
Lin's impatience hurried on one event upon another, in
his headlong career ; he issued orders, without waiting
to see whether his previous ones had been attended to.
With more discretion, he would in the end have been
moře successful, but the extraordinary dissimilarity be
tween Captain Elliot's character and his own led him
to think himself capable of concluding difficulties at a
distance, and of meeting them when only yet seen from
afar. Whatever unfortunate results may have ulti
mately sprung from his policy, it can never be ques
tioned that for the time his darling object was, not only
to “ humble the foreigners,” but to carry out, to the
letter, the express directions of his Emperor, which were
delivered to him in these words : — “ to scrub and wash
away the filth, and to cut up the opium-evil by the
2
roots, and to remove calamities from the people.” Alas !
the excessive zeal of the servant at last defeated the un
doubtedly well -meant purposes of the master !
Within aa few days after his arrival, we have seen that
Lin was embroiled with the whole foreign community ;
and, in the short space of twenty -four hours, edicts ap
peared, as has been stated, commanding the surrender
of all the opium, whether strictly in the Chinese waters
or not; and placing under arrest every foreigner, both
198 MR . DENT .
at Canton and Whampoa, without alleging any grounds
for the proceeding .
The Drama was now fast spreading out into its diffe
rent acts and scenes. An agreement that one thousand
chests should be delivered up only led to the demand
for more, and four thousand chests were then required.
Next, Mr. Dent, one of the principal merchants, was
to be brought before the commissioner within the city ;
and, in order to save, as he believed, the heads of some
of the Hong merchants, he agreed that he would go,
provided that he should receive beforehand a safe-con
duct from the Imperial Commissioner himself, guaran
teeing his safe return . But upon any other condition
he refused to put himself voluntarily in his power. The
reply to this was, “ that, if he did not come of his own
free will, he should be dragged out of his house by
force ;” and the threat was added that in that case
the High Commissioner would assuredly kill him.
A circular from Captain Elliot now required that “ all
ships belonging to her Majesty's subjects at the outer
anchorages should proceed at once to Hong Kong, since
her Majesty's subjects were then detained at Canton
against their will.” It will scarcely be credited, that
at this time the only British man - of-war in the Chinese
waters was the small sloop, the Larne. This was per
fectly well known to the Chinese , who consequently
conceived themselves strong enough to proceed to the
highest degree of violence and indignity. And, when
the Larne afterwards went up to the Bogue, and de
manded certain explanations of the Admiral Kwan (who,
we have before seen , was on friendly terms with Sir Fre
CONDUCT OF ELLIOT. 199
derick Maitland, on a previous oecasion, when he visited
the Bogue in a line-of-battle ship ), the only answer that
Kwan condescended to give to the little Larne was, “ that
she (or rather her captain) ought to know her own
weakness, and be reverentially obedient, as Maitland
had been before ."
At the critical juncture I have above described, Cap
tain Elliot resolved to come up to the British factory
in person , in a small open boat, and, for a moment, our
flag was again hoisted, when all were virtually prisoners,
whom the flag could not protect. He now declared his
intention of demanding passports for all her Majesty's
subjects within ten days (he should have demanded them
at once) ; but, having no armed force that he could call
to his aid , all he could do was to say, " that, if they
were refused for the period of three days after his ap
plication, he should be forced into the conclusion that
British subjects were all to be violently detained as
hostages, in order that they might be intimidated into
unworthy concessions.”
Scarcely could a more humiliating position be con
ceived than that of the Chief Superintendent at that
moment, before a proud and overbearing Commissioner,
armed with unlimited power ; while he himself was
helpless to protect or save others, and was actually
himself a prisoner in his own factory, and under his
country's flag
Lin now had Elliot completely in his power,, and
was doubtless much surprised himself at the success of
all his schemes. As to the demand for passports, made
without any power to force compliance, the Commis
200 DEGRADING POSITION OF
sioner chuckled at it ; and now that he saw the whole
community in his grasp and helpless, he despised and
hated them more than ever. He even encouraged the
very degradation of the name of “ Englishmen ” in the
estimation of the people of Canton, and tried to hurl it
down from the proud pre-eminence on which it stood in
every other part of the globe. Bitter,, indeed , have
been at length the fruits of their presumption, and of
Lin's obstinacy ! Upon their own heads have rebounded
the contumely and degradation which they then heaped
upon ours.
But, at that moment, neither the flag nor the guns of
England could protect her people : they were prisoners
in their own halls ; and it is a positive fact that, for
some time, the only chance of relief or protection which
they had to look to was the expected arrival of two
American ships of war, which were known to be on
their way out, having been applied for by the consul of
that country, upon the first appearance of the diffi
culties.
This was a grand opportunity for pushing their for
tunes in that quarter, which the Americans knew well
how to profit by. In reality, the whole foreign trade
was for a time in jeopardy ; but the Americans profited
precisely in proportion to the increase of our difficul
ties, and their trade increased exactly as ours declined .
The moment was an advantageous one for proving to
the Chinese that Americans were not Englishmen ; al
though they cleverly made them understand that they
had been so once, but at last had conquered for them
selves a Name, a Flag, and a Nation .
THE ENGLISH . 201
It has been said that, at a later period, an American
merchant had more than one interview with Lin, in
which various suggestions were made as to the measures
to be adopted : but, whether they were of a favourable
or unfavourable nature to English interests, it is impos
sible to say with confidence. The results of the con
ference were kept very secret.
Fortunately, we shall soon arrive at that period when
the power and majesty of England, so long dormant in
those parts, were again to be put forth with tremendous
effect, and followed by consequences in which all the
civilized family of the world must be interested . But
we must follow Lin in his own course.
Having secured all the foreigners within his grasp ,
his next step was to withdraw all the native servants
from the factories, and to forbid the sale of provisions
to foreigners in any shape.. Armed men were posted
on every side, to prevent any one from attempting to
escape, while the river was blockaded, and all the fo
reign boats which could be found were drawn up high
and dry on shore, or else destroyed. In the mean time,
however, no provisions were supplied by Lin himself ;
consequently, the foreign prisoners were in a worse
plight, in that respect, than the actual malefactors in
the cells of the public prisons of the town ; and his ob
ject was evidently to starve them into compliance with
his wishes, if indeed he knew himself what the full ex
tent of his wishes really was.
Captain Elliot was now called upon to deliver up all
the opium , wherever it might be found. And yet it
was clear enough that Captain Elliot could not pos
202 TRIUMPH OF LIN .
sibly know where all the opium was, or how much it
might be ; and, having already agreed to the demand
for, first, one thousand, and then four thousand chests,
it would clearly be necessary to stipulate some quantity
as a satisfactory equivalent for all.
Even in their present dilemma, a more decided show
of firmness, and a threat of the retribution which would
fall upon him hereafter for his violent proceedings,
might have restored to the Commissioner some little
portion of his reasonableness, if not his reason. Never
theless, as the whole community of foreigners (not the
English only) were now under a course of starvation
and imprisonment, and were in a degraded position in
the eyes of all Chinamen, it is difficult to say if any
other course could have been adopted than the one
chosen by Captain Elliot. A bond was signed, under
the influence and by the compulsion of existing circum
stances, by all the parties, that they would not deal
any more in opium ; but they did not accede to the
penalty of death, &c. &c. , which Lin had originally at
tempted to impose. And, at the requisition of Captain
Elliot, they agreed to deliver up all the opium then in
their possession , “ for the service of her majesty's go
vernment."
The quantity of opium to be delivered was not stipu
lated at the time . But, after returns had been very
honourably and equitably sent to Captain Elliot, it ap
peared that he could command the enormous quantity
of 20,283 chests ; and he accordingly agreed that that
immense number should be delivered up to officers de
puted by Lin to receive it. It was also stipulated that,
TRIUMPH OF LIN . 203
as soon as one- fourth should be given up, the servants
should be restored ; that, after one-half had been deli
vered, the passage -boats should run as usual down to
Macao ; that trade should be opened as soon as three
fourths had been given up ; and that, when the whole
of it had been surrendered , “ things should go on as
usual.”
As yet scarcely three weeks had elapsed since Com
missioner Lin had come down, with this enormous power
upon his shoulders ; and yet it had sufficed to enable
him to effect such a vast change in the relations which
existed between the Chinese and the foreign commu
nity, and to astonish even his own countrymen by the
energy and rashness of his measures.
The Commissioner was perfectly surprised at his own
success, and equally so at the enormous quantity of
opium which Elliot declared himself able to procure.
But, in point of fact, there were not so many as twenty
thousand chests of opium in the “Chinese waters ” at