12
13
186
to blow
up Cathedral; and the Yamên, or official residence of the French Consul, has
the Roman Catholic
been broken into and plundered by Chinese mob. The French Consul
had fortunately retired to the European settlement.
%
625
litt" to add to
for Hongkong, I have
mmy
previous
despatches, respecting the state
of
the overwhelming Chinese population, which numbers nearly 160,000, while there are less than three thousand (3,000) resident Europeans:
men,
women, and children; including the garrison of some six hundred (600)
"fective English soldiers. As I have already observed, the Chinese in this island naturally share the views and passions of their countrymen at Canton, whence they have
m
nen
come. It will be remembered,
mostly
costly come.
moreover, that Hongkong is a port of Alsatia for a large portion of the disorderly classes in Southern China; and that the Secret societies, analogous to the Fenians in Ireland and to the Nihilists in Russia, are at active work.
46
But