dwelling on the verge of the great heathen and hostile lisiptic city. The settlement is, I believe, in no immediate danger, now that it is protected by four foreign men-of-war (English, French, German, and American) moored close alongside, which could sweep the adjacent space. Moreover (as I have already said, ever since the note of last September), the Viceroy has kept a body of five hundred (500) regular soldiers encamped on the settlement. I may remark, in passing, that I inspected several of the troops, and found that their arms consisted partly of old muzzle-loading rifles of the Enfield type, and partly of good and new breech-loaders of Remington pattern. The soldiers are well-behaved; but the general feeling among the European residents respecting them—in the event of the removal of foreign men-of-war, and of the outbreak of any strong national movement among the Chinese—is such as might be expressed by the proverbial phrase "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?".
7. In my despatch No. 47 of 1883 (referred to above), I described the European settlement at Canton in the following terms:
"At...