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for seven miles up a creek a launch that had been taken
possession of by pirates, and recovered her, bringing her
away under a heavy fire by which a seaman was wounded.
On the 15th instant Li Hung Chang called upon
3.
me on passing through Hong Kong to assume the Vice Royalty
of the two Kwangs. His Excellency lunched with me, and
we discussed very fully the subjects in which this Colony
is interested. Li Hung Chang expressed his gratitude
for our co-operation on the West River, and his
determination to do everything in his power to suppress
the piracy, but he acknowledged that there were not a
sufficient number of gunboats on the river, nor were there
funds to provide a large force. I assured him that we
would give all the assistance in our power, and
suggested that in the event of any active operation it
would be well that he should send on board our boats a
representative of the Chinese Government. He assented
at once. I pointed out that as many of the piracies were
carried out by pirates who, having set a watch upon
persons from the river districts and noted their receipt
of money in Canton, went on board the same junk as
passengers, and at a given signal produced weapons, and
robbed the passengers known to have money, an effectual
means of putting a stop to this system of robbery
without expense to the Chinese Government would be to
permit our steamers plying to and from Chinese ports on
the West River to call at every landing place on the river
for passengers only. Our boats would be specially
constructed for such traffic, and would carry a proper
guard so that merchants or producers travelling with money would have the means of being safely conveyed to
their