610
Journal of Occurrences.
put and secured by a lock, and under a strong guard of soldiers the party was conducted across the island to a boat, in which they were taken to the city of Canton to the residence of the governor of the province. After some delay, the prisoners were brought before the au- thorities for examination, when Mr. Edwards was recognized by the hong-merchant Kingqua, whose intervention procured the immediate release of Mr. Edwards and his boat's crew, who were taken from the city, first to the consoo house, and thence to the foreign factories. Mr. Edwards was detained for about nine hours, and his hands were so tightly bound, that after removing the cords, some time elapsed before circulation was restored and the use of his arms recovered.
We understand that the place at which Mr. Edwards was arrested, is in a back passage which it has never been customary for foreign boats to take when going to and from Canton and Whampoa; and the seizure appears to have been occasioned by the boat's being out of its usual course, and coming within reach of the ignorant zeal of the soldiers, who were reprimanded by the authorities when it was ascer- tained that the innocent had been made to suffer thereby.
Though defenses have been raised at and near Canton, yet we cannot learn that there is any disposition, on the part of the Chinese, to interrupt the present order of things.. A watch, taken from Mr. Edwards, was returned to him, and so was his boat; and some gold pieces were refunded. The authorities in Canton are exceedingly annoyed because many of their people have gone into the service of the English ships of war, and these traitors are they suspect em- ployed as informers and spies. Against such they are on the watch. Considering the situation in which the boat was, without any one to explain her object, and considering too the state in which the coun- try is, it is not surprising she was brought to and her people taken into custody under similar circumstances the same would probably have been done in any other country. The treatment of Mr. Ed- wards, while in custody, was barbarous, and the repetition of the like ought never to be allowed. In the present excited state of the peo- ple, prudence would seem to suggest that deviations from old custom should be as few as possible, especially in all cases where there is nothing to be gained, but much hazarded, by such deviations.
10. On the imperial cabinet and general state of the empire we intended to have remarked at some length, as at this moment they are topics of great interest. Want of space stops us short: the latest direct expression we have heard from the cabinet is this, there shall be no peace, no treaty with the rebels; while new defenses are being raised from one end of the empire to the other, on the remote frontiers of Tibet, and at Teëntsin and in Mantchouria. However, it remains to be seen what effect the operations at Ningpo, &c., will have on his majesty's councils. The case is a desperate one, and if deter- mined to carry on hostilities, the whole resources of the empire must be put in requisition, and after all they will assuredly be found wanting.