254
Review of Public Occurrences During the
MAY,
of the Min river, upon which the city of Fóúchan fú is situated, taking with you the Rev. Mr. Gutzlaff, joint interpreter to this establishment. That upon your arrival at that destination, you should hand to the commander of any man-of-war junk, or other servant of the government who may wait upon you, the accom- panying paper, inclosure No. 1; and that your address to the governor should be placed in the hands of any officer who may be deputed to receive it. His ex cellency will probably meet these advances with a declaration that the people are safe; that it is not in his power to deliver them to you; that they shall be dispatched to Canton forthwith; and finally, with a request that you should leave the coast immediately.
'To a coinmunication of this nature, I would advise that you should reply in the most conciliatory terins, signifying your indisposition to press any arrange- ments to which you were informed his excellency could not accede, and expres- sive of your entire confidence in his assurance of the safety of the people. If this communication from the governor should be made verbally, that is to say, through an officer deputed to confer with you, as indeed it is probable it will, I would submit that you should request this functionary to commit the subject matter to writing, remarking, that you were ready to leave the coast as soon as that was done. At this point of my letter, it is proper to observe to you, that I am without any uneasiness as to the safety of the people; but independently of has- tening onwards the period of their release into our hands, this service appears to be calculated to help the uninterrupted progress of gradual relaxation at this place. I believe that no circumstance would more impressively fix upon the local government of these provinces the necessity of great moderation and circumspec- tion in respect to the treatment of foreigners, than the successful result of quiet official application by an officer of the king at some other point than Cauton; and more particularly at the chief city of the neighboring province of Fukien, where it is known that the monopoly of the foreign trade at Canton is a subject of great jealousy.
"The appearance of considerable eagerness for an early reply to your address. upon the ground that you were anxious to leave the coast, would probably re- remove all uneasiness about your intentions, and expedite a satisfactory and courteous answer. And I would beg you to bear in mind, that having effected a communication upon just pretexts, and in a deferential manner, you will have accomplished what appears to be the principal object of your mission; for, RS has already been observed, there is no reason for solicitude as to the safety of the people. Your former experience in this country, the cautious character of your instructions from the commander-in-chief, and your own sound judgment, would make it intrusive upon my part to do more than mention the necessity of ex- treme care in refraining from any proceedings likely to excite the suspicions of the Fukien authorities, and of earnest effort to conciliate their good-will. But being upon this topic, I would presume to say that it would be well to avoid those parts of the coast upon which the opium ships are usually anchored, neither would it be desirable that the ship should pass above the forts at the entrance of the Min.
"I have judged it best that the communications with the government of Fu- kien should be carried on in your name, rather than my own, because my busi- ness is specially with the authorities of the provinces, and you will feel that rozumunications upon my part with those of another would expose me to great
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