TIF
CHINESE REPOSITORY.
VOL. XI.-JUNE, 1842.-No. 6.
ART. I.
Retrospection, or a Review of Public Occurrences in China during the last ten years, from January 1st, 1832, to December 31st, 1841. (Continued from page 266.)
OPERATIONS against the trade in opium, correspondence regarding the debts of the Hingtái hong, and the visit of the British admiral to China, are the principal topics of local interest in the chapter of occurrences for 1838. In obediencc to an imperial order, issued in October, 1837, the provincial authorities, on the 30th of December, sent up a memorial to the emperor, respecting the measures adopted against the receiving ships, the actual condition of those ships, and the repeated seizures made of sycee silver and of opiuin, and of the boats which supply the ships with provisions. In forwarding this do- cument to his government, captain Elliot remarked that “the inter- ruption of trade is less likely to cusue from the commands of the court, than from some grave disaster arising out of collision between the government craft and our own armed boats on the river. Loss of life in a conflict of this kind, would at once compel the government to adopt the most urgent proceedings; and the actual condition of circumstances, certainly renders such a catastrophe probable in the very highest degree.”
For an account of the affairs of the bankrupt establishment of Hingtái, see vol. VI., pp. 160, 304, 590, and the subsequent volumes, also the Blue Book, and newspapers of the day.
January 18th, 1838.
to the Foreign Office, from
Captain Elliot addressed a communication
which the following is an extract.
The boat of a Mr. Just a British subject, and a watch maker, resident at Canton: was visited a few evenings since, being then about two miles above the
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