THE
CHINESE REPOSITORY.
VOL. XI-SEPTEMBER, 1842.-No. 9.
ART. 1. Retrospection, or a Review of Public Occurrences in China during the last ten years, from January 1st, 1832, to December 31st, 1811 (Continued from page 410.)
Soon after captain Elliot retired from Canton, the 24th of May, 1839, the factories were mostly deserted, so that June 1st there were not more than twenty-five or thirty foreigners remaining in the pro- vincial city. The Ann Jane, the last of the British ships in port, passed out of the Bogue, heavily laden with cargo for England, on the 16th of that month. And it was the declared intention of the chief superintendent to prevent, as far as it was possible for him to do, the return of British merchants to Canton. At the same time it was the desire of the imperial commissioner that they should return, but under bonds never more to traffic in the drug.
While the question of returning was pending, Lin and his col- leagues received a dispatch from the emperor, in which his majesty was pleased to say, unadvisedly as it now appears-that "this affair has been extremely well managed." And it was added, in the same edict—“ Let Lin and his colleagues assemble the civil and military officers and in their presence destroy the opium, thus exhibiting an awful warning to the foreigners and natives dwelling on the coast." The prefect of Canton had already given a receipt for the whole amount of opium, 20,283 chests, delivered over to the Chinese from on board the ships. The receipt bears date, May 18th, 1839. The opum had then been all stored under guard. at Chiukau, a few tiles east of the Bogue.
VOL XL NO TX