642
Loss of the Madagascar
DE
“Rev E. C Bridgman.
"Canton, 18th December, 1841 My dear sir,Before I left Macao, I received your note covering the. translation of a communication from the authorities, and calling my attention to the case of the shipwrecked people in Weichau; I intended to have thank ed you for the one, and to have spoken of the other, before I left, but press of other engagements prevented me. Almost immediately after my return, I got into a correspondence with the hong-merchants, and after some consi- derable delay and management, terins were settled, upon which they agreed to deliver the shipwrecked people (about forty in number) to my order in Macao. And to this effect the authorities of Canton sent instructions to Wei- chau, several days since. The officer who has charge of the party of fo- reigners, has a letter from me to you, requesting you to receive the said peo- ple, and to give him a few lines to show to me, saying the promise of the authorities had been fulfilled. And I hope within a day or two they will all be in safety with you. I do not know what statements the hong-merchants have made to the authorities, regarding the country to which the wrecked vessel belonged, but I have reason to believe that they have taken upon themselves a good deal of responsibility in order to get the sufferers clear ; and that if it were to come to the knowledge of the officers that they were English, the hong-merchants might find a difficulty. To save them from trouble, I would ask the favor of the captain and his companions to refrain from publishing in the local papers any account of their shipwreck and sufferings, and I would also thank you to get Mr. Matheson to take measures to prevent any printed notice of the matter in either of the newspapers, Register or Press, for a month or two to come. A notice stating the officers and crew of a foreign vessel wrecked to the cast coast, after being detained for two or three months, had been liberated and brought to Macao, &c., would of course be unobjectionable."
On the 30th of December the Weichau fú, or prefect of the city, informed me that he would forward myself and party to Macao the day following, and the two Chinese carpenters were to follow us in a few days. I remonstrated in their behalf, but to no purpose; and we all, forty in number, embarked from Weichau on the 31st De- cember, having been there eighty days. We stopped at Tungkwán to change boats, but they could not be procured, and were compel- led to proceed around by way of Canton. We there embarked in other boats, and on the morning of the 6th Jan., 1842, arrived at Macao, where I was most kindly received by the Rev. Mr. Bridg- man, who took us to his house, and gave the necessary documents to the Chinese officers who came in charge of us from Weichau. He also rendered me every assistance in having my crew accommo- dated for the night, (for it was 6 P. M. before we landed from the boats,) and then proceeded with myself, Messrs. Grattan, Oliver and Maxten, to the residence of our kind countryman, James Matheson,