1842
During the Year 1842.
683
worthy miscreants in power, who have, from base motives, imposed on their own sovereign. Her Britannic majesty's plenipotentiary, however trusts, that the emperor will, in his wisdom, see the justice, as well as policy, of making the retribution which is herein pointed out; which is due both to England and China, and which will avert further calamity. That all persons may know the real state of the case, this proclamation is published in the English and Chinese languages for general inforination. God save the Queen. Dated on board the steam frigate Queen, at Amoy, on the 23d day of No- vember, 1842, corresponding with the Chinese date, 21st of the 10th month in the 22d year of Taukwang.
HENRY POTTINGER, H. M. Plenipotentiary.
(Signed)
PROCLAMATION TO H. B. M.'s SUBJECTS.
Sir Henry Pottinger, bart., her Britannic majesty's plenipotentiary in Chi- na, purposely refrained from making any allusion, in his proclamation of the 23d instant, to the European portion of the crews of the ship Nerbudda and brig Ann. The plenipotentiary imagines, that it must be already generally known, that, when the Nerbudda got into danger, the natives of India on board of that ship were abandoned by the master and mates of her, and also by an officer and a small detachment of her majesty's regiments who were proceeding in her to join the expedition. It now appears, that the natives remained by the ship for five days after they were thus abandoned, that they then landed on rafts under the guidance of the head and second syrang, that, in thus landing, some of the men (both camp followers and Lascars or sea- men) were drowned or killed by Chinese who came down to plunder them, that all who landed were made prisoners the moment they got on shore, and confined in heavy irons, under circumstances of great cruelty, in small parties, and in separate prisons, for about eleven months, at the expiration of which period they (with the exception of the head and second syrang) were carried in sedan chairs to a plain, a short distance from the capital of the island of Formosa, and there beheaded in cold blood, in presence of the Chi- nese local authorities. It further appears, that there were altogether two hundred and forty natives of India (one hundred and seventy camp followers and seventy seamen) left in the Nerbudda, when her master and mates desert- ed the ship, out of whom only the head and second syrang have escaped with their lives, but it is not possible to determine how many were drowned, killed by plunder, died natural deaths, perished from ill treatment or starva- tion, or were beheaded by the Chinese authorities.
With regard to the brig Ann, it has been ascertained, that the fifty souls on board when she was cast away, of whom fourteen were natives of Europe or America, two or three Portuguese and Malays, five Chinese, and the remainder natives of India. The vessel was driven high and dry (at low water) on shore, about midnight, and the whole of the fifty seven in- dividuals quitted her at daybreak next morning, and took possession of a Chinese junk which was lying in a creek or river near the spot, with the object of putting to sea in the junk; but the violence of the gale prevented them even making the attempt, and they surrendered, without even firing a musket, to the host of armed Chinese who had been assembled round them, about three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. They were instantly stripped, and marched some distance without a particle of covering, exposed to a cutting northeast wind. Two men died from cold, and several others dropped from the same cause and fatigue, and were carried on in baskets to the capital (about ninety miles from the spot where the brig was wrecked), where they were separated into small parties and put into distinct prisons in irons. Subsequent to this, the parties had little communication with each
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