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native district towards the end of last year, for the purpose of organizing its population against us.
Chan-tsze-tin, who was specially invested with the charge of stopping our supplies, distributed his pickets, as far as I can gather, along the communications between Cowloon and the district city of San-on, on the left bank of the Canton river near its mouth. His success, as director of the blockade, has not been very brilliant, and his braves, in three instances at least, have been recently involved in collision with the coast population, so serious as abundantly to It is remarkable occupy the force at the disposal of the district authorities. that on two of these occasions the recusants threatened the braves that they would surrender them to the British Government.
my
A rough map,
which will be completed to-morrow, will show your Excel- lency the position of the different localities referred to in Memorandum.
The correspondence establishes, beyond doubt, that the San-on Committee, under authority, and in some cases at the dictation of the Canton Central Committee, have been parties to almost every atrocity with which we have been menaced by report, or of endeavour to perpetrate which we have been apprised.
The great junk attack which was expected, belonged to the forces of the Heung-shan and Shun-tak districts; and we find no allusion to undertakings on so grand a scale. Minor expeditions, most likely with incendiary intent, are projected. There are two allusions to the great poisoning case, but not as an event in which the San-on people took any immediate part. The accused, Cheung-alam, is a native of Heung-shan; and supposing him guilty, the San-on Committee would by no means, as a matter of course, have been advised of his design. There is no great evidence of its concert, in any measure, with jurisdiction beyond the limits of San-on.
It is clearly made out, however, that incendiary plots and assassinations were devised by this San-on Committee; attempted, and, as they believe, cffected by their agents, who, when successful, were rewarded either by the San-on Committee, or by the Chief Committee of Canton. Attempts known to us to have been made without success, to fire buildings and steamers, are spoken of, both before and after the fact. The firing of Mr. Duddell's store, and the seizure of the "Queen" steamer, are matters of great gratulation; so, on one occasion, is the kidnapping of foreigners, and that some must have been assassinated there can be little doubt; mention being made of more than one transmission of heads to Canton, and of the disputes regarding the amount of remuneration to be awarded the assassin.
The victims (unless corpses have been disinterred for the sake of their heads) we must assume to have been Portuguese or Manilla men, as no member of the British or American community has, to our knowledge, been missing. That Yeh, whose proclamations of reward for British subjects, dead or alive, fell into our hands very soon after the beginning of these troubles, is consulted regarding the disposal of captives, is clear from allusion to his instructions regarding the imprisonment of the eleven or twelve men surrendered to the San-on Committee by pirates.
On the expectation that we are about to treat for peace, Yeh has directed his subordinates to abstain from all more seriously aggressive measures, and to confine themselves to the stoppage of supplies. My belief is, that the expenses of his militia drive him to accept this hypothesis, and that he is glad to find an excuse for disbanding a portion of his troublesome allies.
The whole story must satisfy every one of the expediency of all precautions that have yet been taken, no less than, in my humble opinion, of the necessity of guarding against any relaxation of vigilance. The late expedition to Nam-tan will do much to check the activity of our zealous neighbour, Chan-kwei-tzih, but it would be unwise to forget the reflection of his brother, that "when the barbarians are tired of watching, a blow may be struck with certainty."
I have, &c.
(Signed)
THOMAS WADE,
Chinese Secretary.
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Inclosure 2.
Chan-tsze-tin to Chan-kwei-tsih.
(Translation.)
Night of the 21st January. [AFTER describing the route from one station to another, and applying for arms, &c., he proceeds: -]
I hear from some of the people of the place (Sha-tin or Cowloon) who have come back from Victoria, that the English barbarians are in very great perplexity, that a proclamation is issued every day, and three sets of regulations come out in two days. People out at night are taken up in a haste, and let go in a hurry; no one is allowed out after 8 o'clock; the shops forced to take out tickets at sixteen dollars each; the heads of establishments paying five dollars and the partners three dollars, and that these are changed every few days. They say, too, that vessels passing to and fro between Cowloon and Victoria are not searched. A flour bakery had poisoned several English devils, and had been closed; upwards of forty people imprisoned in consequence.
The Heung-shan, San-on, and Tung-kun people in business at Hong Kong were in great alarm, and thinking of returning home, but the Nam-hoi, Pun-yu, and Shun-tek men had the perverseness not to be alarmed; so far from it, they laughed at those of Heung-shan, San-on, and Tung-kun districts for standing in awe of their mandarins and gentry.
It is also stated that more passage-boats come from Kong-mun to Hong Kong than before, and that boats still go and come between it and Macao and Canton, and that supplies flow in from Kwei-shin, Hoi-fung, and Luk-fung. A Kwei-shin man, by name Wong, of Ha-ching (Oyster Bay, has started a lorcha (or some such vessel), which carries 100 bullocks or more every trip. A "tsung" (the Peninsular and Oriental Company's compradore) of the bullock shambles is a traitor in chief. Since the commencement of this business, he has (or they have) opened a number of devil shops. Several of the Nam-hoi, Shun- tek, Huru-chan and Chin-chan people are also making large ptofits. Steps should, I think, be taken to bring them to justice, in order to the prevention of the like for the time to come.
I shall go to Cowloon to-morrow, &c.
Note.-Nam-hoi and Pun-yu are the districts on the conterminous bounda- ries of which stands Canton. Shun-tek is a little lower down the river, on the west side, as Tung-kun is on the east, San-on lies east of the mouth, as Heung-
shan lies west.
(Translation.)
Inclosure 3.
Chan-tsze-tin to Chan-kwei-tsih.
February 5.
ON the 2nd February, I received the 200 taels for the men's pay. The ten braves from Kin-ton are arrived and have been placed on iny strength. The expedition the braves had been directed to make across the water on the 31st January, did not succeed. On the 3rd, therefore, I returned to the camp (at Sha-tin), and, on consideration, postponed the attempt for a few days. It appears that the English barbarians are much more on the alert; they fire guns at intervals during the night to keep up their spirits. Steamers and other vessels, to the number of twenty, small and great, cruize day and night without cessation. In every devil hong is stationed a guard of devil soldiers; at sunset they make ready their cannon with great care. The police devils, in bands of eighteen, patrol, and when they come to a dangerous place they form
into large bodies and fire, before they venture to proceed.
up
The Malays and Indian troops that arrived a few days since drill inces- santly. Such being the doubt and alarm of the English rebels, we must wait till they tire a little of watching, and a blow will then be sure.
At midnight, on the 4th February, I sent ten braves to patrol along the
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