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Rewards for British ships.
MARCH,
ART. IV. Rewards for British ships and. British subjects, offered by Eleäng, the lieutenant governor of Canton, in a procla- mation, dated February 27th, 1841.
BOUNTIES have again been offered for British subjects and British ships. Early in the summer of 1840, about the time the expedition arrived in China, the governor of this province issued a proclamation promising large rewards for the capture of Enghish vessels, and for the seizure of British subjects. One or two seizures were made, but no notice seems to have been taken of the proclamation by those against whom it was designed to operate. This second document holds out the promise of still larger rewards, and is apparently attract- ing no more notice than the first It is issued, however, under cir‐ cumstances which fix a very foul stain on the character of the pro- vincial government-none the less foul, because it may have been occasioned by the spirit and letter of the emperor's own commands. The document is chiefly deserving of notice on occount of the exhi- bition it makes of that bad spirit which is so characteristic of the Chinese government, especially in its relation to foreign countries. It was resolved upon, drawn ́üp, and made known in private circles, while ostensibly amicable negotiations were going on with those who were to be its victims-dead or alive. It is not simply a declaration of war, it is a call for hostilities in their worst forms. The emperor's edicts, given at Peking on the 27th January, show unequivocally what line of policy had been fixed upon by the imperial counsels. "There can only remain one course," says the emperor, viz., "to destroy and wipe them clean away, to exterminate and root them out, without remorse." Accordingly he instructs his high officers "to compel these rebellious foreigners to give up their ringleaders, that they may be sent encaged to Peking, to receive the utmost retri- bution of the laws;" i. e. to be cut into ten thousand pieces, to under- go death in the most ignominious and cruel manner.
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Before introducing the proclamation, which we borrow from the Canton Register, a few things must be remarked concerning his ex- cellency, the lieutenant-governor, by whom it is issued. E, or Eleäng, is a Mantchou, and is said to be (as is evidently the case) much under the influence of Lin, to whose measures he adheres, and by whose policy he is guided. His proclamation of rewards is a mere second edition of that issued by Lin. Indeed, since Liu's de
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