Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 423

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Memorial to the Emperor.

JULY,

forts they had taken, and never dare again to raise any disturbance:" and other words to that effect. And at the same time all the bong-merchants handed in a petition stating, that "the whole body of the foreign merchants had authorized them to say for them that they only wanted to carry on trade as before, and to have the debts cleared off which have been owing to them for many years, when they would immediately take all their ships of war, and withdraw them beyond the Bocca Tigris," &c., &c.

Your slaves, having taken an enlarged view of the question, and duly weighed and deliberated thereanent, came to the conclusion, that the defences of the Bocca Tigris being already lost, those within and those without had alike no place of strength to depend upon, and it would be better to grant their terms and thus save the city from its perilous situation, and reanimate the drooping spirits of its inhabitants, rather than continue a struggle which was jeopardizing the many millions of lives of the whole province, and which might not have a suc- cessful result after all. On summing up the pecuniary resources of the single province of Canton, we find that its custom-house duties and land-taxes do not yield less than three millions of taels annually, and if we could only get these foreign claims cleared off, in the course of a few years the province would reco ver itself: whereas if we sit idly waiting for a long time, perhaps some unlooked- for calamity may overtake us, when not only will it be impossible for the pro- vince to recover itself, but it will be involved in vast expense, thrown into utter confusion, and the common people of the land, who are the very essence of the land itself, should they meet the poisonous influence (of a foreign war?), the consequences might be very grave indeed. Therefore it was that after maturely deliberating together, we dispatched the Kwangchow foo, Yu Paoushun, to do the best he could, and in accordance with the request of the merchants to grant for the time being the favor of carrying on commercial relations to all countries on the same footing;-thus viewing the recovery of the people from their state of destitution as the object of primary importance.

Commerce is to these said foreigners the very artery of life. Let us wait quietly till the foreign ships of war have retired, and the native traitors are dis- persed, when, beginning with the river in front of the city, and continuing the work down to the Bocca Tigris itself, at every important pass we shall block up the course of the river with piles of stones, and there erect forts and place guns; and thus, having secured the door of entrance, we shall have ample means to op- pose their progress, and maintain our defences. And finally, having thus our gripe on their thrapple, should they ever dare again to give rein to their out- rageous conduct, we can in a moment stop their commerce;-this then is a mode of governing them which is always in our own hands.

These facts relating to the late attack on this city, and the temporary expe- dients which we have adopted in the exigencies of the case, we now respectfully unite with the other memorials which we have sent up successively, and humbly hope that a holy glance may be cast upon them, and the sacred will in course manifested.

Supplementary memorial to the preceding.

Further, your slaves Yihshan, Lungwan, and Yangfang, received your sacred majesty's special commands to lead a body of troops to Canton to attack and ex- terminate the English robels; and your slaves Ahtsingah (the Tartar general of the garrison), Ke Kung (the viceroy), Eleäng (the lieutenant-governor), and Yusuy (the too tung, or Tartar lieutenant-general), had alike with us a share of the responsibility of holding out the provincial city-there was not a day that we did not consider how we might massacre utterly this hateful brood, thereby manifesting the majesty of heaven (i. e. China), and gladdening the hearts of men. How then should we dare to act (apparently) in opposition to such sentiments, and bring forward plans for temporary expedients? Alas! this arose wholly from the necessity of our position; we could not possibly help it. And we cannot do otherwise than lay before the holy lord the feelings of bitterness that now swell

our bosoms.

There are eight serious difficulties in the way of defending the city of Canton from attack, which your slave Yangfang, on a previous occasion, laid before