Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 274

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Review of Public Occurrences During the

MAY,

the protection which it would be desirable to afford to British subjects resident in or trading to China, I have now to signify to your lordships the queen's pleasure, that the existing instruction to the commander-in-chief in the East Indies, with respect to China, should be altogether concelled, and that one, in the following terns, should be substituted in its stead:

"The trade between Great Britain and China being now by law thrown open to all her majesty's subjects instead of being confined, as formerly, to the East India Company, the care of our commercial relations with the Chinese empire has, in consequence, been transferred to the crown; the East India Company's establishments at Canton and Macao have been withdrawn; and a queen's officer has been substituted, with the title of superintendent and with the duties of a consul. It is, therefore, desirable that one or more of the ships under your orders should, as frequently as possible, visit the China station, and should remain there as long as may be consistent with the demands of the service elsewhere within your command; and whenever a frigate can be spared for this service, a ship of that class would be preferable to a smaller one.

"The purposes for which such ships would be stationed are:-First, to afford protection to British interests, and to give weight to any representations which her majesty's superintendent may be under the necessity of making, in case any of her majesty's subjects should have just cause of complaint against the Chinese authorities; and secondly, to assist the superintendent in maintaining order among the crews of the British merchantmen who frequent the port of Canton.

“'The officers commanding the ships of her majesty, which may thus from time to time be sent to China, should be especially admonished to be very careful that the officers and men belonging to the ship under their command, do not in any way offend the prejudices of the Chinese people, nor violate the laws and cus- toms of the Chinese empire; and upon all such matters, as well as with respect to the places where such ships ought to lie, in order best to be able to perform the services for which they are sent, the officers in command should communicate frequently and confidentially with her majesty's superintendent; remembering always, however, that unless in a case of great emergency, when a demonstration or an actual employment of force may be urgently and absolutely necessary for the protection of the lives and property of British subjects, her majesty's ships of war are studiously to respect the regulations of the Chinese government as to the limits beyond which foreign ships of war are not allowed to approach the city of Canton.

"But it is for many reasons expedient, forthe interests of her majesty's service, that you should yourself take as early an opportunity as may be convenient, to have a personal communication with her majesty's superintendent, who would meet you for that purpose at Macao; and your visit on that occasion should, if possible, be made in a line-of-battle ship. The interchange of information be. tween yourself and the superintendent, for which such personal communication would afford an opportunity, would, in many possible future contingencies, be highly advantageous to British interests in that quarter.

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You will, however, constantly bear in mind, that while, on the one hand, it is useful that the Chinese should be aware of the nature and extent of her majesty's naval power, it is, on the other hand, most important that you should avoid any proceedings which might inspire the Chinese with an apprehension that this naval power is likely to be employed in unprovoked hostility against them.'

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