Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 38

20

Review of Public Occurrences During the

JAN.

ing, that all vessels trading to Canton, and bringing cargoes of rice, shall pay only the regular imperial duties on leaving the port, the measurenient duties being remitted. Can. Reg., 15th July.

An insurrection broke out in Cochinchina about this time, the par ticulars of which were given a letter of this date, written by a Chinese at the city of Saigon.

9th. Captain Bernardo Joze de Souza Soares Andreia, governor of Macao, arrived from Goa, and landed with the usual honors.

10th. A very destructive inundation occurred along the river near Canton, occasioned by a succession of heavy rains; at some places the water rose more than ten feet above the ordinary mark. Thou- sands of lives were lost.

11th. The select committee of the E. I. Co.'s factory withdrew the license under which the opium receiving ship Hercules was permit- ted to resort to China. This was countermanded by a second notice, dated the 25th. Can. Reg.

27th. The mercury in the thermometer at Canton stood at 96° for five hours, a scorching wind blowing at the same time from the north and west.

A Chinese man-of-war, while cruizing off Hainan in February, having deen driven down to Cochinchina by the northerly winds and currents, was sent back by the king under convoy.

August 1st. The first number of the monthly periodical, in the Chinese language, was this day published in Canton by Mr. Gutzlaff. Under this date the governor of Canton issued an edict, forbidding the introduction of the other goods with cargoes of rice, in evasion of legal duties.

4th. Twenty-three men were beheaded this day at the usual place of public execution in Canton.

Yuen Yuen, formerly the governor of Canton, and afterwards holding the same office in Yunnán, becomes the sixth member of the cabinet. Vol. II., p. 192.

The hoppo Chung published an edict requiring all foreigners to leave Canton, and return home or go to Macao as soon as their busi- ness was finished-acting in obedience to old custom.

September 7th. Again Canton and its vicinity were inundated, the river rising far above its ordinary limits, and spreading devasta- tion through fields and villages. The water at the gates of the fo- reign factories stood four or five feet high. The number of houses demolished in the city and suburbs was, according to an official re- port to the emperor, more than four thousand. Vol. II., p. 238.