Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 714

A470

Government.

HONGKONG

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When the British community left Canton, Macao afforded them a temporary asylum, but their presence there was made the occasion by the Chinese Government of threatening demonstrations against that settlement. a despatch dated the 6th, May, 1839 Captain Elliot wrote to Lord Palmerston : "The safety of Macao is, in point of fact, an object of secondary moment to the Portuguese Government, but to that of Her Majesty it may be said to be of indispensable necessity, and most particularly at this moment"; and he urged upon his Lordship "the strong necessity of concluding some immediate arrangement with the Government of His Most Faithful Majesty, either for the cession of the Portuguese rights at Macao, or for the effectful defence of the place, and its appropriation to British uses by means of a subsidiary Con- vention." Happily for the permanent interests of British trade in China this suggestion came to nothing, and Great Britain, found a much superior lodg- ment at Hongkong..

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On the 20th, January, 1841, H.M.'s Plenipotentiary issued a circular to British subjects announcing the conclusion of preliminary arrangements be- tween the Imperial Commissioner, Ke-shen, and himself. One of the terms was stated in the circular as follows:

1. "The cession or the island and harbour of Hongkong to the British Crown. All just charges and duties to the Empire upon the commerce carried on there to be paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa."

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On the 26th, January, the island was accordingly taken formal possession of in the name of H.M. Queen Victoria. The treaty was subsequently repu- diated by both parties, and it was not until the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty in 1842 that the Chinese Government formally recognised the cession of the island. In the meantime it was held by the British-who had come to stay and on the 1st, May, 1841, the Public Notice and Declaration regarding the occupation of Hongkong was promulgated. On the 7th, May of the same year, 1841, the first number of the Hongkong Gazette was published, printed at the American Mission Press, Macao. This first number contained the notification of, the appointment (dated 30th, April) of Captain William Caine, of the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Infantry, as Chief Magistrate, the warrant being under the hand of Charles Elliot, Esquire, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, etc., etc., charged with the Government of the Island of Hongkong." Captain Elliot's idea was that the island should be held on similar terms to those on which Macao was at that time held by the Portuguese, and the Chief Magistrate, instead of being charged to administer British law, was authorised and required to exercise authority, according to the laws, customs, and usages of China, as near as may be (every description of torture excepted), for the preservation of the peace and the protection of life and property, over all the native inhabitants in the said island and the har- bours thereof; and over other persons according to British police law. The first land sale took place on the 14th, June, and building thereafter pro- ceeded rapidly, the population of the new town at the end of the year being estimated at 15,000. On the 6th, February, 1842, Hongkong was formally declared a free port by Sir Henry Pottinger, who had succeeded Captain Elliot as Plenipotentiary. Until the signing of the treaty, however, the ultimate fate of the new settlement remained in doubt. Sir Robert Peel, when asked in the House of Commons whether it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government properly to colonize the place or give it up, declined to answer what he deemed an unparliamentary question during a period of open war with the country by whom the cession of the island was both made and repudiated. The Treaty of Nanking, however, settled all doubts. On the 23rd, June, 1843, Ke-ying, the Chinese Imperial Commissioner, arrived in Hong- kong for the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, and the ceremony took place in the Counoil Room on the 26th of that month, and immediately after- wards the Royal Charter, dated the 5th, April, 1843, erecting the island into a separate Colony, was read, and Sir Henry Pottinger took the oaths of office as Governor. At first progress was rapid." The Queen's Road was laid out

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