INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & BEI. CO.
59
volumes on official documents, 1 should prefer to accept his version as more likely. From a wide reading of Morse's Chronicles I have found other instances when a threat from the E.I.C. supercargoes was sufficient to make the Canton officials allow the fleet to sail or trade to reopen; but never the next day. The officials always needed some means of delay and therefore of saving face.
By way of comparison a similar incident involving Lindsay's only son, Hugh Hamilton Lindsay, in 1831 is worth looking at. Hugh Hamilton Lindsay entered the East India Company's service as a young man and passed through the various ranks until by 1831 he was a supercargo. This story begins in May 1831 when the Governor suddenly and unexpectedly ordered that part of the factory's grounds be destroyed, a linguist put in chains and a Hong merchant sent to gaol. The supercargoes received a copy of an imperial mandate ordering them to comply with a restatement of all the existing restrictions on foreigners. The Select Committee decided to warn the Chinese authorities that if they persisted in enforcing all the regulations these would be resisted, even if it meant withdrawing from trade at Canton. The members of the Committee decided to send Hugh Hamilton Lindsay to Canton (they had recently returned to the E.I.C. premises in Macao for the summer) to hand over the keys of the Company's factory to the Hong merchants for them to deliver to the Governor, with a letter to the effect that they would no longer rent the factory while they were not safe from intrusion and destruction, and if no steps were taken to remedy the situation then trade would be suspended on 1st August 1831. The description of Lindsay's efforts to deliver the letter and the keys is given in Morse, Chronicles, Vol. IV, pp. 282-3. Lindsay didn't manage to persuade the Hong merchants to deliver the letter, but eventually the officer in command of the troops of the district, who customarily received petitions presented at the gates, accepted the letter and the keys of the factory. But he simply handed them to a Hong merchant with the order “None are to be received". The dispute dragged on till the end of 1831 and occupies as far as page 323 in Vol. IV of Chronicles.
In the following year Lindsay was given a more congenial commission by the Select Committee. He was sent in the E.I.C. ship Lord Amherst (350 tons), with a cargo of various English cloths, for which he was to find out the probable demand and the prices
INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & BEI. CO.
59
volumes on official documents, 1 should prefer to accept his version as more likely. From a wide reading of Morse's Chronicles I have found other instances when a threat from the E.I.C. supercargoes was sufficient to make the Canton officials allow the fleet to sail or trade to reopen; but never the next day. The officials always needed some means of delay and therefore of saving face.
By way of comparison a similar incident involving Lindsay's only son, Hugh Hamilton Lindsay, in 1831 is worth looking at. Hugh Hamilton Lindsay entered the East India Company's service as a young man and passed through the various ranks until by 1831 he was a supercargo. This story begins in May 1831 when the Governor suddenly and unexpectedly ordered that part of the factory's grounds be destroyed, a linguist put in chains and a Hong merchant sent to gaol. The supercargoes received a copy of an imperial mandate ordering them to comply with a restatement of all the existing restrictions on foreigners. The Select Committee decided to warn the Chinese authorities that if they persisted in enforcing all the regulations these would be resisted, even if it meant withdrawing from trade at Canton. The members of the Committee decided to send Hugh Hamilton Lindsay to Canton (they had recently returned to the E.IC. premises in Macao for the summer) to hand over the keys of the Company's factory to the Hong merchants for them to deliver to the Governor, with a letter to the effect that they would no longer rent the factory while they were not safe from intrusion and destruction, and if no steps were taken to remedy the situation then trade would be suspended on 1st August 1831. The description of Lindsay's efforts to deliver the letter and the keys is given in Morse, Chronicles, Vol. IV, pp. 282-3. Lindsay didn't manage to persuade the Hong merchants to deliver the letter, but eventually the officer in command of the troops of the district, who customarily received petitions presented at the gates, accepted the letter and the keys of the factory. But he simply handed them to a Hong merchant with the order “None are to be received". The dispute dragged on till the end of 1831 and occupies as far as page 323 in Vol. IV of Chronicles.
In the following year Lindsay was given a more congenial com- mission by the Select Committee. He was sent in the E.I.C. ship Lord Amherst (350 tons), with a cargo of various English cloths, for which he was to find out the probable demand and the prices
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