[
    {
        "id": 207288,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1975",
        "page_number": 56,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "INCIDENT BETWEEN HONG MERCHANTS AND THE SUPERCARGOES OF THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY IN CANTON, 1811.\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG*\n\nA detailed account of this incident was recorded by the senior officer on the British side, Captain the Hon. Hugh Lindsay,† the Commodore of the East India Company's fleet at that time. It is in the form of a letter to his sister, Lady Anne Barnard, undated, and was printed in The Lives of the Lindsays by Lord Lindsay, 2 vols., London, 1849. A full copy of this letter, retaining the original punctuation, has been supplied by Mr. Tom Lindsay, a long-time member of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. It is worth printing because of the details it supplies which are missing in the brief account of the same episode in Hosea Ballou Morse, The Chronicles of the East India Company trading to China, 1635-1834, Vol. III, Oxford 1926, p. 156.\n\nHistorians of early Anglo-Chinese relations, and of the British East India Company's trade with China, have to rely to a great extent for their material on Morse's five substantial volumes. It is worth examining, at this point, how Morse wrote these volumes which are based on a massive collection of hand-written documents.\n\n* Professor Cranmer-Byng belongs to the Department of History at the University of Toronto. He was the first Hon. Editor of this Journal and has contributed to it from time to time.\n\nHon. Hugh Lindsay was a younger brother of Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres and 23rd Earl of Crawford. A note at the bottom of page 400 of Vol. II of Lives of the Lindsays states:\n\nMr. Hugh Lindsay was for many years Member of Parliament for the burghs of Forfar, Perth, Dundee, Cupar and St. Andrews, and Marshal of the Admiralty.\n\nIn the text on the same page it is stated that he was also a Director and Chairman of the East India Company. He died in April 1844 in his eightieth year. The biographical note goes on:\n\nHugh Hamilton Lindsay Esq., his only son, and long a resident in China, is the author of the extremely interesting 'Voyage of the Amherst, — along two thousand miles of the coast of China,- published in 8vo. by a speculating bookseller, from his report to the East India Co., which was printed by order of Parliament.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207290,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1975",
        "page_number": 58,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "50\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nIt is now time to turn to Morse's account of the incident which is as follows:\n\nOn February 2nd the Committee took the extreme measure of presenting a memorial at the City gates, addressed to the Governor and the Hoppo. The memorial was taken by Mr. Parry, the junior member of the Committee, and Captain the Hon. Hugh Lindsay, the senior commander (commodore) of the Company's fleet, and\n\nin order to give the deputation a respectable appearance suited to the occasion it was accompanied by a party of Gentlemen of the Factory and of the Commanders and Officers of the Ships now in China.\n\nThe party was not obstructed at the city gate and proceeded to the Hoppo's yamen, where the memorial was received. In the evening the merchants brought it back, returned after perusal by the Governor and the Hoppo. On February 8th the Committee\n\ngave notice to the principal Mandarins thro' the medium of the Merchants that however desirous we are at all times to pay due deference to the laws of China and the regulations of the Government, we cannot much longer submit to the present injurious detention of our Ships in justification of which we are assured not a single law or regulation of the Empire can be alleged and that we shall therefore take on ourselves to dispatch the fleet even without the usual permission should the Government by protracted delays absolutely reduce us to that unpleasant alternative.\n\nOn that same day in the evening they were assured that the Grand Chops would be issued forthwith; and they were actually issued and the fleet with Mr. Roberts was dispatched on the morning of February 10th. The second fleet, with Mr. Browne on board, was dispatched without further incident on March 26th.\n\nNow, by way of amplification, let us look at Hugh Lindsay's\n\naccount.\n\nMy dear Sister,\n\nYou have requested I would give you some anecdote of my life which might be interesting. Had my first outset in the world been fortunate, and the profession which I chose been auspicious to me,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    }
]