RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 52 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG they had never been presented, and that one which he had ordered to be carried to the city-gate had also been stopped by them in its progress. Mr. Brown declared it his positive determination to resist the pecuniary demands made by the Hong Merchants, and stated it to be his firm belief that, could a petition be conveyed to the Hoppo's own hand, the sailing of the fleet would no longer be delayed. It now occurred to me that I might find a way of obtaining this desirable object by gaining access to the Viceroy; I therefore suggested to Mr. Brown the propriety of the commanders and officers of the fleet presenting themselves at the great gate of the city, headed by myself as commodore, with a petition in the Chinese language, addressed, by my particular desire, "To the Viceroy", in large Chinese characters,--and this I said, I would endeavour to get conveyed by some means into the Viceroy's own hand. Mr. Brown agreed to my proposal, and said he would confide in my prudence to carry it into effect. I then requested I might be accompanied by Sir George Staunton, or some one of the interpreters belonging to the factory, but this Mr. Brown declined,—permitting Mr. Perry, one of the supercargoes to go along with me. When I left Mr. Brown, he believed it was my intention only to go to the city-gate, as was the usual practice, present the petition there, and endeavour, by waiting, to get an answer: but I was well aware, on the present occasion, of how little use this would be, and I determined to get into the city, if possible, to reach the Viceroy's palace and to deliver the petition to him in person; however, as my success was very doubtful, I did not disclose my intentions to any one, but determined to act as circumstances might direct. The petition stated, "That the commodore, the commanders, and officers of the fleet, having finished the business which brought them to China, and having carefully observed all the laws and regulations of the port, were desirous of departing, but were informed by the security merchants that his Excellency the Viceroy had refused the port-clearance without assigning any cause for so doing, —that the petitioners, believing in the justice of the Viceroy, had reason to doubt that the detention arose from some misrepresentations made to him by the merchants for their own private purposes, -they therefore prayed the Viceroy would give them permission to depart". Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & B.E.I. CO. 53 In all my intercourse with the Chinese I had observed that, however much they were inclined to oppress, a steady and temperate resistance had never failed to succeed in obtaining redress. In Canton strangers are strictly prohibited from entering the city, being only permitted to live in the suburbs; I had, however, frequently observed in my walks, that the guards at the gates were very remiss in their duty, and that in the morning, during the time of breakfast, there was seldom more than one man there. I also knew that the streets in the city, like those in the suburbs, were so narrow that not more than three persons could walk abreast; and I had learned from the Chinese that the Viceroy's palace was about a mile from the great gate, but whether in a direct line or diverging I did not know. On leaving Mr. Brown I sent orders to the commanders of the fleet to meet me at eight o'clock next morning, at the Company's factory, with all their officers who were in Canton; and I directed that they should be in full uniform, but without sidearms. At the time appointed we assembled,—sixteen commanders and their officers, making in all about sixty persons. I informed them that I had received orders from the chief supercargo to proceed to the great gate of the city to present a petition for the sailing of the fleet, that Captain Craig, Mr. Perry, and myself would lead the van, and that the rest of the body should follow, in files of three abreast, keeping close order. About eight o'clock in the morning there are few Chinese in the streets, we therefore had no difficulty in proceeding to the great gate, and, as I expected, found the guard (one soldier excepted) in the guard house at breakfast. The soldier, on my passing, attempted to stop me, but, on my giving him a push forward, he ran on before me; our party then immediately got through the gate and beyond the guard house before the guard could get out to stop us, in consequence of the narrowness of the street, our files of three filling it completely, they could not pass us, their efforts to do so only pushing us on faster. On, therefore, we went—no one before us attempting to impede our progress. In a short time I discovered the soldier who was at the gate, a little way in advance, watching our proceedings; it then occurred to me that, as he could not pass us to return to the guard, he would go on to the Hoppo's palace to give information there of our entry ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 54 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG into the city; I therefore resolved to keep him in view if possible, but the moment we came near him he set off at full speed, and in spite of all the efforts we could make we soon lost sight of him. We had now proceeded about half a mile in a long narrow street, the end of which I was much annoyed at finding branched into two others rather wider, one turning short to the left, the other inclining to the right; here I called a halt, as it was evident, if we took the wrong direction, all chance of success was at an end. I therefore called to my aid the petition addressed (as I before mentioned) "To the Hoppo", in large characters; and seeing at a shop door a good-humoured-looking fellow staring at the unusual appearance of such a number of strangers in the city, I ran up to him and showed him the back of the petition, which he instantly read, laughed heartily, and pointed out the right road. We proceeded on as fast we could go, and, after advancing a short distance, we again got sight of the soldier, whom we discovered, with several others, in the act of shutting two very large folding gates, which appeared to be the entrance to a spacious outer court, in which was visible the front of one of the most magnificent buildings I had ever seen. This was a very critical moment, for I instantly imagined it must be the Hoppo's palace, and, if the gates were once closed against us, all our labour was lost. I therefore loudly called out, "Hurrah to the gate!" We in a body sprang forward and luckily reached it at the instant the gates were shut, but before they had time to get them bolted; with one consent we put our shoulders to them, and the gates flew open before us, throwing all those inside to the right and left. Our whole body immediately rushed in, and it was our turn then to assist the soldiers in shutting and bolting the gates to keep out a mob of Chinese who had gathered in the city and followed in our rear. Now we had time to breathe, look about us, and consider where we were. Nothing could be more splendid than the building which stood in front of us; it was covered with Chinese characters in gold, beautifully ornamented with carved work in the Chinese style, and painted in the most brilliant and gaudy colours. Mr. Perry at once assured me we must have reached the Viceroy's palace, as he discovered that particular banner which was carried before the Hoppo when he visited the Company's factory. The guard, whom we seemed to have caught en deshabille, had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 56 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG however, and held another consultation with the Hong merchants, who again informed me that I could not possibly see the Viceroy, and that I must entrust the petition to their care. On this I thought it right to consult with Mr. Perry, Captain Craig, and some other senior commanders, whether they advised my yielding the point and giving up the petition. I however gave it as my own decided opinion that we should still persevere in demanding an audience, and in this I was supported by all but Mr. Perry, who thought we ought not to persist any longer. I however determined to resist, and informed the Hong merchants that nothing but force should compel us to leave the palace without an interview. I was the more inclined to persevere, from one of the junior merchants having whispered in my ear not to give up my point, and that he, and several other of the Hong, did not approve of what the seniors had been doing. After a long pause, Mowqua said to me, if I was resolved to see the Hoppo I must send away all the commanders and officers except one, and that he and I should then be admitted into the palace. To this I instantly agreed, and it was settled that Mr. Perry, the supercargo, should be the person to remain with me, and that Captain Craig and the rest of the party should retire out of the city, which they accordingly did. Mr. Perry and myself were now left in the court of the Hoppo's palace, surrounded by a great number of Mandarins, Hong merchants, and soldiers; the Mandarin who took the lead then showed us into a large and splendid hall in the palace, where we were accompanied by the Hong merchants, who appeared extremely disconcerted at our success. It was now near twelve o'clock, and from that time until four every effort by promises, persuasion, and threats, was made use of by the Hong to prevail on me to give up the desire of seeing the Hoppo, but without effect; I was perfectly decided and firm, although frequently and most anxiously urged by Mr. Perry to yield the point. Finding that I was not to be moved, Mowqua at last told me I should soon see the Viceroy,—"And now, Mister Commodore, when great man come, you must knocky head."—"What is knocky head, Mowqua?” said I.—"You must down on knees, and putty head on ground", was the reply.—"That's not my country fashion, Mowqua—I don't do so to my King, therefore will not do so to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 122 order the suspension of the ordinance. When the crisis passed the measures it provided to control the Chinese population would no longer be needed, however, they would remain on the statute books to be reintroduced by the Governor in Council if a future situation warranted it. Once enacted, however, they were never officially suspended. Instead they came to be regarded as a way of reducing crime at night, though for long periods there was great laxity over its enforcement. The introduction of the rule that the Chinese must carry lights and passes at night was the result of the outbreak of the Sino-British conflict, sometimes referred to as the Second Opium War. The spark which set fire to the smouldering tensions created by the frustration of the foreigner in his desire to force open China to unrestricted trade was the seizure at Canton in October 1856 of the crew of a Hongkong-registered vessel, the Arrow. The Chinese authorities claimed the crew members were pirates. Their detention and the alleged hauling down of the British flag provoked an escalating series of demands, threats and incidents between the British and Chinese. These eventually climaxed in the looting and burning of the Imperial Summer Palace at Peking in 1860. The Chinese would not meet the demands for an apology for "the insult to the British flag" nor the return of the crew in a manner satisfactory to the English. To force the issue, the British breached the walls of Canton, penetrated to the Viceroy's stronghold and then withdrew. They met no resistance. Then boats were seized, forts were shelled, troops marched back and forth. For the British it all seemed like a military lark, with their superior power meeting no resistance from the Chinese, but only threatening proclamations issued by the Viceroy urging the destruction of the barbarians, with a price set upon the heads of certain prominent foreigners. Affairs took a more serious turn when the area along the river at Canton, where the foreigners lived and did their business, was ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 312 * Li Zee-min (1950) Chinese Potpourri. Hong Kong: Oriental Publishers [He relates a local Hong Kong legend about the arrival of the young emperor escorted by Lu in what is now Kowloon, fleeing ahead of the Mongols. Li claims that the headman of the Hakka walled village of Kowloon was Tan Gong who died during the last battle with the Mongol fleet when Lu, with the emperor in his arms, jumped overboard to their deaths]. Couling, Samuel (1917) Encyclopaedia Sinica. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh 11 Yu Dayu is recorded as being a native of Fujian who died in 1573 having made his name as the victor in the struggle to defeat the Japanese pirates along the coast of China and in particular that of Zhejiang. 12 Yang Xiuqing as one of the leading lights of the Taiping Rebellion, to whose military genius much of the early success of the movement was due. He was known as the Taiping Eastern King [Prince], and professed to be the spokesman of God. After the capture of Nanjing by the Taipings he established his palace in the yamen of the former Viceroy and lived in great state. By 1856 he had begun a campaign of political and religious intrigue to usurp the position of leader and to overthrow Hong Xiuquan, the founder. His plans were uncovered and he, his family and thousands of his supporters were slain by Wei Changhui, the Taiping Northern King. 13 extracted from the Transcription of the letters written from China to Milcote, Stratford on Avon by Thomas Adkins between 1855 and 1879 by courtesy of Theo Christophers of Dorridge, West Midlands : November 1999 14 Hymes, Robert P. (1986) Statesmen and Gentlemen: The Elite of Fu-chou, Kiangsi, in Northern and Southern Sung. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 Although the name was known much earlier Mao Shan has always been the centre of a Daoist sect. [see Kita Aziya gakuho, a Japanese Journal, Vol. 2] 16 Doré, Henri S.J. (1914) Recherches sur les Superstitions en China. Shanghai [Zikawei] : La Mission Catholique : Vol. XI 17 Werner, E.T.C (1932) A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh ================================================================================