E
U
R
O
P
E
I
N
C
H
I
N
A
LELAND STANFORDJR
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
PRESENTED BY HERBERT CLARK HOOVER
Herbert Clark Hoover.
LELAND STANFORDJR
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
PRESENTED BY HERBERT CLARK HOOVER
Herbert Clark Hoover.
h
2
HCHoover
Tientsin
March on
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
HANDBOOK FOR THE STUDENT OF CHI-
NESE BUDDHISM:-A Sanskrit - Chinese
Dictionary, with Vocabularies of Buddhist
Terms in Pali, Singhalese, Siamese, Burmese,
Tibetan, Mongolian and Japanese. Second
Edition . Revised and Enlarged. Hongkong ,
1888.
BUDDHISM:-Its Historical, Theoretical and
Popular Aspects, in Three Lectures. Third
Edition, Revised , with Additions. Hongkong,
1884.
FENG SHUI : -The Rudiments of Natural Science
in China. London and Hongkong, 1873.
A CHINESE DICTIONARY IN THE CAN-
TONESE DIALECT : -Four Volumes, with
Appendix. London and Hongkong, 1877 to
1883 .
MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCA-
TION IN HONGKONG : -Reprint from
the China Review. Hongkong, 1891 .
EUROPE IN CHINA
A
HCHoover
Tientsin
March or
BY THE SAME AUTHOR .
HANDBOOK FOR THE STUDENT OF CHI-
NESE BUDDHISM:-A Sanskrit- Chinese
Dictionary, with Vocabularies of Buddhist
Terms in Pali, Singhalese, Siamese, Burmese,
Tibetan , Mongolian and Japanese. Second
Edition. Revised and Enlarged . Hongkong,
1888.
BUDDHISM :-Its Historical, Theoretical and
Popular Aspects, in Three Lectures . Third
Edition, Revised, with Additions. Hongkong,
1884.
FENG SHUI: -The Rudiments of Natural Science
in China. London and Hongkong, 1873 .
A CHINESE DICTIONARY IN THE CAN-
TONESE DIALECT: -Four Volumes, with
Appendix. London and Hongkong, 1877 to
1883.
MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCA-
TION IN HONGKONG : -Reprint from
the China Review. Hongkong, 1891 .
EUROPE IN CHINA
EUROPE IN CHINA
THE
HISTORY OF HONGKONG
FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE YEAR 1882
BY
E. J. EITEL , Ph.D. (TUBING . )
=
INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS, HONGKONG
The actual well seen is the ideal.- Carlyle,
LONDON HONGKONG
LUZAC & COMPANY KELLY & WALSH, LD,
1895
M.
951.2
4772
180713
ΤΟ
MY WIFE
WINEFRED NEE EATON
IN MEMORY OF
THIRTY YEARS OF WEDDED LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
SPENT IN CANTON AND HONGKONG
THIS BOOK
WHICH OWES EVERYTHING TO HER
IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
Registered in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance No. 10 of 1888,
at the office of the
Registrar General, Supreme Court House, Hongkong.
PREFACE.
O Europeans residing in Hongkong or China ,
T° in se
I need not offer any excuse for inviting them
to take up this book. The natural desire to learn
to understand the present by a consideration of the
past, will plead with them better than I could do .
But the general reader, in England and elsewhere,
I entreat for a reconsideration of the popularly
accepted view that but little importance, beyond that
of a curio, attaches to Hongkong, its community
and position , or indeed to European relations with
China.
At first sight, indeed , the Colony of Hongkong
appears like an odd conglomeration of fluctua-
ting molecules of nationalities, whose successive
Governors seem to be but extraneous factors
adventitiously regulating or disturbing the heavings
of this incongruous mass. But in reality the Hong-
kong community is solidarily one. Though an
unbridged chasm does yawn in its midst, waiting
for a Marcus Curtius to close it and meanwhile
separating the outward social life of Europeans and
Chinese, the people of Hongkong are inwardly
ii PREFACE .
bound together by a steadily developing commu-
nion of interests and responsibilities : the destiny
of the one race is to rule and the fate of the other
to be ruled. The different periods of Hongkong's
history, though demarcated each by the admi-
nistration of a different Governor, are in reality
the successive stages of the growth of one ideal
person (the Colony) naturally expanding itself in
a continuous line of so many generations, as it were ,
of one and the same ideal family (the community) .
Looking deeper still, there is seen underlying this
mixed and fluctuating population of Hongkong a
self-perpetuating unity : the secret inchoative union
of Europe and Asia (as represented by China) .
This union is in process of practical elaboration
through the combined forces of commerce, civilisa-
tion and Christian education, and particularly through
the steady development of Great Britain's political
influence in the East, an influence which dates back
to the earliest days of the East India Company in
India and China. Indeed, the Anglo -Chinese com-
munity of Hongkong specifically represents that
coming union of Europe and Asia which China
stubbornly resists while Great Britain and Russia,
France and Japan unconsciously co-operate towards
it. As representing that union, the Hongkong
community has its root in the earlier and smaller
community of British and other European merchants
PREFACE . iii
with their Chinese hangers-on settled at the Canton
Factories. But its earliest prototype can be discerned
in the previous settlements of the Portuguese and
Dutch and more particularly of the agents of the
East- India Company who were unconsciously working
out in China, as well as in India, the international
problem with the solution of which Hongkong is
specially concerned . When, under the impulse of
the awakening free trade spirit in England, the
East-India Company had to withdraw from the field
( 1834 ) , the British free-traders at Canton continued
to represent Europe in China, and, when driven out
thence, transplanted to Hongkong ( 1841 ) those
unifying commercial and political principles which
are to the present day the underlying elements of
progress in the historic evolution of Hongkong.
But as the history of the Hongkong community
presents thus an unbroken chain of influences con-
necting the political mission of Europe with the
present politics of Asia, so also the successive
administrations of the government of this Colony
have the same inner unity. Though each Governor
is but a transient visitor, each possessed of his own
idiosyncracies, and each controlled by an ever shifting
series of Secretaries of State for the Colonies, behind
them all is that ideal but none the less real entity,
the genius of British public opinion, which inspires
and overrules them all. That genius , feeling its
iv PREFACE .
mission in Europe and North America fulfilled , has
of late commenced to enter upon a new field of
action whereby to complete its destiny. Asia and
generally the countries and continents bordering on
the Pacific Ocean, now task the energies of Downing
Street and of the Governors sent forth from it, as
well as the energies of the India Office, with pro-
blems of such increasingly international bearings,
that both the Colonial Office and the India Office
are rapidly outstripping in importance the Foreign
Office, and the necessities of both now demand the
creation of a Ministry specially charged with the
direction of British affairs in the Far East, The
fact is the fulcrum of the World's balance of
power has shifted from the West to the East,
from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
To the popular view the position of Hongkong
in the East appears to be that of a remote Island,
a mere dot in a little-known ocean. In reality,
however, Hongkong, which commercially ranks as
the second port of the British Empire, occupies
a geographically most fortunate place in relation to
the peculiar destinies of the Far East. For the
last two thousand years, the march of civilization
has been directed from the East to the West :
Europe has been tutored by Asia. Ennobled by
Christianity, civilization now returns to the East :
Europe's destiny is to govern Asia . Marching at the
PREFACE . V
head of civilization, Great Britain has commenced
her individual mission in Asia by the occupation
of India and Burma, the Straits Settlements and
Hongkong . By fifty years ' handling of Hongkong's
Chinese population, Great Britain has shewn how
readily the Chinese people (apart from Mandarindom )
fall in with a firm European regime, and the rapid
conversion of a barren rock into one of the wonders
and commercial emporiums of the world , has demon-
strated what Chinese labour, industry and commerce
can achieve under British rule . Moreover, located on
the western border of the Pacific, in line with Canada
in the North - East, with Her Majesty's Indian and
African Possessions in the South - West, and with the
Australian Colonies in the South, Hongkong occupies
a specially important position , not only with regard
to the problems gathering round China and Japan
(in their mutual relations to Great Britain , Russia
and France ) , but especially also with regard to the
greater rôle which the Pacific Ocean is destined to
play in the closing scenes of the world's history.
What the Mediterranean and Atlantic were while
civilization moved from East to West, the Pacific is
bound to become now since the tide of progress
runs from West to East. Africa is even now being
brought into the sphere of modern civilization by
the combined powers of Europe . The turn of South-
America will come next. There is not a first-class
vi PREFACE .
power in the world that has not possessions on the
shores of the Pacific . Great Britain and the United
States , Russia and France , Germany and Italy,
Spain and Portugal, all vie with each other in the
control of countries bordering on , or islands situated
in, the Pacific basin. It requires no prophet's gift
to see that the politics of the near future centre in
the East and that the problems of the Far East
will be solved on the Pacific main. Contests will
be sure to arise and in these contests Hongkong
will be one of the stations most important for the
general strength of the British Empire. Here, even
more than in its bearing upon the Asiatic problem ,
lies the real importance of Hongkong. Such is
the position of this Colony in relation to the destinies
of the Far East : Hongkong will yet have a pro-
minent place in the future history of the British
Empire.
The foregoing consideratons will commend the
subject of this book to the attention of the general
reader. As to its treatment, the endeavour of the
writer has been to combine with the aims of the
historian, writing from the point of view of universal
history, the duties of the chronicler of events such
as are of special interest to European residents in
the East, so as to provide at the same time a hand-
book of reference for those who take an active
interest in the current affairs of this British Colony
PREFACE . vii
as well as in British relations with China. This
volume brings down the story of Hongkong's rise
and progress to the year 1882. The more recent
epochs of its history are too near to our view yet
to admit of impartial historic treatment for the
present.
E. J. EITEL.
College Gardens ,
HONGKONG , August 2 , 1895 .
CONTENTS .
Page
CHAP. I. COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH
CHINA, A.D. 1625 to 1834 ………… .
II. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, A.D. 1625 to
1834, .... 12
2005
III. MONOPOLY rersus FREE TRADE , 19
IV . THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER, 26
V. DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY, A.D. 22
1834 to 1836 , 42
VI. THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY, ….. 53
VII. CHANGE OF POLICY, 62
VIII. THE OPIUM QUESTION AND THE EXODUS
FROM CANTON (1839) . 75
IX. EXODUS FROM MACAO AND EVENTS LEADING
UP TO THE CESSION OF HONGKONG , 1839
to 1841 ,...... 96
X. PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF
HONGKONG, 127
XI. CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONG-
KONG, 1841 to 1843, 135
XII . THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT,
January 26 to Angust 10 , 1841 , ............ 168
CONTENTS .
Page
CHAP. XIII . THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER,
August 10, 1841 , to May 8, 1844 ,………………….. 179
XIV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. F. DAVIS,
May 8, 1844, to March 18 , 1848, ...... 211
XV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR S. G. BONHAM,
March 20 , 1848 , to April 12 , 1854, 253
XVI. A BRIEF SURVEY, ...... 288
XVII . THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING,
April 13, 1854, to May 5, 1859, 298
XVIII . THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HERCULES
ROBINSON, September 9 , 1859, to March
15 , 1865, 353
XIX. THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HOx. W. T.
MERCER, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF
SIR R. G. MACDONNELL, March 15, 1865 ,
to April 22 , 1872 , 408
XX. THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. KENNEDY,
April 16 , 1872 , to March 1 , 1877 , ........ 477
XXI. THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. POPE
HENNESSY. April 22 , 1877 , to March
7, 1882 ,.... 522
XXII. A SHORT SUMMARY, 568
INDEX.
ED
HISTORY OF HONGKONG.
CHAPTER I.
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA.
A.D. 1625 to 1834.
'HE history of British Trade with China, which preceded
Great Britain's connection with India, is comprised , from its
first commencement down to the year 1884, in the history of the
Honourable East India Company. Unfortunately, however, the
story of the Company's relations with China is one of the darkest
blots in the whole history of British commerce. That great and
powerful Corporation, which governed successfully Asiatic kings
and princes, and covered itself with administrative, financial and
even military glory, particularly in India, was entirely nonplussedt
by China's dogged self-adequacy and persistent assertion of
supremacy, and had its glory, its honour, its self- respect rudely
trampled under foot by subordinate Chinese Mandarins.
The Court of Directors, having at the instance of Captain
J. Sares (since 1613 A.D. ) established a factory at Firando, in
Japan, under a treaty with the Japanese Government, was
induced also (A.D. 1625) to open tentative branch-agencies at
Tywan (on the island of Formosa ) and next in Amoy (on the
opposite mainland of China) . This move was made during the
last few years of the reign of the Chinese Ming Dynasty which
systematically welcomed foreign merchants. Encouraged by the
results, the Directors of the East India Company resolved
(A.D. 1627) to open trade also with Canton, by way of Macao .
But the Portuguese, who had already established themselves there
2 CHAPTER I.
(since 1557 A.D. ) , strenuously objected to admit such a powerful
interloper to a share in the profits of the Chinese trade, and
the.attempt failed .
Nothing daunted , however, the Court of Directors forth-
(A.D. 1634) negotiated a Treaty with the Portuguese
Governor of Goa , under whose control Macao was, and by virtue
of this Treaty the British ship London (Captain Weddell) was
admitted into the port of Macao and, after bombarding the
Bogue Forts at the entrance to the Canton River, her gallant
commander was received in friendly audience by the Viceroy,
who forthwith granted him (July 1655) full participation in
the Canton trade, to the great chagrin of the Macao traders.
Thus British trade commenced at Canton, but through petty
international jealousies on the part of the Portuguese and other
causes it languished, until at last Oliver Cromwell concluded , on
express principles of reciprocity, a Treaty (A.D. 1654) with King
John IV. of Portugal, giving free access to the ships of both
nations to any port of the East Indies.
Ten years later, the East India Company, having at last
secured a house at Macao, endeavoured to set up a regular
factory at Canton also . But by this time the native Ming
Dynasty had been supplanted by the Manchu invaders who
established (A.D. 1644 ) the present Tatsing Dynasty and
manifested from first to last a haughty contempt for all persons
engaged in trade and an irreconcilable animosity against all
foreign intruders .
In conquering Amoy ( A.D. 1681 ) , the Manchus destroyed
the Company's agency there and at Zelandia (Formosa) , but the
Portuguese at Macao, having made themselves useful to the new
Dynasty by rendering military aid to the invaders, were with
haughty contempt tolerated where they were, without any formal
concession being made to them. The Manchus , disdaining to
make any distinction between Portuguese and English, as being
equally barbarians in their eyes, allowed foreign trade at Canton
to continue, though thenceforth under galling and vexatious
restrictions.
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA. 3
The East India Company's Supercargoes soon found that,
so long as they indirectly and humbly acknowledged the
supremacy which the Manchu Dynasty now claimed over the
whole world, expressly including also all foreign barbarians,
the Chinese officials were perfectly ready to accept costly presents
and to encourage foreign trade provided that it would quietly
submit to their irregular exactions. Thereupon the Company
began (A.D. 1681 ) sending ships direct from England to Macao,
and later on (A.D. 1685 ) they succeeded in re-opening their
agency at Amoy and (A.D. 1702) planting a factory also on the
island of Chusan .
Up to this time, trade had been conducted in a loose and
irregular manner. On the arrival of a ship in the waters of
Canton, she was boarded by an officer of the Hoppo ( Imperial
Superintendent of Native Maritime Customs) , who was at once.
offered a present (called cumshaw) upon the value of which
depended the mode of measuring the ship, whereupon followed
(in the absence of a fixed tariff) a disgraceful bargaining and
haggling over the rates of port charges, linguist's fees and
customs duties to be levied. When all these negotiations, hurried
on frequently by a threat on the part of the Supercargo to
take the ship away or temporarily suspended by sundry practical
menaces on the part of the Hoppo's officers, had been concluded,
the ship was allowed to proceed to Whampoa (the port of
Canton) and there admitted to open trade with any officially
recognized native merchant or broker.
A serious change was introduced with the year 1702. The
East India Company having sent out (A.D. 1699) a Chief-
Supercargo (Mr. Catchpoole) who was commissioned to act as
King's Minister or Consul for the whole empire of China.
and the adjacent islands, the Chinese officials responded with
a counter move, While the Chief- Supercargo's royal commission
was studiously ignored and the term tai-pan (chief-manager)
applied to the King's Minister, a Chinese merchant, entitled
'the Emperor's Merchant ' but among the Company's Super-
cargoes thenceforth known as ' the Monster in Trade, ' was now
4 CHAPTER I.
(A.D. 1702 ) appointed by the Chinese Government to supervise
foreign trade. This Emperor's Merchant had the exclusive-
monopoly of the foreign trade and, in addition to the Hoppo's
officers who had to be plied with presents and fees as before,
this Monster in Trade had now to be satisfied in the same
way. All imports and exports had to pass through his hands ,
all commercial transactions of the foreign merchants had to be
settled through his agency. He was for some time nominally
the sole intermediary between the foreigners and native.
merchants, and likewise the exclusive channel of communications
between the foreign merchants and skippers (including the East
India Company's Agents with the King's Minister) on the one
hand and the Chinese Government on the other. Thenceforth
free trade was at an eud and the monopoly of the East India
Company was by astute Chinese policy met by an equally
powerful combination of Chinese monopolists, who periodically
had to disgorge their profits to the Provincial Authorities (the
Viceroy and the Governor of Canton) , and to the Hoppo, an
officer of the Imperial Household . The latter had to purchase
by a heavy fee a five years' tenure of the monopoly of collecting
the native and foreign customs duties of Canton, and on his
return to Peking, he was invariably squeezed like a sponge
by the Imperial Household . Thus foreign trade was thence-
forth ground down between the upper and nether mill-stones
of the Chinese Authorities and the Emperor's Merchant and
his successors .
Nevertheless, the East India Company's Supercagoes specily
managed to adapt their policy to the new arrangement. Trade
continued to flourish. The ships proceeded thereafter first of
all to Macao, then sent up agents to Canton to arrange, in
whatever way it could be done, the amount of presents,
measuring fees, port charges, duties and brokerage, and then ,
when everything was satisfactorily arranged, the ship would
proceed to the Bogue (the entrance to the Canton River,
guarded by two forts, Chuenpi on the East and Taikoktau on
the West) and, after paying fees and duties there, a chop (a
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA. 5
stamped permit) would be granted to each ship to proceed to
Whampoa to trade. By the year 1715, a regular routine
had been established and British ships now began to omit
the visit to Macao and to proceed, on arrival in Chinese
waters, straight to the Bogue, where, after anchoring for
some days, everything was settled by the Supercargoes as
above.
A new change was made in the conduct of the foreign trade
in the year 1720, when an ad valorem duty of 4 per cent . was
laid on all imports and exports and a Committee of Chinese
merchants, henceforth known as the Co-Hong, was substituted
in place of the one Emperor's Merchant . But this Committee
was likewise placed under the supervision of the Hoppo, and,
as before, made answerable to the Viceroy and Governor for
all dues on trade. These Co- Hong Merchants were as a body
solidarily responsible for the solvency of each member of the
Co- Hong, both as regards indebtedness towards the foreign
merchants and as regards the share of the Provincial Authorities
in their profits. Moreover they were responsible, as a body,
for the payment of all fees and duties by every foreign ship,
and even for any offences or crimes committed by the ships'
officers or crews. By an Imperial Edict (A.D. 1722 ) they
were also commissioned to levy an import duty on opium,
amounting to 3 taels per picul.
This system was nominally improved upon by the intro-
duction (A.D. 1725 ) of a fixed tariff. Upon this measurė
the Imperial Authorities at Peking had insisted to enable them
better to guage the proper amount of their own share in the
profits of this flourishing foreign trade. Nevertheless, the
publication of the tariff failed to do away with the previous
system of bribery and corruption, as both the Hoppo's officers
and the Co-Hong looked upon the tariff only as the minimum
basis of their own accounts with the Provincial and Imperial
Governments. Consequently they systematically exacted from
the foreign ships as much over and above the tariff charges
as they could possibly screw out of them.
6 CHAPTER I.
A special tax of 10 per cent . was put on all foreign imports
and exports in the year 1727 , but after making ( A.D. 1728 ) a
strong united appeal to the Throne, in the humblest form of
subject suppliants, the Company's Supercargoes were granted,
on the occasion of the accession of the Emperor Kienlung
(A.D. 1736), exemption from this tax. By this time about
four English ships, two French, one Danish and one Swedish
ship arrived every year to share in the Canton trade. Portuguese
trade was confined to Macao. However, in the year 1754, a
new method of extortion was introduced, by requiring each
ship, on her arrival, to obtain first of all, by special negotiation,
the security of two members of the Co- Hong, before the usual
arrangements concerning measuring fee, cumshaw, linguist's fee,
and customs duties could be entered upon. Up to this time,
the monopoly of the Co-Hong concerned only the disposal of
the cargo and the purchase of exports, but from the year 1755
all dealings of foreigners with small merchants and purveyors
of ships' provisions were strictly prohibited, and especially all
dealings of the ships with native junks and boats, whilst
anchoring outside and . before entering the river, were visited
with severe penalties. Owing to occasional smuggling mal-
practices on the part of natives, countenanced by foreign
skippers, an Imperial Edict prohibited (A.D. 1757) all commercial
transactions with foreign ships, whether outside the Bogue or
at Whampoa, and confined trade strictly to Canton . As this
measure not only tended to hamper trade operations in Canton
waters, but threatened the extinction of the flourishing Amoy
agency, the Committee of Supercargoes sent Mr. Harrison,
together with a very able interpreter, Mr. Flint, to Amoy
(A.D. 1759) to arrange with the local Authorities a continuation
of the Amoy trade on special terms. When these negotiations
failed , Mr. Flint, sharing the opinion of the Supercargoes that
the obnoxious Imperial Edict had been obtained by the Cantonese
Authorities through false representations, proceeded (with
the secret support of the Amoy Authorities) to Tientsin and
succeeded in getting his views, involving serious charges against
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA. 7
the Hoppo and the Cantonese Authorities, brought to the notice
of the Throne. An Imperial Commissioner, authorized to
remove the Hoppo from his post and to abolish all illegal
imposts, was sent to Canton with Mr. Flint to investigate the
charges against the Provincial Authorities. The inevitable result
followed. The Hoppo and the Cantonese Authorities having
made their terms with the Commissioner, Mr. Flint was ordered
to appear in the Viceroy's Yamên to answer a charge of having,
while at Amoy, set at defiance the Imperial Edict of 1757 .
Mr. Flint went, accompanied by all the Supercargoes, but as
soon as they reached the Viceroy's offices, they were set upon
by his underlings, brutally ill-treated, thrown on the ground,
forced to perform the official act of homage (kneeling and
knocking their foreheads on the ground ) called kotow and sent
back with ignominy, with the exception of Mr. Flint. He
was thrown into prison and, as the virtuous Court of Directors
refused to pay the bribe of $ 1,250 which was demanded by his
jailors, he was kept under rigorous confinement at Casa Branca
until November 1762 , when he was released and deported to
England.
The Court of Directors, who had by the action of their
servants hitherto stooped sub rosâ to every form of Chinese
bribery and corruption, and borne every indignity heaped upon
their representatives with equanimity, thought at last, on
hearing of the ill-treatment of their Supercargoes, that the
Chinese were going rather too far. So they sent a special
mission to Canton (A.D. 1760 ) , with a letter to the Viceroy,
protesting against the Co- Hong system and asking for Mr. Flint's
release . But the mission was treated with contempt by the
Manchu Government and failed to have any effect whatever.
By giving however increased secret presents, the Supercargoes
caused things to go on more smoothly, and ten years later
(A.D. 1771 ) the Company's Supercargoes succeeded in purchasing
permission to reside during the winter months (the business
season) at Canton, instead of coming and going with their
respective ships. The ships used to arrive towards the end of
8 CHAPTER I.
the south-west monsoon ( April to September) and leave again
for Europe with the north-east monsoon (October to March) .
But unless special permission to linger a little longer was
obtained, the Supercargoes, now at last established in separate
factories (allotted to the several nationalities) in Canton, were
annually, at the change of the season, furnished with passports
and warned to be off to Macao. Thence they had, at the end
of summer, to petition for passports again, to enable them to
return to Canton the next season .
At last ( February 13, 1771 ) , the dissolution of the Co-
Hong, which had become the most galling burden of the
time, was gained by the Supercargoes resident at Canton,
a triumph which previously every form of persuasion and
every art of diplomacy had in vain been employed to secure .
But the sum paid for this favour amounted to a hundred
thousand taels, which sum the Authorities accepted , because
the Co - Hong were bankrupt and in arrears with their
contributions due to their respective official superiors.
Nevertheless , this privilege was not enjoyed very long,
for ten years later ( A.D. 1782 ) the previous Co- Hong system
was, under a new name, re-established by the appointment
of twelve (subsequently increased to thirteen) Mandarins,'
who were however simply native brokers, thenceforth known
as Hong merchants. These had, like the former Co - Hong,
the monopoly of the foreign trade, subject to the supervision
of the Hoppo and of the Provincial Authorities, to whom
they were responsible for the payments due by, and for the
personal conduct of, all foreigners . These Hong merchants.
held the same position, and had the same privileges and
responsibilities as the Co-Hong. The only differences were
that they bore another title and that for their previous
solidary responsibility in financial matters was now substituted
a guarantee fund, known as the Consoo (Association or Guild )
fund. But this fund was created at the expense of the
foreign trade, on which thenceforth a special tax was levied
for the purpose. As the East India Company and the merchants
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA. 9
of other nationalities quietly submitted to this change in the
system, trade continued to proceed as before. Thereupon the
Chinese imposed (A.D. 1805 ) a further special tax, like the
modern Li- kin, to provide for the necessities of coast defence
and other warlike preparations against the foreign ships . This
measure was taken by the Chinese because they had observed
that the foreign ships had, owing to the steady increase of
the value of their cargoes, gradually increased their armaments.
Trade, however, continued increasing from year to year.
But soon a hand's breadth of a cloud, destined to develop
into a tempest, arose on the commercial horizon in the shape
of the exportation of bullion ' question and the altered attitude
of foreigners generally. With the gradual increase of the
opium trade, the Chinese observed with dismay that the balance
of trade, though still in favour of China, was steadily diminishing
from year to year as foreign commerce expanded . In the year
1818 a rule was therefore made to restrict the exportation of
silver by any vessel to three-tenths of the excess of imports
over exports by that vessel. The tea trade, indeed, increased
very rapidly, to the great satisfaction of the Chinese officials,
especially since teas began (A.D. 1824) to be shipped direct
from China to the Australian Colonies. But however fast the
export of tea increased. the imports of opium out-stripped
it in the race. Accordingly in the year 1831 the Chinese
Authorities, in their dread of the increasing outflow of silver
from China, imposed upon foreign merchants such severe
additional restrictions, that the Select Committee of the East
India Company's Supercargoes, headed by Mr. H. H. Lindsay,
threatened to suspend all commercial intercourse . Eventually,
however, when matters came to a crisis (May 27 , 1831 ) , the
Select Committee yielded and, in token of their submission,
handed the keys of the British Factory to the Brigadier in
charge of the Provincial Constabulary (Kwong-hip) .
Though victorious for the moment, the Chinese officials
could not help noticing on this occasion more than ever before,
that a considerable change had come over the demeanour of
10 CHAPTER I.
the foreign merchants. The East India Company's chiefs
seemed to have lost somehow their former control over the
foreign community, and the latter would not submit now, as
formerly, to all the caprices of the Chinese Authorities ; they
were talking now of international and reciprocal responsibilities ,
and murmured seditiously against trade monopolies as commercial
iniquities.
Moreover the restrictions placed on the opium ships ,
from which the Provincial Authorities were reaping their
richest harvests, were persistently evaded by the ships
anchoring at the island of Lintin or in the Kapsingmoon
channel, outside the Bogue, where, with the connivance of
the Authorities, the foreign merchants had established stationary
receiving ships, serving the purpose of floating warehouses.
for all sorts of goods. This measure encouragel a great deal
of smuggling on the part of Chinese private traders, and the
consequent infringement of the official trade monopoly curtailed
the share which the Provincial Authorities had in the
whole trade.
The Chinese officials now saw clearly that a different spirit
had crept in among the foreigners at Canton, that even the
servile attitude of the former East India Company's officers was
rapidly giving way to claims of national self-respect, a most
preposterous thing, as it appeared to the Chinese, on the
part of outer barbarians, and finally that the most intelligent
private merchants freely expressed their conviction that, owing
to the approaching dissolution of the East India Company's
Chinese monopoly, the whole foreign trade with China would
have to be placed on a distinctly international basis by the
year 1834. The Viceroy now perceived and reported to Peking
that a serious crisis was approaching. Accordingly an Imperial
Edict was issued (September 19 , 1832 ) ordering all the
maritime provinces to put their forts and ships of war in
repair in order to scour the seas and driveoff any European
vessels (of war) that might make their appearance on the coast .'
Thus prepared, the Chinese calmly awaited the year 1834,
COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA. 11
continuing meanwhile to encourage foreign trade and to levy
on it as many charges, regular and irregular, as it would
bear. What the British Government failed to discern , the
Emperor of China foresaw clearly, viz. that a war was bound
to arise from the denial of China's supremacy ..
CHAPTER II .
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.
A.D. 1625 to 1834.
URING the whole period above reviewed, the relations
فنbetween the Chinese Government and the East India
Company had been conducted on the express understanding,
which for nearly two centuries was tacitly acquiesced in by
the Company, that China claims the sovereignty over all
under heaven ; that trade, whether retail or wholesale, is a
low degrading occupation , fit only for the lower classes beneath
the contempt of the Chinese gentry, literati and officials ;
but that the Emperor of China, as the father of all human
beings, is merciful even to barbarians, and as their existence
seems to depend upon periodical supplies of silk, rhubarb
and tea, the Emperor permits the foreign traders at Canton
to follow their base instincts and allows them to make
money for themselves by this trade, subject to official
surveillance, restrictions and penalties. At the same time,
though permitted to reside at intervals in the suburbs of
Canton, foreigners must not suppose that they are the equals
even of the lowest of the Chinese people ; they must not
presume to enter the city gates under any pretext what-
ever, nor travel inland, nor take into their service any
natives except those belonging to the Pariah caste of the
boat population (known as Ham-shui), forbidden by law to
live on shore or to compete at literary examinations. So
long as the Company's Supercargoes, and other foreign
merchants resorting to Canton , silently accepted the degrading
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. 13
status thus assigned to them, and tacitly acknowledged the
political supremacy and the Heaven-bestowed jurisdiction of
the Chinese Government, things went on tolerably and trade
continued in spite of all restrictions.
The Chinese were confirmed in this low estimate of
foreign character and culture by the to them singular fact
that, with very rare exceptions, none of those foreigners
seemed able to learn the Chinese language nor even to conceive
any appreciation of Chinese history, philosophy or literature,
besides shewing utter incapacity to comprehend the principles
of Chinese polity, morality and etiquette. Nor did these
barbarians exhibit any symptoms of religions life, so far as
the Chinese could observe, to whom they appeared to have
no soul whatever above dollars and sensual pleasures . The
more the Chinese saw of foreigners, the less they found
themselves able to classify them with other nations like the
Coreans, Japanese, Loochooans, Annamese or Tibetans, all
of whom readily appreciated and adopted Chinese culture and
Chinese forms of religion and etiquette. Hence they could
only characterize the barbarians from Europe or America as
foreign devils .'
The first intimation the Chinese received of a superior
moral power, inherent in the character of foreigners, was
conveyed to them by contact with officers of the British navy.
When the first British man-of-war, the Centaur, arrived in
Chinese waters (November, 1741 ) , the Hoppo's officers pretended
not to understand any difference between a ship of His Majesty,
and an East India Company's trader. They insisted upon
measuring the Centaur, and coolly demanded the usual trade
charges. However, her commander, Commodore Anson , very
quietly and good -naturedly resisted all pretensions and by sheer
force of character, combined with judicious menaces, brushed
all objections aside, and forced his ship without positive hostilities
through the Bogue and up to Whampoa. On arrival there,
he fairly took away the breath of the Chinese officials by
notifying them that he proposed to call in person on the Viceroy
14 CHAPTER II.
to pay his respects to His Excellency, which was his bounden
duty as the Officer of His Majesty King George II . of Great
Britain and Ireland, and that there must be no breach of
etiquette.' The unparalleled boldness of this typical British
tar was so novel to the Chinese Authorities that it cowed them
completely. The Viceroy admitted the importunate sailor to a
personal interview, treated him to cold tea and ice-cold etiquette,
and not until the Commodore set sail and left Chinese waters
did the Chinese Authorities recover their breath and resume
their former policy of undisguised contempt for all foreigners.
However, on the next occasion (February, 1791 ) , when His
Majesty's Ships Leopard and Thames arrived and desired to
follow the precedent set by Commodore Anson, they found
things changed. The Chinese officials now stubbornly refused
to allow the ships to enter the Bogue and the officers had to
content themselves with a flying personal visit to the port
and suburbs of Canton. Nevertheless the next visitor, Captain
Maxwell, of H. M. S. Alceste (November 12th, 1816 ) , was
determined to follow the example of Commodore Anson. On
arrival at the Bogue, a Chinese officer boarded the Alceste
and informed the Captain that, before proceeding any further,
he must obtain the security of two Hong merchants and
declare the nature of his cargo. The gallant Captain pointed
to his biggest guns as his security and declared the only cargo
carried by a British man-of-war to be powder and shot .
Thereupon the frightened officer beat a hasty retreat and
subsequently sent on board a stern refusal to allow the ship
to enter the Bogue. In reply, Captain Maxwell politely informed
the commanders of the Bogue forts of the exact hour when
he intended to pass through the Bogue, and, after giving them .
ample time to make all their preparations, he gallantly ran
the gauntlet of the Bogue forts, under sail, leisurely returning
the fire of the forts after aiming and firing the first gun with
his own hands. Though becalmed within range of the forts,
he succeeded in pushing his way to Whampoa without serious
casualty on his own side. After anchoring there, Captain
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. 15
Maxwell resumed his communications with the Chinese officials
with the utmost good nature, and the Chinese Government ,
likewise ignoring what had happened , allowed him to do just
as he pleased until he took his ship away. But no direct official
intercourse was accorded to Captain Maxwell in spite of his
bravery.
The several Embassies that were sent with autograph letters
from King George III, accompanied by costly presents and much
pomp of showy retinue, had even less effect upon the attitude
which the Tatsing Dynasty assumed towards foreign commerce,
than the servile bribes and presents of the East India Company's
Supercargoes or the periodical demonstrations of British pluck by
His Majesty's naval officers. Lord Macartney's Embassy ( A.D.
1792) , sent forth by George III, with strong complaints and
sanguine expectations, was treated by the Chinese Government as
a deputation of tribute-bearers, like those that periodically
came from the Loochoo Islands. Lord Amherst's Embassy
(A.D. 1815) , vainly expected to result in the establishment
of diplomatic intercourse with Peking, was treated politely but
strictly as a tribute-bearing commission. When Lord Amherst
lingered, hoping to be allowed to remain near the Court, he
was quietly told that it was high time for him to petition for
the issue of his passport and be off. Henceforth the chroniclers
of the Tatsing Dynasty complacently recorded the fact of Great
Britain having been formally admitted to a place in the list
of the nations tributary to China by voluntary submission.
Nevertheless both the bold appearance of British frigates
in Chinese waters and the humble presentation at Court of
British Ambassadors had a certain amount of effect in impressing
the Chinese people with the conviction that Europeans after
all were considerably above the ordinary class of barbarians
known to them.
Special instances of the steadily increasing importance of
the British navy were not wanting. In the years 1802 and
1808 British marines occupied Macao to protect the Portuguese
settlement against a threatened attack by the French. In the
16 CHAPTER II.
former year the troops were not withdrawn, in spite of irate
protests by the Cantonese Authorities, until peace with France
was restored. In the latter year Admiral Drury withdrew
his men again and abstained from forcing his way up to Canton
in order to please the East India Company's Committee and
to avoid interference with trade. Again, in the year 1814 ,
H.B.M. Frigate Doris cruized in Canton waters to intercept
American ships, and when the Viceroy instructed the Committee
to order her off, the Committee, to the surprise of the Chinese
officials, declared that they had no power whatever in the
matter and were quite willing that trade, as threatened by
the Viceroy, should be stopped. The Committee, moreover, by
adroit management , improved the opportunity so as to obtain
from the frightened Viceroy important concessions, viz. the
right to send Chinese petitions to the Governor of Canton
under seal, to employ native servants without restraint and
to have their dwellings secure from Chinese intrusion .
The gradual development of the British navy not only
impressed the Chinese Authorities but served the purpose of
enabling foreign merchants to take a firmer attitude towards
Chinese pretences of political and judicial supremacy . Foreign
merchants never consented to formally acknowledge their
subjection to Chinese criminal jurisdiction, though they were
often compelled by sheer force to submit to it . But not until
the year 1822 were the Chinese distinctly informed that
foreigners refused on principle to submit to Chinese jurisdiction .
In the year 1750 the French surrendered to the Chinese
Authorities one of their seamen, and again in 1780. In
1784 the English surrendered a gunner who, in firing a salute,
had accidentally killed a native, and they actually submitted
to his being executed by strangling. In 1807 again a British
sailor was surrendered, and though Captain Rolles, of H.M.S.
Lion, obtained his release, a fine of $20 was paid. In 1821 the
Americans surrendered a foreigner (Terranuova) to Chinese
jurisdiction and submitted to his being strangled . But in the
very next year, when two natives were killed in a scuffle with
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. 17
men of H.M.S. Topaze, the British commander, assisted by
Dr. Morrison as interpreter, made it quite clear that a recognition
of Chinese claims of jurisdiction over British seamen and
particularly over men-of-war's crews was entirely out of the
question . Thenceforth no foreigner was surrendered to a Chinese
Court.
In 1831 a curious episode occurred, illustrating the strained
international relations which had gradually arisen. In spring
1831 the Select Committee of the East India Company took
upon itself to enlarge the garden in front of their factory by
reclaiming a narrow strip of foreshore. Soon after, when the
merchants had all retired to Macao for the summer, the
Governor of Canton, resenting the unauthorized reclamation,
came in person to the British factory and ordered the
premises to be forthwith restored to their previous condition .
Meanwhile he walked into the Select Committee's dining room
where a life -size picture, representing George IV. as Prince
Regent, was hanging. On being informed that it was the
portrait of the then reigning King of England, the Governor
took a chair and deliberately sat down with his back turned
to the picture. The Select Committee reported this deliberate
insult to their Directors and the merchants used various means
of making their indignation known to the Chinese officials.
One of their defenders publicly alleged ( September 15, 1831 )
that the Governor disavowed any intentional disrespect and
blamed the Committee for desecrating the picture by exhibiting
it without a curtain of Imperial yellow and for omitting to
place in front of it an altar with frankincense . Lord William
Bentinck, then Governor-General of India, addressed (August
27, 1831 ) a letter to the Governor demanding an explanation ,
but took no further steps when the Governor, whilst refusing
to notice Lord Bentinck's letter, issued (Jaunary 7 , 1832)
an edict denying the imputation . The picture in question
(by Sir T. Lawrence) now graces the dining room of the
Government House of Hongkong, whither it was removed
from Macao in February 1842 .
2
18 CHAPTER II.
All these experiences impressed the Chinese Authorities
with the conviction that the claim of extra-territorial jurisdiction
was but a symptom of a deeper seated claim of international
rights, the concession of which would be the deathblow to
China's sovereignty over all the nations of the earth .
CHAPTER III .
MONOPOLY VERSUS FREE TRADE .
COWEVER galling this stolid assertion of self-adequacy
Ho and supremacy, and this persistent exclusivism of the
Chinese Government, must have been to the East India
Company's officers and to the Ambassadors specially com-
missioned to bolster up the position of the East India Company
in China, it must not be forgotten that the East India
Company was, within its own sphere, just as haughty,
domineering and exclusive a potentate, as any Emperor of
China. Private British merchants, scientists, inissionaries, and
even English ladies, had as much reason to complain of the
tyranny of the East India Company's Court of Directors,
as their Supercargoes suffered in their relations with the
Chinese Government. When naturalists or missionaries, entirely
unconnected with trade, desired to pursue their noble avocations
at any port of Asia occupied by the East India Company,
they were either strictly prohibited and ordered off, or
permission was granted in exceptional cases, as a matter of
extraordinary favour, and under galling injunctions and
restrictions.
As to the treatment of foreign ladies, the coincidence
between the policy of the Chinese Government and that of
the East India Company is striking. When the first English-
speaking lady, a Mrs. McClannon who, with her maid, had
been shipwrecked on her way to Sydney and picked up at sea
by the American ship Betsey, arrived at Macao, the Chinese
officials professed themselves shocked . They refused to admit
the ship to trade . What with barbarian merchants residing
20 CHAPTER III,
on the coast, and what with flying visits by naval officers ,
they said, it was difficult enough for Chinese officials to keep
the foreign trade in order, but that barbarian women should
also enter the hallowed precincts of the Celestial Kingdom
was an outrage of Chinese fundamental principles of propriety
and beyond all endurance . However, as usual, a cumshaw
(bribe) smoothed away the objections, only the Captain of
the Betsey, who so gallantly had rescued the shipwrecked
women, was officially informed that he must never do it
again, and take away the women as soon as possible on pain
of permanent exclusion from the trade. As a parallel to this
Chinese interdiet placed on women, the Court of Directors of
the East India Company renewed ( A.D. 1825 ) a previously
existing stringent order that European females were under no
circumstances to be admitted to Canton. So strict was this
rule, and so engrained did it become in the trading community
of Canton, that the Hongkong successors in the old Canton
trade maintained, until comparatively recent years, the same
principle in the form of restrictions which the leading firms
placed on marriage in the case of their employees.
As regards private traders in Canton, the East India
Company watched, for nearly two centuries, with Argus ' eye
against the violation of their monopoly by adventurous intruders .
No British subject was allowed to land at Canton except under
a passport from the Court of Directors. Nor was any British
ship permitted to participate in the China trade except when
owned or chartered, or furnished with a licence, by the
Company or by the Indian Government. Such licences were
moreover subject to be cancelled at any moment by the
Select Committee at Canton, who had also legal power to
deport any British subject defying their authority. Nevertheless
there were bold spirits who forced their way in. In the year
1780 a Mr. Smith was discovered at Canton trading on his
own account, but was immediately ordered off without mercy.
However, the East India Company's power extended only over
their own nationals, and private traders of other nationalities
MONOPOLY VERSUS FREE TRADE. 21
openly defied the Company whilst profiting by its presence.
The Portuguese (from Macao) , the Spaniards (from Manila),
and the Dutch (from Formosa) had preceded the East India
Company in the Canton trade, and could not be ousted . Danish
and Swedish merchants (A.D. 1732 ) , French (A.D. 1786 ) ,
Americans (A.D. 1784) and others forced their way in, and
international comity on the one side and Chinese policy on
the other protected them against the interference of the East
India Company.
Soon, moreover, private British merchants also secured
admission to Canton, and openly defied the Company's monopoly
by taking out foreign naturalization papers. Thus , for instance,
Mr. W. S. Davidson, an English merchant, visited Canton in
the year 1807 and subsequently traded in Canton , on his own
account and as agent of English firms, for eleven consecutive
years ( 1811 to 1822 ) , under a Portuguese certificate of
naturalization, which he had obtained without fee in London ,
with the assistance of the British Ambassador to Brazil . Many
others followed the example of Mr. Davidson .
The renewal of the East India Company's charter, in 1813 ,
made no great difference in the conduct of its Chinese trade.
But as the Company was from that date compelled to publish
its commercial accounts separately from its territorial accounts,
British merchants generally became aware of the profitable aspects
of trade with China . Moreover the public press now began to
undermine the Company's monopoly by suggesting on sundry
occasions that trade with the East would be carried on more
profitably by private merchants than by the Company. But
the antagonistic forces of Monopoly and Free Trade, thus evoked,
took years to gather strength for a final struggle.
The earliest pioneer of British free trade in Canton was
Mr. William Jardine, founder of the still flourishing firm of
Jardine, Matheson & Co. , who visited China off and on between
the years 1802 and 1818 , and resided in Canton continuously
from 1820 to January 31 , 1839. Next in time and influence
came W. S. Davidson (referred to above) , R. Inglis of Dent & Co.
22 CHAPTER III.
(1823 to 1839) and the brothers A. Matheson ( 1826 to 1839)
and J. Matheson (of whom we shall hear more anon) . The
Mathesons exercised particular influence, as so long ago as 1827
they established in Canton a weekly newspaper, the ' Canton
Register,' to disseminate the principles of free trade and to
oppose a prolongation of the East India Company's monopoly.
To this paper Charles Grant referred (some time before 1836)
in the foliowing memorable words : 'The free traders appear
to cherish high notions of their claims and privileges. Under
their auspices a free press is already maintained at Canton ;
and should their commerce continue to increase, their importance
will rise also. They will regard themselves as the depositaries of
the true principles of British commerce.'
During the three or four years that preceded the expiry
of the East India Company's Charter, it was already foreseen
by the free traders, who were staunch advocates of the Reform
Bill of 1881 , that the Company's monopoly was not likely to
be renewed by a Reformed Parliament . The officers of the
Company themselves had the same apprehensions and gradually
relaxed its rules against the admission of private interlopers
at Canton. Happily, before the question of renewing the
Company's Charter had to be decided, the first Reform Bill
swept away those rotten boroughs which would have enabled
the well-organized band of monopolists in the House of Commons,
aided and abetted as they were by the ignorance or indifference
as to all questions of Eastern trade which distinguished the
vast majority of honourable members, to crush the few scattered
advocates of commercial freedom . It was the first Reformed
Parliament that fulfilled the hopes and realized the prophecies
of the British free traders at Canton , stripped the East India
Company of its commercial attributes, delivered the China trade
from the thraldom of monopoly, and thereby paved also the
way for its eventual liberation from the tyranny of Chinese-
mandarindom .
Thus it happened that , even before the final expiration
(A.D. 1834) of the Company's Charter, free trade cheerily
MONOPOLY VERSUS FREE TRADE. 23
began to rear its head at Canton. A new impetus was thereby
given to British trade, and in the year 1832 as many as
seventy- four British ships arrived at Canton. The little
band of high-spirited, highly-educated and influential private
merchants, that gathered at Canton during the closing years of
the East India Company's monopoly, were, by their very position,
ardent advocates of free trade and determined opponents
of protection and monopoly in every shape or form. Some
of them removed in later years to Hongkong and the spirit
of free trade that filled them descended as a permanent
heirloom to the future merchant princes of Hongkong. If the
experiences of the East India Company negatively paved the
way for the future Colony by demonstrating the irreconcilable
antipathy of the Chinese against any equitable intercourse
with Europeans, and the impossibility of conducting trade on
a basis of international self-respect at Canton, this little band
of free traders, the Jardines, the Mathesons, the Dents, the
Gibbs, the Turners, the Hollidays, the Braines, the Innes ,
unconsciously did for the future Colony of Hongkong what
subsequently Cobden did for Manchester, and prepared the
public mind for future free trade in a free port on British
soil in China.
When, as above mentioned, the Select Committee of the
East India Company at Canton descended to the lowest step
of degradation and handed the keys of the British factory to
the Chinese Constabulary ( May 27 , 1831 ) , the free traders,
filled with righteous wrath, rushed to the front with the first
of those public meetings which, in subsequent years, became
such a characteristic means of venting public indignation in
Hongkong. On May 30, 1831 , this first public meeting of
British subjects in China was held, under the presidency of
William Jardine, and solemnly resolved to remonstrate against
the policy of the Select Committee of yielding to the caprice
of the Native Authorities and to appeal to the home country.'
But the public mind of that dear country was by no means
ripe yet for an unbiassed understanding of the real grievances
24 CHAPTER III.
and needs of the China trade, and the next advices from
London informed the free traders of Canton (April 31 , 1832) ,
then smarting under a new order of the Hoppo positively
forbidding foreign ships to remain at Lintin (April 11 , 1832),
that general apathy prevailed in England as to the restrictions
and interruptions or hardships of the China trade.
However, the hated monopoly of the East India Company
at Canton finally ceased and determined on April 22 , 1834 ,
and the chagrin felt at the discovery that the East India
Company, though closing its factory at Canton, left behind
a Financial Committee for brokerage purposes, was almost
forgotten in the general rejoicing over the first private British
vessel, the ship Sarah, that openly sailed from Whampoa for
London as the pioneer of the new free trade.
Vaticinations, principally originating with the servants of
the East India Company, were not wanting that under the
Company's regime British trade with China had reached its
zenith and was bound to decline henceforth . It was asserted
in Parliament that China offered no further outlet for British
goods and that, by throwing open the trade to all comers,
things would go from bad to worse. But the free traders
had a better insight into the inner workings of the trade
movement. They confidently predicted a great development
of British trade to set in at once and history verified their
expectations.
A few of these free traders were even keen enough to
foretell (April, 1834) that the Act of King William IV., by
which he abolished the exclusive rights of the East India
Company, would aid very much in hastening the abolition of
the long cherished exclusive rights of the Celestial Empire.'
All may not have seen this at the time, but all were aware
that a new period in the history of British trade with China
was inaugurated thereby. It required, indeed, no prophet's
vision to foresee that the inherent difficulties of commercial
intercourse with the Chinese were considerably accentuated by
the substitution of free trade for monopoly.
MONOPOLY VERSUS FREE TRADE. 25
But the spirit which moved the British Parliament to
wrench asunder the shackles in which British trade had been
kept for two long centuries by the East India Company, was
the potent spirit of free trade, and in this general free trade
movement we see above the dark horizon the first streak of
light heralding the advent of the future free port of Hongkong.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER.
EARS before the trade monopoly of the East India Company
was actually dissolved, it was foreseen by both the British
Cabinet and by the Cantonese Authorities, that the substitution
of a heterogeneous and internally dissentient community of
irresponsible free traders for a responsible and conservative
Corporation like the East India Company would bring on a
serious crisis in the relations existing between Great Britain
and China.
When informed, by direction of the British Government,
that the Charter of the East India Company would in all
probability not be renewed, but British trade thrown open to all
subjects of His Majesty, the then Viceroy of Canton (January 16 ,
1831 ) instructed the chief of the factory at Canton to send an
early letter home, stating that, in case of the dissolution of the
Company, it was incumbent to deliberate and appoint a chief-
manager (tai-pan), who understood the business, to come to
Canton for the general control of commercial dealings, by which
means affairs might be prevented from going to confusion, and
benefits secured to commerce.
This was the shrewd suggestion of a Viceroy holding his
office for five years, and, as given informally, not necessarily
binding upon his successor. It embodied, however, a recognized
principle of Chinese policy, viz., that the traders of any given
place must be formed into one or more guilds, each having a
recognized headman who can be held solidarily responsible for the
doings of every member of his guild. All that was here proposed
was, to place British and foreign free traders in Canton under a
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 27
tangible and responsible head, having the status of an ordinary
private trader, such as was accorded (A.D. 1699) to Mr. Catchpoole,
but corresponding, on the English side, with the position held, on
the Chinese side, by the head of the Hong Merchants. The
establishment of a Chamber of Commerce, formed by compulsory
membership and controlled by a permanent British president,
would have exhausted the meaning of the Viceroy's suggestion.
What the Viceroy wanted was merely leverage for applying the
screw of official control and exactions whenever desirable.
It is not likely, however, that the British Cabinet acted upon
this informal message of a Canton Viceroy, or at any rate not
without taking pains to ascertain its authoritative character and
real purport. As China had for centuries tolerated and regulated
foreign trade at Canton, the Cabinet may well have proceeded on
the general assumption that British merchants had gained a
status involving, on the part of China and England, reciprocal
responsibilities and rights. At any rate a Bill was laid before
Parliament to regulate the trade to China (and India) and in due
course received the Royal assent on August 28, 1833. This Act
(3rd and 4th Will. IV. ch. 93) , whilst throwing open, from after
April 22, 1834, the trade with China (and the trade in tea) to all
subjects of His Majesty, declared it expedient , for the objects
of trade and amicable intercourse with the Dominions of the
Emperor of China, ' to establish a British Authority in the said
Dominions. Accordingly the Government was authorized by this
Act to send out to China three Superintendents of Trade, one
of whom should preside over a Court of Justice with Criminal
and Admiralty Jurisdiction for the trial of offences committed by
His Majesty's subjects in the said Dominions or on the high sea
within a hundred miles from the coast of China .' The Act
also expressly prohibited the Superintendents, as the King's
Officers, from engaging in any trade or traffic, and authorized
the imposition of a tonnage duty to defray the expenses of their
peace establishment in China. The will of the British nation
thus off-hand decided what for two centuries the Chinese
Government had persistently refused to grant, viz., that British.
28 CHAPTER IV.
subjects in China were entitled to the privileges of extra-
territorial jurisdiction. The Chinese war of 1841 (wrongly
styled the opium war) was the logical consequence of this British
Act of 1833. The passing of this Act is one of the best
illustrations of that superb disregard of consequences abroad
which ever distinguishes British legislators when they try to
meddle in foreign affairs of which they know nothing. "
In pursuance of this Act the Right Honourable William
John Napier, Baron Napier of Merchistoun, Baronet of Nova
Scotia and Captain in the Royal Navy, was selected by Lord
Palmerston to proceed under a Royal Commission to China as
Chief Superintendent of British Trade, and to associate with
himself there, in the Superintendency of Trade, two members
of the East India Company's Select Committee . By a special
Commission under the Royal Signet and Sign Manual (dated
January 26, 1834) , Lord Napier, together with W. H. Ch .
Plowden and J. F. Davis, were appointed Superintendents of
the Trade of British Subjects in China,' empowered to impose
duties on British ships, and directed to station themselves for
the discharge of their duties within the port or river of Canton
and not elsewhere (unless ordered), to collect trade statistics,
to protect the interests of British merchants, to arbitrate or judge
in disputes between British subjects, and to mediate between
them and the Chinese Government. To these orders, distinctly
investing the three Superintendents with extra-territorial, political
and judicial power over British subjects , to be exercised
within the dominions of the Emperor of China and not
elsewhere, there was added the special injunction to abstain
from any appeal (for protection) to British military or naval
forces, unless in any extreme case the most evident necessity
shall require that any such menacing language should be holden
or that any such appeal should be made.'
If we had to believe that both Lord Palmerston and
his chief, Earl Grey, supposed, that the Chinese Government
would concede or silently tolerate the merest shadow of extra-
territorial rights to be exercised by the British Government in
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 29
its proposed supervision of British merchants residing within the
Dominions of the Emperor of China, we would have to assume
that these experienced statesmen made an incomprehensible
blunder. It seems much more probable that we have here
one of those many cases which have caused historians to
characterize Lord Palmerston's general policy as an incessant
violation of the principle of non-intervention . There is reason
to suppose that Lord Palmerston, with his keen political
foresight, anticipated the probability that this attempt to
establish quietly a mild form of extra-territorial jurisdiction
would by itself, apart from any existing complications, be
sufficient to provoke hostilities . But he no doubt anticipated
also that in the end English public opinion would support him .
In giving his final instructions to Lord Napier, Lord Palmerston
(January 26 , 1834) enjoined him to foster and protect the
trade of His Majesty's subjects in China, to extend trade if
possible to other ports of China, to induce the Chinese
Government to enter into commercial relations with the English
Government, and to seek, with peculiar caution and circum-
spection, to establish eventually direct diplomatic communication
with the Imperial Court at Peking, also to have the coast of
China surveyed to prevent disasters ." But Lord Palmerston
added to all these peaceful instructions the significant direction,
to inquire for places where British ships might find requisite
protection in the event of hostilities in the China sea .' Surely
we are justified in saying that Lord Palmerston then, as ever
after, was determined that, to use his own words, like the civis
Romanus of old, wherever he be, every British subject should
feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of
England will protect him against injustice and wrong,'—even
in China.
Assuming that the British Government could reasonably
argue, on the ground of their interpretation of the Viceroy's
invitation of 1831 , and on the principle of established reciprocal
responsibilities and rights, that the Chinese Government ought
to be willing, or at any rate should be compelled, to admit
30 CHAPTER IV.
into Canton a foreign Superintendent of British trade and
accord to him an official status ; no fault can be found with
the Royal Instructions supplied to Lord Napier, except that these
instructions associated with him, in the official superintendence
of British trade in China, two former servants of the East
India Company. Clearly it was the expectation of the Cabinet
that Lord Napier should experience at the hands of the Cantonese
Authorities a treatment different from that which the Chinese
Government had, for two centuries, uniformly accorded to the
Supercargoes of the East India Company, Mr. Catchpoole, the
King's Minister or Consul, not excepted. The Cabinet desired
the Chinese Government to dissociate, in mind, Lord Napier
as the King's Officer from mere traders and therefore to accord
to him the privilege of direct official intercourse. But at the
same time the Cabinet associated him, in fact, with men who
for years past had practically been the subordinates of the Hong
Merchants. Mr. Plowden and Mr. Davis, though gentlemen
of the highest character and refined culture, and best fitted
in every respect to advise Lord Napier in his delicate mission,
had in the eyes of the haughty Mandarins merely the status
of peddling traders. It seems that all the lessons which the
history of the East India Company's experiences in China had
taught England, were entirely thrown away upon the British
Cabinet Ministers, whose ignorance of the contempt in which
Chinese officials hold all traders, however worthy or honoured,
defeated the very object of the Royal Instructions.
But then, it would seem as if the Crown Lawyers who
must have advised the Cabinet that the British Crown had
an international right to plant Royal Superintendents at Canton,
invested with political and judicial powers, and to do that without
previous permission obtained from the Chinese Government,
must have had rather peculiar notions of international law.
It must be remembered, however, that the international law
of those days held non-Christian States to be outside the comity
of nations, and distinctly accorded to Christian communities,
residing in non-Christian countries, the right of extra-territorial
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 31
jurisdiction. It is possible, also, that there was, on the part
of the Crown Lawyers and the Cabinet, no assumption of any
positive right to establish a British Superintendent at Canton.
Lord Palmerston specially enjoined upon Lord Napier, that
in case of putting to hazard the existing opportunities of
intercourse, ' he was not to enter into any negotiations with
the Chinese Authorities at all. These words, together with
the subsequent condemnation of Lord Napier's action by the
Duke of Wellington , who gave it as his opinion that Lord
Napier ought to have been satisfied to keep the enjoyment.
of what we have got,' suggest the surmise that the British
Cabinet did not mean forcibly to claim any right of stationing
a British official at Canton or of exercising any extra-territorial
jurisdiction over British subjects within the Dominions of the
Emperor of China, but that their policy was merely to take
the Chinese Government by surprise, to try it on , so to say, in
Chinese fashion, to see how far the Chinese Authorities would
yield ; but, in case of failure, rather to be satisfied with what
the Chinese were willing to concede, than to demand what could
be obtained only by an appeal to force.
If such, however, was the intention of the British Cabinet,
it was a kind of diplomacy unworthy of England, and moreover
foolish, because such a continuation of the mistaken policy
which the East India Company's Court of Directors had
followed for two centuries, was, under the altered circumstances,
impossible. A community of independent British free traders,
knowing that Parliament had conceded to them the privilege
of extra-territorial jurisdiction, was not likely to remain content
with the enjoyment of what they had got, if that enjoyment
was to be coupled with the continuance of the old regime,
galling to personal and national self- respect.
Moreover, if such was the real policy of the British
Government, it was unfair to Lord Napier to keep him in
the dark. For he evidently had no notion of it, until perhaps
at the very last moment, when he resolved to retreat from
Canton . Possibly it was then that his eyes were opened to
32 CHAPTER IV.
the strategies of the Cabinet, and, if so, it was this discovery,
rather than the ignominious treatment he encountered at the
hands of the Chinese, that broke his heart.
It seems very probable that, whatever the real aim of
the British Government may have been, the Cabinet had been
acting under the advice of the Directors of the East India
Company, and if so , this was sufficient to ruin Lord Napier
and his mission.
Immediately on his arrival at Macao ( 88 miles South
of Canton) , on July 15 , 1834, Lord Napier, finding that
Mr. Plowden had meanwhile left China, appointed Mr. (sub-
sequently Sir) John F. Davis to be second, and Sir G. Best
Robinson (another member of the East India Company's Select
Committee) to be third Superintendent of British Trade in
China. The three Superintendents then made the following
appointments, viz ., Mr. J. W. Astell to be Secretary to
the Superintendents, the Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison (who-
unfortunately died a few weeks afterwards, when he was
succeeded by Mr. J. R. Morrison) to be Chinese Secretary
and Interpreter, Captain Ch . Elliot, R.N., to be Master
Attendant (in charge of all British ships and crews within the
Bogue) , Dr. T. R. Colledge to be Surgeon, Dr. Anderson to
be Assistant Surgeon, and the Rev. J. H. Vachell to be
Chaplain to the Superintendents. Finally Mr. A. R. Johnston
was appointed to be Private Secretary to Lord Napier. The
Commission, after some interviews with messengers of the
Viceroy, soon proceeded (July 25 , 1834) , without waiting for
a passport, to Canton. On the very day of his arrival, however,
Lord Napier was at once subjected by the Chinese Authorities
to unprovoked insults, in the treatment of his baggage and
his servants, and the Customs tide-waiters officially reported
that some foreign devils ' had arrived . To these indignities.
Lord Napier quietly submitted. But he endeavoured , without
loss of time, to open direct official communication , first with
the Viceroy and then with the Governor of Canton . His
object was merely to inform the Provincial Authorities, in
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 33
pursuance of his instructions, that he had arrived bearing the
King's Commission and invested with political and judicial
powers for the control of British subjects in China. But this
information was couched in terms characteristic of a dispatch
or official communication, and implying that the writer had
an official status. By accepting the letter, the Chinese
Government would have recognized Lord Napier as having
such a status in China. Accordingly reception of the letter
was peremptorily refused. The Viceroy, after sending Lord
Napier word (through the Hong Merchants) that he could
hold no communication with outside barbarians,' authorized
the Prefect of Canton , the Prefect of Swatow, and the Deputy
Lieutenant-General in command at Canton to go , together
with the Hong Merchants, and interview Lord Napier in order
to ascertain what he really wanted. This interview took place
on August 23, 1834, and ended with the sage remark of the
gallant Lieutenant-General, that it would be very unpleasant
were the two nations to come to a rupture,' to which Lord
Napier made the significant reply that England was perfectly
prepared . The Hong Merchants offered to deliver the letter
to the Governor of Canton, on condition that it should be
rewritten in form of a humble petition, having on the outside
a certain Chinese character (pien) which marks an application
made by one of the common people ( not having literary or
official rank) to a Chinese official from a Magistrate upwards.
But one of the Hong Merchants used the opportunity to
heap a gratuitous insult upon Lord Napier. Addressing him
in writing, he used characters which designated Lord Napier,
by a pun, as the laboriously vile.'
Lord Napier's argument that a former Viceroy had by edict
invited the British Government , in 1831 , to send a chief to
Canton to supervise trade, was met on the part of the Chinese
Authorities by a denial of the meaning which Lord Napier
attached to that invitation . They pointed out that in several
proclamations issued by the Governor of Canton (August 18
and September 2 , 1834) , it was distinctly stated, that the
3
34 CHAPTER IV.
commissioned officers of the Celestial Empire never take
cognizance of the trivial affairs of trade, ' that never has there
been such a thing as official correspondence with a barbarian
headman, that the English nation's King has hitherto been
reverently obedient, ' that in the intercourse of merchants
mutual willingness is necessary on both sides, wherefore there
can be no overruling control exercised by officers,' and finally
' how can the officers of the Celestial Empire hold official
correspondence with barbarians ?'
Whilst declining to adopt the form of a petition, Lord
Napier adopted a suggestion of the Hong Merchants to substitute
another designation of the Governor of Canton , but otherwise
Lord Napier's official message was left unaltered, in the form
of a dispatch. But no messenger could be found to deliver it.
So Mr. Astell, accompanied by the interpreters, proceeded with
the latter to the city gates, where the party were detained for
hours and subjected to every possible indignity. Various
officials came, but one and all refused to deliver the letter to
its address, unless it was couched in the form of a petition. It
seemed to the Chinese preposterous that a barbarian official
should claim an official status in China. It was with them not
merely a question of etiquette and form of address, such as was
subsequently settled by a special provision of the Treaty of
Nanking, but it was a plain question of polity. The Chinese
officials claimed supremacy over all barbarians, whether traders
or officers, and the form of this letter was a deliberate denial
of it. The one word ' petition ' (pien) was now made the test
of British submission to China's claim of supremacy.
Lord Napier continued firm in his refusal to ' petition ' the
Viceroy, nor would he accept the renewed offer of the Hong
Merchants to act as his intermediaries in his communications
with the Chinese Government . He remained in Canton , although
the Hong Merchants had informed him that the Provincial
Authorities would not receive any message from him, unless it
was sent through the channel which had been constituted by
Imperial Authority, and brought him an order by the Governor
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 35
of Canton, dated August 18, 1834, directing him to leave
Canton at once. Thereupon the Chinese Authorities resolved
to drive him away by applying, to begin with, indirect force.
A proclamation was issued calling upon the people to stop all
intercourse with the British factory. The supply of provisions
to British merchants was strictly prohibited and all Chinese
servants were ordered to leave them forthwith. Next, the Hong
Merchants were ordered to stop shipping cargo by any British
vessel and to make an effort to induce the several British
merchants to disown the assumed authority of Lord Napier
and the other Superintendents and to declare their willingness
to obey the orders of the Chinese Authorities, which would
be conveyed to them, as formerly, by the Hong Merchants.
Foreseeing the danger of dissension, Lord Napier had
called (August 16, 1834) a public meeting of British merchants,
warned them against the intrigues of Hong Merchants and
suggested the formation of a British Chamber of Commerce,
to ensure joint action and to provide a medium of communication
between the merchants and the Superintendents. This suggestion
was now adopted and (August 25 , 1834) a British Chamber
of Commerce was formed by the following firms, viz ., Jardine,
Matheson & Co. , R. Turner & Co. , J. McAdam Gladstone, J.
Innes, A. S. Keating, N. Crooke, J. Templeton & Co. , J. Watson,
Douglas, Mackenzie & Co. , T. Fox, and John Slade (Editor
of the Canton Register). The Committee of this first British
Chamber of Commerce in China were J. Matheson, L. Dent,
R. Turner, W. Boyd, and Dadabhoy Rustomjee.
When the Chinese Authorities found that the British
merchants rejected all temptations offered to them individually
through the Hong Merchants, and that the whole British
community unanimously supported Lord Napier's pretensions,
stronger measures were taken. Trade with British merchants
and communication with Whampoa was now (September 2, 1834)
stopped and the factories were surrounded by a cordon of Chinese
soldiers . British merchants were informed that they were allowed
to depart by way of Whampoa for Macao, but none would be
36 CHAPTER 1V.
allowed to return . Some Chinese compradors and shop-keepers,
who had secretly supplied the British factories with provisions,
were arrested and the British community found themselves in
danger of being starved out. Seeing the critical position of
affairs, Lord Napier, in the absence (at Macao) of the other
two Superintendents, consulted the Committee of the Chamber
of Commerce, and at their request dispatched an order for two
frigates to come up to Whampoa and thence to send up a
guard of marines for the protection of His Majesty's subjects.
Accordingly H.M. Ships Imogene and Andromache sailed through
the Bogue ( September 5 , 1834 ) under a rattling fire of the
forts, to which they gallantly replied, silencing one battery
after the other, until they reached Whampoa (September 11 ,
1834 ) . A guard of marines also succeeded in forcing their way
into the British factories.
Naturally enough, the Chinese now, instead of continuing
hostilities, blandly recommenced negotiations through the Hong
Merchants. The Provincial Authorities offered to resume trade
with British merchants at Canton, on condition that the two
frigates should leave the river and that Lord Napier should
retire to Macao until the pleasure of His Majesty the Emperor
of all under Heaven was known .' Recognizing now the official
status of Lord Napier, they urged with some emphasis that
it was a thing hitherto unknown for a barbarian official to
reside at Canton .' But there was no room left to doubt the
sincerity of the Chinese Authorities, both in their expressed
willingness to resume trade and in their indignation at the
attempt of the British Cabinet to establish extra-territorial
jurisdiction without the previous consent of the Chinese
Government.
Lord Napier turned again to his instructions, and now,
perhaps, his eyes were opened as to the policy concealed under
Lord Palmerston's words concerning the case of putting to
hazard the existing opportunities of intercourse .' Sick in body
and mind, separated from the other two Superintendents, Lord
Napier now broke down completely and instructed his surgeon ,
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 37
Dr. Colledge, to make in his name what terms he could with
the Chinese Authorities.
Accordingly Dr. Colledge wrote (September 18 , 1834) to
the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, informing him that-
he had been authorized by Lord Napier to make the requisite
arrangements with the Hong Merchants.' A meeting was
arranged, Dr. Colledge and Mr. Jardine representing Lord Napier
and the British community, whilst two Hong Merchants , Howqua
and Mowqua, acted on behalf of the Chinese Authorities. Two
contradictory statements of what took place at this meeting
exist, and although there can be no doubt but that Dr. Colledge's
account of the transaction is correct, the official report which
the Hong Merchants made of this interview deserves some
consideration as characteristic of the misunderstandings or
misinterpretations which in subsequent years attached to all
similar negotiations between Europeans and Chinese.
The words which Dr. Colledge used were these : I, T.
P. Colledge, engage on the part of the Chief Superintendent,
the Right Honourable Lord Napier, that His Lordship does
grant an order for His Majesty's Ships at Whampoa to sail
to Lintin, on my receiving a chop (stamped passport) , from the
Governor for His Lordship and suite to proceed to Macao,
Lord Napier's ill state of health not permitting him to correspond
with your Authorities longer on this subject . One condition
I deem it expedient to impose, which is, that His Majesty's
Ships do not submit to any ostentatious display ' on the part
of your Government .' Howqua replied : Mr. Colledge, your
proposition is one of the most serious nature, and from my
knowledge of your character I doubt not the honesty of it.
Shake hands with me and Mowqua, and let Mr. Jardine do
the same.'
The Chinese official account of this meeting is as follows :
The Hong Merchants, Woo Tun-yuen and others (Howqua
and Mowqua) reported (to the Governor of Canton and his
colleagues) that the said nation's private merchants, Colledge
and others, had stated to them that Lord Napier acknowledged
38 CHAPTER IV.
that, because it was his first entrance into the Central Kingdom,
he was ignorant of the prohibitions, and therefore he obtained
no permit ; that the ships of war were really for the purpose
of protecting goods and entered the Bogue by mistake ; that
now he (Lord Napier) was himself aware of his error and
begged to be graciously permitted to go down to Macao, and
that the ships should immediately go out (of the Central
Kingdom), and he therefore begged permission for them to
leave the port.'
The informality of the proceedings naturally opened the
door for a variety of versions as to what actually transpired .
But the omission , on the part of Dr. Colledge, of any stipulation
as to the resumption of trade consequent on the departure of
Lord Napier and of the ships of war, indicates that , while
determined to save the life of Lord Napier at any cost, he had
reason to trust in the determination of the Chinese Government
not to forego the profits of the British trade so long as their
own exclusive supremacy was maintained .
Lord Napier received his passport and started (September 21 ,
1834) for Macao, after giving an order to the commanders of
H.M. Ships Imogene and Andromache to retire beyond the
Bogue. Lord Napier desired to travel in his own boat, but the
Chinese insisted upon conveying him to Macao themselves,
escorted him like a prisoner, did everything on the way to
annoy him by the noise of gongs, crackers and firing salutes,
which the Mandarins in charge of the escort persisted in,
although Lord Napier repeatedly remonstrated against it, and
they protracted the voyage, which need not have taken more
than twenty-four hours, so as to last five days. By the time
Lord Napier reached Macao ( September 26 , 1834) , he was beyond
recovery and died a fortnight later (October 11 , 1834) , worn
out with the harassing and distressing annoyances which he
experienced at the hands of the Chinese Authorities, as well
as by the unnecessary delay interposed on his passage down
to Macao, and especially also by the consciousness, that appears
to have come over him at the last, that he had been placed
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 39
in a false position by the ignorance of the Cabinet as to the
real attitude preserved by the Chinese Government all along,
and by the obscurity in which the Orders in Council and the
instructions of Lord Palmerston enveloped the real policy of
the British Government. Lord Napier died, like Admiral
Hosier, of a grieved and broken heart .'
As soon as the Cantonese Authorities learned that the
frigates had left the river and that Lord Napier had reached
Macao, they reported to the Emperor that Napier had been
driven out and his two ships of war dragged over the shallows
and expelled,' but they eagerly resumed commercial intercourse
with the British merchants (September 29 , 1834 ) , placing them,
however, under fresh restrictions. They expressly stipulated
that henceforth no barbarian official should presume to come
to Canton but only persons holding the position of tai-pan (the
vulgar term for the East India Company's Chief-Supercargoes) ,
and that all commercial transactions should be strictly confined
to dealings with the Hong Merchants. Moreover, they published
now (November 7 , 1834) an Imperial Edict prohibiting the
opium trade.
Thus ended the melancholy mission of Lord Napier. Its
failure is clearly not due to any want of diplomatic tact or
courage on the part of Lord Napier, but to the clashing of
Chinese and British interests. Nor can we blame the Chinese
Authorities, who, accustomed by the policy of abject servility,
maintained by the East India Company for two consecutive
centuries, to deal with Europeans willing to forego for the
sake of trade all claims of national and personal self-respect,
were entirely taken by surprise when they suddenly encountered,
on the part of the British Government, the identical notions of
national self-adequacy and political supremacy which had hitherto
been the undisputed monopoly of the Chinese Government.
The crowning misfortune of Lord Napier was that by the time
(end of November) when the first news of the disastrous ending
of his mission reached England, the administration of Lord
Melbourne (who had taken Earl Grey's place in July) had come
40 CHAPTER IV.
to an end (November 14) , that Lord Palmerston was therefore
out of office and the Duke of Wellington at the helm of affairs.
But the worst feature of this whole melancholy spectacle
is the stolid apathy with which the English public received the
news of the failure of Lord Napier's mission and the heartless
cruelty with which the Duke of Wellington condemned Lord
Napier's conduct . The silent acquiescence of the British public
in the expulsion from Canton, in so degrading a manner, of
the principal officer of their King and their country, lowered
British reputation in the eyes of the Chinese and contributed
to encourage them to venture upon future outrages . As to
the Duke, he never had much respect for Lord Palmerston's
or anybody's statecraft. With a belief in his own shrewd
intuition of the right thing to be done at any critical moment ,
he combined a somewhat brusque manner of criticising supposed
diplomatic blunderers. He looked upon this whole scheme
of the fallen Whig leaders as a bungle from the beginning to
the end and judged it , exactly as he judged the Cabul disasters
eight years later, as a case of giving undue power to political
agents. The series of insults heaped upon Lord Napier, while
alive, by the Chinese Authorities, was kindness compared with
the cruel injustice with which the Duke of Wellington censured
Lord Napier when dead. The man whose puissant arm could
bind the tyrant of a world ' proved childishly impotent in
his encounter with Chinese mandarindom. The hero who,
conquering Fate, enfranchised Europe, ' entirely missed his
opportunity of becoming also the liberator of European trade
in Asia. The noble Duke entirely forgot himself when he gave
it as his opinion ( March 24 , 1835) that Lord Napier had brought
about the failure of his mission by assuming high-sounding
titles, by going to Canton without permission, and by attempting
an unusual mode of communication . Understanding that British
trade in China was flourishing again, in spite of the defeat
Lord Napier had sustained at Canton, the Duke recommended
to keep the enjoyment of what we have got and to repress the
ardour of British traders.
THE MISSION OF LORD NAPIER. 41
The British Government, having first disregarded the
lessons afforded by the experiences of the East India Company,
now misinterpreted the lessons to be derived from Lord Napier's
fate. Clearly, the time for a British Colony in China had
not come yet. Hongkong had to wait yet a little longer.
Another and sharper lesson was needed .
CHAPTER V.
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY.
A.D. 1834 to 1836.
THE expulsion of Lord Napier and the indignities deliberately
T
heaped upon him (in 1834) were but the premonitory
symptoms of a thunderstorm of Chinese Imperial, official and
popular wrath, which was to burst over the heads of the British
community at Canton five years later (in 1839) . For the
present, this precursory brief disturbance of the peace was
succeeded by a temporary lull. During this interval, however,
internal dissensions sprang up among all the parties concerned,
in the British Cabinet, among the Superintendents who succeeded
Lord Napier, among the British merchants and among the
Chinese.
Mr. J. F. Davis (later on better known as Sir John Davis,
Sinologue and Governor of Hongkong) succeeded to the post
of Chief Superintendent of British trade in China (October
12 , 1834) , Sir George B. Robinson acting as Second and
Mr. J. H. Astell as Third Superintendent. When announcing
to Lord Palmerston the changes that had taken place, Mr. Davis
declared that an unbecoming and premature act of submission
to the Chinese Authorities would not only prove fruitless but
mischievous, and that therefore ' absolute silence and quiescence
seemed to him the most eligible policy to pursue, until receipt
of instructions from the Cabinet.
But the British Cabinet was not in a position, for years
to come, to form any definite policy with regard to China.
Lord Palmerston was temporarily (November 14, 1834, to April
10, 1835) out of office and when the Whig leaders resumed the
reins of the Government (April 10, 1835 , to September 16, 1841 ),
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY. 43
they felt the ground under their feet too unstable to risk their
existence by adopting a definite policy with regard to China.
The Duke of Wellington personally adopted the views of the
Chinese officials and did not shrink from applying them to the
past, in condemning Lord Napier's action, or to the future in
approving of Mr. Davis' proposed policy of inaction. As to
the British public, it took the attitude of stolid apathy, caring
nothing for these things, so long as the supply of tea and silk
was forthcoming at the usual prices. Accordingly, when
Mr. Davis, fearing lest he be left without any instructions,
forwarded positive suggestions, they were, though good enough
to be taken up and acted upon in subsequent years, quietly
shelved for a good while by the Government.
Mr. Davis recommended (October 24 and 28, 1834) not
to send out another cumbrous and expensive Embassy, but to
appeal to the Emperor of China by means of a dispatch to be
delivered by a small fleet at the mouth of the Peking River
(Peiho), and, if such an appeal should fail, as he expected it
would , to use then measures of coercion. Mr. Davis recommended
this course on the ground that the Imperial Government of
China sincerely desired to ameliorate the condition of British
merchants, but that the Cantonese Authorities, by their mis-
representations, kept the Emperor in the dark as to the real
position of affairs. Mr. Davis, at the same time, stated that
the Mandarins at Canton were anxious to keep the control of
British merchants in the hands of the Hong Merchants,
because this system enabled them to lighten their own respon-
sibilities and to practise their heavy exactions on the trade with
greater impunity.
In these views Mr. Davis was cordially supported by the
whole British community of Canton and Macao, who forwarded
(December 9, 1834) a petition signed by sixty-four British
subjects and addressed to the King's Most Excellent Majesty
in Council. Their unanimous opinion was that the long
acquiescence in the arrogant assumption of superiority over the
monarchs and people of other countries, claimed by the Emperor
44 CHAPTER V.
of China, had caused the disabilities and restrictions which
had been imposed on British trade in China, and that Lord
Napier's not having the requisite powers, properly sustained by
an armed force, had put British merchants in their present
degraded and insecure position. Accordingly they suggested to the
King in Council, that a determined maintenance of the rank of
the British Empire in the scale of nations was the proper policy
to adopt, and they recommended the plan which was actually
carried out seven years later in the so-called opium war, viz . , that
a Plenipotentiary, with an armed force, proceed to a convenient
station on the east coast of China and demand of the Emperor
ample reparation for the insults offered to Lord Napier, to
the King and to his subjects, and to propose the appointment
of Imperial Commissioners to arrange with the British
Plenipotentiary a basis for regulating British trade, so as to
prevent future troubles, and to extend trade to Amoy, Ningpo
and Chusan .
The fact that at the close of the year 1834 ample reasons
existed for making this demand and for taking this action,
which without coercive measures was impossible, is important.
Equally important is the other fact that the subsequent war
of 1841 did no more than what was needed and demanded in
the year 1834. For these facts show that the subsequent
expulsion of the British community from Canton (in 1839 )
and the whole opium question, as connected with the war
of 1841 , were merely accidental accessories to the fact already
patent in the year 1834 to every resident in China, the foreign
merchants and the British Superintendents, that the necessities of
British trade, combined with British national and individual
self-respect, were so irreconcilable with Chinese contempt of
trade and Chinese notions of supremacy and autocracy, as to
make war between Great Britain and China an absolute
necessity. In no other way could the Chinese Authorities be
induced to make reasonable concessions to the merchants ,
whom they had themselves invited and whom they desired
to continue their commerce with China. Nothing short of
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY. 45
an armed demonstration of force could induce the Chinese
Mandarins to grant foreign trade a dignified modus vivendi.
War with China was, at the close of the year 1834, a mere
question of time. Strictly speaking it was simply a question
of arousing public opinion in England to a recognition of the
actual necessities of the case. But it took years to accomplish
this, and meanwhile affairs in China were in a state of transition,
which made the position of the British merchants and their
Superintendents extremely awkward .
British merchants in Canton, at Macao and at the anchorage
of Lintin, were nominally under the control of the British
Superintendents. But the Chinese Authorities persistently
protested against their claim of an official status, and the
British Cabinet left their political authority unsupported and
their jurisdiction over British subjects undefined . Moreover
it was asserted by many British merchants that their own
Government had broken faith with them in the matter of
the dissolution of the East India Company's trade monopoly.
For the Government had by Act of Parliament thrown open
the trade with China and thereby invited them to operate at
Canton, and yet the Government appeared to tolerate and
sanction a survival in Canton of the East India Company's
trade monopoly in the form of a Financial Committee of bill
brokers who, with the resources of the Indian revenues at their
command, hampered, and domineered over, the commercial
operations of British free traders. This yoke was the more
chafing, because the Chinese Authorities increased their exactions
on British trade almost from month to month, ever since the
East India Company's charter had ceased .
Consequently, headed by Jardine, Matheson & Co. , R.
Turner & Co. , J. Innes, J. McAdam Gladstone, A. S. Keating,
J. Watson, N. Crooke, W. S. Boyd, J. Templeton & Co. , and
Andrew Johnstone, the British Chamber of Commerce at Canton
protested against the continuance in China of any part of the
East India Company's factory, even for the purpose of selling
bills on India and purchasing bills on England, by making
46 CHAPTER V.
advances on the goods and merchandise of individuals intended
for consignment to England. They pleaded that this practice
was an infringement of the Act of Parliament which required
the East India Company to abstain from all commercial business ;
that it raised the prices of Chinese produce ; that it encouraged
improvident speculation ; that it shut out British mercantile
capital through occupying the field with the revenues of India ;
and that it formed, through an understanding with the Hong
Merchants, a close monopoly of the most desirable teas.
Meanwhile the Chinese Authorities continued their previous
tactics . They had not the slightest wish to kill the goose
which laid the golden eggs ; only the goose must have no
aspirations above a goose and remain in their own exclusive
grasp. As soon as they heard of Lord Napier's arrival in
Macao, they re-opened trade (September 29 , 1834) and rescinded
the prohibition against pilots bringing foreign vessels up to
Whampoa. Trade forthwith re-commenced and proceeded as
briskly as ever, both at Canton and at Lintin. But the
Cantonese Authorities and the Hong Merchants scrupulously
avoided recognizing the British Superintendents as having any
official status whatever, whilst they used every possible means ,
fair and foul, to persuade individual British merchants to
disavow the authority and jurisdiction of the Superintendents.
They even attempted to induce the Chamber of Commerce to
nominate a trading tai-pan ' (a Chief- Supercago) to be officially
recognized by the Chinese Government as responsible for the
personal conduct and for the commercial transactions of every
foreign merchant, and especially also for the Lintin opium
trade. To the invitation to nominate a trading tai -pan , specially
ordered by the Governor (October 19 and 20 , 1834) , the British
merchants, having been particularly warned by the Secretary
to the Superintendents to remain loyal ( November 10, 1834) ,
replied in a body, that no authority of the kind could be held by
any British merchant without the authority of the British Crown .
Nevertheless the British community did not disguise to the
Superintendents that, if the suggestions they had both made
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY. 47
to the British Government were disregarded, the mercantile
community would have no faith whatever in the quiescent policy
of the Superintendents, and that, unrecognized as the Commission
remained in relation to the Chinese Authorities and unable to
assert their claims to political and judicial authority, they
ought not to expect the British mercantile community to look
to them for guidance, direction or protection . One of the
merchants, Mr. Keating, having a petty dispute with the firm
of Turner & Co. concerning a claim of three hundred dollars,
preferred against him by that firm, went so far as to deny
the jurisdiction of the Superintendents altogether, on the ground
of the undefined character of their functions and of their want
of power to enforce their decisions. On the same grounds
Mr. Innes, another British merchant, when wronged by the
Chinese, deliberately threatened the Superintendents with taking
the law into his own hands and making independently reprisals
upon the natives.
Whilst these and similar disputes divided the foreign
merchants and their Superintendents, the Chinese Authorities
and the Hong Merchants were not in any more amicable
relations. The Hong Merchants were severely censured by their
superiors for having failed to bring the foreign merchants under
a responsible foreign head and for the consequent failure of
any means of inducing them to stop the trade carried on at
Lintin by the opium receiving- ships. Moreover, free trade
principles began to assert themselves on the Chinese side. The
Hong Merchants' own monopoly began to crumble down . For
some time past the Senior Hong Merchant, who alone was
solvent, had virtually been acting as the sole holder of the
monopoly, but lately the other Hong Merchants, tempted by
their indebtedness to the foreign merchants and to the Mandarins,
had taken to the practice of sub-letting some of their privileges
to private Chinese traders and shopkeepers, to whom they
individually issued licences to deal in foreign goods under the
names of the respective Hong Merchants. In this way it had
come to pass that the neighbourhood of the factories at Canton
48 CHAPTER V.
was gradually surrounded by a colony of Chinese free traders.
and shopkeepers. At the sight of this inroad of free trade
principles, the Mandarins waxed wroth and a series of fulminating
edicts went forth against the Hong Merchants and the
sub-licensees.
Such was the state of affairs in January 1835 , when
Mr. Davis, seeing himself unrecognized , powerless and without
prospect of an early change of policy, prudently vacated his
post as Chief Superintendent and returned to England (January
21 , 1835) . Sir George Best Robinson now assumed office as
the Head of the King's Commission , declaring his intention
to follow the quiescent line of policy initiated by Mr. Davis.
Mr. J. F. Astell acted as Second and Captain Ch . Elliot ,
R.N., as Third Superintendent, but when Mr. Astell resigned
soon after (April 1 , 1835). Captain Elliot succeeded to the
post of Second and Mr. A. R. Johnston to that of Third
Superintendent, whilst Mr. E. Elmslie acted as Secretary and
Treasurer.
Dissensions now multiplied on all sides. Sir George
Robinson conceived an insuperable antipathy against the British
free traders whom he falsely represented to the Foreign Office
as having caused Lord Napier's failure by their bitter party
strife, as being possessed of an anxious wish, aiding and
abetting therein the Chinese Authorities, to avoid any reference
to the Superintendents, and as divided among themselves by
virulent dissensions to a fearful extent. Sir George was,
however, equally at variance with his colleagues in the
Commission. He differed from the other two Superintendents
on matters of policy, so much so, that he not only separated
from them, leaving them at Macao or Canton while he
established himself (November 2 , 1835 ) , with the Secretary
and the archives of the Commission, on board the cutter
Louisa at Lintin , but wrote from thence to Lord Palmerston
(January 29 , 1836) recommending to reduce the Commission
to one member 6 because disunion and opposition inevitably
results from the existence of a Council or Board of three.'
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY. 49
At Lintin Sir George remained enthroned in the very
centre of the hated opium traffic, which the other Superintendents
equally loathed as a source of disgrace and danger. Sir George,
though residing in the midst of the opium dealers, was no
admirer of the opium trade. On the contrary, he expressly
applied to Lord Palmerston for orders to authorize him to
prevent British vessels engaging in this traffic. Sir George
fondly imagined then that he would be able to enforce such
orders. But the opium consumption had by this time already
assumed such dimensions and gained such popularity on the
Chinese side, that no power on earth, whether British or
Chinese, could have stopped either the demand by the Chinese
people or the supply by the foreign shipping. Very properly,
therefore, Sir George further advised Lord Palmerston (February
5 , 1836 ) that a more certain method would be to prohibit
the growth of the poppy and manufacture of opium in
British India.'
Throughout his tenure of the office of Chief Superintendent
(January 22 , 1835 , to December 14 , 1836 ) , Sir George
B. Robinson had no communication with the Hong Merchants
nor with the Cantonese Authorities, who rigidly adhered to
their determination not to recognize the presence of any
foreign official. When the crew of the Argyle were seized on
the Chinese coast and detained (January 25, 1835 ) , Captain
Elliot went to Canton (February 4, 1835 ) and demanded their
liberation. He was curtly ordered to leave Canton, but the
crew was set at liberty (February 18, 1845 ) . On February
23, 1835, the Canton officials made a public demonstration of
their determination to carry out the Imperial edict (of
November 7 , 1834) and , having seized some chests of opium,
burned them in public. In private, however, they continued
to connive at and to foster the opium trade, and commerce
continued quietly throughout the year. In autumn (October
16, 1835) Sir G. B. Robinson wrote to the Duke of Wellington ,
to whom he looked as his patron rather than to Lord Palmerston,
that he had never in the slighest degree perceived any disposition
4
50 CHAPTER V.
on the part of the Chinese Authorities to enter into any
communication, or even to permit any intercourse with the
officers of this Commission and that Elliot's attempts to open
up communication with them had only involved him in
additional contumely and insult, thereby greatly impeding
the prospective adjustment of existing difficulties. The words
which the Duke of Wellington penned (March 24 , 1835)
in condemnation of Lord Napier's mission, he (the Chief
Superintendent) must not go to Canton without permission,
he must not depart from the accustomed channel of com-
munication, but he must have great powers to enable him to
control and keep in order the King's subjects (the free
traders) , and there must always be within the Consul- General's
reach a stout frigate and a smaller vessel of war,' seemed to
be always ringing in Sir George's ears and formed the keynote
of what he loved to call his perfectly quiescent policy.' He
regarded himself as a Consul-General, unaccredited indeed to
the Chinese Government, but specially commissioned to keep
the free traders in order where they most needed it, at Lintin .
There he remained, out of touch with the leaders of the
legitimate trade at Canton and Macao, unrecognized by the
Chinese Authorities and separated from his own colleagues in
the Commission who desired to follow an active policy. Until .
the close of the year 1836 , Sir George practically did nothing
except signing ships' manifests and port clearances and writing
dispatches to Lord Palmerston, in which he triumphantly
reported from time to time that trade continued to flourish
without disturbance, thanks to his own perfectly quiescent
line of policy, and persistently dinning into the Minister's
ears that he was waiting for His Lordship's positive and
definite instructions as to future measures.'
In one point, however, Sir George went beyond the lines of
the Duke of Wellington's policy. He was constantly on the
look-out for a place where British trade might be conducted
without being shackled with the extortions and impositions of
the Mandarins, and where the Chief- Superintendent might be
DISSENSIONS AND A QUIESCENT POLICY. 51
beyond the dissensions and virulent party strife of the Canton
free traders. At first he thought only of a passive demonstration
(April 13, 1835) to be made, against the Canton Authorities,
by a temporary removal of all British subjects to merchant ships
to be stationed in some of the beautiful harbours in the
neighbourhood of Lantao or Hongkong.' Next he recommended
(December 1 , 1835) that the Commission should be permanently
stationed at Lintin, and later on (January 29, and April 18,
1836 ) he informs Lord Palmerston , that the Chinese Authorities
seem to have but one object , viz ., to prevent the Commission
establishing themselves permanently at Canton, and that without
intimidation and ultimate resort to hostilities no proper under-
standing can be established . Accordingly he suggested, that
'the destruction of one or two forts, and the occupation of one
of the islands in the neighbourhood, so singularly adapted by
nature in every respect for commercial purposes, would promptly
produce every effect we desire.' If Sir George B. Robinson had
been a prophet, he could not have anticipated more distinctly
the future origin of our Colony, the battle of Chuempi and the
occupation of the Island of Hongkong as accomplished seven
years later, in January 1841.
Lord Palmerston, however, was not prepared yet to express
an opinion as to any suggestion leading up to the permanent
establishment of a British station or colony in the East. Neither
did the Duke of Wellington's ideas go beyond the establishment
of a Consul-General in a Chinese port, backed by a stout frigate
and a smaller vessel of war. Lord Palmerston had all along
been little inclined to listen to Sir George Robinson's expositions
of the Duke's notions or to pay any attention to his monotonous
dithyrambics on the subject of the quiescent line of policy. As
to the positive and definite instructions regarding future measures,
for which the Superintendents were waiting in vain from 1834
to 1836 , it was not until Lord Palmerston's views had gained
the ascendancy in the public mind over those of the noble Duke,
that the Minister vouchsafed to give Sir George any instructions
as to his policy. And when (June 7 , 1836 ) he at last did so ,
52 CHAPTER V.
he curtly informed Sir George that there was no longer any
necessity for maintaining the office of Chief- Superintendent
which was hereby abolished, and that Sir George's functions
should cease from the date of the receipt of this dispatch.
Accordingly he instructed Sir George to hand over the archives
of his office to Captain Elliot whom he requested to consider
himself as Chief of the Commission. Sir George, nothing
daunted, remained at his post and appealed for reconsideration
(probably looking to the Duke of Wellington for rescue), but
it was all in vain. The Cabinet had begun to see that the
quiescent policy had failed . Four months afterwards Lord
Palmerston repeated his instructions and Sir George returned
to England.
Thus ended the reign of the quiescent policy of Mr. Davis
and Sir George Robinson . A more active policy was to be
inaugurated as soon as public attention in England could be
aroused to a sense of the dishonour heaped upon British
merchants and officers by Chinese autocracy.
=3
CHAPTER VI.
THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY.
IR George B. Robinson was by no means the first discoverer
SIR
of the need of a British Colony in the East. Nor was Lord
Palmerston the only statesman that shrank from the idea and
found himself unable to form hastily a final opinion upon such a
suggestion until the force of events had actually accomplished it.
So far back as 1815 , Mr. Elphinstone, then President of
the Select Committee of the East India Company's Supercargoes
at Canton, recommended to the Court of Directors, that they
should establish a high diplomatic Plenipotentiary on a
convenient station on the eastern coast of China, ' and as near
the capital of the country as might be found most expedient .
He further recommended that this Plenipotentiary should be
attended by a sufficient maritime force to demand reparation of
the grievances from which the trade was suffering. The Directors
of the Company, with all their statesman-like sagacity, did not
see their way to follow up this suggestion, the carrying out
of which would have anticipated the sound basis of commercial
relations which was eventually obtained some thirty-six years
later, by the very course of action first recommended by
Mr. Elphinstone .
The next person to take up and develop Mr. Elpinstone's
idea of a station on the east coast of China as a point d'appui
for a naval demonstration, intended to compel China to redress
grievances and to make some commercial concessions, was
Sir George Staunton, the famous translator of the original
statutes of the Tatsing Dynasty (Penal Code of China ), who had
also been a trusted servant of the East India Company in
China. Having returned to England, he entered Parliament.
In the course of a debate which took place in the House of
54 CHAPTER VI.
Commons (June, 1833) concerning the arbrogation of the East
India Company's trade monopoly, Sir George Staunton moved
a series of resolutions, one of which (No. 8) ran as follows :
6
That, in the event of its proving impracticable to replace
the influence of the East India Company's Authorities by any
system of national protection, directly emanating from the
Crown, it will be expedient (though only in the last resort) to
withdraw altogether from the control of the Chinese Authorities,
and to establish the trade in some insular position on the
Chinese coast where it may be satisfactorily carried on beyond
the reach of acts of oppression and molestation, to which an
unresisting submission would be equally prejudicial to the-
national honour and to the national interests of this country.'
Whilst this important subject was under discussion , the House
was counted out, and on a subsequent resumption of the debate
the resolutions were negatived without a division , indicating
the general indifference as regards Chinese affairs which then
prevailed in England .
At the time when Sir George Staunton drafted the
foregoing resolution , the project of stationing in Canton three
Superintendents of British trade in China was definitely placed
before the country by the Bill above mentioned which passed
into law two months later. In speaking of a system of national
protection directly emanating from the Crown, ' Sir George
Staunton referred to Lord Napier's proposed mission , the failure
of which he appears to have foreseen . In suggesting a remedy
for this expected failure, the establishment of the Commission
in some insular position on the coast, beyond the reach of acts
of oppression and molestation,' Sir George Staunton may not
have had in his mind more than the establishment of a trade
station after the fashion of the East India Company's factories,
but he evidently came very near the idea of a British Colony.
He had to advantage studied the history of the East India
Company and drawn from it lessons which Cabinet Ministers
failed to master. Speaking before the House of Commons in
support of the above resolution, he argued that the port of
THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY. 55
Canton was one of the least advantageous in the Chinese
dominions, either for exports or for imports, that the trade of
Canton was wholly abandoned to the arbitrary control of the
Local Authorities, and was by them subjected to many and
severe and vexatious burdens and to various restrictions and
privations of the most galling and oppressive nature, and finally
that those evils were wholly attributable to the nature and
character of the Chinese Government.
About the time when these sage counsels were urged in
the House of Commons upon an apathetic audience, another
former servant of the East India Company, Sir J. B. Urmston ,
who had been at the head of the British Factory in Canton
in the years 1819 and 1820, published (London, 1833 ) a
pamphlet under the title ' Observations on the Trade of China '
(printed for private circulation only) . In this pamphlet, Sir
J. B. Urmston impressed upon the British Government the
necessity of removing the trade entirely from Canton to some
other more northern port of the Empire. His argument was
that British trade at Canton had always been at the mercy of
the caprice and rapacity of the Cantonese Authorities and their
subordinates, and that Canton was one of the worst places in
the Empire which could have been chosen as an emporium for the
British trade. Accordingly Sir J. B. Urmston named Ningpo
and Hangchow as central and convenient places for British
commerce, but gave it as his decided opinion that an insular
situation, like Chusan, would be infinitely more so . We see,
therefore, that Mr. Elphinstone, Sir George Staunton and Sir
J. B. Urmston were of one and the same way of thinking,
having correctly drawn the lessons of the past history of British
trade in China, but that , as former employees of the East India
Company, they thought of a factory rather than of a Colony.
It is remarkable, however, that Cabinet Ministers profited so
little from the advice thus tendered in Parliament and in the
Press, as to commit the blunders which characterized , a few
months later, their design of Lord Napier's mission and the
instructions by which they frustrated it .
56 CHAPTER VI.
When an echo of the foregoing discussions reached Canton
at the close of the year 1833, a writer in one of the local
publications, signing himselfA British Merchant,' made some
further suggestions. Canton, he said, should no longer be the
base of operations, be they of negotiation, of peace, or of war.
An Admiral's station should be selected, and, for the sake of
resting on some point, Ningpo might be adopted or the adjacent
island of Chusan. The writer then goes on discussing the
annexation of Formosa, the seizure of the island of Lantao
(close to Hongkong), the cession of Macao to be obtained from
the Portuguese, but finally rejects the seizure of any portion
of Chinese territory as impolitic and the cession of Macao as
impracticable. The author of this letter thereupon labours to
recommend the idea of negotiating a treaty with China under
which some port of the east coast of China should be opened
to British trade, free from the restrictions in force at Canton .
A treaty port with a British Consulate seemed to him preferable
to a Colony, but how such a treaty could be negotiated without
compulsion by force of arms, he did not explain.
The honour of having first discerned and directed attention
to the peculiar facilities afforded by the Island of Hongkong
belongs to Lord Napier. In a dispatch addressed to Lord
Palmerston (August 14, 1834) , in which he urged the necessity
of commanding, by an armed demonstration, the conclusion of
a commercial treaty to secure the just rights and interests
of European merchants in China. Lord Napier distinctly
recommended that a small British force should take possession
of the Island of Hongkong, in the eastern entrance of the
Canton River, which is admirably adapted for every purpose.'
It is possible, however, that Lord Napier, as subsequently Captain
Elliot, thought of Hongkong as a future Chinese treaty port
rather than as a British Colony. The next advocate of a similar
policy was Sir George B. Robinson , who, as stated above, urged
upon Lord Palmerston (in 1836 ) to withdraw from Canton
and to occupy one of the islands in the neighbourhood (of
Lintin) so singularly adapted by nature in every respect for
THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY. 57
commercial purposes.' At the same time when Sir George
Robinson sought to impress upon the Foreign Office the
advantages of an island station, away from Canton, another
former resident of China appealed to the British public,
commending the same policy, seeking to arouse public opinion
in England and to turn it in favour of the project first advanced
by Mr. Elphinstone . In a pamphlet , entitled " The Present
Condition and Prospec ts of British Trade with China,' and
published in Londo n in 1830, Mr. James Matheson of Canton ,
expounded and expanded Mr. Elphinstone's advice of sending
a Plenipotentiary to China, who should take his station on one
of the islands on the east coast of China and thence negotiate ,
by the demonstration of a small naval force, a commercial
treaty, the object of which should be to secure for British
trade in China an insular location beyond the reach of Chinese
officialdom . This clearly pointed to a British Colony to be
established on the coast of China .
Mr. Matheson, however, was no advocate of war with China.
Neither did he imagine that China would readily consent to
the establishment of a British Colony at her very gates. Mr.
Matheson argued that a state of preparedness for war is the
surest preventive of war, especially in our dealings with a
nation like China, and that a firm policy, plainly supported
by a strong fleet, ready for war, might, if judiciously pressed
home, be all that would be absolutely necessary. Thus Mr.
Matheson struck, in 1836, the key-note of the policy which
eventually procured the establishment of the Colony of Hongkong.
What Mr. Matheson thus urged upon the home country
as a whole by his pamphlet, he impressed especially also upon
the various Associations and Chambers of Commerce within reach
of his influence in England and Scotland. In the course of
the year 1836 , several memorials were accordingly presented
at the Foreign Office from various parts of Great Britain,
requesting that immediate and energetic measures should be
adopted for the extension and protection of commerce in China.
Among them was a memorial of the Glasgow East India
58 CHAPTER VI.
Association, addressed to Lord Palmerston. This document
suggested, no doubt at the instigation of Mr. Matheson, ' the
obtaining, by negotiation or purchase, an island on the eastern
coast of China, where a British factory may reside, subject to
its own laws and exposed to no collision with the Chinese.'
When the Glasgow merchants thus recommended to seek, by
negotiation or purchase, the cession of an island for the
establishment of a factory, they did not mean a factory like
the trade stations of the East India Company, but a factory
of British and notably Scotch free traders , in the Canton sense
of the word. They forestalled thus in principle the future
cession of Hongkong, although their thoughts then turned,
with Mr. Matheson, more in the direction of Chusan than of
Hongkong.
The idea which Mr. Matheson thus prominently brought ,
by his pamphlet, before the general public, and by the Glasgow
memorial before the Cabinet, to desert Canton and to seek,
somewhere on the east coast, an island where British trade with
China might be conducted under the British flag, on British
ground, and under British government, was not left without its
opponents. Mr. H. Hamilton Lindsay, also a former Canton
resident and ex - member of the East India Company's Select
Committee, published, in 1836, a Letter addressed to Lord
Palmerston under the title British Relations with China . ' In
this pamphlet, whilst recommending the adoption of a belligerent
policy in opposition to Mr. Matheson's armed peace procedure,
Mr. Lindsay advocated the formation, on the coast of China,
of two or three depots with floating warehouses, like the above
mentioned hulks anchored at Lintin . Each of those depots, he
suggested, should be guarded by a stout frigate and thrown
open for the resort of merchant vessels to trade there . As
to the project of forming a Colony, Mr. Lindsay added that he
would on no account advocate the taking possession of the
smallest island on the coast.
Another opponent of the Colonial policy came forward
anonymously, by a pamphlet published in London, in 1836, by
THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY. 59
6
a resident in China, under the title British Intercourse with
China .' The anonymous author of this pamphlet represented
the Missionary view of the question and suggested that the
Government should choose a pacific policy towards China on
grounds of expediency, humility and generosity, and confine its
political action to the establishment of a Consulate at Canton
together with a small fleet for the protection of trade.
To combat the foregoing opponents of his scheme, Sir George-
Staunton now came forward again and published , in 1836 , a
pamphlet entitled ' Remarks on British Relations with China.'
Sir George had, however, but little to say that was new.
argued, as before, that Canton was the very worst station to
select for trade purposes, but he now advocated the occupation
of an island on the coast without previous negotiation with
the Chinese Government. He stated that there were many
islands on the coast over which the Chinese Government exercised
no act of jurisdiction, and that such an island might easily be
taken possession of with the entire consent and good-will of
the inhabitants if there were any. Moreover he now pointed,
very aptly, to the precedent afforded by the Portuguese Colony
on the island of Macao, the original occupation of which was
an act precisely of that description which Sir George Staunton
advocated, and not the result of any previous authentic cession
by the Chinese Authorities, as pretended by the Portuguese.
So far, however, this general search for a Colony in the
East was more a groping about for an island on the east coast
of China than in the neighbourhood of Canton. Chusan was
most in favour. Next came Ningpo and Formosa . But other
places also were mentioned . At the close of the year 1836 ,
when this war of the pamphleteers was transferred from England
to Canton, the general divergence of views was increased.
Mr. G. Tradescant Lay, a naturalist who had accompanied
Captain Beechy's Expedition to the Bonin Islands, strongly
advocated, in the Canton newspapers and by a pamphlet published
in 1837, the occupation of one of those islands for the purpose
of a British Colony. Hongkong was almost out of the running.
60 CHAPTER VI.
However, the annexation of Hongkong was under the
consideration of the Canton free traders early in the year
1836, when a correspondent of the Canton Register made the
following prophetic remarks (April 25, 1836 ) . " If the lion's
paw is to be put down on any part of the south side of
China, let it be Hongkong ; let the lion declare it to be
under his guarantee a free port, and in ten years it will be
the most considerable mart east of the Cape. The Portuguese
made a mistake : they adopted shallow water and exclusive
rules. Hongkong, deep water, and a free port for ever ! '
This anticipation of the future was but the view of a minority
at Canton . Most of the British merchants continued to cling
to the notion that the inner waters of Canton afforded a
special vantage ground, that the lion's share was there where
their trade was acknowledged by the Chinese Authorities,
that at Canton therefore the British representative should
reside and that, unless he were to reside there, he would be
simply nowhere, whether for the Chinese Government or for
his countrymen. At the time when the discussion as to the
best location of the British trade waxed hottest in the Canton
papers, there was published in the same papers (December, 1836 )
a detail description of the coast of China for the benefit of
mariners, and in these papers, entirely unconnected with the
above-mentioned search for a Colony, we find Hongkong
referred to in the following words :-
' On the west of the Lamma channel is Lantao (about
60 miles S.E. of Canton ) and on the east are Hongkong
and Lamma. North of Hongkong is a passage between it
and the main, called Ly-ee- moon, with good depth of water
close to the Hongkong shore, and perfect shelter on all sides.
Here are several good anchorages. At the bottom of a bay
on the opposite main is a town called Kowloon and a river
is said to discharge itself here (a statement the incorrectness.
of which is palpable, unless by the word river a little creek
is meant) . On the S.W. side of Hongkong, and between it
and Lamma, are several small bays, fit for anchorage, one of
THE SEARCH FOR A COLONY. 61
which, named Heang-keang, probably has given name to the
island . Tytam harbour is in a bay on the S.E. side of the
island, having the S.E. point for its protection to the
eastward, other parts of the island on the N. and W. and
several small islands off the entrance of the bay to the south.
It is roomy and free from danger.'
It was unfortunate that the search for a Colony had met
with opposition in Canton and developed in England into a
war of pamphleteers. This conflict confused instead of forming
public opinion . At any rate nothing definite was accomplished.
Parliament would not take up the question , and Lord Palmerston ,
whose mind was by this time made up, preferred to wait
until he was sure as to the drift of public opinion .
No one, it will be observed, took a share in this search
for a Colony except persons directly connected with the China
Trade past or present, unless we except a crude concoction
by a writer of the East India House (a Mr. Thompson)
who, in a pamphlet published under the title Considerations
representing the Trade with China ' (London, 1836 ), deprecated
war for commerce only. Neither public opinion nor the
Cabinet approved of or took more than a languid interest in
the measures discussed . However, attention had been called
to the subject in prominent places, and the public mind
was now, in some measure at least, prepared to accept,
reluctantly though it be, the idea of establishing a British
Colony in the East, when, four years later, this project was
suddenly presented to the nation as an accomplished fact by
the news of the cession of Hongkong brought about by the
force of events rather than by any continuation of this search
for a Colony.
3-
CHAPTER VII.
CHANGE OF POLICY.
1836 to 1838.
N June 1836 a marked change commenced in the policy
IN of the British Cabinet. Previous to that time the Duke
of Wellington's Memorandum of March 24, 1835 , had, as above
mentioned, suggested that the British Chief- Superintendent of
Trade in China should not proceed to or reside at Canton ,
that he should not adopt high-sounding titles , that he should
not depart from the accustomed mode of communication with
the Chinese Government, that he should not assume a power
hitherto unadmitted, but keep, by the support of a stout frigate,
the enjoyment of what little had been got, and leave it to the
future to decide whether any effort should be made at Peking
or elsewhere to improve our relations with China, commercial
as well as political . This quiescent line of policy initiated by
the Duke and expounded in China, after Lord Napier's defeat,
by Mr. Davis and Sir George Robinson , ended on June 7 , 1836 ,
for it was now to be substituted by Lord Palmerston's own
diplomacy, hitherto restrained by the indolence of public opinion
and by the divergent views of the Duke of Wellington .
The merchants at Canton, though disappointed in their
expectation that the Government would take steps to obtain
redress for the insulting treatment accorded to Lord Napier, soon
had reason to perceive that a different policy was about to
be inaugurated . When the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.
introduced ( September 20, 1835 ) the first merchant steamer
Jardine to ply on the Canton River, Captain Elliot, then still
under the sway of the quiescent policy, protested against such
a proceeding as contrary to the laws and usages of China, and,
under the orders of Sir George Robinson, placed an interdict
CHANGE OF POLICY. 63
on the employment of the steamer in Chinese waters . But
now (July 22 , 1836 ) Lord Palmerston wrote to Captain Elliot
warning him that, whilst avoiding to give any just cause of
offence to the Chinese Authorities, he should at the same time
be very careful not to assume a greater degree of authority
over British subjects in China than that which he in reality
possessed.
Another indication of the change of policy that had now
taken place, was a direction Lord Palmerston gave, plainly
intimating that free trade and free traders were now viewed by
the Cabinet in a light different from that in which the Duke
of Wellington had looked at them. What had constituted in
the eyes of Canton merchants the most galling element of the
Duke's quiescent policy was his determination, expressed in his
Memorandum, ' to control and keep in order the King's subjects,'
implying that the British community at Canton consisted of
a set of smugglers, pirates and ruffians, requiring that the
Superintendents be armed with the strongest powers for their
coercion rather than protection . Mr. Davis, Sir George Robinson
and even Captain Elliot, had hitherto been under the impression
that all the powers and authorities formerly vested in the
Supercargoes of the East India Company, including the power
to arrest and deport to England unlicensed or otherwise
objectionable persons, might be lawfully exercised by the
Superintendents of British Trade in China ; but now (November
8, 1836 ) Lord Palmerston informed Captain Elliot that, as no
license from His Majesty was now necessary to enable His
Majesty's subjects to trade with or reside in China, such power
of expulsion had altogether ceased to exist with regard to China.
To avoid recurrence of the difference of opinion between
co-ordinate Authorities, which had hampered the Commission
during Sir George Robinson's tenure of office , Lord Palmerston
abolished the office of Third Superintendent , and, whilst
confirming Captain Elliot as Chief, and Mr. Johnston as Second
Superintendent, now (November 8, 1836 ) placed the latter under
the orders and control of the former. The suite, salaries and
64 CHAPTER VII.
contingent allowances of the Commission were also reduced at
the same time, and the two Superintendents were given to
understand that their appointments were only provisional and
temporary. This was unfortunate, for it caused doubts,
both among the British community and among the Chinese
Authorities, as to the official status of the two Superintendents.
Some years later Captain Elliot, with a view to control the
conduct of lawless British subjects, carrying on (in daily conflict
with Chinese revenue cruizers ) a forced contraband trade
between Lintin and Whampoa, established (April 18, 1838 )
a system of police regulations exclusively applicable to the
crews of British-owned vessels under the British flag. Lord
Palmerston, after keeping the Regulations submitted to him
unnoticed for a whole year, wrote at last, on the day when
the whole foreign community were already under rigorous
confinement in consequence of those lawless doings, a dispatch
in which he suddenly came forward with notions of international
law which ought to have entirely vetoed the former mission
of, and Privy Council instructions given to, Lord Napier.
Lord Palmerston then (March 23, 1839 ) informed Captain
Elliot that the Law Officers of the Crown were of opinion
that the establishment of a system of ship's police at Whampoa,
within the Dominions of the Emperor of China, would be
an interference with the absolute right of sovereignty enjoyed
by independent States, which could only be justified by positive
treaty or by implied permission from usage. Accordingly Captain
Elliot was instructed to obtain, first of all, the written approval
of the Governor of Canton for those Regulations . By the time
this curious dispatch reached Elliot, British trade had been
driven out from Canton, thanks to Lord Palmerston's inaction.
But, whilst thus curtailing the powers and restricting the
official standing and jurisdiction of the Commission, Lord
Palmerston sought to uphold their position in other respects
in relation to both the Macao and Canton Authorities.
It appeared to British observers that the Macao Governors
had, ever since Lord Napier's arrival, played into the hands of
CHANGE OF POLICY. 65
the Chinese Authorities and secretly professed themselves as
their allies against the British . Latterly, when the Chinese
Government, and even some of the British merchants, openly
disowned and defied the authority and jurisdiction of the British
Superintendents, the Macao Governor had the hardihood of
declining to recognize His Majesty's Commission, going even
so far as to omit returning answers to their letters. After
making strong representations on this subject to the Government
of Portugal and causing proper instructions to be sent from
Lisbon to the Governor of Macao, Lord Palmerston now
(December 6, 1836) informed Captain Elliot that measures had
been taken to recall the Governor of Macao to a proper sense
of the respect which is due to Officers acting under His Majesty's
Commission, and that orders had been issued for a ship of war
to be stationed in Chinese waters with special instructions to
watch over the interests of British subjects at Macao.
The firm attitude thus assumed towards the Government
of Macao, Lord Palmerston desired also to apply to the regulation
of Captain Elliot's relations with the Cantonese Authorities.
In direct opposition to the Duke of Wellington's Memorandum,
Lord Palmerston repeatedly (July 22, 1836, and June 12 , 1837)
instructed Captain Elliot to decline every proposition to revive
official communication through the customary channel of the
Hong Merchants, to communicate with none but Officers of
the Chinese Government, under no circumstances to give his
written communications with the Chinese Government the name
of petitions, and to insist upon his right , as an Officer
commissioned by the King of England, to correspond on terms
of equality with Officers commissioned by any other sovereign in
the world. It might be very suitable, ' wrote Lord Palmerston ,
' for the servants of the East India Company, themselves an
association of merchants, to communicate with the Authorities
of China through the Merchants of the Hong, but the
Superintendents are Officers of the King, and as such can
properly communicate with none but Officers of the Chinese
Government.'
5
66 CHAPTER VII.
It seemed at this moment as if the British Lion was
beginning to wake up, but the Chinese cared nothing for
his growl from a distance. When Lord Palmerston , however,
discovered (November 2, 1837 ) that Elliot could not possibly
communicate with the Chinese Authorities otherwise than as
a tributary barbarian petitioner, he shrank from the simple
expedient of a naval demonstration which, by the destruction
of the Bogue forts, would, in a couple of hours, have prevented
years of misery. Nevertheless, Lord Palmerston once more
enjoined Captain Elliot to continue to press, on every suitable
opportunity, for the recognition , on the part of the Chinese
Authorities, of his right to receive, direct from the Viceroy,
sealed communications (not orders) addressed to himself without
the intervention of the Hong Merchants. Whilst anxious that
Elliot should have a distinct official position and gain it by
the logic of plausible arguments, he left him unsupported by
a sufficient fleet to apply the only logic the Chinese would
have respected, the demonstration of power. When Elliot urged
(November 19 , 1837) that Lord Palmerston should at least
write a letter to the Viceroy of Canton, as the Directors of
the East India Company had done on several occasions, or send a
Plenipotentiary to present, at the mouth of the Peiho, an auto-
graph letter of Queen Victoria, claiming a settlement of all the
grievances of British trade in China, Lord Palmerston explained
that, in such a case, the question of the opium trade would have
to be taken up, but that Her Majesty's Government did not
yet see their way towards such a measure with sufficient clearness
to justify them in adopting such a course at the moment .
What hampered Captain Elliot, next to his want of a fleet,
was the undefined state of his jurisdiction which prevented
both the Chinese Government and the foreign community in
Canton understanding or recognizing his authority. Lord
Palmerston sought to amend this defect by means of the China
Courts Bil! which was before Parliament at the end of the
year 1838 , but it was arrested in its progress, mainly in
consequence of objections raised by Sir George Staunton.
CHANGE OF POLICY. 67
The British community of Macao and Canton were, under
these circumstances, very much thrown upon their own resources.
They established (November 28, 1836) a General Chamber of
Commerce, but the mixture of nationalities in it caused a good
deal of friction. Nevertheless the Committee (re-elected ,
November 4, 1837 ) succeeded in redressing sundry grievances by
arbitration, built a clocktower, arranged a Post Office, fixed the
regulations of the port and supervised the sanitary arrangements
of the factories. An attempt was made (January 21 , 1837)
to form a representative Committee of British merchants for
the purpose of providing an official channel of communication
between the British community and their Superintendents , and
also in order to ensure joint action in any emergency, but the
attempt failed for want of unity among the leading British
merchants. However, they were not wanting in loyalty. On
the demise of William IV, a public meeting was held (November
27, 1837 ) and an address was agreed upon , expressing condolence
with Queen Victoria, and praying that Her Majesty's reign
might be long and glorious and that Her Majesty's name might
be associated to the end of all time with things religious,
enlightened and humane.
What troubled the peace of British merchants in Canton
most of all at this time, was the insolvent condition of most
of the Hong Merchants. The foreign free traders had not,
like the East India Company, the command of an unlimited
treasury, enabling them to give long credits and to sustain a
long privation of large portions of their trading capital. Nor
were they in a position to adopt the former policy of the East
India Company's Select Committee and distribute their business
among the different Hong Merchants in proportion to their
respective degrees of solvency and thus maintain a command
of the market . Nearly all the thirteen Hong Merchants were
more or less involved at the beginning of the year 1837 ; four
were avowedly insolvent ; one, Hing-tai, was formally declared
bankrupt, his indebtedness to foreigners amounting to over
two million dollars ; and another, King-qua, was on the verge
68 CHAPTER VII.
of bankruptcy. The Viceroy of Canton sanctioned , in the
case of Hing-tai's bankruptcy, an arrangement to be made-
with his foreign creditors , but the latter rejected the terms
offered . As the Chinese Government had originally appointed
the Hong Merchants on the principle of mutual responsibility,
had repeatedly insisted upon the payment of such debts, and
imposed for many years past a special tax on foreign commerce
in order to create a guarantee fund for their liquidation , the
British merchants had both law and prescription on their side.
Morcover, on a similar occasion (A.D. 1780) , an officer in the
service of the East India Company (Captain Panton) had
succeeded, by means of a letter addressed to the Viceroy of
Canton by a British Admiral (Sir Edward Vernon ) and forwarded
by a frigate (the Sea-horse) , in obtaining (October, 1780)
an Imperial Decree ordering partial repayment of a similar
debt . Naturally enough, therefore , the British creditors of
Hing- tai now argued that the simple intervention of the
British Cabinet with the Imperial Government at Peking would
facilitate the adjustment of the whole of their claims against
the bankrupt Hongs. In this sense a memorial was addressed
(March 21 , 1838) to Lord Palmerston , signed by the following
firms, viz.: Dent , Turner, Bell , Lindsay , Dirom , Daniell, Cragg,
Layton, Henderson , Stewart , Rustomjee , Fox Rawson, Nanabhoy
Framjee , Eglinton Maclean , Bibby Adam, Gibb Livingston
Gemmell , Macdonald , Wise Holliday, Kingsley and Jamieson
How. Nevertheless , foreseeing the unwillingness of Lord
Palmerston to press their claims with due promptitude upon
the Chinese Government , the above-mentioned firms meanwhile
applied directly to the Cantonese Authorities, without the
intervention of Captain Elliot. A long and exasperating
correspondence ensued, the upshot of which was that the British
merchants obtained payment of their claims against the Hing-tai
Hong at a reduced rate but by instalments secured by the
Chinese Government , and further the Viceroy sanctioned , at
their request, the liquidation of King-qua's debts. In fact,
through firmness of purpose combined with a nominal submission
CHANGE OF POLICY. 69
to the absolutism of Chinese officialdom, the British merchants
gained concessions which the British Government could not
have gained for them, whilst claiming international equality,
except by an armed demonstration .
Captain Elliot's relations with the Cantonese Authorities
were, throughout his whole tenure of office, characterized by
an unceasing battle for a formal recognition of his official status
and for the ordinary courtesies of official intercourse, which
China never conceded until they were wrung out of her at the
point of the bayonet by the Nanking Treaty. On the ground
of what on the surface seemed to be petty questions of official
- etiquette, Elliot had, single-handed and unsupported, to fight
the battle between China's stubborn assertion of supremacy over
all barbarian potentates, Queen Victoria included , and England's
quiet but deliberate claim of international equality. Elliot's
position in this conflict was extremely difficult .
On the one hand, the Cantonese Authorities argued that
for two centuries British merchants had acknowledged, with
abject servility, China's claim of supremacy and consented to
take the orders of the Governor or the Hoppo at the hands
of the Hong merchants ; that Lord Macartney and Lord
Amherst had brought tribute from the Kings of England ;
that Imperial Decrees, which admitted of no alteration , had
fixed the mode of governing foreign trade at Canton ; and
that there was no intelligible difference between a Royal
Superintendent like Elliot and a Supercargo of the former
East India Company, the latter having wielded , in the
experience of Chinese officials, more authority and power over
their countrymen than Lord Napier or Captain Elliot ever
possessed. On the other hand, Lord Palmerston , with equal
justice, persisted in giving Captain Elliot reiterated instructions ,
based on an assumed equality of the British and Chinese
nations, and, on account of the barbarities of the Chinese
Penal Code, virtually amounting to a claim of extra-territorial
-criminal jurisdiction over British subjects trading at Canton .
The mistake was that he, at the same time, left Elliot without
70 CHAPTER VII.
a sufficient fleet to enforce these just and proper claims. It
is hard to say what Captain Elliot ought to have done under
the circumstances. Had he carried out Lord Palmerston's
instructions literally, had he adopted the unusual mode of
communication enjoined upon him, and assumed the high-
sounding title of the King's Officer, boldly insisting upon
equality of official intercourse, he would have courted the
fate and condemnation that fell on Lord Napier. Had he
informed Lord Palmerston the thing was impossible without
having recourse to arms, and advised him to adopt the only
remaining alternative of retiring from Canton and establishing
a British Colony on one of the beautiful islands in the
neighbourhood, say Hongkong, he would probably have been
dismissed with as little ceremony as Sir George Robinson .
What Captain Elliot actually did remains to be told.
He commenced his duties with the determination not to
protract the interruption of official communication between
the Superintendents and the Cantonese Authorities by any
demand of redress for the insults offered to the King and
the country by the treatment accorded to Lord Napier, but
to exhibit a conciliatory disposition, by respecting Chinese
usages, and refraining from shocking the prejudices of the
Chinese official mind . Accordingly, in his first communication
to the Viceroy of Canton (December 14, 1836 ), he did not
refer to the events connected with Lord Napier's death, but
on the contrary explained that all he desired was ' to maintain
and promote the good understanding which has so long and
so happily subsisted .' This letter, written at Macao and
delivered at Canton by the hands of two Agents of the East
India Company (J. H. Astell and H. M. Clarke) and two
British free traders (W. Jardine and L. Dent ) to the Hong
Merchants, was conveyed to the Governor of Canton as a
humble petition of the barbarian headman Elliot . Looking
to the tenor of this letter and to the form of its delivery,
the Viceroy justly concluded that the old policy of the East
India Company was to be resumed by the cowed barbarians.
CHANGE OF POLICY. 71
To make sure, he sent a deputation of Hong Merchants to
interview Elliot at Macao, to question him as to his official
status and policy, and to impress upon him that he must
first of all send a humble petition begging for a passport,
and then remain at Macao until Imperial permission had
been obtained for him to visit Canton , from time to time,
during each business season. The result of the interviews
that took place was that Elliot did as he was told. He
applied, in form of a petition, for a passport and dutifully
waited at Macao until a report had been sent to Peking
stating that the hatchet had been buried in Napier's grave,
that Elliot was virtually but a Chief- Supercargo with a
different name and a smarter uniform, and that things would
go on as of yore. Accordingly, three months later ( March 18,
6
1837 ) the Hoppo informed the Hong Merchants that Elliot
having received a public official commission for the control
of foreign merchants and seamen, although his title be not
the same as that of the Chief- Supercargoes (tai-pan) hitherto
sent, yet in the duty of controlling he does not differ, and
that therefore it is now the Imperial pleasure that he be
permitted to repair to Canton, under the existing regulations
applicable to Chief- Supercargoes, and that on his arrival at
the provincial capital he be allowed to take the management
of affairs. In forwarding a passport for Elliot to the Hong
Merchants, he instructed them to give Elliot particular orders
that as regards his residence, sometimes at Macao, sometimes
at Canton , he must in this also conform himself to the old
regulations, nor can he be allowed to loiter (at Canton)
beyond the proper period .' Thus the official status of the
King's Officer was fixed : subject to the control of the Hong
Merchants and under the orders of the Hoppo, let him obey
tremblingly !
Captain Elliot accepted this humiliating position with-
out further remonstrance and promised ( December 28, 1836)
to remain in Macao until further instructed . In March 1837
an Imperial edict was received at Canton authorizing Elliot's
72 CHAPTER VII.
proceeding to Canton. Accordingly he removed (April 12 , 1837 )
to Canton with Mr. Johnston, the Second Superintendent,
and took with him his whole suite, consisting of a Secretary
(Mr. Elmslie) , two Interpreters (Mr. Morrison and Mr. Gützlaff),
two Surgeons (Mr. Colledge and Mr. Anderson ) , and a Chaplain
(the Rev. Mr. Vachell) . On arrival at Canton , Captain Elliot
at once set to work to obtain a modification of his official
status. He commenced ( April 22 , 1837 ) by protesting that he
could not possibly continue sending any further communications
to the Viceroy through the Hong Merchants, but, on meeting
with a curt refusal, yielded this point five days later, on being
graciously allowed to send his petitions through the Hong
Merchants under a sealed cover addressed to the Viceroy.
But the Canton Authorities communicated with Elliot only
through the Hong Merchants, to whom they addressed their
orders. Thus things went on, quietly enough, for about seven
months, whilst the Viceroy ( September, 1837 ) repeatedly
instructed the Hong Merchants to order Elliot to send the
receiving ships away from Lintin, and Elliot persisted in
declaring that he had no power to do so, although he had
informed the British merchants ( December 31 , 1836 ) that Macao
and Lintin were included in his jurisdiction over British subjects
and ships. On receiving, however, renewed instructions from
Lord Palmerston to maintain the dignity of an Officer of the
British Crown, Captain Elliot humbly informed the Viceroy of
Canton (November 23, 1837 ) that, with all respect for His
Excellency's high dignity, he must discontinue the use of the
character Pien on his addresses to the Governor. When the
Viceroy peremptorily declined making the slightest concession
on this point, Elliot plucked up courage, hauled down his flag
and retired to Macao (November 29, 1837) . The Canton
Authorities, not in least moved by this proceeding, took no
notice of Elliot's departure, but recommended to the Emperor
(December 30, 1837 ) to stop the regular foreign trade until the
receiving ships at Lintin had taken their departure. Meanwhile
all official intercourse with Captain Elliot remained suspended.
CHANGE OF POLICY. 73
Lord Palmerston approved of Elliot's proceedings (June 15,
1838) and sent Admiral Maitland, who arrived on July 12 ,
1838, in H.M.S. Wellesley, to cheer him up. Here was an
opportunity for Captain Elliot, and the Chinese unwittingly
improved upon it by foolishly firing on a boat of the Wellesley.
But Captain Elliot missed his chance and allowed the Chinese
to cajole him . Admiral Maitland was satisfied with a mild
apology by the Chinese Admiral and the usual exchange of
empty civilities between the two Admirals took place. Thus the
commander of the Wellesley was induced to sail away peacefully
(September 25 , 1838) , but under circumstances which justified
the assertion on the part of the Chinese that they had ordered
him off. This palpable mismanagement of the Admiral's visit
to China also met with Lord Palmerston's unqualified approval.
But the Chinese Authorities, having by this time taken the
measure of Captain Elliot's position, now reduced his official
status to an even lower level. They induced him actually to
yield (December 31 , 1838 ) the very point for the sake of which
he had struck his flag a year before, and to communicate with
subordinate officers of the Governor of Canton, by means of
humble petitions . The British newspapers in Canton now
overwhelmed him with a torrent of abuse, and even meek Lord
Palmerston regretted it and mildly suggested , six months later,
(June 13 , 1839) as a remedy, that Elliot should not omit to
avail himself of any proper opportunity to press for the
substitution of a less objectionable character than the character
Pien. But the real degradation in this move Lord Palmerston
did not understand. The concession which Captain Elliot made,
in December 1838, aud the price he paid for the re-opening of
official communications, involved far more than the use of an
objectionable character. For the official status now assigned
to Her Majesty's Commission and accepted by Elliot (December
26, 1838) was this : whilst previously receiving, from the lips
of the Hong Merchants, the orders of the Viceroy and the Hoppo,
the latter being next in rank to the Viceroy, he was henceforth
to receive through the Hong Merchants the orders of the local
74 CHAPTER VII.
Governor's subordinate officers, the Prefect of Canton city and
the Commandant of the local constabulary. Well might the
English newspapers of Canton cry shame at the fresh indignities
heaped upon British honour by placing the Queen's Commission
in China on a level below that of subordinate police officers,
in a position far lower than that of the former Supercargoes .
But, on the other hand, it must also be considered that Elliot
made these concessions at a time when, through the lawless
proceedings of foreigners engaged in the opium traffic between
Lintin and Whampoa, the life and property of the whole foreign
community had been placed in jeopardy and a dreadful
catastrophe was believed to be impending. Elliot believed that
this humiliating mode of communication with the Chinese
Government would only be of brief duration , pending the succour
he expected to receive from the home country. In this he was
mistaken. The public mind of England did not care for or
understand these things, or at any rate the nation was not
prepared yet to redeem the honour of the British flag in China.
Stronger measures had to be taken by the Chinese to arouse
public opinion in England, and the occasion for such measures
was furnished by the opium trade itself.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE OPIUM QUESTION AND THE EXODUS FROM CANTON.
1839.
The taste for opium is a congenital disease of the Chinese
race. At the beginning of the Christian era, the uses and effects
of opium were the secret of the Buddhist priesthood in China .
Priests from India secured for themselves divine honours by
performing feats of ascetic discipline, fasting and mental
absorption, sitting for instance motionless for months at a time.
indolently gazing at a black wall. These feats were performed
by means of opium. Buddhist and Taoist priests peregrinated
through the whole of China performing astounding medical
cures by means of opiates. Centuries before European medical
science discovered the uses of opium, there was all over China a
large and constantly increasing demand for this drug, and, though
opium was grown in China from the earliest times, most of the
supply was imported into China by Arab traders at Canton and
Foochow. Nevertheless, while numbers of individuals taking
opium in excess were physically and morally ruined by it, the use
of opium never affected the health of the race to any perceptible
extent. When the smoking of opium and the consequent practice
of introducing opium vapour into the lungs commenced in China ,
is not known. As early as A.D. 1678 a regular duty on
foreign imported opium was levied at Canton, but for 77
years after that date the annual import . did not exceed 200
chests. By the year 1796, however, the annual rate of
importation had risen to 4,100 chests and the rapid spread of
a taste for opium smoking, and the consequent demoralisation
of individuals who smoked opium to excess, attracted the
attention of the Government. Accordingly the importation of
76 CHAPTER VIII.
opium was formally prohibited (A.D. 1796 ) by an Imperial
Edict, the regular levy of a duty on opium ceased, and for it was
substituted, with the connivance of the Cantonese Authorities,
a system of secret importation under a clandestine levy of official
fees . The effect of this Imperial prohibition was an immediate
rise in the selling price of opium, and a consequently increased
supply. Chinese historians report that by the year 1820, the
annual clandestine sales of opium at Canton had reached a total
of nearly 4,000 chests.
But we have exact statistics of the annual exportation of
opium from India, most of which found its way to Canton,
while the remainder which went elsewhere was balanced by
imports of opium into China from other countries. These Indian
Government statistics show that the exportation of opium from
India continued, from A.D. 1798 to 1825, with very little
variation, at an average rate of 4,117 chests per annum ; that
it rose in the year 1826 , at a bound, to 6,570 chests , and
continued until the year 1829 at an average annual rate of 7,427
chests ; that in the year 1830 the export suddenly rose to 11,835
chests and continued , until the year 1835, at an average annual
rate of 12,095 chests. But in the year 1837 , on account of the
enhanced demand caused by the general expectation entertained
in 1836 that the trade would be legalised, the exportation of
opium took another sudden bound, rising to 19,600 chests , in
consequence of which the total amount of opium, accumulated
in the hands of opium merchants at Canton and Macao during
the period 1836 to 1837, reached a total of 30,000 chests . Of
these, some 20,000 chests were sold in 1836 , to the value of
about two million pounds sterling, of which sum £ 280,000
went into the pockets of the High Authorities. The trade in
opium was all along carried on at Canton in the foreign factories,
where the Hong Merchants and their privileged clients and
even Chinese officials openly purchased-from the various foreign
merchants, representing English, Anglo- Indian (chiefly Parsee),
Portuguese, American, French, Spanish, Danish, and Dutch
firms- written orders (chops) for opium to be delivered by ships
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 77
anchored in the outer waters of the Canton River. The opium
was not stored at Canton, but at first it was warehoused in
Macao, subsequently it was kept on board ships anchored at
Whampoa (the port of Canton) , until, with the year 1830, a
new practice arose. Foreign ships now used, on arrival from
India, to anchor first at the mouth of the Canton River, viz , at
Kam-sing-moon during the S.W. monsoon (April to September)
or at Lintin during the N.E. monsoon (October to March) , and
there to discharge their opium into stationary receiving hulks,
whereupon the ships proceeded with the remainder of their
cargo to Whampoa to engage there in the legitimate trade.
In the year 1830, there were only five such receiving ships in
Chinese waters, but by the year 1837 their number had increased
to 25, most of which were either English or temporarily
transferred to the English flag, though some were openly under
the American, French, Dutch, Spanish and Danish flags . These
receiving ships, anchored at Lintin or Kam-sing- moon, were
heavily armed and strongly manned, so much so that no Chinese
fleet could possibly interfere with them successfully. They
were readily supplied with provisions by native boats (known
as bumboats) and during the business season the officers in
command of these receiving ships were in daily communication.
with their respective agencies at Canton and Macao by means
of fast foreign cutters or schooners, manned by Indian lascars,
and known as European passage-boats. Since the winter of
1836, when foreign ships were forbidden to anchor at Kam-sing-
moon, and the prohibitions enforced by the erection of a shore
battery guarded by a naval squadron, the opium ships were
(1837 to 1841 ) confined to the station at Lintin . But whenever
the Cantonese Authorities made a special show of interference
with the opium traffic, as carried on at Lintin, some of the
most powerfully armed opium ships would be sent away to
the eastern and north-eastern coasts of China, to sell opium
wherever practicable along the coast, in a manner similar to
that practised at Lintin . In the year 1826 the commanders
of the receiving ships anchored at Lintin made an arrangement
78 CHAPTER VIII.
with the revenue cruizers established by the Viceroy Li
Hung-pan, under which these cruizers, for a monthly fee of
Taels 36,000, allowed the opium to pass freely into the ports
of Whampoa and Macao. And in the year 1837 , when strict
orders had been issued by the Emperor to stop all opium
traffic at Lintin , the Commodore Hou Shiu-hing, in command
of the Viceroy's cruizers, arranged with the commanders of the
opium ships at Lintin, to convoy or actually to carry by his
vessels the opium from Lintin to its destination , for a fixed
percentage of opium. Some of the opium which he thus received ,
the wily Commodore then presented to the Viceroy as captured
by force of arms, and on these meritorious services being officially
reported to the Throne, the Emperor bestowed on the Commodore
a peacock's feather and gave him the rank of Rear-Admiral.
The Annals of the present Manchu Dynasty (partly translated
by Mr. E. H. Parker) , from which the foregoing statements
are taken, allege that the opium annually stored in the original
five receiving ships did at first not amount to more than 4,000
or 5,000 chests, but that later on (1826 to 1836) there were,
on the 25 receiving ships, some 20,000 chests of opium in any
one year.
The extraordinary dimensions which the opium trade thus
assumed, with the connivance of the Chinese Authorities, as a
forced trade (neither legal nor strictly speaking contraband) ,
especially during the decade from 1826 to 1836 , naturally
aroused anxious attention both on the part of the English and
Chinese Cabinets .
The English Government viewed with apprehension the
annually increasing importance which the East India Company's
opium monopoly assumed, since 1826, as a source of public
revenue. The extent to which the income of the Indian
Government had gradually become dependent upon the cultivation
and export of opium, likewise caused the English Cabinet much
anxiety and perplexity. Parliament also took the matter up and
appointed a Select Committee to investigate the questions
involved, both in 1830 and 1832. In the latter year, however,
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 79
the Committee, though by no means approving of the opium
traffic, gave it as their opinion that it did not seem advisable
to abandon so important a source of revenue in the East India
Company's monopoly of opium in Bengal.
Captain Elliot, the Government's representative in China,
personally abhorred the opium trade, root and branch , and did
not diguise his views either in his relations with the merchants
in Canton or in his communications to the Government. He
stated the perfect truth when he wrote to Lord Palmerston
(November 16 , 1839 ) that , if his private feelings were of the
least consequence upon questions of a public and important
nature, he might assuredly and justly say that no man entertained
a deeper detestation of the disgrace and sin of this forced traffic
on the coast of China ; that he saw little to choose between
it and piracy ; and that in his place, as a public officer, he had
steadily discountenanced it by all the lawful means in his
power, and at the total sacrifice of his private comfort in the
society in which he had lived for years. But he also stated
perfect truth, and in this respect Chinese history supports him,
when he wrote to Lord Palmerston (February 2, 1837 ) , that
the opium trade commenced and subsisted only by reason of
the hearty concurrence of the Chief Authorities of the
southern provinces of China and indeed also of the Court at
Peking ; that no portion of the foreign trade to China more
regularly paid its entrance duties than this opium traffic ; and
that the least attempt to evade the fees of the Mandarins was
almost certain of detection and severe punishment. Captain
Elliot further stated, on the same occasion, that a large share
of these emoluments reached not merely the higher dignitaries
of the Empire, but in all probability, in no very indirect manner,
the Imperial hand itself. The fact that, for centuries past, the
principal trade revenue office at Canton (that of the Hoppo)
has always been, as it still is, the monopoly of officers of the
Imperial Household, lends force to this surmise. But what
prevented Elliot's taking official proceedings against the opium
trade, which he personally loathed, was the same consideration
80 CHAPTER VIII.
which had prevented the Parliamentary Committee of 1832
disavowing it altogether. The evil had already gone on too
long . The opium trade had, by its financial operations, become
so intertwined with the legitimate trade, that separate dealing
with it was impossible. The import of opium into China, as
it gradually expanded, gave an enormous impetus to the export
of tea and silk from China to the European markets, and the
whole opium trade had imperceptibly become a necessity both for
China and for Europe ; for China, because the craving for opium
was so widespread among the Chinese people, that the demand for
it defied the severest criminal enactments ; for Europe, because
the sale of opium, which had by this time come to form three-
fifths of the whole British imports into China, provided a very
large portion of the funds required for operations in Chinese
produce destined for European markets . Indeed , as Elliot put
it (February 21 , 1837 ) , the movement of money at Canton
had come to depend, by the force of circumstances, almost
entirely upon the deliveries of opium at Lintin . The tares could
not be rooted out now, without destroying the wheat.
Lord Palmerston , and the other members of the Cabinet ,
whilst unanimous in their dislike of the opium trade, could
not yet agree to any definite solution of the problem. On one
point Lord Palmerston was perfectly clear, viz. that Her
Majesty's Government could not possibly interfere for the
purpose of enabling British subjects to violate the laws of
the country to which they trade, and that therefore any loss
which such persons may suffer in consequence of the more
effectual execution of the Chinese laws on this subject, must
be borne by the parties who have brought that loss upon
themselves by their own acts. He wrote to Elliot to this effect
(June 15, 1838 ) , but at the same time declared that the Cabinet
did not feel sufficient confidence in their apprehension of the
opium problem to enter upon any negotiations with the Chinese
Government regarding the repression or legalisation of the
trade in opium. Nevertheless there are indications that Lord
Palmerston had, in his own mind, already settled the leading
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 81
principles of that policy which he formulated later on (February
26, 1841 ) , in the following words. It is evident,' he wrote
to Rear Admiral Elliot and to Captain Elliot , that no exertions
of the Chinese Authorities can put down the opium trade on
the Chinese coast, because the temptation both to the buyers
and to the sellers is stronger than can be counteracted by
any fear of detection and punishment. It is equally clear, that
it is wholly out of the power of the British Government to
prevent opium from being carried to China, because even if
none were grown in any part of the British territories, plenty
of it would be produced in other countries, and would thence
be sent to China by adventurous men, either British or of
other nations. The present state of Chinese law upon this
matter makes the trade illegal ; and illegal trade is always
attended with acts of violence. Battles between Chinese war-
junks and British smugglers have a necessary tendency to
produce unfriendly and embarrassing discussions between the
British and Chinese Governments, or at all events to keep alive
hostile feelings between the British and the Chinese people.
It would seem, therefore, that much additional stability would
be given to the friendly relations between the two countries ,
if the Government of China would make up its mind to legalise
the importation of opium upon payment of a duty sufficiently
moderate to take away from the smuggler the temptation to
endeavour to introduce the commodity without payment of duty.
By this means, also, it is evident that a considerable increase
of revenue might be obtained by the Chinese Government,
because the sums which are now paid as bribes to the custom-
house officers would enter the public coffers in the shape of
duty.'
The policy of the Chinese Government was for a long
time equally undecided, wavering between legalisation and
extirpation of the opium trade. The counsels of the leading
statesmen of China were divided until the close of the year
1838. But, whilst divided in their opinions as to the desirability
of stamping out the use of opium, and as to the possibility of
6
82 CHAPTER VIII.
preventing smuggling effectively, all the principal statesmen
of China were singularly unanimous in looking at the opium
question not, as we might suppose, from a moral point of
view, but simply and solely as a financial problem . Their
objection to the opium trade was not that it fostered a vice
gnawing at the vitals of the nation, but that it caused the
balance of the trade to turn against China and that it
accordingly drained China of silver and impoverished the
nation. The Chinese author of the above-mentioned Annals
of the Manchu Dynasty, whilst personally holding the same
views of the opium traffic which Elliot held, and occasionally
indulging in elaborate tirades concerning the immorality of
the traffic in opium, gives, as the reasons why the Chinese
Government condemned the trade, purely financial arguments.
Formerly, he says, a rule had been in force, that no silver
was to be exported and that the whole foreign trade should
be conducted by barter, which compelled foreign merchants
annually to import half a million dollars, but, he adds, with
the expansion of the opium trade it came gradually to pass
that a balance of silver had annually to be made up by
China . Thus also a Memorial to the Throne, by Wong
Tseuk-tsz, which contributed much to the victory eventually
scored by the anti-opium party in Peking, argued that the
growing consumption of opium was at the root of all China's
troubles, because silver was becoming scarce and relatively
dear, the value of the tael having advanced from 1,000
to 1,600 cash in price. But since the year 1832, and especially
all through the year 1836, the counsels of the pro-opium
party were decidedly in the ascendant at Peking and in the
provinces. A joint Memorial, presented to the Throne in
1832 by the ex-Viceroy and the Governor of Canton , boldly
recommended the licensing of the opium trade on the ground
that such a measure would reduce the price of opium and
thereby diminish the export of silver, and secretly hinted
that the encouragement of the growth of native opium would
still further impede the avaricious plans and large profits of
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 83
the foreigners. Another Memorial, presented to the Throne
in spring 1836, further argued that the legalisation of the
opium trade would bring it under the rules of barter ; that
thereby the baneful effects of the trade, consisting in an annual
loss of over ten million taels inflicted on the currency of the
realm , would be entirely obviated ; but that for this purpose
the Hong Merchants must be made personally responsible for
the conduct of the whole opium trade and for the entire abolition
of the traffic carried on at Lintin ; and that the success of the
scheme depended upon levying such a small duty (seven dollars
a chest) as to cut off all inducement to smugglers to risk their
lives. When the Emperor remitted this Memorial (June 12,
1836 ) for further report , it was generally assumed at Canton
that it was now only a question of framing the regulations for
the detailed organisation of the legalisation scheme. Elliot gave
utterance to an opinion generally entertained at the time in
the best informed official circles of Peking and Canton, when
he wrote to the Foreign Office (October 10, 1836), that he
expected soon receiving the final orders from Peking for the
legalisation of the opium trade. When, a few weeks later
(October 28, 1836 ) , the Viceroy issued orders for the expulsion
from Canton of twelve foreign opium merchants, eight of whom
were British subjects, it was still thought that this measure ,
though rigidly insisted on (November 23 and December 13 ,
1836), was only meant as a blow directed against the Lintin
trade. This surmise was confirmed when an Imperial Edict
(dated January 26, 1837) appeared, which declared the baneful
effects, arising from a prevalence of opium throughout the
Empire, to consist in a daily decrease of fine silver, and
consequently placed a strict interdict on the exportation of sycee
silver, without prohibiting the trade in opium. On February 2,
1837 , Elliot wrote to Lord Palmerston, that he was still of
opinion that the legal admission of opium may be looked for.
That the Lintin trade was the principal, if not exclusive, cause
of objection, was further demonstrated by another Imperial
Edict with reached Canton in August, 1837. This Edict stated
84 CHAPTER VIII.
that, whereas the illicit trade, the importation of opium and
exportation of sycee, depended entirely on the receiving ships
stationed at Lintin, the resident foreigners must immediately
be ordered to send those ships away. Elliot accordingly had
four successive demands made upon him to order those ships
to leave China , and finally he was directed to write to his
King and request him to command those ships to leave, and
to prohibit their return to China. Captain Elliot declined to
interfere on the ground that his duties were at Canton and
that he had no power, and he hinted that the Chinese Authorities
were themselves at fault in not recognising him properly as a
Government Officer. But towards the close of the year the
hopes of the legalisation of the opium trade grew fainter and
fainter and Captain Elliot now (December 7 , 1837 ) reported
to Lord Palmerston, that things were in such a condition of
uncertainty that it was impossible to divine what the Chinese
Authorities meant, as they were wandering from project to
project and from blunder to blunder, and that the protection
of British interests demanded that a small naval force should
immediately be stationed in Chinese waters.
Lord Palmerston must have seen the reasonableness of
Captain Elliot's request. But he had by this time determined
upon applying to Chinese affairs his favourite policy of
masterly inaction . So he deliberately left Elliot and the
British community to their fate, unprotected by any fleet ,
and waited to see what the Chinese Government would
really do.
Whilst the British and Chinese Cabinets hesitated as to
the course to be taken , the hangers on of the Lintin trade
pushed matters to a crisis. During the first few months of
the year 1838, the number of foreign cutters and schooners
carrying opium from Lintin to Whampoa increased enormously,
and the deliveries of opium were now frequently accompanied
by conflicts in which fire-arms were used freely. Elliot
discovered that many of these craft were owned by British
subjects, but he was powerless. When he devised (as above
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 85
mentioned) some police regulations for the purpose, Lord
Palmerston informed him that he had gone beyond his powers
in doing so. The Cantonese Authorities, irritated by this
incomprehensible inactivity of Elliot, desired to give foreigners
in general a warning, and caused a native, convicted of
smuggling opium and sycee, to be executed under the walls
of Macao (April 13, 1838 ). Trade continued, though under
gloomy apprehensions, as everybody felt that a crisis was
approaching. Things went on, however, quietly enough, until
the close of the year, when ( December 3, 1838 ) some boxes
of opium, that had been brought up to Canton, presumably
from an American ship anchored at Whampoa, were seized in
front of the house of Mr. Innes and discovered to be his
property. The Chinese Authorities immediately ordered both
Mr. Innes and the ship in question to leave Canton waters
within three days (subsequently extended to ten), whilst the
Hong Merchant, who was security for the ship, was at once
exposed in the stocks with a heavy wooden collar round his
neck. This caused great excitement, the more SO as the
other Hong Merchants sent Mr. Innes a written warning
that they were going to pull down his house over his head .
The threat was, however, not carried out, and the excitement
had well nigh subsided, when (December 12, 1888 ) the
Chinese Authorities, resolved to give the foreigners another
lesson to intimidate them, brought a criminal, condemned to
death on a charge of selling opium, and made arrangements
to execute him in the square, right under the windows of the
factories . Some of the foreigners at once protested against
the erection of the tent which was to accommodate the
officials, others pulled down what scaffolding had already
been put up, while a mob of some six thousand natives that
had collected stood by and at first applauded the proceedings
of the foreigners, laughing at the discomfiture of the Chinese
police . But when some foreigners imprudently pushed in
between the mob, and assaulted some of the crowd with
sticks, popular feeling turned against them and the cry
86 CHAPTER VIII.
' ta, ta ' (kill them) was raised on all sides. Showers of
stones now forced the foreigners into their houses ; the doors
were hastily barricaded ; a shot was fired, happily without
doing any injury ; the mob were about making preparations
for the entire demolition of the factories, and the life of
every foreigner in Canton was in imminent peril, when the
Authorities sent troops at the last moment and restored
quiet. But the Hong Merchants, whom the Authorities held
responsible for the disturbance, now declared that trade must
be suspended altogether, unless the traffic carried on in small
craft between Lintin and Whampoa were immediately put a
stop to . Elliot would have gladly exceeded his legal powers
to do so, but Lord Palmerston had left him without sufficient
naval support to clear the waters of Canton of an armed
traffic, carried on by the riffraff of every foreign nation,
supported by the Chinese people and secretly participated in
by Chinese officials. All he could do was to make an appeal
to the conscience of the foreign community and to warn the
offenders. He called a public meeting (December 17 , 1838)
and asked the merchants to co-operate with him in his efforts
to stop the traffic between Lintin and Whampoa. But the
reckless foreigners on board the boats down at Whampoa
cared neither for the threatenings of Elliot or the Chinese
Authorities, nor for the general reprobation in which all the
respectable foreign merchants at Canton held this traffic.
Elliot exhausted all his executive powers by serving a notice
upon all British subjects engaged on those boats, which
warned them that, unless they at once left the Canton River,
he would consider them as outlaws and leave them to be
dealt with by the Chinese Authorities. When Elliot issued
this notice (December 18 , 1838 ) , his communications with
the Chinese Government had been interrupted for nearly a
year. It was at this juncture, believing some dreadful calamity
to be impending upon the whole foreign community at Canton,
that Elliot resolved to resume official intercourse with the
Chinese Government at any cost, and accordingly he made
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 87
the humiliating concessions above mentioned, consenting to
address the Cantonese Authorities as a humble petitioner and
to receive communications, which really were orders, from
the subordinates of the Governor of Canton city. He sacrificed
his personal and official dignity, because he saw no other way
of preventing a massacre .
However, the Cantonese Authorities were too well aware
of the advantages connected with the continuance of the
foreign trade at Canton, to resort deliberately to any extreme
measures. They had no wish to stop trade altogether, or
even to suppress the fair opium traffic at Canton , but they
were determined to stop the forced traffic between Lintin and
Whampoa, because it evaded the exactions of the higher officials.
The new year ( 1839) opened with gloomy forebodings,
for on the day when trade was re- opened (January 1 , 1839) ,
a rumour spread in Canton that the party at Peking, opposed
to the legalisation of the opium trade, had gained a decided
ascendency in the Imperial councils. And, indeed, while Elliot
was penning a dispatch to Lord Palmerston (January 2, 1839) ,
imploring the Foreign Office for some support under his
embarrassing circumstances, stating also that there was no
time to be lost in providing for the defined and reasonable
control of Her Majesty's subjects in China, the former
Viceroy of Hukwang, Lam Tsak-sü, better known as Com-
missioner Lin, was already on his way, armed with extraordinary
powers as Special Imperial Commissioner and High Admiral.
Lin . had previously distinguished himself as an uncompromising
anti-opium agitator and now, whilst travelling along the
wearisome route from Peking to Canton, he concocted an
elaborate scheme to entrap all the opium dealers and to
extirpate the whole opium traffic by one fell blow, besides
bringing the Cantonese Authorities once for all to book for
their connivance at, and share in , the opium trade . The news
of his approach caused, indeed, all the local officials, from the
Viceroy down to the Hong Merchants, to quake in their
shoes. Accordingly the opium traffic was actually stopped
88 CHAPTER VIII.
for several months before Lin's arrival, and the Authorities
bestirred themselves to make a show of serious repressive
measures. They now (January 10, 1839) issued a notification
strictly prohibiting the conveyance of opium from Lintin to
Whampoa, and further (January 16 , 1839) called upon all
foreign merchants to pledge their word that they would have
nothing whatever to do with the smuggling of opium or with
the exportation of silver. Again, acting upon advance orders
sent on ahead by Commissioner Lin, the Viceroy now ordered
the backdoors of the factories to be blocked up and set a
watch in front . Having thus shut in the foreign community,
the Viceroy and the Governor issued (January 30, 1839 ) a
joint proclamation addressed directly, without the intervention
of the Hong Merchants, to all foreign merchants. In this
proclamation foreigners were told that the Imperial Commissioner
Lin, sent from Peking to extirpate the whole opium traffic ,
was hourly expected to arrive in Canton. The Viceroy and
Governor even added , in their zeal, what was entirely against
Lin's plan, that the foreign merchants must at once send
all the warehousing vessels, anchored in the outer seas,
away. These orders were enhanced by the threat that, in
case of disobedience, trade would be brought to an end for
ever. The real sting of the proclamation was, however,
when read in the light of the newly established blockade of
the factories, in the words ' thus are the lives of all you
foreigners in our grasp.'
This blockade of the factories and the imprisonment of
the whole foreign community was, indeed, the indispensable
preliminary to the execution of Lin's deeeply laid scheme.
Having thus caught the whole of the foreign merchants in hist
net, Lin, to keep them busy, allowed the legitimate trade to
continue unmolested for the present, and proceeded first of all
to examine the high officials and the gentry of Canton as to
the detailed history of the opium traffic, censuring some and
cashiering others. But he at once ordered measures to be taken
to intimidate the foreign merchants further by the strangling
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 89
of a Chinese opium dealer (February 26 , 1839 ) . in front of
the factories and in the presence of a formidable array of Chinese
troops . Further, to cut off their eventual retreat to Macao,
he ordered the Bogue forts to be guarded by a fleet, and a
blockade of Macao to be commenced by land and sea .
To prevent a collision, now imminent, Elliot ordered (March
7 , 1839 ) all English-owned passage boats to remain outside the
Bogue. But, thinking English residents at Macao to be at the
moment in greater peril than those at Canton, Elliot proceeded,
with the permission of the Chinese officials (March 10 , 1839 )
to Macao, where, to his great relief he found H.M. sloop Larne
which had just arrived . On passing through the Bogue, Elliot
had noticed that large numbers of fire-rafts and war junks
were being collected there, in evident preparation of an attack
on the foreign merchant shipping anchored at Lintin, and on
arrival at Macao he found active measures in progress for an
effective blockade. After making all necessary arrangements
with Captain Blake, the commander of the Larne, for the
protection of British residents at Macao, and ordering all British
ships in Chinese waters immediately to rendezvous, for mutual
protection, in the harbour of Hongkong, Elliot hastened back
to Canton, and, although finding every outlet of the Canton
River guarded by Chinese cruizers , he pushed resolutely on .
Having heard, en route, of fresh perils of his countrymen at
Canton, and believing that some desperate calamity would ensue
unless he reached Canton at once, he pluckily forced his way,
unarmed, in a small but fast-sailing gig of the Larne, manned
by four blue-jackets, through the successive cordons of Chinese
soldiery, until, he reached, at the imminent risk of his life, the
British factories. Elliot's arrival (March 24, 1839 ) revived the
drooping spirits of the foreign community who were at the
moment in sore perplexity, and the sight of the English flag
waving proudly and defiantly from the factory tower, where,
in place of the demolished flagstaff, the ensign staff of the
Larne's gig had been put up by Elliot's order, inspired every
heart with fresh courage .
90 CHAPTER VIII.
During Elliot's absence, the Imperial Commissioner Lin
had sent to the foreign merchants (March 18, 1839 ) a demand
for the surrender of all opium stored on board ships in Chinese
waters, threatening them with their lives if the order were
not obeyed forthwith. While the merchants were deliberating
what to do, the Hoppo, acting under Lin's orders, prohibited
foreigners, some of whom now sought to get away, retreating
to Macao (March 19 , 1839 ) and took measures to cut off
all communication with Whampoa and the outside shipping.
At the same time the factories were surrounded by a stockade
and a triple cordon of Chinese troops on land, and by a
semi-circular bridge formed by war junks on the river side.
When these measures were complete (March 21 , 1839 ) , the
demand of the surrender of all opium was repeated. The General
Chamber of Commerce now sought to appease the Authorities by
an offer to surrender 1037 chests of opium, but the offer was
contemptuously rejected, and Mr. Lancelot Dent, being supposed
to have under his orders six thousand chests of opium, was now
(March 22 , 1839 ) summoned to appear in person before the
Imperial Commissioner and to surrender himself forthwith at
the city gate. Naturally, all the foreign merchants made
common cause with him and it was unanimously resolved that
he should not go. Thereupon all Chinese servants were ordered
to leave the factories, and all supplies of fresh water and
provisions were cut off. Moreover, the senior Hong Merchants
(How-qua, senior, and Mow-qua) , loaded with iron chains
fastened round their necks, were now ( March 3, 1839 ) sent to the
factories, under the charge of the Prefect of Canton, with
orders, under pains of immediate decapitation, to bring Mr.
Dent with them into the city. The whole foreign community,
however, declared that he should not go, and when the Hong
Merchants affirmed that it would really cost them their lives
if they went away without him, Mr. Inglis pluckily volunteered
to go in place of Mr. Dent, if three others would accompany
him . This offer, readily accepted by the Prefect as a happy
compromise, was at once acted upon by three other gentlemen,
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 91
Thom, Slade and Fearon . The four heroes proceeded accordingly,
with the Prefect and the Hong Merchants, into the city and
were examined, at the temple of the Queenof Heaven, by a
Committee of the highest local officers, under the Governor's
orders, viz . the Chief Justice, the Treasurer, the Grain Intendant
and the Commissioner of the Salt Gabelle. These high officials
were so struck with admiration of the bravery of the four
Englishmen, that, after briefly examining them, they allowed
them to return to the factories unmolested . Next day, however,
the demand for Mr. Dent's surrender was renewed and the
foreign community were just deliberating what was to be done
now, when Elliot arrived in their midst , took Mr. Dent under
his arm and carried him off to his own room, informing the
Chinese officers that he would rather surrender his own life-
than that of any Englishman under his charge.
On the following day (March 25 , 1839) , whilst the foreign
merchants signed bonds, pledging themselves not to deal in
opium nor to introduce it in China in any way, Captain Elliot
applied to the Viceroy, respectfully claiming passports for all
English ships and people at Canton, adding that , unless these
passports were granted within the space of three days, he would
be reluctantly driven to the conclusion that the men and ships
of his country were forcibly detained, and act accordingly. The
Chinese Authorities took no notice of this covert threat, well
knowing that H.M. sloop Larne could not engage the Bogue forts
single-handed . If anything were wanted to prove that , even
in this opium contest, the real question at issue was the absolute
supremacy of China over England, the reply, which Elliot now
received from the Viceroy Tang Ching-ch'ing, would prove it .
Elliot had, at the close of his letter, expressed a regret that
the peace between the two countries ' (meaning of course China
and England) was placed in imminent jeopardy by the late
unexplained and alarming proceedings of the Chinese Authorities.
The Viceroy, in reply, stated that he could not understand what
Elliot meant by the two countries ' ; that of course he could
not possibly mean to compare England with China, which would
92 CHAPTER VIII.
be absolutely preposterous, because all regions under heaven
were in humble submission to the Government of China, while
the heaven-like goodness of the Emperor overshadowed all ; and
that the English nation and the Americans had, by their trade
in Canton , of all those nations in subjection, enjoyed the largest
6 Therefore,' argued the sarcastic Viceroy,
measure of favour.
I presume, it must be England and America, that are conjointly
named " the two countries," but the meaning of the language
is greatly wanting in perspicuity.'
However, Elliot's application for passports was peremptorily
refused, as also another application he made on the same day,
begging that servants, water and food supplies might be restored
to the foreign community. He was reminded in reply that Mr.
Dent had not yet been surrendered and that the Imperial
Commissioner was determined to get possession of all the opium
now in China.
The foreign community, thus officially informed that they
were prisoners, calmly prepared for the worst . But they were
in a sad plight , for they were absolutely without any servants,
without fresh water, without fresh provisions, and had to live,
at short rations, upon what they had in their cupboards.
During the next few days, sundry Chinese officials overwhelmed
Elliot with complaints that he was the cause of all the troubles,
that Mr. Dent would have surrendered if Elliot had not
appeared on the scene, and that Elliot's preposterous notions of
international equality had caused the present refractoriness of
the foreign merchants and the delay in the delivery of the
opium. When these complaints were found to be of no avail,
the officials used threats, informing Elliot that the Imperial
Commissioner Lin had hitherto taken no action because ' he
cannot bear to destroy ere he has instructed,' and that therefore
Elliot had been allowed a few days' grace, but he should not
have servants or provisions, and the opium must be delivered
at once.
These were no idle threats. The factories were surrounded
by masses of Chinese soldiery, all longing for plunder ;
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 93
combustibles of all sorts were brought to the spot, and on
the evening of March 26, 1839, there was not a foreigner in
the factories but was convinced that the Chinese were ready
to do the worst. After an anxious night, spent in deliberation,
and feeling constrained by paramount motives affecting the
safety of the lives and liberty of all the foreigners at Canton ,
Elliot issued, at 6 o'clock, on the morning of March 27 , 1839 ,
a public notice to British subjects, requiring them to deliver
up to him all British-owned opium , either in their possession
or under their control, holding him, on behalf of Her Majesty's
Government, responsible, and leaving it to Her Majesty's
Government hereafter to define the principles on which the
proof of British property and the value of British opium
should be determined . Two days later (March 28, 1839 ) ,
Elliot informed the Imperial Commissioner, that he was
prepared to deliver up 20,283 chests of British- owned opium.
In reply, Elliot was ordered by the Prefect of Canton to
give further detailed information as to the places where the
several amounts of opium were stored, and he was supplied
with various instructions as to the arrangements to be made
for the delivery of the opium. When Elliot, however, once
more requested that servants and food supplies be restored to
the prisoners, the Prefect informed him that no such indulgence
could be allowed until the delivery of the opium had commenced.
After several days spent in discussions of the mode of securing
the delivery of all the opium on board the different ships, it
was finally agreed by Commissioner Lin (April 2 , 1839 ) , that
Mr. Johnston, the Second Superintendent, should proceed under
a guard of Chinese officials and, armed with written orders of
Captain Elliot, bring all the ships up to the anchorage of
Lankeet, in sections of two ships at a time, to discharge the
opium there. Commissioner Lin then promised, that on
completing delivery of one-fourth of the opium, the compradores
and servants should be restored to the prisoners ; that on
completing delivery of one-half of the opium, the passage boats
should be allowed to resume communication with the ships ;
94 CHAPTER VIII.
that on delivery of three-fourths of the opium, trade should
be re-opened ; and, he added pompously, on delivery of the whole
being completed, everything should return to the ordinary
condition and a request should be laid before the Throne that
encouragements and rewards might be conferred . But Lin
further added, that, if there should be any erroneous delay for
three days, the supply of fresh water should be cut off ; if for
three days more there should be like delay, the supplies of food
should be cut off, and if such delay should continue still three
days longer, the criminal laws should forthwith be maintained
and enforced.
Mr. Johnston having left Canton, the imprisonment of the
foreign community, numbering over two hundred persons,
continued as rigorously as before, until April 17 , 1839 , when
the servants were tardily allowed to return to the factories and
food supplies were again obtainable. Meanwhile, however, the
prisoners were still guarded day and night by Chinese soldiers,
posted at their doors with drawn swords and instructed to cut
down any one who should make an attempt to escape. Both
the merchants and Captain Elliot were repeatedly worried by
demands to sign a fresh bond handing over to capital punishment
any of their countrymen who should hereafter deal in opium,
and professing abject submission to China's claim of supremacy.
No one signed the bond and the confinement continued .
The above detailed promises of Lin were by no means
faithfully adhered to. The servants were not restored as soon
as one-fourth of the opium was delivered ; the boats were not
permitted to run when one-half was delivered ; and the promise
that things should go on as usual on completion of the opium
delivery was falsified by reducing the factories to a prison with
one outlet , by the perpetual expulsion of sixteen merchants,
some of whom had never dealt in opium at all (as some clerks
and a lad were included), and by the introduction of novel and
unbearable regulations. Not until May 4 , 1839 , did the
imprisonment of the foreign community at Canton come to an
end. On that day, trade was declared re-opened and two days
THE OPIUM QUESTION. 95
later fifty foreign merchants, known to have had no direct
dealings in opium, were allowed to depart for Whampoa en route
for Macao. Elliot, however, and the other merchants were
still detained in custody as hostages until the delivery of the
opium was completed (May 21 , 1839 ) . Then Elliot was
graciously allowed to leave, but the permission was coupled
with the demand now made that sixteen of the principal British
merchants should remain in custody as a punishment for dealing
in opium . Elliot refused to leave without them, and, after
protracted negotiations, he at last (May 27 , 1829) obtained their
discharge on their signing a bond, guaranteeing that they would
never return to China. By the end of May the exodus of British
merchants and British shipping from Canton waters was
complete. American merchants remained and became a favoured
class.
Lin had gained a victory . He had succeeded in stopping
for a time the trade in opium. But his seeming success had
been gained only by driving British trade away from Canton
in a manner eventually resulting in the establishment of a British
Colony at Hongkong, which in turn deprived Canton of all
its former commercial importance. He had also succeeded in
obtaining forcible possession of over twenty-four million dollars
worth of British-owned opium which it took him weeks (until
June 1 , 1839 ) to destroy with quick-lime in pits dug on the
sea shore at Chinkau, near the Bogue, and the full value of which
China had to repay a few years later.
·
This affair has been well managed,' wrote the Emperor
to Lin, but the verdiet of the vermilion pencil is not always
the verdict of history, and six months later Queen Victoria
stated, in her Speech from the Throne (January, 1840 ) , that
events had happened in China which deeply affected the interests
of her subjects and the dignity of her crown .'
CHAPTER IX .
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE
CESSION OF HONGKONG.
1839 to 1841 .
THE Imperial Commissioner Lin had been instructed by
the Government of Peking to do two things, both of which
were equally impossible, viz. to extirpate the opium traffic, root
and branch, but at the same time to secure the continuance at
Canton of the legitimate foreign trade under the old 1egime.
When Lin arrived in Canton, he found the opium trade stagnant
and its worst features, the forced trade between Lintin and
Whampoa, entirely cut off through the vigorous action, resorted
to at the last moment, of the Cantonese Authorities. Had he
confined himself to do the only thing possible, viz . to seek to
initiate measures tending to bring about, in course of time, a
moral regeneration of the Chinese nation, so as to reduce the
demand for opium to the lowest possible minimum, and at
the same time to introduce a moral reform of the mode of
conducting the opium trade, so as to prevent the recurrence of its
glaring abuses, he might have done some good and paved the
way for an eventual peaceful solution of this complicated opium
problem. But his instructions, based as they were on his own
original violent recommendations to the Throne, pledged him to
an extreme policy, impossible to carry out and necessarily
resulting in giving the opium trade a new impetus, besides
convincing at last even the people in England that, apart from
the opium question, the legitimate trade itself could not be
carried on, in a manner compatible with England's dignity,
under the old conditions.
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 97
For four months before Lin's arrival at Canton (February,
1829 ) , the opium market had been overstocked and hardly any
sales had taken place. The great bulk of the supply of 1838
had remained unsold, owing to the energetic measures taken
in the inland districts, all through the southern provinces, to
repress the consumption . The immense stock of the year 1839
was just commencing to arrive from India where, on the very
day when over 20,000 chests were surrendered in Canton, sales
were either impossible or ruinous, because the prices in China
had fallen to between two or three hundred per cent. below the
cost of production and charges. Under these circumstances, to
rob the holders of opium of the stock which glutted the market ,
and to destroy over 20,000 chests of opium for which Elliot
paid the owners at the rate of £ 120 a chest, by twelve months'
bills on the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, was not to
extinguish the trade but to give it a fresh fillip by relieving
an overglutted market from the depressing weight of stocks .
After March 24, 1839, when 20,283 chests of opium, which
the holders could not have sold without ruin , were surrendered
to Lin, prices recovered and the opium traffic was carried on
with greater vigour and yielded larger profits than ever. By
binding sixteen men, among whom were some of the foremost
English merchants, gentlemen of high culture and refined
feelings, to abstain from all future participation in the opium
trade, which promise they all adhered to honourably, Lin merely
helped to drive the opium trade into the hands of a lower and
less scrupulous set of merchants. Lin's opium policy was an
utter failure.
His policy with regard to the legitimate foreign trade was,
moreover, equally unfortunate, because based on an utter mis-
conception of the character and power of the English, whom
Lin, like Napoleon, supposed to be nothing but a nation of
shopkeepers, whose lives and fortunes depended upon the supply
of Chinese tea, silk and rhubarb. His utter disregard of the
sacredness which Britain attributes to the life, the liberty and
the property of others, his reckless assumption that civilised
7
98 CHAPTER IX.
foreigners, temporarily residing in China, must submit themselves
to the barbarous code of Chinese penal laws and to the corrupt
judicial process of Chinese tribunals, his open and undisguised
determination to hold one set of foreign merchants responsible
with their lives for the doings of others not under their control,
his absurd affirmation of the sovereignty of China over Great
Britain and other foreign nations, and finally his persistent
refusal to give to Her Majesty's Representative in China a
dignified official status, all these measures of Lin, as the typical
representative of Chinese mandarindom, served only to force
upon the English people, aroused at last from their apathy by
the startling news of the imprisonment of the whole foreign
community, the conviction that some serious alterations in British
relations with the Chinese Empire were necessary and that
British commerce could never be safely carried on, and certainly
could never flourish in a country where British property are
alike at the mercy of a capricious, corrupt and inordinately
conceited Government . Driven out from Canton, and feeling
that British trade with China must henceforth be carried on
within sight of British shipping aud close to the sea, on which
Great Britain can hold her own against all comers , both Elliot
and the British merchants now turned a deaf ear to all Lin's
proposals for a reopening of trade, even under new regulations,
at Canton or Whampoa. Forty-two British firms signed (May
23, 1889) a Memorial addressed to Lord Palmerston, in which
they complained of the insincerity of the Canton Authorities
in their dealing with the opium trade which these Authorities had
themselves encouraged and supported for so many years, and
of the violent measures of Commissioner Lin which made it a
matter of pressing necessity to place the general trade of British
subjects in China upon a secure and permanent basis . British
merchants had no wish now to return to Canton under any
circumstances. Their eyes were turned in the direction of Macao.
Even before the imprisonment of the foreign community
at Canton had come to an end, Elliot had managed, with great
difficulty and risks, to send a message from Canton (April 13,
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 99
1839) to the Governor of Macao, throwing himself and all Her
Majesty's subjects by anticipation under the protection of the
Portuguese Government, and offering at the same time, on
behalf of the British Government, immediate facilities on the
British Treasury for the purpose of putting Macao in a state of
effectual defence and of equipping some armed vessels to keep
the coast clear. The Portuguese Governor, A. A. da Silveira
Pinto, in reply (April 13 , 1839 ), declined this offer on the
ground that his very peculiar position compelled him to observe
a strict neutrality as long as possible or until there should be
evidence of the imminent peril which, he said, Elliot seemed to
fear. Governor Pinto failed to understand that the imprisonment
of the foreign community and of Her Majesty's Representative
in China was in itself tantamount to a declaration of war. As
soon as the Canton imprisonment came to an end, Captain Elliot
(May 6 , 1839 ) wrote to Lord Palmerston stating that access to
Macao was now a matter of indispensable necessity for British
trade in China, and that the settlement of Macao could easily
be placed in a state of effective defence. He recommended that
Lord Palmerston should conclude an immediate arrangement
with the Government of Macao, either for the cession of the
Portuguese claims to the place, or for its effectual defence and
its appropriation to British uses by means of a subsidiary
convention.
By the time the Canton prisoners were free to leave and
began to take refuge at Macao, Governor Pinto had reason to
observe that Commissioner Lin's policy was as hostile to the
interests of Portuguese as to those of the British merchants.
Governor Pinto had ordered off all opium stored at Macao and
sent it (3,000 chests) to Manila, where it was safe from Lin's
clutches ; but the revenue of Macao, previously amounting to
$100,000 a year, chiefly levied on the opium trade, had now
dwindled down to next to nothing, and, besides, the Chinese
now began to blockade Macao on the land side and Commis-
sioner Lin coolly proposed to take charge of the Portuguese
fortifications. Under the influence of these circumstances
100 CHAPTER IX.
Governor Pinto gave the British refugees at first a cordial
welcome. It seemed, indeed , as if the Government of Macao
would make common cause with the British in their hour of
distress. But Commissioner Lin interfered . As soon as Elliot
requested Lin to send a special deputy to Macao to confer with
him as to the continuance of the trade, and asked for permission
to make Macao henceforth the headquarters of British commerce
in China, Lin set to work to turn the mind of Governor Pinto
against the British. Lin now relinquished his claim to occupy
the forts of Macao and promised the Governor to leave him .
in undisturbed possession of the settlement, on condition that
the Macao Government should aid him in the suppression of
the opium traffic and in driving out the English from the
place. Lin was determined to force British trade back to
Whampoa and Canton, because he had pledged his word to
the Emperor that, after extirpating the opium trade, he would
soon be able to report the peaceful resumption of the regular
British trade at Canton.
There is no evidence to show that Governor Pinto entered
into any definite understanding with Lin on the subject, but
within three months after the arrival of the British refugees
at Macao, they all felt more or less that they had ceased to be
welcome guests , and that the Governor had fallen back upon
his original position of strict neutrality.
Lin was massing troops around Macao and had also ordered
a camp to be erected opposite Hongkong on the point called
Tsimshatsui, which, as part of the Kowloon peninsula, protrudes
into the harbour of Hongkong. Lin's object was, whilst driving
out the British from Macao, to disturb at the same time their
shipping in Hongkong harbour, so as to compel the British
merchants to come back into his loving arms at Canton.
Whilst these measures were in course of preparation, an
event happened, which caused a great deal of trouble to Elliot .
Some American sailors and British lascars, belonging to the
merchant ships which, for mutual protection and defence, had
taken refuge in Hongkong harbour (since March 24, 1839 ) ,
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 101
went on shore one evening (July 7 , 1839) at Tsimshatsui, and
got into a drunken fray with the Chinese, in the course of which
a Chinaman, named Lin Wai-hi, was killed . Elliot at once
hastened to Hongkong and held a strict inquiry, terminating in
the criminal trial of some lascars by a British jury. But there
was no evidence whatever bringing home the charge of
manslaughter to any one. The Chinese Government had been
invited by Elliot to send some officers to witness the trial, but
Lin claimed the jurisdiction for himself, sent no officer to watch
the case and made a great clamour demanding of Elliot, again.
and again, that he should surrender the murderer or some British
subject in his place. Lin, moreover, now demanded , in the
most peremptory terms, that Elliot and all British merchants
should at once sign a bond declaring that hereafter British
subjects charged with any crime should at once be handed over
to the Chinese Government to be tried according to Chinese
forms of proceeding (involving examination by torture both of
the accused and his witnesses) and to be executed according to
the methods in vogue in China.
Poor Lin, he could not understand that the day for making
such demands had entirely gone by, and that, by insisting upon
them , he effectually defeated his own scheme of bringing British
trade back to Canton . But he blindly rushed on in his mad
career. He now ordered the Chinese sub-Prefect of Macao to
withdraw all Chinese servants from British residents at Macao
(July 21 , 1889 ) . Later on, he formally interdicted (August 15,
1839) the supply of provisions of any kind to British persons or
ships. When British residents at Macao supplied the places of
their Chinese servants with Portuguese, Lin forthwith requested
Governor Pinto to prohibit Portuguese subjects either serving
the British as domestic servants or supplying them with food
or drink, and issued edict after edict, ordering the departure
of British subjects on pain of severe punishment, and declaring
them all to be responsible with their lives for the surrender
of the murderer of Lin Wai-hi. A provisional Committee of
a British Chamber of Commerce had been formed at Macao
102 CHAPTER IX.
(August 3, 1839), Mr. James Mathieson acting as Chairman ,
Mr. Scott. (the Secretary of the former Canton Chamber) as
Secretary , and Messrs . J. H. Astell, G. Braine, W. Bell, G. Smith
and Hinshaw Furdonjee as provisional Committee . Captain
Elliot now consulted them and, acting in accord with their
views, informed a public meeting of the British community.
at Macao (August 21 , 1839) that, whereas the Chinese Imperial
Commissioner had prohibited the Governor of Macao rendering
any assistance to British subjects, he was unwilling to compromise
Portuguese interests any further and proposed to leave Macao
and to take refuge on board the ships in Hongkong harbour
as soon as possible. Two days afterwards Captain Elliot and
his family removed from Macao, Governor Pinto having made
no declaration of his willingness that his English guests should
remain. The whole British community meanwhile hastened to
wind up their local business affairs and prepared for another
exodus. The general excitement was increased by a disgraceful
outrage, committed by the Chinese on the crew and a passenger
(all British) of a small schooner (Black Joke) , plying between
Macao and Hongkong as a passage boat, when (with one
exception) the whole crew were murdered and the passenger
(Mr. Moss) horribly mutilated (August 24, 1839 ) . The
provisional Committee of the British Chamber of Commerce,
in almost daily session after Elliot's departure, had frequent
interviews with Governor Pinto, who was evidently in a great
state of alarm, though he expressed his determination to afford
the British community all the protection and aid in his power.
However, on the evening of August 25, he told the Committee
that he could not answer for the safety of British subjects
remaining in Macao for more than eighteen hours longer. The
Committee accordingly convened a public meeting the same night
and it was resolved to leave Macao the following day. The night
was spent in watching for an armed attack expected to be made
simultaneously on all British houses by the Chinese soldiery.
Nothing happened, however, and at noon on Monday, August 26 ,
1839, the second British exodus commenced . Men, women and
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 103
children, with bag and baggage, were hurried through the streets
of Macao amidst a terrible excitement of the whole population ,
expecting every moment a massacre by the Chinese soldiery.
The refugees assembled on the Praya in the presence of Governor
Pinto who had the whole of the Portuguese troops (some 400
Indian lascars and 500 Caffre slaves) under arms, and embarked
hurriedly on board British ships, lorchas, schooners and boats
of all descriptions, which immediately set sail for Hongkong
harbour, a mournful procession, to seek refuge on board the
ships at Hongkong.
One might well suppose that now at last the time had come
for the establishment of a British Colony on the island of
Hongkong, but no such thought was entertained yet . Driven
out from Canton , bowed out of Macao, forced to retreat to
the ships anchored in the harbour of Hongkong, the British
merchants looked back with regret to the flesh pots of Macao.
The appearance of affairs at Hongkong was indeed depressing.
On one side of the harbour there was a well-nigh barren rock,
unable to supply provisions for the two thousand British subjects.
now crowded together on shipboard in a starving condition, and
on the other side they beheld a large Chinese camp in process
of construction on Kowloon peninsula, with two shore batteries
on Tsimshatsui, one at the present Craig Millar and the other
near the site of the present Military Barracks, commanding the
best portions of the anchorage. These were not encouraging
sights . Provisions were obtainable with great difficulty from
Chinese junks and bum-boats, but prices were very high. No
wonder that fresh negotiations now commenced with Governor
Pinto. Captain Elliot, established on board the ship Fort
William, which subsequently for many years graced the harbour
of Hongkong as a receiving hulk, wrote to Governor Pinto
(September 1 , 1839) , offering to send all the British subjects
back to Macao, anl to place at the Governor's disposal H.M.S.
Volage which had just arrived, and a force of 800 to 1000
men for the defence of the Portuguese settlement. Elliot
remarked at the same time, with reference to certain Chinese
104 CHAPTER IX.
official documents in his possession, that the action of the
Chinese Government, in praising and thanking the Portuguese
Authorities for assisting them in driving forth the British
people,' was no doubt an infamous calumny, which must have
been a source of deep chagrin to the Governor. Here was
another chance for the Portuguese Government of preventing,
at the last moment, the establishment of a rival Colony at
Hongkong, and of making the fortune of Macao. But Adriao
Accacio da Silveira Pinto, Governor of Macao and its Depen-
dencies, impelled no doubt by foolish instructions from Lisbon,
slammed the door in the face of the British community. He
replied (September 3, 1839 ), in stiff but stately terms, that he
could not cease to preserve the most strict neutrality between
the Chinese and British nations, and added that the British
subjects, having retired of their own accord from Macao with
a view of not compromising the Portuguese establishment, had
by this step placed themselves under the necessity of not
landing there again so long as all the difficulties now existing
between the Chinese and the English should continue unsettled .
When Governor Pinto sealed this letter, he sealed the doom
of Macao's prosperity as a Colony and virtually established
Hongkong.
Nevertheless the time for Hongkong, though now seemingly
near at hand, had not come yet . Elliot was, on the one hand,
determined not to locate British trade again within the Bogue,
but, on the other hand, he was averse to the idea of settling on
the island of Hongkong, probably on account of its inability
to furnish provisions and on account of the proximity of the
Kowloon peninsula then occupied by Chinese troops. When
Elliot, seeing the scarcity of provisions, went with Dr. Gützlaff
in two small boats (September 4, 1839 ) to induce the villagers
near Kowloon city to furnish the fleet with provisions, three
Chinese war junks and the battery at Kowloon pier (still in
existence) opened fire upon them, which was gallantly returned
by Elliot's boats, and the junks were driven off. As to the
merchants, they likewise do not appear to have entertained any
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 105
desire yet to settle on Hongkong. They now (September 7 ,
1839) addressed a Memorial to Lord Palmerston, which was
signed by twenty-eight British firms, representing thirty-eight
sea-going British ships assembled in Hongkong Bay. But in
this Memorial there is not a word as to the establishment of
a British Colony. The memorialists complained of having been
driven out from Canton and from Macao. They stated that
they left Macao under a perfect conviction that such a course
was imperatively necessary for the general safety . They also
repeated their former declaration that, after the violent acts of
Commissioner Lin, the return of British subjects to Canton
would be alike dangerous to themselves and to the property of
their constituents and derogatory to the honour of their country,
' until such time as the power of the British Government might
convince the Chinese Authorities that such outrages would not
be endured.' These last words appear to indicate that the British
merchants expected speedy succour from home, the effective
punishment of the Cantonese Authorities, and finally re-estab-
lishment of the whole British community, on a new basis of
international equality, at Canton or Macao. Hongkong had no
chance yet.
Meanwhile Commissioner Lin, after arranging for a
re-opening of trade with Macao, on condition that the British
should remain excluded from the port, and after strengthening
the defences of Tsimshatsui, set to work to cajole the American
and other foreign merchants to remain in or return to Canton,
and did everything he could to bring about a division among
the British merchants and to set them against Elliot . Lin now
looked upon Elliot as the only hindrance in his way, and
accordingly charged him, in public proclamations, with all sorts
of crimes, in order to arouse among the Chinese people a strong
feeling against Elliot. Lin also directed the Magistrates of
neighbouring districts to issue proclamations prohibiting, under
severe penalties, the supply of provisions to the British fleet,
and commanding the people to fire upon British subjects
whenever they went on shore.
106 CHAPTER IX.
In consequence of these proceedings Captain Smith, in
command of H.M.S. Volage, gave notice of his intention of estab-
lishing a blockade of the port of Canton ( September 11 , 1839 ) ,
but when the Cantonese Authorities thereupon promised to
withdraw the offensive proclamations, the blockade was suspended
five days later. Negotiations now commenced afresh concerning
Elliot's desire to bring the British community back to Macao.
Captains Elliot and Smith had an interview ( September 24, 1839 )
with the Chinese Sub- Prefect of Macao, in the presence of
Governor Pinto, endeavouring to find a basis of agreement
between Elliot and Lin. Elliot was determined not to re-open
trade inside the Bogue . Lin was equally determined not to
let the British return to Macao. Accordingly it was proposed.
on the Chinese side, as a compromise, that British trade should
henceforth be conducted at Chuenpi, under the guns of the
Bogue forts. Lin proposed also a series of new trade regulations,
the leading ideas of which were that the Hong Merchants'
monopoly of supervising and conducting the trade as responsible
mediators should continue, and that cargoes should be at the
risk of the ship until laid down at Canton, and at the risk of
the Hong Merchants until shipped on board. This compromise
would have had a good chance of success, had not Lin coupled
with it the impossible stipulation that every merchant , before
participating in the trade, should sign a bond, agreeing that
all British subjects in China should be subject to trial and
capital punishment by Chinese tribunals according to the
provisions of the Penal Code of China. Captain Elliot having
asked a representative Committee of British merchants (Messrs .
H. Wright, G. T. Braine, W. Wallace and Wilkinson Dent)
to advise him on the subject of the proposed trade regulations,
the Committee, after consultation with the Hong Merchants,
stated (October 22, 1839) that in their opinion a trade under
the proposed new plan could not be commenced until the British
.
community had returned to Macao. Individuals from among
the British community indeed went back to Macao whilst these
negotiations proceeded . A British ship (Thomas Coutts) , the
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 107
master of which (Captain Warner), acting under legal advice
obtained in India, signed the bond of submission to Chinese
criminal jurisdiction, entered the Bogue in defiance of Elliot's
prohibition. The ship was admitted to trade and liberally treated
by the Chinese who were anxious that other British skippers
should follow the example of Captain Warner.
When Elliot informed Lin of his inability to approve of
British trade being re-opened on the proposed basis at Chuenpi,
Lin sent to Elliot (October 26 , 1839 ) a peremptory demand
that all British ships should leave the coast of China within
three days, unless the bond of submission to Chinese criminal
jurisdiction were signed at once. Captain Elliot, being aware
that Lin followed up this demand by preparing numbers of fire-
ships and assembling a large fleet of war-junks, to attack the
British ships in Hongkong Bay, and considering the anchorage
in Tungku Bay to be less liable to surprise by fire-ships, now
ordered all the British ships anchored at Hongkong to remove to
Tungku. But the commanders of thirty-five ships at Hongkong,
and the heads of twenty British firms, together with the agents
for Lloyds and for eleven Insurance Offices, protested repeatedly
(October 26 and November 9, 1839) against this order. They
were of opinion that Tungku anchorage was less safe and that ,
if Hongkong were deserted , the Chinese would occupy and fortify
the Island . The merchant ships accordingly remained , for the
present, anchored in Hongkong Harbour.
Captain Smith (H.M.S. Volage) was under strict injunctions.
from the Admiralty to avoid by all means possible any collision
with the Chinese. Observing, however, the daily increase of
troops in the neighbourhood of the shipping at Hongkong,
and the erection of batteries approaching now the beach, he
resolved to make a decided stand against further encroachments.
Accordingly he proposed (October 28, 1839 ) to deliver at the
Bogue forts a letter addressed to Commissioner Lin , demanding
that the warlike and hostile proclamations should be withdrawn
and British merchants allowed to reside at Macao. Captain
Elliot, having agreed to this measure, went the same day on
108 CHAPTER IX.
the Volage which, together with H.M.S. Hyacinth (Captain
Warren), proceeded forthwith to the Bogue forts, where Com-
missioner Lin and Viceroy Tang were at the time inspecting
the forts, fire-ships, and a fleet of twenty-nine powerful war-
junks under the command of Admiral Kwan (a direct descendant
of Kwan Ti, the god of war) . On arrival at the Bogue on the
morning of November 2, 1839, Captain Smith sent to Admiral
Kwan a letter addressed to Commissioner Lin and Viceroy Tang.
This letter, written in Chinese, contained a demand that , within
three days, a proclamation should be published withdrawing
the official orders for the destruction of English cargo ships ,
and permitting English merchants and families to reside on
shore and to be furnished with servants and supplies until the
commands of the Queen of England could be received for
the adjustment of all difficulties. In forwarding this letter by
an Interpreter ( Mr. Morrison) , Captain Smith informed the
Admiral that he would wait for the reply of Lin and Tang and
that the boat conveying the reply should carry a white flag.
Admiral Kwan civilly promised to submit the letter to their
Excellencies, but expressed a wish that the two frigates should
meanwhile move down a little further. Captain Smith im-
mediately complied with this request to show his sincerity.
Instead of forwarding a reply, however, Admiral Kwan twice
sent for Mr. Morrison to visit him, which requests were refused,
on the ground that Captain Smith's letter stated all that was
needful. Next morning, in the course of the forenoon (November
3, 1839 ) , the Chinese squadron, under Admiral Kwan, broke
ground and stood out towards Her Majesty's ships, which were
immediately got under weigh and directed towards the appro-
aching force. As soon as the Chinese observed this proceeding,
their squadron anchored in good order to the number of
twenty-nine sail, and Her Majesty's ships were hove to, whilst
a message was sent by Captain Smith to the war-junks, requesting
them instantly to return to the anchorage north of Chuenpi.
In reply Admiral Kwan stated that, if the murderer of Lin
Wai-hi were at once surrendered to him , he would draw back
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 109
his force to the Bogue, but not otherwise. The Admiral, at
the same time, returned Captain Smith's original letter, addressed
to Lin and Tang, without an answer. This was plain enough
and forthwith ensued the Battle of Chaenpi. As it is the
first naval engagement between Chinese and English ships of
war that history knows of, a detailed account of it, both from
Chinese and English sources, will be of interest .
According to Chinese history the Battle of Chuenpi arose
out of Elliot's sending two men-of-war to the Bogue with a
petition that the Chinese should have mercy on the British
ships at Tsimshatsui and not destroy them, so that he might
wait for dispatches from England . Admiral Kwan returned
the petition unanswered because the English refused to surrender
the murderer of Lin Wai-hi. Just then five Chinese war- ships
started to preserve peace on the seaboard, carrying red flags
at their mast -heads . The English mistook these flags for a
declaration of war, because in England a red flag means war
and a white one peace, and opened fire. Admiral Kwan advanced
foremost, leading on the forces in his own person, standing
by the mast of his junk, and returning shot for shot . The
figure-head of one English ship was knocked off by shots from
Kwan's guns, causing the death by drowning of many European
soldiers. When the Emperor read the account of this
engagement , he wrote on the margin, Admiral Kwan ought
to have known better than standing by the mast, whereby he
compromised the dignity of his office in the eyes of his men.'
At the time the Emperor bestowed on him, for his bravery,
the title of Batulu, and ordered a statement of officers deserving
honours and a list of the persons killed and wounded in the
action to be prepared that they might receive the rewards enacted
by law.
The English account of the Battle of Chuenpi is somewhat
6
different. The following is Captain Elliot's version. Captain
Smith did not feel himself warranted in leaving this formidable
Chinese flotilla at liberty to pass inside of him at night and to
carry into effect the menaces against the merchant vessels.
110 CHAPTER IX.
Thinking that the retirement of the two ships of Her Majesty
(Volage and Hyacinth) , before a force moved out with the
palpable intention to intimidate, was not compatible with the
honour of the flag, he determined forthwith to constrain their
return to their former anchorage. Therefore, about noon
(November 3, 1839), the signal was made to engage, and the
ships, then lying hove to, on the extreme right of the Chinese
force, bore away in a line ahead and close order, having the
wind on the starboard beam. In this way, and under sail, they
ran down the Chinese line, pouring in a destructive fire. The
lateral direction of the wind enabled the ships to perform the
same evolution from the opposite extreme of the line, running
up it again with the larboard broadsides bearing . The Chinese
answered with their accustomed spirit ; but the terrible effect
of our own fire was soon manifest. One war-junk blew up
at about pistol shot distance from the l'olage, a shot probably
having passed through the magazine ; three were sunk and
several others were obviously water-logged. It is an act of
justice to a brave man to say, that the Chinese Admiral's conduct
was worthy of his station . His junk was evidently better armed
and manned than the other vessels ; and , after he had weighed
or, more probably, cut or slipped, he bore up and engaged
Her Majesty's ships in handsome style, manifesting a resolution
of behaviour, honourably enhanced by the hopelessness of his
efforts. In less than three-quarters of an hour, however, he
and the remainder of the squadron were retiring in great distress
to their former anchorage ; and as it was not Captain Smith's
disposition to protract destructive hostilities, or indeed to do
more than repel onward movements, he offered no obstruction
to their retreat, but discontinued the fire and made sail for
Macao with the purpose to cover the embarkation of such of
Her Majesty's subjects as might see fit to retire from that place.'
We may add to this account that the Volage got some shot
through her sails and the Hyacinth was a good deal cut up
in her rigging and spars ; a twelve-pound shot lodged in her
mizenmast and one went through her main yard , requiring it
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 111
to be secured . The wretched gunnery of the Chinese hurt no
one. Their guns and powder must have been good, from the
distance they carried, but not being fitted for elevation and
depression, all their shots were too high to have any effect .
except on the spars and rigging
As soon as the news of the battle of Chuenpi reached the
Chinese army encamped at Tsimshatsui, the shore batteries
opened fire (November 6, 1839) upon the merchant ships
anchored in Hongkong harbour, keeping up a rambling can-
nonade for several days. There is a statement in the Chinese
Annals that, in November, 1839, the English unsuccessfully
attacked the fort north of Tsimshatsui, but that, as the wells
had been poisoned, and they feared a night attack, they made
off to their ships again . There is no evidence for the correctness
of this statement. Owing, however, to the above- mentioned
cannonade, the commanders of the merchant ships resolved to
yield to Elliot's previous demands and removed the ships to
Tungku. Hongkong was once more deserted .
Ever since British merchants were excluded by Commissioner
Lin from any direct share in the trade conducted at Macao and
especially since his failure to induce them to resort to Chuenpi,
and whilst Elliot prohibited their returning to Canton or
Whampoa, a great deal of freighting business had been going
on by means of trans-shipment of British cargoes to and from
American and other foreign vessels. The anxiety of British
shipowners and consignees to clear their vessels caused them to
chafe under the restraints imposed upon them by the deadlock
of understanding between Lin and Elliot . Only one English
ship, the Royal Saxon (Captain Town) , followed the bad example
set by Captain Warner. But as the animosity of Lin extended
only to loyal British merchants and ships, whilst the ships of
other foreign nationalities were treated by Lin as neutrals and
rather favoured because they signed the bond which Elliot so
abhorred, a great demand arose for neutral ships, under the
benefit of the bond, to carry cargo to and fro between the
port of Whampoa and British ships at Hongkong or Tungku.
112 CHAPTER IX.
Freights for this short route rose to $ 6 per bale of cotton to
be carried to Whampoa, and $10 per ton for Chinese produce
from Whampoa to the British ships. This depreciation of the
British flag and the enhancement of the value of other flags
went to such lengths that one British ship after the other was
sold for nominal considerations, the American Consul especially
giving his sanction to such transfers , offensive as they were to
Captain Elliot. The total exclusion of British merchants from
direct trade with China, which had been an accomplished fact
for some time, was formally declared by an Imperial Edict
published in Canton (November 26 , 1839) , to the effect that ,
whereas the English had been vacillating iu their treatment of
the opium question , it was no longer compatible with dignity
to continue to permit their trade, and the English trade must
therefore be entirely stopped from after December 6 , 1839 , and
for ever. This state of things, continuing for twelve months.
longer to the great detriment of British commercial interests,
formed eventually the most powerful cause resulting in a demand
for the cession of Hongkong.
For the present, however, Elliot strained every nerve to
induce Lin to accede to his wish that British trade should be
re-established, in some form or other, at Macao, but Lin, though
once more earnestly entreated by Elliot (December 16, 1839 ) to
consent to some compromise in this direction, proved inexorable.
Even the Portuguese Governor of Macao joined Lin in his
obstructive policy, and when Captain Elliot (January 1 , 1840)
asked Governor Pinto, in the name of Her Britannic Majesty,
to permit at least the storing of the remainder of British cargoes
in the warehouses of Macao upon the payment of the duties
fixed by the regulations of the place, he met with an equally
decided rebuff. In this unfriendly line of conduct, the
Portuguese Governor went even farther. At the beginning of
February, 1840, it happened that atrocious proclamations against
the English were again posted on the walls of Macao. Captain
Smith, seeing the lives of British subjects residing at Macao
endangered by those placards, ordered H.M.S. Hyacinth to enter
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 113
the inner harbour of Macao (February 4, 1840 ), with a view to
enable British subjects to take refuge on board . Thereupon
both Governor Pinto and the Senate of Macao waxed wroth,
declared their dignity offended, their neutrality violated and
sternly ordered the ship to leave immediately. Captain Smith
yielded and withdrew the Hyacinth on the following day.
However the very lowest ebb of the honour and fortunes of
British trade in China had now been reached, and a change
was at hand.
In England public opinion was now at last fairly aroused,
thanks to the keynote struck by the Queen's Speech from the
Throne (January, 1840) in which Her Majesty identified her
interests and the dignity of the Crown with the fate of Elliot
and the British merchants in China. Whilst regretting or
condemning the opium trade as a whole, the British public clearly
perceived that British trade with China must be re-organized
on an entirely new basis. Arrangements were quietly made
by the Government to fit out an expedition to China . Lord
Palmerston explained in the House of Commons (March 12 ,
1840) that the object of this expedition was not to commence
hostilities but to open up communication with the Emperor
of China. The good people of Great Britain did not want war
with China and especially not for the sake of the opium trade,
but they were quite satisfied that, as an Order in Council
(April 4, 1840) expressed it, satisfaction and reparation should
be demanded from the Chinese Government on account of the
late injurious proceedings of certain officers of the Emperor
of China.
The Chinese Government was meanwhile kept tolerably
well informed of what transpired in England. Commissioner
Lin had a great passion for keeping spies among the employés
of British merchants and officers, and his intelligence department
kept him supplied with translations of newspaper cuttings . Lin
accordingly was able to inform the Emperor, long before the
expedition arrived, that Elliot had applied for troops to be
sent to China ; that the Queen had directed Parliament to
8
114 CHAPTER IX.
deliberate upon the matter ; that the official body, civil and
military, were in favour, of war, whilst the mercantile interest
was for peace ; that discussion went on for several days
without any definite result ; but that at last lots were drawn
in the Lo Chan-sze Temple and three tickets were found in
favour of war which was therefore resolved on ; that Pak- mak
(Bremer), the Queen's relative by marriage, was ordered to
take a dozen or so of war-ships under his command, to
which were added twenty or thirty guardships from India.'
6
The Emperor replied, after reading this report, What can
they do, if we quietly wait on the defensive and watch their
movememts ? ' Soon after, when Lin was asked (June 1 , 1840)
by some American merchants in Canton to allow their ships
to clear with their cargoes as quickly as possible because the
British expedition would soon arrive and blockade the port,
Lin sneered at the idea of the English being daring enough
or able to effectively blockade the Canton River.
Lin, however, was too hot-tempered a man to wait quietly.
Early in the year (January 16, 1840 ) he strengthened the
defences of Tsimshatsui by building a new fort on the site of
the present Water-police Station, and supplied the Bogue forts
with some 200 new cannons of foreign construction , which he
had no difficulty in buying in Canton from friendly foreign
merchants. He was anxious to set foreigners to fight the English
but could not manage it. He then purchased several foreign
ships and had junks built in foreign style, fitted them up like
men-of- war, and ordered their crews to be drilled in foreign
fashion. But he was quick-witted enough to see, on witnessing
some trial manoeuvres, that this plan would not work, and
gave it up. So he turned all his attention to the plan he
had commenced long before, in August, 1839, by starting a
volunteer fleet, formed by engaging fishermen and pirates
at $6 a month each, with $ 6 extra for each of their families,
the funds being provided in the way common in China, viz .
by compelling well -to - do people to give voluntary ' subscriptions
for public purposes . But this volunteer fleet, let loose to
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 115
prey upon British shipping (since August, 1839) with war-
junks and fire-ships, and to prevent disloyal Chinese traders
from supplying the British ships with provisions, accomplished
next to nothing. They burned, by mistake, the Spanish brig
Bilbaino (September, 1839) , captured here and there Chinese
junks which supplied British ships with provisions, made
sundry night attacks on British vessels by sending down
upon them, with the tide, fire-ships chained together in
couples, but they did not capture a single British ship or
boat. Commissioner Lin then resorted to the usual Chinese
appeal to sordid avarice and ordered the Magistrates of the
neighbouring districts to issue proclamations offering rewards,
not merely for the destruction of British men-of-war or
merchant vessels, for which large sums of money were promised,
but for the capture or assassination of individuals. Accordingly
a price of $ 5,000 was put on Elliot's head, sums ranging from
$5,000 to $500 were offered for any English officer, according
to gradation of rank, made prisoner, and one third of the
money in each case for any British officer killed, also a
reward of $ 100 was offered for any British merchant made
prisoner and $20 for any such merchant killed. But Lin's
bounty and assassination schemes were nearly as fruitless as
his volunteer scheme. No British officer was captured or
murdered, and but few British civilians were made prisoners
or assassinated, though secret ambushes were laid frequently
and the poisoning of wells was a common practice.
In June 1840 , the ships forming the expedition began
to assemble in Hongkong harbour, and every day now brought
some man-of-war or troopship or other from England or India .
By the end of June there had arrived seventeen men - of- war
among them three line-of- battle ships (the Melville, Wellesley
and Blenheim), with four of the East India Company's armed
steamers (the Queen, Atalanta, Madagascar and Enterprise, to
which subsequently the Nemesis was added) . There were also
twenty-seven troopships, which brought three regiments (18th
Royal Irish, 26th Cameronians and 49th Bengal Volunteers) ,
116 CHAPTER IX.
a corps of Bengal Engineers, and a corps of Madras sappers
and miners, about 4,000 fighting men in all. The expedition
was under the command of Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer, subject
to the orders of two Plenipotentiaries, viz . Rear Admiral, the
Hon. George Elliot, and Captain Ch. Elliot, R.N. , the former
Chief Superintendent of Trade at Canton.
The instructions which the Cabinet had given to the two
Plenipotentiaries were, ( 1 ) to obtain reparation for the insults.
and injuries offered to Her Majesty's Superintendent and to
Her Majesty's subjects by the Chinese Government, (2) to
obtain for British merchants trading with China an indemni-
fication for the loss of their property incurred by the threats
of violence offered by persons under the direction of the
Government, and (3) to obtain a certain security that persons
in future trading with China shall be protected from insult
or injury, and that their trade and commerce be maintained
upon a proper footing.
It will be observed from the tenor of these general
instructions, that the object of the expedition was not to make
war against China, but to communicate with the Chinese
Government (at Peking ) , in order to obtain official redress and
indemnity for the past and commercial immunities and securities
for the future. The means and mode of procedure now prescribed
were exactly what so many former Canton residents and notably
Mr. James Matheson had recommended in 1836. An appeal,
against the doings of the Cantonese Authorities, was to be made
to a misinformed and misguided Emperor and negotiations were
to be instituted with the moral support of the presence of an
expeditionary force ready for war in case pacific measures should
prove fruitless. Apart from the indemnity for the opium
extorted by Lin, the opium question was not included in the
programme, and very justly so, for in the reckoning which
England had now risen up to make with China , virtually for
two centuries of ill-treatment accorded to her merchants, the
opium question was a mere accidental extra . Finally, it will
also be observed that, among the objects of the expedition , the
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 117
cession of any portion of Chinese territory, or the formation
of a British Colony in the East, was not included . This was
no doubt agreeable to Captain Elliot who, as we have seen, was
averse to the notion of appropriating Hongkong or any other
island for the purposes of a Colony and merely looked for a
safe trade station on the coast and preferably at Macao.
The Indian Government suggested to the Plenipotentiaries
that, immediately upon the arrival of the expedition in China,
the Bogue forts should be razed to the ground, and the Island
of Lantao (W. of Hongkong) occupied as a commissariat depot,
with might at some future time answer as a trade station . But ,
as the first object of the expedition was peaceful communication
with Peking rather than war at Canton, the two Plenipotentiaries
agreed to abstain from any demonstration involving bloodshed
as long as possible. However, to prevent any misunderstanding
at Canton, Commodore Bremer was directed to give notice (June
21 , 1840) that a blockade of the port of Canton, by all its
entrances, would commence on June 28, and further, in order
to have a point d'appui for the expected negotiations in the North,
Commodore Bremer proceeded at once with an advanced force
to take possession of the Island of Chusan, which was accordingly
done (July 5 , 1840 ) by the occupation of Tinghai.
Admiral Elliot and Captain Elliot, following (June 30,
1840 ) in the wake of Commodore Bremer with the remainder
of the expedition , endeavoured first to induce the Authorities of
Chelkiang (the province to which Chusan belongs) to forward
to Peking a dispatch signed by Lord Palmerston and addressed
to the Imperial Authorities at Peking, but eventually they
proceeded to Tientsin where the dispatch was delivered to the
Viceroy of Chilli, called Kishen . According to Chinese history,
Lord Palmerston's dispatch, after making certain statements
intended to enlighten the Emperor as to the doings of the
Cantonese Authorities, made the following demands, viz. ( 1 )
payment of an indemnity for the value of the opium extorted
by Lin, (2 ) the opening of five treaty ports (Canton, Amoy,
Foochow, Tinghai and Shanghai) , ( 3) terms of official com-
118 CHAPTER IX.
munication on the basis of international equality, (4) payment
of the costs of the expedition , (5) a guarantee that one set
of merchants, should not be held responsible for the doings of
another, and ( 6 ) the abolition of the Hong Merchants' monopoly.
It will be observed that here also neither the cession of
Hongkong, nor the establishment of a Colony anywhere else,
was included in the programme. But as the Governor General
of India had referred to Lantao, and as the Plenipotentiaries,
immediately after the capture of Tinghai, organized a complete
civil, judicial and fiscal administration for the whole Island
of Chusan, as if it was to be a British Colony, the chances of
Hongkong now seemed even farther removed than ever.
The Emperor's eyes were opened at last when he perused
Lord Palmerston's dispatch, and seeing that he had either to
concede the British demands or go to war, he is said to have
observed, as he laid down the dispatch, that ' Lin caused the
war by his excessive zeal and killed people in order to close
their mouths .' Lin's enemies at Court now poured into the
Imperial car all sorts of whispers , in consequence of which both
Lin and Tang (the former Viceroy of Canton, now Viceroy
of Folkien ) were degraded . Kishen was appointed Imperial
Commissioner to arrange the Canton affairs, but he was hampered
by the direction to consult Lin and Tang as to the measures to
be taken. Eleepoo, the Viceroy of Nanking, was also appointed
Imperial Commissioner and directed to proceed to Ningpo
(opposite Chusan) to settle the Chusan affairs. After various
negotiations with Eleepoo, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries
concluded at Chusan a truce (November 6 , 1840 ) on an undefined
general understanding that the peaceful negotiations, which had
commenced, should be continued and concluded at Canton by
Kishen, and that meanwhile the English would hold Chusan.
as a guarantee .
Whilst the Plenipotentiaries were occupied in the North,
Commissioner Lin, though chafing under the blockade of the
Canton River, continued at first his former course of egging
on the scum of the people to acts of violence against the English
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 119
and placarded the walls of Macao again with inflammatory
denunciations directed against the English residents at that
place. The Rev. V. Stanton, officiating as British Chaplain
at Macao, was kidnapped on the shore ( August 5 , 1840 ) and
kept under close confinement in a common prison in Canton ,
until he was released by Kishen (December 12, 1840 ) . Owing
to Lin's interference with the supply of provisions at Macao,
four British gunboats shelled and captured the Chinese barrier
fort near Macao (August 19, 1840 ) ; otherwise no serious
movement of any importance took place near Canton until the
conclusion of the truce.
When the news of the Chusan truce reached Macao ,
disappointment, doubt and anxiety prevailed among the British
community. As soon as the two Plenipotentiaries arrived , five
British firms (Dent, Bell, Mevicar. Gribble Hughes and Dirom)
sent a joint address to Captain Elliot, inquiring, whether the
truce of Chusan implied a suspension of the Canton blockade,
whether it had been determined that British trade should in
future be carried on outside the Bogue, or whether it be
contemplated that English ships should enter the Bogue and
trade be carried on, temporarily, at Macao. To this inquiry
Captain Elliot replied from Tungku (November 27 , 1840 ) ,
declining to answer these questions on the ground that he was
ignorant of the intentions of the Chinese Government. But, as
Admiral Elliot , suffering under a severe illness, had to resign
his post and to return to England (December 1 , 1840 ) , leaving
to Captain Elliot the conduct of the negotiations as sole
Plenipotentiary, it was generally assumed that Elliot would
press for British trade to be conducted thenceforth outside the
Bogue, business being conducted exclusively at Macao. Sir
H. S. Fleming Senhouse partially succeeded Admiral Elliot in
the command of the flect, the command of the whole expedition
remaining in the hands of Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer.
At Canton, the Chinese officials and people were in a similar
state of uncertainty and misgiving, until Kishen's arrival
(November 29 , 1840 ) . When Elliot sent the steamer Queen,
120 CHAPTER IX.
under a flag of truce, to the Bogue (November 20, 1840 ) , to
announce his arrival and to deliver a dispatch by Eleepoo
addressed to Kishen, she was fired upon by the Bogue forts,
and the solid shot which the Queen dropped into the forts in
return for the discourtesy were presented to Lin in great triumph,
but an apology was tendered subsequently. In sending this
apology the Chinese officials, for the first time, addressed Elliot
in terms of proper respect . As soon as Kishen arrived in
Canton , he was entreated by the officials, literati and gentry
of Canton, not to give up a stone of their fortresses nor an
inch of their territory, but to resume hostile operations at once .
Kishen, however, had formed a better estimate of the power
of foreign arms, strategy and discipline, and was honestly
determined to make peace, yielding, however, as little as possible.
But as he by this policy ran counter to popular feeling and
lost the confidence and hearty co -operation of all his local
subordinates, his position was extremely difficult. Negotiations
were accordingly protracted from day to day and from week to
week without any ground being gained. Elliot having asked
for a port outside the Bogue, where British ships might load
and unload their cargoes, Kishen thought of offering to Elliot
either Amoy or Hongkong. But having been directed to consult
Lin and Tang, the latter, a man of keen statesman-like foresight,
urged that Amoy was the key of Fohkien, and that Hongkong,
occupying a central position in Cantonese waters, would be a
perpetual menace to the Cantonese Authorities if the English
were to fortify the Island of Kwantailou (Hongkong) and the
peninsula of Kowloon .' Thus Kishen found himself hermed
in at every step. Lin and Tang secretly counteracted his policy
by their influence upon Kishen's local subordinates and Kishen
noticed a mutinous spirit all around himself. Lin's intelligence
department also would not serve Kishen with a good will and
the latter was driven to confide all interpretation work to a
man, Pao Pang, who was looked upon by the Chinese as a traitor
and by Elliot as a menial, having been formerly Mr. Dent's
favourite butler in the old factory days.
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 121
At the beginning of January, 1841 , Elliot found himself,
after six weeks of negotiations, no nearer a settlement than
he had been before. He determined, therefore, to bring matters
to a crisis and sent to Kishen an ultimatum (January 6, 1841 )
to the effect that, unless some definite basis for an agreement
was proposed by Kishen by 8 A.M. on the following day, the
Bogue forts would be taken possession of forthwith. No answer
having been received next morning, the action , thenceforth to
be known as the Second Battle of Chuenpi, commenced, at
9.30 A.M. on January 7 , 1841 , when the fleet attacked the two
Bogue forts, Chuenpi (also called Shakok) on the East and
Taikok on the West of the Bogue, whilst the troops ( 1,461 men
all told) were landed in the rear of the forts and took them
by assault. Within an hour and a half, eighteen Chinese war-
junks were destroyed , some 500 Chinese soldiers were killed,
some 300 more wounded, while the loss on the English side
men wounded (mostly by explosions in blowing up
Chinese powder magazines ) , and none killed . At 11 o'clock
the action was over and the British flag fluttered lustily in the
breeze over the smouldering rains of the Bogue forts.
The Chinese historian gives the following account of the
Second Battle of Chuenpi. Whilst the guns of the English
fleet bombarded the two forts in front, a force of about 2,000
Chinese traitors scaled the hills and attacked them in the rear.
A hundred or more of these were blown up by exploded mines,
but the rest, far out-numbering the garrison of 600 men, came
swarming up notwithstanding. Two or three hundred more
were killed by our gingalls, but at last our powder was exhausted ,
and the steam-boats got round the forts and burned our fleet .
The other three forts, farther up the river, commanded by
Admiral Kwan, Rear-Admiral Li and Captain Ma respectively,
had only a few hundred men in them, who could do nothing
but regard each other with weeping eyes. Admiral Kwan sent
Li to Canton to apply for more troops, but Kishen was obdurate
and simply spent the night in writing ont further peace
proposals which he sent by Pao Pang to Elliot . Hongkong
122 CHAPTER IX.
was now offered, by Kishen, in addition to the opium indemnity
and the Chehkiang prisoners were exchanged for Tinghai. '
The last sentence of this Chinese account of the Second
Battle of Chuenpi is of special importance, as it fixes the source
from which the proposal to cede the Island of Hongkong to the
British Crown emanated . It was Kishen and not Elliot who
proposed the cession. As to the Chehkiang prisoners ' here
referred to, there is some mistake here. Kishen's proposal was
to cede Hongkong as a trade station (like Whampoa ) and
in exchange for the Bogue forts and Chusan (Tinghai) . Sub-
sequently, the Chehkiang prisoners ,' that is to say, the crew
and passengers of the troopship Kite, which stranded ( February
15 , 1841 ) by accident on a shoal near Tinghai and fell into
Chinese hands, were naturally surrendered by the Chinese when
Tinghai was evacuated.
After the capture of the Bogue forts, Admiral Kwan came
with a flag of truce, begging for an armistice, in order to give
the High Commissioner time to consider certain propositions
he intended offering for Elliot's acceptance. The armistice was
granted and shuffling negotiations recommenced . At last, on
January 20 , 1841 , was concluded the Treaty of Chuenpi .
By this Treaty, four preliminary propositions were agreed
to by the Chinese and British Plenipotentiaries, to the effect, ( 1 )
that the island and harbour of Hongkong (not including
Kowloon peninsula) should be ceded for ever to the British
Crown, and the Chinese batteries on Tsimshatui dismantled in
return for the demolished Bogue forts, ( 2) that an indemnity
of six million dollars should be paid to the British Government
in six annual instalments, the first being paid at once, (3 ) that
direct official intercourse between the two countries should be
conducted on a footing of international equality, and (4) that
the trade of the port of Canton should be opened within ten
days after the Chinese new year (therefore on February 1 , 1841 )
and be carried on at Whampoa, until further arrangements should
be practicable at Hongkong. All other details were to stand
over for further negotiation . It must be added, however, that
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG, 123
the first of the foregoing preliminaries of peace was coupled with
a proviso, subsequently disapproved by the British Government ,
to the effect that all just charges and duties to the Empire of
China, upon the commerce carried on at Hongkong, should be
paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa .' These words
indicate that the understanding which Kishen and Elliot , by
a mutual compromise, attached to the cession of Hongkong at
that time was, that Hongkong should be a hybrid cross between
a treaty port of China and a British Colony, the soil being owned
by Great Britain but trade charges levied by Chinese officials.
Such a mixed constitution would have proved a source of endless
friction between the two Governments, besides being a negation
of the free traders ' desire of a free port.
In notifying Her Majesty's subjects of the successful
conclusion of the Chuenpi Treaty (January 20, 1890) , Captain
Elliot informed them that, pending Her Majesty's further
pleasure, there would be no port or other charges to the British
Government at Hongkong. Elliot, at the same time, offered
the protection of the British flag to the subjects, citizens and
ships of foreign Powers, that might resort to Her Majesty's
possessions at Hongkong. He also exhorted British merchants
to adopt a conciliatory treatment of the Chinese people and to
show becoming deference for the country upon the threshold of
which they were about to be established, and finally he expressed
his gratitude to the officers and men of the expeditionary force ,
to whose bravery the result now accomplished was largely due.
Immediately after the conclusion of the Treaty of Chuenpi,
the British squadron withdrew from the Bogue and moved down
to the S. W. Bay of Lantao, leaving behind H.M.S. Sumarang,
whose commander (Captain Scott), thenceforth known as
Governor of Chuenpi, was instructed to hand over to the Chinese
Authorities the demolished forts of Chuenpi and Taikok. At
the same time, H.M.S. Columbine was dispatched to Chusan,
to recall thence the remainder of the expedition.
On January 24, 1841 , Commodore Bremer, having arrived
at Lantao from Macao, directed Captain Belcher, in command
124 CHAPTER IX.
of H.M.S. Sulphur (which has given her name to the Sulphur
Channel) to proceed forthwith to Hongkong and commence
its survey. Sir E. Belcher, accordingly, landed on Monday,
January 25 , 1841 , at fifteen minutes past 8 a.m., at the foot of
Taipingshan, and on the hill, now occupied by the Chinese
recreation ground. Captain Belcher and his officers , considering
themselves the bona fide first British possessors, drank Her
Majesty's health with three cheers , the spot being thenceforth
known as Possession Point. This was done unofficially and
as an arbitrary preliminary to the survey of the Island . But
the next day (January 26 , 1841 ) , when the whole squadron
had arrived in Hongkong harbour, possession was taken of
Hongkong more formally and officially by Commodore Bremer.
On Tuesday, January 26 , 1841 , the marines from all the ships
were landed at the same place as the day before and official
possession was taken of the Island by Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer
in the name of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Commodore
Bremer was accompanied by his officers, and at the moment
when the British flag was hoisted on Possession Point, the
marines on the spot fired a feu-de-joie, whilst all the ships-of-war
in the harbour made the hills re-echo with the thunders of
the first Royal Salute ever fired in Hongkong . Sir E. Belcher
took the true position of Hongkong on a hillock, within a
stone's throw of the houses on Morrison Hill, as being in 22°
16 ' 30" N. Lat . and 114° 08 ′ 30″ E. Long. He also determined
the names and height of the principal peaks as follow, Victoria
Peak ( 1,825 feet) , High West ( 1,774 feet) , Mount Gough 1,575
feet) , Mount Kellett ( 1,131 feet ), Mount Parker ( 1,711 feet ) and
subsequently Pottinger Peak ( 1,016 feet).
It is obvious from the foregoing account of the acquisition
of Hongkong, that the actual cession was a surprise to all
concerned . Kishen had, at the last moment, reluctantly offered
to cede Hongkong, and Elliot, though accepting it, because at
the moment he could hardly do otherwise, took it unwillingly.
To the British merchants, the leaders of whom in later years
stated in a joint memorial to Lord Stanley (August 13 , 1845)
EXODUS FROM MACAO AND CESSION OF HONGKONG. 125
that such a settlement as Hongkong was never actually required
by the British merchants, ' this sudden establishment of a Colony
was as unexpected as the birth of a child into a family generally
is to the rest of the children . They could only wonder how
it had all come about , but they could not undo the fact. They
had not been consulted about it. There it was : the newborn
Colony of Hongkong. And as to the people of England - What
will they say about it at home ? ' was the anxious thought of
both Elliot and the merchants, and none could foretell with
certainty whether the new-fledged Colony would ever live to
celebrate its jubilee or indeed outlast the year of its birth .
On February 3, 1841 , ignorant as yet of the cession as a
fait accompli, the Foreign Office dispatched instructions to
Captain Elliot which seemed to him to furnish good cause for
the expectation that the establishment of a trade station at
Hongkong might eventually meet with the approval of Her
Majesty's Government . This dispatch contained the following
prophetic caution : You are authorized to propose a condition
that, if there be ceded to the British Crown an island off the
Eastern Coast of China to serve as a commercial station for
British subjects, the Chinese merchants and inhabitants of all
the towns and cities on the Coast of China shall be permitted
by the Chinese Government to come freely and without the
least hindrance and molestation to that Island for the purpose
of trading with the British subjects there established .' Un-
fortunately for Hongkong, the injunction here wisely coupled
with its probable cession was entirely neglected for years after
the cession had been accomplished . Kishen offered Hongkong
as a residence for foreigners but he did not intend it to become
the Alsatia of China.
Difficult as it may be to say, with prefect accuracy and in
a few words, how Hongkong came to be ceded to the British
Crown, this much will be clearly established by the above nar-
rative, viz. that the ordinarily current accounts of the cession
of Hongkong are inaccurate. It is evidently unjust to say,
what is commonly found stated in Continental and American
126 CHAPTER IX.
histories of British intercourse with the Far East, that the
English wanted Hongkong and they took it by force of
arms.' But that is also an unwarranted inference which the
compiler of the Colonial Year Book (1890) has drawn from
his view of the cession, by the allegation that the annexation
of Hongkong affords a remarkable example of the aptitude
of the English for grasping the requirements of any given
condition of circumstances and meeting them accordingly.'
It is to be feared, with all respect for British quickness of
perception generally, that in the present case the lesson of
the above chapter points rather in the opposite direction .
CHAPTER X.
PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF HONGKONG .
EOLOGICAL upheavals had felicitously formed Hongkong
of the toughest material and placed it just where the
Continent of Asia- large enough for the destinies of China,
Russia and Britain-juts out into the Pacific, as if beckoning
to the rest of the world to come on. Small as a dot in the
ocean, Hongkong was yet formed large enough for its own
destiny to act as the thin end of the wedge which shall yet
open up China to the the civilization of the West ; to form
Britain's Key to the East, as the combined Malta and Gibraltar
of the Pacific ; to be China's guarantee of British support along
the strategic line formed by India, the Straits Settlements and
the China Sea.
Previous to its cession to the British Crown, the Island of
Hongkong was too little known to be accorded special notice
either in the Annals or in the Topographies of the Chinese
Empire, to which it belonged .
Hongkong, and the opposite portion of the mainland of
China, known as the Peninsula of Kowloon, together with
the few tiny islets situated close inshore ( Kellett Island, Stone-
cutter's Island, Green Island , Tree Island, Aberdeen Island,
Middle Island, and Round Island), all of which are at the
present day comprised within the boundaries of the Colony,
formed, since time immemorial, a portion of the Kwangtung
(Canton) Province. The Island of Hongkong (covering an
area of about 29 square miles ) is situated, 76 miles S.E. of
Canton, near the mouth of the Pearl River, the eastern banks
of which are lined by the Tungkoon District (24 miles S.E. of
Canton city) and the Sanon District ( 52 miles S.E. of Canton
city) , of which the Kowloon Peninsula and Kowloon City
128 CHAPTER X.
Promontory from the south-eastern extremities, whilst Hongkong
is separated from Kowloon Peninsula by a channel of one
nautical mile in width.
For many centuries Hongkong formed a part of the
Tungkoon District, but when the eastern half of the latter was
constituted a separate District, called Sanon, the territory now
included in the British Colony of Hongkong came under the
jurisdiction of the Sanon Magistrate who resides in a walled
town on the Canton River called Namtau (or Sanon), and who
has under his direction a Sub-Magistrate residing at Kowloon
city, a small fortified town, situated close to the British frontier,
in the north- eastern corner of Kowloon Peninsula. The land-
register, however, which forms the Domesday Book for the few
arable and vegetable fields possessed by the Colony remained all
along at Tungkoon. Thence used to issue from time to time
the tax-gatherers to dun the villagers for the payment of the
grain tax and to worry them into taking out licences for ground
newly brought under cultivation .
The fishing grounds also, all along the coast of Hongkong
and Kowloon, were parcelled out, under special licences for
which the Sanon Magistrate's underlings used to collect annual
fees. The waters of Hongkong, with the beautiful, roomy and
almost land-locked harbour, enclosed on the North by the
Peninsula of Kowloon and its eastern Promontory, and in
the South by the Island of Hongkong with its several bays,
were under the special supervision of the Marine Constabulary
Station of Taipang, a walled town in the north-eastern portion
of Mirs Bay, some 30 miles to the North-east of Kowloon city.
But when the Colony became British, the head-quarters of the
Colonel in command of the Marine Constabulary stations of
Taipang and Kowloon were removed to the citadel of Kowloon
city.
The above-mentioned administrative and executive arrange-
ments date back, in their present form, no farther than the
commencement of the present Tatsing (Manchu) Dynasty and
notably to the reign of the enlightened Emperor Kanghi (A.D.
PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF HONGKONG. 129
1662 to 1722 ) , who took quite an exceptional position in that
he positively encouraged foreigners to come to his Court and
systematically favoured foreign trade. During his reign the
water-ways of Hongkong which, with the Kap-shui - moon and
Sulphur channels in the West, and the Ly-ee-moon pass in the
East, formed all along the natural highway of commerce, con-
necting Canton and the South-west coast with the ports of
Swatow, Amoy, Foochow and Shanghai on the East coast
of China, rose into commercial importance.
As to the history of Hongkong previous to the rise of the
Tatsing Dynasty (A.D. 1644) very little is known .
There is, however, on the Kowloon peninsula, and within
British territory, an ancient rock inscription, on a large loose-
lying granite boulder, which crowns the summit of a circular
hill, jutting out into the sea, close to the village of Matauchung,
directly West of Kowloon city. This inscription, consisting of
three Chinese characters (Sung Wong Tong, lit. Hall of a
King of the Sung) arranged horizontally, was originally cut
about half an inch deep in the northern face of the boulder. The
Chinese Government believe it to be a genuine inscription , about
600 years old . The original characters, having become nearly
effaced in course of time, were renewed at the beginning of the
present century ( 1897 ) by order of the Viceroy of Canton, the
date of this restoration being recorded by a separate inscription
the characters of which are arranged perpendicularly. The memo-
ries attaching to this inscription and to the whole hill, which still
shows the outlines of the original entrenchments, are so sacred
in the eyes of Chinese officials and literati , that excavations
and quarrying were prohibited in that locality under the severest
penalties. When the Peninsula was leased and subsequently
ceded to the British Crown, the Chinese Government specially
stipulated that the rock inscription and the whole hill should
remain untouched . Nevertheless, quarrying has occasionally been
attempted there since the locality came into British possession.
Chinese history states that, when the Sung Dynasty was
overturned by the invasion of the Mongols under Kublai Khan ,
9
130 CHAPTER X.
who subsequently seated himself on the throne of China
(A.D. 1280) , the last Emperor of the Sung Dynasty, then a
young child, was driven with the Imperial Court to the South
of China and finally compelled to take refuge on board ship,
when he continued his flight, accompanied by a small fleet.
Coasting along from Foochow, past Amoy and Swatow, he passed
(about 1278 A.D.) through the Ly-ee-moon into the waters of
Hongkong. After a short stay on Kowloon Peninsula, he sailed
westwards until he reached Ngaishan, at the mouth of the West
River (South-west of Macao). But meanwhile the Mongols
had taken possession of Canton and hastily organized a fleet
with which they hemmed in the Imperial flotilla on all sides.
The Prime Minister (Luk Sau-fu) , seeing all was lost, took the
youthful Emperor on his back, jumped into the sca (A.D. 1279)
and perished together with him.
Within a few months previous to this event, the Imperial
Court had rested for a while in the little bay of Kowloon, called
Matauchung. Tradition says that Kowloon city and the present
hamlets of Matauchung and Matauwai were not in existence at
the time, and that the Imperial troops were encamped for a time
on the hill now marked by the inscription , whilst the Court were
lodged in a roughly constructed wooden palace erected at a short
distance from the beach, on the other side of Matauchung creek,
at a place now marked by a temple. There, it is said, the last
Emperor of the Sung resided for a while, on ground now British
and in sight of Hongkong, waiting for news from Canton
concerning the movements of the Mongols, and hoping in vain
to receive succour from that treacherous city.
Tradition further states that, ever since the downfall of the
Sung (A.D. 1279) and all through the reign of the Mongol Yuen
Dynasty (A.D. 1280 to 1333 ) , Hongkong was a haunt of pirates.
The bay of Shaukiwan (close to the Ly-ee-moon pass) and the
bay of Aberdeen (close to the Lamma channel) were specially
dreaded by peaceful traders, because piratical craft used to issue
thence plundering or levying black-mail on passing junks . These
pirates, it is said, were generally engaged in fishing whilst men
PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF HONGKONG. 131
stationed on the hill tops kept a look-out for merchant vessels .
The descendants of these piratical fishermen gave, in subsequent
years, an endless deal of trouble to the British Government . It
was this piratical predisposition of the fishermen residing in the
neighbourhood of Hongkong that had caused the early Portuguese
navigators to give these Islands the general name Ladrones.
During the reign of the native Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1468
to 1628), a period of comparative peace and order ensued whilst
the fishing vessels of Shaukiwan and Aberdeen confined their
depredations to the regular levy of a small fee, willingly paid
by junks benefitting by the short cut afforded by the Ly-ee-
moon and Lamma channels or by the safe anchorage which
some of the bays of Hongkong provided in case of an approaching
typhoon. Both the Peninsula of Kowloon and the Island of
Hongkong now began to be peopled by peaceful and industrious
settlers from the neighbouring Tungkoon District . The town
of Kowloon was formed about this time by settlers speaking the
Cantonese dialect, called Puntis (lit. aborigines). These Puntis ,
after denuding the hill sides of all available timber or firewood,
took possession of all arable ground to be found on the territory
now British , and took out licenses for such fields from the
Tungkoon Magistracy. Thus the hamlets of Matauwai (near
Kowloon city) with Kwantailou (Eastpoint) and Wongnaichung
(on the Island of Hongkong) were among the first to be formed ,
and to them were added later on the hamlets of Sookonpou
(Bowring-town) , Tanglungchau and Pokfulam. Some of the
fishing villages, Chikchü (Stanley) , Shekou (between Cape
Collinson and Cape D'Aguilar), and Yaumati (on Kowloon
Peninsula) now rose also into importance. Among the people
then residing on Hongkong a number of families of the Tong
clan held all the best pieces of ground and the members of this
Tong clan looked upon themselves as the owners of Hongkong.
Some time, however, after the Puntis had occupied the best
portions of Kowloon and Hongkong, settlers from the North-east
of the Canton Province, speaking a different dialect, called
Hakkas (lit. strangers) , began to push their way in between Punti
132 CHAPTER X.
settlements . These Hakkas cut the grass from the hill sides for
fuel, made charcoal as long as there was any timber left, formed
vegetable fields on hilly or swampy ground neglected by the
Puntis, started granite quarries, or worked in the Punti villages
as blacksmiths or barbers. Thus the Hakka villages of Mongkok,
Tsopaitsai, Tsimshatsui and Matauchung were formed on Kowloon
Peninsula, and on Hongkong Island the hamlets of Hungheunglou,
Tunglowan, Taitamtuk, Shaiwan, Hoktsui, Wongmakok, and
Little Hongkong. Similar hamlets were formed by the Hakkas
at the quarries of Taikoktsui, Hokün, and Tokwawan on Kowloon,
and at the quarries of Tsattsimui, Shuitsingwan, Wongkoktsui,
and Akungngam on the Island of Hongkong.
Thus it happened that, ever since the Ming Dynasty, two
distinct tribes of Chinese, differing from each other in language,
customs and manners, formed the native population of Hongkong
and Kowloon. As a rule, the Puntis were more intelligent, active
and cunning, and became the dominant race, whilst the
Hakkas, good-natured, industrious and honest, served as hewers
of wood and stone and drawers of water. But from the first
advent of the British and all through the wars with China,
the Puntis as a rule were the enemies and the Hakkas the
friends, purveyors, commissariat and transport coolies of the
foreigners, whilst the fishing population provided boatmen
and pilots for the foreign trade.
Later on, a third class of natives, speaking another dialect
(Tiehchiu, or Swatow dialect) , settled at Shaukiwan, Tokwawan,
Hunghom and Yaumati . These people, generally called Hoklos ,
were all seafaring men, bolder in character than either Hakkas
or Puntis, and specially addicted to smuggling and piracy.
Among all the pirates on the coast, these Hoklos were most
dreaded on account of their ferocious and daring deeds. In
later years, these Hoklos supplied the crews of nearly all the
salt smuggling and opium smuggling boats, the terror of the
Chinese revenue cruizers.
After the downfall of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1628) , the
scattered remnants of the Ming army, still hoping to retrieve the
PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF HONGKONG. 133
fortunes of the Ming and to expel the Tsing (Manchus), took
refuge on the Island of Hongkong (about A.D. 1650) . Thereupon
the Emperor Kanghi issued an Edict, cancelling all leases issued
for Hongkong and calling upon all loyal subjects of the Tatsing
Dynasty to withdraw themselves and all supplies of provisions.
from the Island, until all the rebels who had taken refuge
there were starved out and exterminated . All the agricultural
settlers, Puntis and Hakkas left Hongkong forthwith - an exodus
which, in the history of British Hongkong, was repeated several
times -until the rebels had been dislodged and order restored,
when they returned and had their licenses renewed.
Chinese tradition has nothing further to say of Hongkong,
except that , at the beginning of the present century ( A.D. 1806
to 1810 ) , the present Victoria Peak (1,774 feet high) formed
the look-out and the fortified head-quarters of a pirate, named
Chang Pao, famous in popular local history for his daring
exploits until, having conquered several districts bordering
on the Canton River, he was bought over by the Viceroy of
Canton and entered his service.
As to the name of Hongkong, the Chinese are not in
the habit of naming an island, as a whole, apart from any
prominent place or feature of it . Previous to the cession of
Hongkong, there was no term in existence designating the Island
of Hongkong as a whole. The principal port on the South
of the Island , now known as the port of Aberdeen, was always
known among Puntis, and fishermen especially, as Heung-kong
(lit. port of fragrance) and is so known among the natives
generally to the present day when referring to the anchorage
as distinct from the village of Shekpaiwan (Aberdeen village)
and the village of Aplichau (Aberdeen Island) . The Hakka
village of Heung-kongtsai (Little Hongkong) is situated two
miles farther inland. The stream which, by a pretty little
waterfall, falls into the sea at Aberdeen village (at the present
paper mill) , has nothing to do with the native term Hongkong,
but it attracted European vessels which used to replenish their
empty water-casks there. These European mariners, mistaking
134 CHAPTER X.
the name of the anchorage for that of the whole Island, marked
the Island of Hongkong on their charts accordingly, and in
subsequent years, on the occasion of the Treaties of Chuenpi
(A.D. 1841 ) and Nanking (A.D. 1843) , the term ' Hong Kong '
was adopted as a designation of the whole Island and thus
passed into general use, both among foreigners and natives,
and finally the term ' Hongkong ' was used as a designation of the
whole Colony (including Kowloon) .
Along the northern shore of Island there used to be,
previous to the British occupation, a narrow bridlepath leading,
high above the beach, across rocks and boulders, all the way
from Westpoint to a hamlet near Eastpoint called Kwantailou,
described in the first census (May 15 , 1841 ) as a fishing village
with 50 inhabitants. This path was used by the crews of trading
junks, in cases of wind and tide being unfavourable, to track
the junks along by a towing line attached to the peak of the
foremast. Now this hard- trodden path standing, to an observer
from the opposite shore, clear out from the grass-grown hillside,
like a fringe or border along the skirts of the hill, was by the
natives called Kwantailou (lit. petticoat string road), and the
hamlet at which this path ended was naturally called by this
same name. But among the Hakkas, the Island of Hongkong,
or rather this northern portion of it, is to the present day called
by the same name Kiuntailon .
The name of the Kowloon peninsula, which covers an area
of four square miles, is derived from a series of nine peaks or
ridges (Kau-lung, lit. nine dragons) which form the northern
background of the panorama spread out before an observer
standing on the northern slope of the Island of Hongkong.
After these nine dragons, both the city of Kowloon (which is
in Chinese territory ) and the Peninsula of Kowloon (ceded to
Great Britain in 1861 ) are named .
Previous to the British occupation of Hongkong, the
population of it probably never exceeded, at any one time, a
total of 2,000 people, including Puntis, Hakkas and Hoklos,
whether ashore or afloat.
CHAPTER XI .
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG,
1841 to 1843.
BEFORE entering now upon the modern history of Hongkong,
it is necessary briefly to sketch first of all the history of
those political events which , directly connected with the Treaty
of Chuenpi, and of the cession of Hongkong, brought about
eventually the confirmation of the cession by the Treaty of
Nanking (August 29 , 18 ) . For the latter, though not
alluding to any previous cession , was virtually but a ratification
of the action taken by the representatives of the British
Government in taking possession of Hongkong (January 26,
1841 ) under the Treaty of Chuenpi.
Up to the day when the Island of Hongkong was taken
possession of, the Imperial Commissioner Kishen appears to have
acted in perfect good faith, honestly determined to make peace
and to abide by the promises he had made at Tientsin , and by
the purport of the truce concluded by Eleepoo at Chusan and
confirmed by his own Treaty of Chuenpi. But on the day
when Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer took possession of Hongkong
(January 26 , 1841 ) , believing, with Elliot, that an era of peace
was now being inaugurated, Kishen received an Imperial Edict
which virtually nullified the Tientsin promises, the Chusan truce
and the Chuenpi Treaty, and indicated a complete reversal of
that policy which had been initiated by the Emperor whilst
the British fleet threatened Tientsin and Peking, The force of
Lord Palmerston's arguments, as set forth in his dispatch, was
in the fleet which presented the dispatch and not in the text
of the latter. The order which Kishen now (January 26 , 1841 )
136 CHAPTER XI.
received was, ' Let a large body of troops be assembled and
let an awful display of celestial vengeance be made.'
With these orders in his pocket, Kishen went down next
day (January 27 , 1841 ) to the Second Bar Pagoda where, with
beaming countenance and a pleasant smile on his lips, he held
a levée and entertained Elliot and a select company of British
officers at lunch, pretending the utmost cordiality and the
frankest determination to carry ont the stipulations of the Treaty
of Chnenpi. Elliot and the British officers were all completely
deceived. Whilst Kishen were pleasantly chatting with his guests
near the Bogue, another Edict issued at Peking, in which the
Emperor, referring to the proposed cession of a port , stated that
a glance at these memorials filled him with indignation and grief,
that Kishen had deceived him by soliciting as an Imperial favour
what the barbarians demanded by force. One more chance was,
however, given to Kishen, to amend his craven conduct, by
driving off and destroying those foreigners : Let him proceed
immediately to take command of all the officers and subalterns
and lead them on to the extermination of these barbarians ,
thus hoping to atone for and save himself.' Other Edicts were
issued within the next few days ordering the immediate recapture
of Chusan, and the dispatch of picked veteran soldiers from
Hupeh, Sszechnen and Kweichou to Canton. Three special
Commissioners (Yikshan, Lung Wan and Yang Fang) were
ordered to proceed to Canton to organize and superintend a war
of unconditional extermination . No question of opium was now
raised. The hateful brood of barbarians ' were to be destroyed,
one and all, by any means, foul or fair.
On the day when one of these Edicts was issued at Peking
(January 30, 1841 ) and dispatched so as to reach Kishen in
12 days, Elliot issued a circular to Her Majesty's subjects in
China stating that negotiations with the Imperial Commission
proceed satisfactorily. ' However, when Elliot had his next
interview with Kishen (February 13, 1841 ) , he had heard a
whisper of the contents of the Edict which had reached Kishen
two days before ( February 11 , 1841 ) and put a few searching
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 137
questions to him. Meeting with evasive answers, Elliot found
his worst suspicions confirmed , and prepared once more for war .
Five days later (February 18, 1841 ) the Chinese themselves
commenced hostilities by firing on a boat of the armed steamer
Nemesis from a fort on Wangtong island. Next day the British
squadron began to assemble at the Bogue. Kishen having
formally declined to carry out the stipulations of the Chuenpi
Treaty, war was declared, and the Cantonese Authorities com-
menced it by the issue of proclamations offering $50,000 for
Elliot or any other rebellious ringleader ' (February 25 , 1841 ) .
A landing having been effected by the English, beyond
the reach of the Chinese guns, on South-Wangtong (February 25,
1841 ) , a battery was erected there during the night, and at
daybreak (February 26, 1841 ) commenced the Third Battle of
the Bogue, by an attack on the batteries of North- Wangtong and
Aneunghoi. In the space of a few hours the Chinese positions
were carried, 300 guns spiked, 1,000 prisoners made in the forts,
and about 250 Chinese killed and 102 wounded. Admiral Kwan,
the descendant of the god of war, was among the killed . After
compelling the prisoners to bury the dead, the victors allowed
them all to depart in peace. Next day ( February 27 , 1841 ) the
fleet proceeded to attack an entrenched camp, situated on the left
bank of the river, just below Whampoa . It was defended by 100
pieces of artillery and garrisoned by 2,000 men of the élite of
the Hunan troops, who offered a brave and determined resistance
in a hand to hand fight . But British discipline and pluck
scattered them and the camp was carried. An old British ship
(Cambridge) which the Chinese had purchased under the name
Chesapeake, and fitted out as a frigate, was also captured and
blown up, after great slaughter.
As the troops advanced beyond Whampoa, destroying
battery after battery, the European merchant ships came up to
Whampoa apace and resumed trade on the day (March 1 , 1841 )
when the fleet , by carrying the enemy's works at Liptak and
Eshamei, approached Canton city. Major- General Sir Hugh
Gough, having arrived ( March 2 , 1841 ) , took command of the
138 CHAPTER XI.
land forces, whilst Captain the Hon . Le Fleming Senhouse
commanded the fleet as Senior Naval Officer, in the absence of
Commodore Bremer. A masked battery on the N.E. end of
Whampoa Island was carried (March 2, 1841 ) and when
Liptak ( Howqua's Folly) was occupied (March 3, 1841 ) by
the advanced squadron, the Acting Prefect of Canton city (Yue
Pao-shun) came with a flag of truce, begging for a suspension
of hostilities for three days. Negotiations commenced but
came to nothing. The armistice having expired at 11 a.m. on
March 6 , 1841 , the works in advance of Howqua's Folly were
captured at once. Elliot, seeing the city in the power of the
fleet anchored close to its southern frontage, assumed that all
opposition was now subdued, and issued forthwith a proclamation
to the people ( March 6, 1841 ) stating that the Emperor's bad
advisers were responsible for the proceedings, that the war was
with the Chinese Government, and that the people and the city
would be spared, if trade were quietly resumed without further
opposition.
Trade indeed did flourish all through this month in spite
of the hostilities between the troops, the war being so far only
a contest between the naval and military forces of the two
countries. But the Chinese officials secretly continued their
policy of extermination without flinching. Kishen was arrested
by Imperial orders, loaded with chains and thus carried off from
Canton (March 12 , 1841 ) to be tried in Peking . On the same
day, the first merchant ship, since the raising of the blockade,
left Whampoa with a full cargo. Business continued to increase
there steadily.
Observing, however, active preparations for a resumption of
hostilities in the S.W. of Canton city, the British commanders
resumed hostilities (March 13, 1841 ) , when seven batteries, ob-
structing the inner passage (Taiwong-kau) from Macao to Canton,
being armed with 105 cannons, were captured by the armed
steamer Nemesis (Captain Hall) , and the fort in the Macao
passage, near Canton, was captured by H.M.S. Calliope (Captain
Herbert) . A lull of quiet now ensued and lasted for a few days.
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 139
But on March 16 , 1841 , a flag of truce having been fired
upon by the Chinese, the enemy's works on Fatee and Dutch
Folly were attacked and captured and a large flotilla of war
junks was destroyed. By this action the western as well as
the southern portions of Canton city were brought under the
guns of the squadron. The factories also were occupied by
British troops (March 18, 1841 ) and the whole city was now
at the mercy of Captain Elliot . But for the second time the
city was spared , without a ransom, on condition that the hostile
preparations should be discontinued and trade resumed. One of
the newly appointed Special Imperial Commissioners, Yang Fang,
who, to the chagrin of the Emperor, had boldly recommended
that a haven for stowage should be allowed to the foreigners,'
had already arrived in Canton . He now concluded with Elliot
a formal Convention (March 30, 1841 ) . The terms of this
Convention were, ( 1 ) that the British ships of war remain
near the factories, (2 ) that the Chinese discontinue further
preparations for war, (3 ) that foreign merchants may at once
return to the factories and that foreign ships may continue the
legitimate trade at Whampao, paying the usual port charges
and other duties to the Chinese Government. Yang Fang and
the Viceroy (Eliang ) issued forthwith a joint proclamation
stating that Elliot had assured them that all he wanted was
trade and nothing else.' Accordingly they exhorted the people,
by all means to continue trading with foreigners without fear.
At the same time the two officials reported to the Emperor,
that Elliot, in saying all he wanted was trade and nothing else,
had renounced his claim to Hongkong as well as his former
demand of an indemnity for the opium surrendered to Lin ,
and that the British fleet would retire from Canton as soon
as an Imperial Decree authorizing resumption of trade with
the barbarians was received .
Things now appeared to go on quietly. The Chinese officials ,
however, continued their warlike preparations, and secretly stirred
up the people to join in the war of extermination . The
continuance of the trade kept them in funds. So the foundries
140 CHAPTER XI.
at Fatshan were working day and night, casting new cannons
and turning out, under foreign superintendence, a number of
five-ton guns, which were forthwith placed in position for an
attack on the British fleet, but, in the absence of proper gun
carriages, in a manner which left the guns unworkable . Masked
batteries were also erected on the sly along the river front,
and new fleets of war-junks and fire-ships were collected in the
creeks connecting Fatshan with Canton.
Meanwhile, however, trade continued briskly as if all were
peace, although a Mr. Field and two young officers of H.M.S.
Blenheim were assassinated (March 26, 1841 ) on their way to
Macao. Elliot himself took up once more his residence in the
factories (April 5 , 1841 ) where he had been a prisoner but a
year before. He did so partly to disarm suspicion as to the
good intentions of the English and partly to keep himself
informed of what was going on in Canton city, where Lin was
still residing as adviser of the Commissioners who were daily
expected . As soon as Yikshan, the Chief of the Commission,
arrived in Canton ( April 14, 1841 ) , together with Lung Wan,
the second Commissioner, and the new Viceroy, Kikung, a
secret conclave was held between them and Yang Fang, the
third Commissioner, and Lin. They all agreed that Canton
was defenceless , that there were not sufficient troops to dislodge
the British from their present position , and that therefore they
should all make a show of friendly relations until the British
forces had left Canton, as they intended doing, to prosecute the
war in the North, but that, as soon as the expedition had left,
they would block up with piles and stone junks every single
outlet of the Canton River and re-build every fort, ready to
assume the offensive once more.
This scheme they confidentially reported forthwith to the
Emperor. But Elliot, who generally had good information,
heard something of this plan (May 14, 1841 ) and at once
ordered the expedition, which was to have started for Amoy
and Ningpo the next day ( May 15 , 1841 ) , to be postponed
indefinitely. H.M.S. Columbine also had brought news (May 10,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG, 141
1841 ) that Eleepoo had, like Kishen, fallen into disgrace, and
that Yuekien, one of the most violent enemies of the English,
had replaced him as Imperial Commissioner at Ningpo.
Elliot was waiting for the Chinese to strike the first blow.
But when he found that the Shameen battery, which had been
carried and dismantled in March, was about to be re-armed,
he called upon the Cantonese Authorities to stop this and every
other warlike movement at once. Finding that they evaded
his demands, Captain Elliot forthwith (May 17 , 1841 ) sent
for troops from Hongkong. Next day (Mar 18 , 1841 ) , the
British forces (consisting of 2,600 combatants ) started from
Hongkong for Canton, leaving but a small portion of the 37th
Madras Native Infantry to protect the settlement at Hongkong.
The Cantonese Authorities meanwhile continued to pretend
friendly feelings, whilst heavy masses of picked troops from
other provinces were daily pouring into the city. To mislead
Elliot and the foreign merchants, the Acting Prefect issued
(May 20, 1841 ) a proclamation urging the people, who were
leaving the city in large numbers in dread of the approaching
conflict, to remain quiet in their lawful pursuits and to continue
trade with foreigners without alarm or suspicion. Unbeknown
to Yang Fang, who as an experienced soldier knew the strength
of the British forces and accordingly counselled patience, Yikshan
made secret arrangements for a simultaneous night-attack on the
British fleet , by means of fire-ships. Elliot received information
of the proposed movement and immediately issued a circular
(March- 21 , 1841 ) warning Her Majesty's subjects and all other
foreign merchants in the factories to retire from Canton before
sunset . At 11 p.m. the attack commenced from the western
fort (Saipaotoi) near Shameen , where a new five-ton gun had
been mounted. A series of fire-boats came suddenly, with the
tide, down upon the British ships. The crews of these fire-ships
carried stink-pots and fire-balls and were armed with long
boarding pikes. The moment the first of these fire-ships were
hailed and fired into by the British sentries, the Chinese forts
and masked batteries along the river front opened fire on the
142 CHAPTER XI.
British ships anchored in the river and the Hunan and Szechuen
troops attacked the untenanted factories and plundered them.
Yang Fang only heard of the attack when it had commenced.
He stamped and swore, but it was too late. The attack entirely
miscarried, because the British ships were all on the alert and
prepared for it. They immediately poured shot and shell into
the fire-ships, the moment they came within easy range, and
ther turned their guns on the batteries which were speedily
silenced. Next morning all the Chinese batteries within range
of the ships were carried by assault and a flotilla of over 100
war-junks and fire-ships was captured and burned ( May 22,
1841 ) . The next two days the British forces prepared for a
concerted attack on Canton city. On May 24, 1841 , after firing
a royal salute in honour of Her Majesty's birthday, the afternoon
was spent in collecting large numbers of barges for the transport
of the troops in shallow water, in replying to occasional shots
fired from masked batteries in the suburbs, and in moving troops
to their appointed stations. In the evening, nearly 2,000 men
were conveyed in large covered barges, collected by Captain
Belcher, up the northern branch of the river from Shameen
towards the North-west gate of the city. After landing, near
the village of Tsinghoi , the guns and artillery during the night,
and reconnoitring the neighbourhood at daybreak, a start was
made, under the command of Major- General Burrell, at 9 a.m.
(May 25, 1841 ) . The troops marched across the swampy
paddy-fields in the direction of the North-west gate, driving
the village volunteers before them, attacked and carried at the
point of the bayonet the four outlying forts outside that and the
North gate, and took by assault, though not without considerable
loss of men and officers, a strongly entrenched camp which was
protected by the guns on the city walls. At the same time an
attack was made on the southern suburbs. Major Pratt, with
the Cameronians, took possession of the factories, whilst the
ships in the river bombarded the Tartar General's head-quarters.
Yikshan and Yang Fang were entirely disconcerted by these
movements. They had not expected the city to be attacked in
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 143
the North-west, where its fortifications were strongest, but had
prepared for an assault in the South and especially in the East.
The bombardment also caused a great panic in the city, while
the Chinese five-ton guns could not be brought to bear upon
the British ships so as to reply to their fire.
The following day (May 26, 1841 ) the rain poured down
in torrents and put almost a stop to the movements of both
sides. The British troops were waiting for fresh supplies of
guns and ammunition, but before nightfall all preparations for
the assault of the city walls were completed and fifteen pieces
of artillery in position before the northern gates . Next morning
(May 27, 1841 ) , at the very moment when the attack was
going to be sounded, a sudden stop was put to the movement
of the troops, to their intense disappointment. The news came
that Elliot had concluded a treaty of peace. This Treaty of
Canton, arranged between Elliot, Yikshan and Kikung (May
27, 1841 ) was based on the following stipulations, viz . ( 1 ) that
the Tartar troops and the braves from the other provinces
(between whom and the volunteers there was a deadly feud),
amounting to about 35,000 men, should immediately evacuate
the city without display of banners ; (2 ) that the Imperial
Commissioners should leave the city within six days and proceed
to a distance of at least 60 miles ; (3) that the British forces
would not leave Canton nor retire beyond the Bogue, until the
following payments had been made, viz . $ 6,000,000 as a ransom
of the city to be paid within one week, $ 300,000 compensation
for the pillage of the factories, $ 10,000 for Mr. Moss and the
other sufferers by the attack on the British schooner Black
Joke, and $25,000 for the owners of the Spanish brig Bilbaino ;
(4) that a promise be given, not to re-arm any of the fortified
places at the Bogue or inside the river, and to stop all further
warlike preparations until affairs should be settled between the
two nations ; (5 ) that trade should at once be resumed at Canton
and Whampoa .
It will be noticed that Elliot did not expressly include
among the stipulations of this Treaty either the confirmation
144 CHAPTER XI.
of the cession of Hongkong (which, he no doubt supposed,
required no further confirmation) , or compensation for the opium
.
surrendered to Lin (which he considered settled by his drafts
on the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury) . As to a war
indemnity, he no doubt reserved that for the reckoning yet to
be made with the Imperial Government, the real instigators of
the war . The Manchu Annals incorrectly state that Elliot
demanded and obtained the opium money ' in addition to a
' war indemnity,' and make the further doubtful assertion that
Elliot first proposed to Yikshan to exchange Tsimshatsui and
Kowloon for the Island of Hongkong, but that, when Yikshan
pointed out that the Emperor had not yet been invited to agree
to the cession of Hongkong, Elliot consented to let the question
of Hongkong stand over for discussion (with the Imperial
Government) . The Annalist accordingly blames the Commis-
sioners for omitting, in their reports to the Throne, all reference
to the payment of the opium indemnity and to the cession of
Hongkong.
The advantages gained by this ten days' campaign and the
consequent Treaty of Canton were very great. The removal
from the scene of those troops which alone had stood the British
fire, and which had drawn upon themselves the ill- feeling of
the Cantonese so as to cause danger of civil war in the city,
was a decided advantage. The expulsion of the Imperial
Commissioners, who had been the prime movers in all hostilities,
was calculated to make them comparatively harmless , while the
temporary crippling of the provincial exchequer deprived them,
at least for a time, of the sinews of war. But the greatest
advantage gained by the Canton Treaty was the speedy
termination of the campaign which, within a few weeks after
the first blow was struck, set the British troops free, just when
the summer was coming on, to operate in the North .
On the day after the conclusion of peace (May 28, 1841 ) ,
it happened that the third company of the 37th Madras
Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Hadfield and two subalterns,
Devereux and Berkeley, having lost their way, were surrounded,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 145
late in the evening and far from the main body, by masses
of Chinese volunteers. Seeing that the muskets of the company
(none of which had percussion locks), being soaked with the
rain, persistently missed fire, these volunteers attacked our men
with long spears and pruning hooks, against which the bayonets
were at a fearful disadvantage. But there this little company
of sepoys, between fifty and sixty strong, stood undaunted for
several hours, formed in square, unable to fire their muskets,
but bravely repelling the continued attacks of some two thousand
Chinese until at last two companies of Royal Marines came to
the rescue and scattered the volunteers . Yet the rescued company
lost only one man killed (hacked to pieces in their sight ) and
fifteen (including Ensign Berkeley) wounded . This rencontre,
between that one company of Madras Native Infantry and a
few thousand volunteers near the village of Samyuenli, was
vastly exaggerated by the Chinese officials and reported to the
Emperor in glowing colours as the Battle of Samyuen Village,'
whereupon the Emperor sarcastically remarked that the Canton
yokels appeared to have accomplished more than the whole of
the regular armies of China. These remarks of the Emperor
gave subsequently an immense impetus to the Fatshan-Canton
volunteer movement.
Five months later ( October 30, 1841 ) , Her Majesty the
Queen expressed her entire approbation of the operations against
Canton, but Captain Elliot, to whom the credit of the conclusion
of the Treaty is due, appears to have received neither approbation
nor thanks at the hands of his country. His Treaty of Chuenpi,
by which he gained the territory of Hongkong for Her Majesty's
possession, remained ignored by both Governments. The six
million dollars which he recovered by his Canton Treaty ' in
diminution of the just claims of Her Majesty's Government,'
and which covered the amount of the bills drawn by him on
Her Majesty's Treasury in payment of the opium surrendered
to Lin, was not applied to that purpose, but his bills were left
dishonoured and the opium compensation question allowed to
stand over for some years longer, while Her Majesty immediately
ΙΟ
146 CHAPTER XI.
allowed twelve months ' full batta to the naval and military
forces in China out of those six million dollars.
Elliot may have been to blame for the trust he reposed in
Kishen's willingness or ability to carry out the stipulations of
the Chuenpi Treaty, for the haste with which he withdrew the
British troops from Chusan (though the frightful mortality rate
which reigned there may be his excuse) , and for his omission
to secure the approval of the Emperor before thus carrying out
his part of the stipulations . But such errors of judgment ought
to have been balanced by the consideration of the many years'
faithful and approved service which he had rendered to his
country under the most harassing and painful circumstances,
and by the heroism he displayed in hurrying to the rescue of
his imprisoned countrymen at the risk of his life in 1839. All
honour is due to the memoryof brave Captain Elliot .
Strange to say, Commodore Bremer returned (June 18, 1841 )
from Calcutta with the news that he had been appointed Joint
Plenipotentiary, though, if telegraphic communication had then
existed, Elliot would have been informed long before (May 14 ,
1841 ) that both he and Bremer had already been superseded .
A few weeks after Commodore Bremer's return, he was, together
with Captain Elliot, shipwrecked in the great typhoon (July 21 ,
1841 ) and they escaped but by a hair's breadth capture and
probable assassination by Chinese pirates or soldiers . Captain
Elliot left China for Europe (August 24, 1841 ) disappointed and
unjustly dishonoured, together with Commodore Bremer. There
is a singular coincidence in the fact that the fate of Sir George
Robinson, who first recommended the annexation of Hongkong
officially, and who was curtly recalled for it, befell also the man
who, against his own will perhaps, had procured the formal
cession of Hongkong.
Sir Henry Pottinger, Baronet, a Major- General in the East
India Company's service, had been selected (May 15 , 1841 ) to be
Her Majesty's Sole Plenipotentiary and Minister Extraordinary,
to proceed to China on a special mission to the Chinese
Government . He had, at the same time, been commissioned
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 147
to act as Chief Superintendent of the trade of Her Majesty's
subjects with that country and invested with full power to
negotiate and conclude a Treaty for the arrangement of the
differences subsisting between Great Britain and China. For
the latter purpose, Major- General Sir Hugh Gough and Admiral
Sir William Parker were associated with him as respective
Commanders-in-chief of the military and naval forces in China.
Sir H. Pottinger having arrived at Macao (August 10 , 1841 )
together with Sir W. Parker, by the steam- frigate Sesostris,
and called on Governor Pinto, held forthwith several conferences
with Captain Elliot, Sir Hugh Gough and Mr. A. R. Johnston.
He next dispatched (August 13, 1841 ) his Secretary, Major
Malcolm, to Canton, to deliver to the Imperial Commissioners
and to the Viceroy dispatches announcing his arrival as Sole
Plenipotentiary, and warning the Chinese Authorities that the
slightest infringement of the terms of the truce, concluded by
the Treaty of Canton, would lead to an instant renewal of
hostilities in the Canton Province.
The arrival of these dispatches, and the plain warning
thus given to the Chinese Authorities, caused great excitement
at Canton. The literati and gentry viewed the attitude of
superiority and the tone of undisguised severity, which Sir
H. Pottinger had adopted in these dispatches, so utterly at
variance with the polite and humbly respectful style of Elliot's
communications, as a studied insult and unbearable disgrace.
The popular feeling, thus aroused , vented itself at the next
public examination of graduates ( September 16, 1841 ) , when
the Acting Prefect (Yü Pao-shun ) was hooted by the students
and driven out of the examination hall as a public traitor. The
people now made common cause with their officials , though
they hated them, and the officials, egged on by the literati to
defy Sir H. Pottinger's warning, waited only for a diminution
of the forces at Hongkong when they re-built most of the forts
inside the Bogue. But when they attempted ( September, 1841 )
to re-arm the Wangtong forts, close to the Bogue, H.M.S.
Royalist, forming part of the small squadron under the command
148 CHAPTER XI.
of Captain Nias (of H.M.S. Herald), immediately destroyed the
works without ado.
On the day of his arrival at Macao (August 10, 1841 ) ,
Sir H. Pottinger issued a Gazette Extraordinary to inform Her
Majesty's subjects at Macao and Hongkong of his appointment
and the nature of his commission . Two days later he intimated
(August 12, 1841 ) that the primary object of his mission was
to secure a speedy and satisfactory close of the war, and that
no consideration of mercantile interests would be allowed to
interfere with that object. In the same notification he referred
to the well-understood perfidy and bad faith ' of the Cantonese
Authorities, and warned British subjects of a probable interrup-
tion of the present truce, cautioning them against putting
themselves or their property in the power of the Chinese officials.
As to the occupation of Hongkong, Sir H. Pottinger stated,
at the close of this notification, that the arrangements made
by his predecessor with reference to Hongkong should remain
in force until the pleasure of Her Majesty regarding that Island
and those arrangements should be received.' These words plainly
intimated that the Chuenpi Treaty and the cession of Hongkong,
and especially the act of formally taking possession of the Island
in the name of Her Majesty, had so far been neither disapproved
nor formally approved by Her Majesty's Government . Things
were left in statu quo and that meant, to all practical intents
and purposes, tacit provisional confirmation of the cession of
Hongkong.
On August 21 , 1841 , the expedition started from Hongkong,
the ships being all cleared for action. A descent was made
first upon Amoy. The forts, town and citadel of Amoy, together
with the fortified island of Kulangsoo , were captured (August
26, 1841 ) . Leaving a small garrison at Amoy, the expedition
proceeded to Chusan , where Tinghai fell into the hands of the
English after a noble resistance ( October 1 , 1841 ) . In taking
possession again of the whole island of Chusan, Sir H. Pottinger
notified (October 2, 1841 ) , by a public circular, that under no
circumstances would Chusan be restored again to the Chinese
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 149
Government, until the whole of the demands of England (as
previously made at Tientsin) were not only complied with but
carried into full effect. The fortified towns of Chinhai (October
10, 1841 ) and Ningpo (October 13, 1841 ) were next occupied.
At Chinhai a most obstinate resistance was offered by the Chinese
troops. When the Imperial Commissioner Yue-kien, who had
previously tortured and murdered an English prisoner (Captain
Stead), saw that all was lost, he committed suicide rather
than surrender himself into the hands of the English. The
transport Nerbulda having been wrecked on the Formosan coast
(September 26 , 1841 ) , nearly the whole of the crew and
passengers were murdered by Chinese officials in prison . The
same scenes occurred after the wreck of the British brig Anne.
These dastardly deeds, for which a Manchu Brigadier called
Tahunga was chiefly responsible, were reported to the Emperor,
and gloated over all through the Empire as great victories
gained in battle, and Tahunga was promoted in consequence.
On receiving the news of the fall of Tinghai, Chinhai and
Ningpo, the Emperor immediately ordered the defences of
Tientsin and Taku to be strengthened (November 1 , 1841 ) and
appealed to the whole nation to rise against the English and
continue unsparingly the war of extermination (November 15,
1841 ) . Kishen was now pardoned and called into service again as
assistant to Yikking, who was dispatched (December 1 , 1841 )
as Imperial Commissioner to recover Chinhai at any cost .
A lull now ensued in the proceedings. The Chinese felt
that the supremacy of China over the rest of the world was
at stake and carefully prepared for the struggle which was to
decide the question for ever. The British expedition also was
waiting for reinforcements, as sickness had made great havoc
among the troops. Sir H. Pottinger meanwhile returned to
Hongkong and Macao where he learned that the Cantonese had,
for months past, been straining every nerve to prepare for an
early renewal of hostilities. The Imperial Commissioner Yikshan
had enrolled (October 8 , 1841 ) large bodies of paid village
volunteers for the defence of Canton city, to the great annoyance
150 CHAPTER XI.
of the citizens . Stoneboats had been scuttled at Howqua's Folly
and in Blenheim Reach, to obstruct access to Canton. The
Chinese gunpowder factories-one of which, near Canton city ,
blew up by accident (January 12, 1842 ) -were working extra
time. The cannon foundries at Fatshan were turning out
superior kinds of brass guns of a foreign pattern . Six new forts
had been constructed under foreign advice, and an army of
30,000 men was under instruction in the use of musket and
bayonet. Sir H. Pottinger stopped the seizure of Chinese vessels
which had been ordered by the officer (Captain Nias ) who, after
the death at Hongkong of Sir Humphrey Le Fleming Senhouse
(June 13 , 1841 ) , had succeeded to the post of Senior Naval
Officer. But Sir H. Pottinger at the same time warned the
Cantonese Authorities repeatedly that the least attempt to rebuild
the Bogue Forts would bring upon Canton a most severe
chastisement.
During the month of March, 1842, the struggle was to be
renewed. For months previous to that date the Provincial
Authorities up and down the coast made extensive preparations
with a view to resume the combat, in March, by simultaneous
attacks upon the British positions at Hongkong, Chinhai and
Ningpo.
As to Hongkong, it appears from Chinese records that
Yikshan had secretly reported to the Emperor, that Hongkong
had but a feeble garrison of Indian troops, and that among the
large Chinese population that had flocked to that Colony, he
had secured the services of 3,000 Chinese residents of Hongkong
who had promised to rise against the foreigners at the proper
time, whilst the remainder of Chinese residing in the Colony
were all desirous to return to their Chinese allegiance. To
provide a popular leader for this movement, the Emperor selected
Kiying for the purpose of organizing a sudden massacre of all
foreigners at Hongkong. At the same time, a Censor, Soo
Ting-kwai, reported to the Throne, that the moment was
propitious for a general attack on the British positions in China,
because the Nepaulese had commenced war against them in
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 151
India and the British commanders in China had thereby been
compelled to send many of their ships to India to rescue their
countrymen there. Kiying was accordingly ordered by the
Emperor to proceed immediately to Canton, with a view to direct
the attack to be made on Hongkong, but soon after he had
started he was recalled again, because the Emperor had learned
that Nanking was threatened by the British forces. The
preconcerted attack on the British positions at Ningpo and
Chinhai was now made at once (March 10 , 1842 ) but failed .
Not only were the assaults immediately repelled, but the British
forces now resumed the offensive, capturing the district cities of
Tszeki (March 15, 1842 ) and Chapu (May 18 , 1842 ) and moving
northward in the direction of Nanking . Through the recall of
Kiying and the advance of the British forces, the intended rising
in Hongkong came to nothing. Rumours of a proposed attack
on Hongkong were repeatedly referred to in the local papers
(April 21 and July 28 , 1842) but found no credence among
the European community. Nevertheless Admiral Cochrane and
General Burrell deemed it prudent (about the middle of July)
to make a counter-demonstration by proceeding with a small
squadron up the Canton River as far as Whampoa. This
measure had the desired effect . But the British residents of
Hongkong never knew what a serious danger they had escaped.
Yikshan and the Viceroy of Canton commenced (since
February, 1842 ) negotiations with the French, or, if the Manchu
Annals (partly translated by Mr. E. H. Parker) are to be trusted ,
had offers to build war-ships for use against the English thrust
upon them. Yikshan and Kikung had several interviews with
M. de Challaye, the French Consul at Canton, and Colonel de
Jancigny (the latter having just arrived on a commercial
mission to China) . Possibly, the aim of M. de Challaye was
merely to tender the mediation of the French Government with
a view to arrange terms of peace, whilst M. de Jancigny was
looking for orders for French manufacturers of warlike stores.
Yikshan reported to the Emperor the offers of assistance he
had received from the French, but added, ' the enemy's designs
152 CHAPTER XI.
are unfathomable and possibly they are really assisting the
English in an underhand way and acting as spies on us for
them.' The Manchu Annalist further states that the French
hung on from February to June (1842) awaiting our commands
and at last, in June, proceeded to Wusung, but the English
were already far up the Yangtsze.' But, whilst the Cantonese
officials distrusted this first syndicate represented by Colonel de
Jancigny, a wealthy private citizen of Canton, Poon Sze- shing,
received permission from the Emperor to employ Colonel de
Jancigny to order out from France a number of war vessels,
guns, and torpedoes (then quite a novelty), for use against
the English, and to re-organize, with de Jancigny's advice,
the whole Cantonese navy .
These intrigues were, however, too late in the field . Whilst
the Cantonese were wasting public and private funds in
purchasing new and expensive munitions of war, the English
expedition in Central China made a speedy end of the war.
After the fall of Wusung (June 16, 1842 ) and Shanghai (June
19 , 1842 ) the Chinese Commissioners offered terms of peace .
Sir H. Pottinger, who had rejoined the expedition (June 22,
1842 ) , informed them what the demands of England were, but
declined entering upon any negotiations with the Commissioners
until they had received the authority of the Emperor to
concede those demands. Sir H. Pottinger also issued a public
proclamation (July 5, 1842 ) in which he informed the Chinese
people of the real points at issue between England and China.
This proclamation brought forward four complaints and three
demands. The complaints were, ( 1 ) that, whilst English
merchants had for two centuries patiently suffered continuous
ill-treatment at the hands of Cantonese officials, this systematic
ill-usage exceeded all bounds when Commissioner Lin, in 1839 ,
instead of seizing the actual offenders, Chinese and foreign,
implicated in the opium traffic, forcibly confined an English
officer and English merchants and threatened them with death ,
so as to extort from them what opium there might be in China
at that time, in order to gain favour with the Emperor ; (2) that
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 153
the Ministers at Peking, men without truth or good faith,'
after concluding a truce and sending Kishen to Canton to arrange
terms of peace, suddenly changed their minds, replaced Kishen
by Yikshan and commenced a war of extermination , thus
compelling the English to take the Bogue Forts, to bring Canton
itself to submission, and to take from it a ransom for the
punishment of such ill faith ; ( 3) that the High Commissioner
Yuekien and other high officers, like Tahunga, had tortured and
killed shipwrecked Englishmen , reporting such brutal outrages
committed on defenceless individuals to the Emperor as victories
gained in battle ; and finally (4) that the Cantonese Authorities,
seeking to confine to themselves the profits of the foreign trade
and extorting, through the Hong Merchants, illegal payments
from the foreign merchants, disguised everything under false
statements to the Emperor. The demands which the English
nation was thus in justice entitled to make were (1 ) compensation
for losses and expenses, (2) a friendly and becoming intercourse
on terms of equality between officers of the two countries, and (3)
the cession of insular territory for commerce and for the residence
of merchants and as a security and guarantee against future
renewal of offensive acts.
This appeal to the conscience of the nation, and this
impeachment of the Manchu Government at the bar of public
opinion in China, had a very great effect . It was, as many
Chinese themselves acknowledged, a truthful exposition of the
real issue of the conflict between China and England, caused
by the treatment accorded to foreigners at the hands of Chinese
officials, who acted on the supposition of China's absolute
supremacy and in defiance of international equality. Moreover,
this proclamation, whilst justifying the cession of Hongkong
and the occupation of Chusan, gave to the opium question that
accidental and extraneous position which it really occupied in
the history of this first Anglo-Chinese war.
Whilst the British forces were steadily advancing towards
Chinkiang and Nanking, the minds of the Chinese officials and
people in the North were filled with dread. The superiority
154 CHAPTER XI.
of British strategy, arms and discipline, over the best Chinese
military resources and efforts, were painfully obvious to the whole
nation. All through the maritime provinces, public opinion
now began to turn in favour of making peace with the English,
the people having to their surprise noticed that the English
confined their warlike operations to retributive dealings with the
Government troops and spared the people themselves as much as
possible. Yikshan now wrote to the Emperor that the Cantonese
were all in league with the foreigners. A feeling of despair
began to take possession of the statesmen, officials and military
leaders of China, and a positive panic fell on them when a total
eclipse of the sun, the usual presage, according to Chinese
superstition, of national disaster, occurred (July 8 , 1842 ) during
1
the advance of the English fleet on Nanking. With the capture
of Chinkiang (July 21 , 1842 ) the key to the Grand Canal, the
principal channel of the food supply of North- China, fell into
the hands of the English. Kiying, Eleepoo and Niu Kien now
(July 22 , 1842 ) offered terms of peace again, but were
more told to go and get first of all the Emperor's approval of
the British demands as a whole, and then they might come and
discuss details. The expedition steadily continued its onward
move towards Nanking. On August 9, 1842 , the troops were
landed a few miles from Nanking, a reconnaissance was made,
and two days later everything was in readiness for an assault on
Nanking city (August 11 , 1842 ) , when an armistice was applied
for and granted for the purpose of obtaining the Emperor's
sanction of the formulated British demands, in order to conclude
on that basis a formal treaty of peace. The stipulations were
forwarded (August 13, 1842 ) to Peking by special messenger,
and, on his return with the Emperor's approval, the Treaty
of Nauking, between Her Majesty the Queen of England by
Sir H. Pottinger on the one side, and the Emperor of China
by the Commissioners Kiying, Eleepoo and Niu Kien on the
other side, was solemnly concluded (August 29, 1842 ) . Major
Malcolm started next day for London , with one copy of the
Treaty, to lose no time in obtaining Her Majesty's signature,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 155
whilst another copy was immediately forwarded to Peking and.
returned thence with the Emperor's signature a fortnight later
(September 15, 1842 ) .
The demands agreed to by the Treaty of Nanking were :
(1) peace and friendship between China and England ; ( 2) the-
opening of five ports, Canton ,, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and
Shanghai, for the residence of British merchants, and their
families, under the extra-territorial jurisdiction of British.
Consular officers ; (3) the cession of Hongkong : (4) payment
of an opium indemnity of six million dollars ; (5) payment of
the Hong Merchants' debts, amounting to three million dollars ;.
(6 ) payment of twelve million dollars war expenses ; (7 ) all
payments to be made, with interest at 5 per cent., within fixed
periods ; (8 ) release of all prisoners of war ; (9 ) a general amnesty
in favour of all Chinese who had served the English during
the war ; ( 10 ) a fair and regular tariff of export and import
duties and transit charges ; ( 11 ) fixed terms of equality to be
used in official correspondence ; (12 ) withdrawal of British troops .
from Nanking, Chinkiang, Chinhai , Chusan, and Kulangsoo
on certain conditions ; ( 13 ) ratifications of the Treaty to be
exchanged as soon as possible. This Treaty is more noteworthy
for the stipulations omitted than for those included in it. The
prohibition or legalisation of the opium trade was not referred
to . The war had not been undertaken for the sake of opium.
China was therefore justly left free to settle the opium question
at her own sweet will. More remarkable is the omission to
secure for Chinese settlers on Hongkong freedom of commercial
intercourse with the mainland of China, in the sense of the
Foreign Office instructions of February 3, 1841. Mandarindom
was left unaccountably free to make or mar the fortunes of
Hongkong as a settlement for Chinese.
Whilst negotiating the provisions contained in the third
article of the foregoing Treaty, Sir H. Pottinger was informed
by the Commissioners, that the cession of Hongkong had some
time ago been approved by the Emperor, and needed no further
confirmation. Sir H. Pottinger, however, wished the cession
156 CHAPTER XI.
of Hongkong to be discussed de novo, and informed the
Commissioners, as he himself subsequently (January 21 , 1843 )
stated in writing to a Committee of British merchants, that,
the British Government holding Hongkong could not in any
way disadvantageously affect the external commerce of China ,
because the English Government had no intention of levying
any kind of duties there,' and that Hongkong was merely
to be looked upon as a sort of bonded warehouse in which
merchants could deposit their goods in safety until it should
suit their purposes to sell them to native Chinese dealers or to
send them to a port or place in China for sale.'
This is a point of considerable importance, as it indicates
that the free-port character of Hongkong was the preliminary
understanding on which the third article of the Nanking Treaty
and the cession of Hongkong to the British Crown was now
based . The future discontinuance or continuance of the freedom
of the port of Hongkong is therefore by no means an open
question left to the discretion of the Colonial or Imperial British
Governments, but the latter is absolutely bound by the Nanking
Treaty, as negotiated by Sir H. Pottinger, to maintain the
freedom of the port from all export or import duties of any sort.
It was on this understanding that the Chinese Govern-
ment issued, with Sir H. Pottinger's express approval, an edict
allowing free and unrestricted intercourse to all vessels from
treaty ports in China to Hongkong, and vice versû, on payment
of the export or import duties, as well as anchorage or harbour
charges, legally due at the ports to which goods may be carried
or from which they may be shipped within the Chinese Empire.
The Chinese Government having thus acted on the promise of
Sir H. Pottinger that Hongkong should remain a free port,
the British Government would seem to be bound in good faith
to maintain the freedom of the port inviolate.
The Article referring to the cession of Hongkong runs
thus : It being obviously necessary, and desirable, that British
subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and
refit their ships when required and keep stores for that purpose,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 157
His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the
Queen of Great Britain, &c., the Island of Hongkong, to be
possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, her Heirs and
Successors, and to be governed by such laws and regulations as
Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., shall see fit to
direct .' The reason here given why Hongkong should be ceded
is rather curious. It appears to be rather Elliot's than Pot-
tinger's view of the raison d'être of a British possession called
Hongkong . We should not be surprised to find that the English
rendering of this third Article of the Nanking Treaty is a
literal translation of the Chinese text of the corresponding
Article of the Chuenpi Treaty. If it was obviously ' necessary
in 1843 , that English merchants should have dockyards and
dockyard stores in a separate locality on the Chinese coast, it
is very strange that Lord Palmerston and the Cabinet, that
Parliament and the nation, could not be brought to see it,
though the Mathesons, and Stauntons, and Robinsons and others.
did everything to demonstrate that necessity and desirability
from 1833 to 1836. Moreover, it was obviously a sort of
bonded warehouse, with dwelling houses, out of the reach of
the avarice, corruption and oppression of Chinese officials that
was needed, far more than dockyards and dockyard stores. And
it was a Colony rather than a mere trade station or dockyard
that Hongkong had become by the time, when this curious
third Article of the Nanking Treaty was drafted.
Chastised and humbled as China was by the terms of the
Treaty of Nanking, one might suppose that now at last the
Chinese had been taught to surrender, once for all, their claim
of supremacy over all foreign nations. But the popular Chinese
theory, that as there is but one sun in the heavens, so there
can be but one supreme ruler over all under heaven,' which
proposition all mankind ought indeed to be ready to assent
to in a religious sense, was so ingrained in the diplomatic mind
and language of China, in the sense of China's political
supremacy, that, within four months after the conclusion of
the Nanking Treaty, the Emperor issued an Edict (December 24,
158 CHAPTER XI.
1842), ordering Eleepoo ' to meet Pottinger and immediately
explain to him that the Celestial Dynasty has for its principle,
in governing all foreigners without its pale, to look upon them
with the same feeling of universal benevolence with which she
looks upon her own children .' To this non plus ultra of
diplomatic cant-for cant it seemed to be in view of the
Emperor's rejoicing over the destruction of life caused in
Hongkong by the typhoon, and in view of the wholesale murders
committed by Tahunga and approved by the Emperor- Sir
H. Pottinger replied in good earnest . He at once informed
the Emperor, that his Royal Mistress, the Queen of England ,
acknowledges no superior or governor but God, and that the
dignity, the power, and the universal benevolence of Her Majesty
are known to be second to none on earth and are only equalled
by Her Majesty's good faith and studious anxiety to fulfil her
Royal promises and engagements . After this castigation, thus
quietly administered by Sir H. Pottinger, the Chinese officials
were not only careful to exclude from diplomatic correspondence
their usual stock phrases of Chinese political supremacy, but
the Viceroy Kikung actually employed the phrase ' the two
countries ' which, in Elliot's time had provoked the ire and
sarcasm of Viceroy Tang, and wrote to Pottinger (April 16 ,
1843 ) frankly admitting that the two countries are now united
in friendship .'
The news of the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty was
received throughout China with a sigh of intense relief.
Everywhere the preparations for war were immediately dis-
continued. In fact the official measures taken everywhere along
the coast indicated plainly that the Provincial Authorities were
sincerely determined to abide by and carry out the provisions
of the Treaty in good faith. In Canton, the militia was
disbanded (October 13, 1842 ) and all temporary forts were
dismantled. There was indeed a brief popular outburst of
excitement in Canton (November, 1842) , when it was rumoured
that building lots in the Honan suburbs would be appropriated
for dwelling houses for foreign merchants and their families,
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 159
and a mob made an attack upon the factories and partially
burned them ( December 7, 1842 ) . But the excitement was
all over the very next day, when Sir Hugh Gough went up
to Canton to investigate the state of things. Within a fortnight
after this ebullition of popular temper, it was so evident that
China meant to abide by the Nanking Treaty, that the military
and naval forces were sent back to England, and over 50
transports and ships of war left Hongkong harbour (December
20, 1842) homeward bound. The war was over. The piping
times of peace had come, and now it was the mission of
Hongkong to smooth down the animosities of the past and to
cement friendship between the two countries in the future.
Sir H. Pottinger at once set to work (January, 1843 ) to
complete the remainder of his successful diplomatic mission, by
settling the details of tariff duties and trade regulations. For
this purpose he had frequent consultations with a representative
Committee of British merchants consisting of Messrs . A.
Matheson, G. T. Braine, W. Thomson, D. L. Burn, and W. P.
Livingston. After the death of Eleepoo (March 4, 1843) ,
Kiying was appointed Chief of the Imperial Commission, and it
was at once foreseen that he would heartily work together with
Pottinger in settling all details. The Viceroy of Canton (Kikung)
also kept up friendly relations and cordially accepted Pottinger's
offer (April 16, 1843) to co-operate with him in putting down the
wholesale smuggling (partly in English craft) then going on,
with the connivance of the Hoppo's underlings (as the Viceroy
himself admitted), on the Canton River. Previous to Kiying's
arrival, the two other members of the Imperial Commission,
Wang An-tung and Hienling, visited Hongkong (May 11 , 1843)
were freely introduced to Hongkong society, dined twice with
Sir H. Pottinger, drove out in a carriage (the first that passed
the gap) to the Happy Valley, spent an evening at the Morrison
Education Society's Institution (on Morrison Hill), attended a
parade of artillery under Major Knowles, witnessed the investiture
of Sir W. Parker, by Sir H. Pottinger, as Knight Grand Cross
of the Bath, and returned to Canton thoroughly charmed with
160 CHAPTER XI.
English civilization. Immediately after Kiying's arrival (June
4, 1843 ) , Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, who had meanwhile
returned from London with Her Majesty's signature and the
Great Seal of England affixed to the Nanking Treaty, proceeded
to Canton (June 6, 1843 ) and invited Kiying to exchange the
ratifications of the Treaty at Hongkong. Kiying acceded to the
request, repaired to Hongkong (June 23 , 1843) , with Hienling
and Wang An-tung, and the exchange of ratifications was
solemnly performed (June 26, 1843 ) at Government House
(then situated on the spur above the Gaol) . A guard of honour
was in attendance, a large number of residents was present, and
at the moment when the ratifications were exchanged, a royal
salute was fired and responded to from the forts and shipping.
Next, Her Majesty's Proclamation, declaring Hongkong to be
a possession of the British Crown, was read by Lieutenant-Colonel
Malcolm , in the presence of the Imperial Commissioners.
Subsequently, Kiying having retired, the Royal Warrant was
read, appointing Sir H. Pottinger Governor of Hongkong and
its Dependencies. A large dinner party, given in the evening,
concluded the festivities .
Four months afterwards a Supplementary Treaty, concluded
by Sir H. Pottinger and the Imperial Commissioners, was signed
(October 8, 1843) at the Bogue (Foomoonchai ) , by Kiying and
Sir H. Pottinger on behalf of their Majesties, the Emperor of
China and the Queen of England. Besides providing all the
detailed trade-regulations to be observed at the five open ports
of China, this Supplementary Treaty, the stipulations of which
were to be as binding and of the same efficacy as if they had
been inserted in the original Treaty of Nanking, contains several
articles specially referring to Hongkong.
The extradition of criminals was provided for by Article IX.
which stipulated that all Chinese criminals and offenders against
the law, who may flee to Hongkong or to British ships of war
or to British merchantmen for refuge, should be delivered up
on proof or admission of their guilt. Article XIV provided , for
the purpose of effectually preventing piracy and smuggling, that
CONFIRMATION OF THE CESSION OF HONGKONG. 161
an officer of the British Government should examine the registers
and passes of all Chinese vessels visiting Hongkong to buy or
sell, and that any Chinese vessel arriving in Hongkong without
such register or pass should be considered an unauthorized or
smuggling vessel, forbidden to trade, and to be reported to the
Chinese Authorities. Article XV provided for the recovery of
debts, incurred by Chinese residents of Hongkong, through the
English Court of Justice, or, if the debtor should flee into.
Chinese territory, through the British Consul at an open Treaty
port. Article XVI provided that the Hoppo of Canton should
furnish the corresponding British officer in Hongkong with
monthly returns of passes granted to Chinese vessels to visit
Hongkong, and that the British officer in Hongkong should
forward similar monthly returns to the Hoppo . Article XVII
provided for small craft plying between Hongkong, Canton and
Macao, being exempt from all port charges if they carried only
passengers, letters or baggage, to the exclusion of all dutiable
articles. Those of the foregoing articles, which referred to
a British officer doing in Hongkong the work of the Chinese
revenue preventive service, and which would have practically
confined Chinese trade with Hongkong to trade between the
five open ports and Hongkong, were disapproved by the Home
Government as much as by the local mercantile community.
No such British officer was ever appointed, and fifteen years
later (June 26 , 1858 ) the whole Supplementary Treaty was
formally abrogated. The object aimed at by those two Articles
(XIV and XVI) , the Chinese Government sought later on to
attain by the so - called Custom's Blockade of Hongkong, and
the duties, assigned by those two Articles to a British officer,
are at the present day discharged by the English staff of the
Kowloon Imperial Maritime Customs Office, established in
Hongkong.
As regards that Article of the Nanking Treaty which
provided for the payment by the Chinese Government of an
opium indemnity amounting to six million dollars, the London
Gazette of August 25, 1843, gave notice to those entitled to
II
162 CHAPTER XI.
compensation, being holders of the certificates given, in 1839,
by Captain Elliot for British-owned opium , that they might
apply, on or after August 30, 1843, for payment at the Treasury
Chambers, at the following rates, per chest, viz .: Patna, £ 66
78. 74d.; Malwa, £ 64 118. 2d.; Benares, £ 61 11s . 3d.; and
Turkey, £ 43 3s. 5. This arrangement, based on the average
prices realized in Canton during 78 days, from September 11 to
November 27 , 1838, caused much dissatisfaction , as it was alleged
that the merchants thus received, after four years' delay, scarcely
one half of what they originally had paid for the opium directly
to the East India Company, besides losing four years ' interest
on their capital. But on the other side it might have been
urged, that, at the time when the opium was taken possession
of by Commissioner Lin, the market was overstocked, sales
impossible, and, if Lin had not destroyed the opium but returned
it to the merchants, they could not have sold it for anything
like what they finally received for it.
CHAPTER XII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT.
January 26 to August 10, 1841 .
HAVING, in the preceding chapter, given an outline of the
political events connected with the cession of Hongkong
to the British Crown, we now take up the thread of its internal
history.
On the very day when the Treaty of Chuenpi was concluded
(January 20, 1841 ) , Captain Elliot issued a circular at Macao,
addressed to Her Britannic Majesty's subjects, informing them
that the Island and Harbour of Hongkong had been ceded to
the British Crown. The news of the cession of Hongkong was
conveyed to England by the steamship Enterprise which left
China on January 23 , 1841. Captain Elliot explained in his
circular of January 20, 1841 , that Her Majesty's Government
had sought for no privilege in China for the exclusive advantage
of British ships and merchants, and that he therefore only
performed his duty in offering the protection of the British
flag to the subjects, citizens and ships of foreign Powers that
might resort to Her Majesty's Possession at Hongkong. A
general invitation was thus given to all the merchants of other
countries to utilize the proposed new British trade station for
commercial purposes . At the same time, Captain Elliot expressly
stated that all just charges and duties to the Chinese Empire
were to be paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa.
The Chinese Government was left at liberty to deal with
Hongkong by levying, outside the port and boundaries of the
Colony, charges and duties on exports from or imports into
Chinese territory. This was probably all that Elliot intended ,
164 CHAPTER XII
and in these respects he simply gave to Hongkong the same
position which Macao had so long maintained .
The Island of Hongkong having been formally taken
possession of, for the purposes of a trade station, in the name
of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (January 26, 1841 ) , Captain
Elliot, as Chief Superintendent of the trade of British subjects
in China, and holding full powers under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom, to execute the office of Her Majesty's Com-
missioner, Procurator, and Plenipotentiary in China, issued on
January 29 , 1841 , his first local proclamation (the original
of which is, however, dated February 2 , 1841 ) . In this
proclamation, Captain Elliot , after making due reservation of
Her Majesty's rights, royalties, and privileges, declared that
the Government of the Island should be exercised, pending Her
Majesty's further pleasure, by the person filling the office of
Chief Superintendent of the trade of British subjects in China .
The next point in Captain Elliot's proclamation of January 29,
1841 , was that it established two different systems of government
and two separate codes of law for the administration of justice
in Hongkong. Natives of the Island, and all natives of China
resorting to Hongkong, were to be governed, pending Her
Majesty's further pleasure, according to the laws and customs
of China, every description of torture excepted. But all persons
other than natives of the Island or of China, should fall under
the cognizance of the Criminal and Admiralty jurisdiction at
the time existing in China and enjoy full security and protection
according to the principles and practice of British Law, This
natural bifurcation reflected, at the first formation of the
settlement, the fundamental incompatibility of the Chinese and
European systems of civilization , by creating two separate forms
of government and two separate codes of law, corresponding
with the two separate communities, Chinese and European,
which were about to settle at Hongkong and which immediately
proceeded to divide the town into separate European and Chinese
quarters. But regarding this bifurcation, thus provisionally
introduced , the pleasure of Her Majesty was subsequently made
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 165
known, from time to time, gradually extending, by special
Ordinances and executive Regulations, the sphere of English
forms of government and the application of English Law. This
was, however, done cautiously and gradually, in proportion
as the two local communities, European and Chinese, were,
by the slow process of the interaction of English and Chinese
modes of thought, life and education, brought a little nearer
to each other. This process (though hardly perceptible) is still
going on at the present day, but executive regulations and legal
enactments have all along proved utterly futile whenever they
went too far ahead of the successive stages reached by this
extremely slow process of race amalgamation which depends
more on the silent influences of English education, English
speaking and English modes of living than on the exercise of
the rights and powers of the Crown. The Chinese, though the
most docile people in the world when under fair government,
proved utterly intractable whenever the Executive or the
Legislature of the Colony rushed into any unreconciled conflict
with deep-seated national customs of the Chinese people.
By a second proclamation-issued conjointly by Sir J. J.
Gordon Bremer, Commander-in-Chief, and by Captain Elliot,
as Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, on February 1 , 1841 — all
natives of China, residing in Hongkong, were informed that
they were all, by the fact of their residing on the Island ,
which was now part of Her Majesty's Dominions , subjects
of the Queen of England, to whom and to whose officers they
must pay duty and obedience. Moreover, it was added, that
the inhabitants are hereby promised protection , in Her Ma-
jesty's gracious name, against all enemies whatever and they
are further secured in the free exercise of their religious rites ,
ceremonies and social customs, and in the enjoyment of their
lawful private property and interests.' It must be noted that ,
in the case of this stipulation, not only is the usual reservation
until Her Majesty's further pleasure ' omitted , but for it is
substituted the positive affirmation that this promise was given
in Her Majesty's gracious name.' Anyhow, Her Majesty never,
166 CHAPTER XII.
in the whole history of the Colony, made her pleasure known
contrary to the just principles of religious and social toleration
here guaranteed to Chinese semi-civilized pagans, who were
thereby, more than by anything else, induced to flock to
Hongkong and settle on the Island . The same proclamation.
added, to the statement of the previous proclamation concerning
the rule that Chinese in Hongkong should, until Her Majesty's
further pleasure, be governed according to Chinese laws, customs
and usages (every description of torture excepted), the detailed
provision that, pending Her Majesty's further pleasure, the
Chinese in Hongkong should be governed by the elders of villages
(Tipos), subject to the control of a British Magistrate. Regarding
this point Her Majesty's further pleasure was made known
many years after (Ordinance 8 of 1858), when an attempt was
made to improve the working of the Tipo system by giving
them official salaries. Some years later, when this measure
proved fruitless, the Government discarded the Tipo system
altogether. Yet, although this system is now officially not
recognized and has been replaced by the Registrar General's
Office, the Chinese secretly adhere to their own system faithfully.
The Chinese people in town are at the present day under the
sway of their own headmen (the Tungwa Hospital Committee),.
and the people in the villages are ruled by their elders, as
much as ever.
As regards commerce, this same proclamation stated that
'Chinese ships and merchants resorting to the port of Hongkong
for purposes of trade, are hereby exempted, in the name of
the Queen of England, from charge or duty of any kind to
the British Government,' but, it was added, that the pleasure
of the Government would be declared from time to time by
further proclamations .
According to a (seemingly incorrect) statement resting on
the authority of Commander J. Elliot Bingham, who was at
this time First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Modeste, the terms of the
Chuenpi Treaty included also the surrender by the Chinese,.
as neutral ground, of the peninsula of Kowloon ' meaning
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 167
probably only Tsimshatsui) . Mr. Bingham also states that, when
the Chuenpi Treaty was disavowed by the Imperial Government ,
•
it was seized by the British troops by right of conquest,' a
6
garrison being kept in Fort Victoria ' ( probably on the site
of the present Barracks), where many commissariat and other
stores were deposited .
During the course of February, 1841 , numerous parties of
British and foreign merchants and missionaries came over from
Macao to prospect the capabilities of Hongkong and to select
sites for warehouses and residences. By the end of March and
the beginning of April, 1841 , shanties, labourers ' matsheds ,
roughly-built store-houses (called godowns) , Chinese shop- keepers '
booths, European bungalows and houses of all descriptions began
to rise up. The first buildings erected in Hongkong are said
(on the evidence of Mr. W. Rawson ) to have been the so-
called Albany godowns (near Spring Gardens) of Lindsay & Co.
Next rose up the buildings at East Point, where Jardine,
Matheson & Co. established themselves. Later on buildings
were erected in the Happy Valley and here and there along the
hill side as far as the present centre of the town. While the
Military and Naval Authorities commenced settling at West
Point, erecting cantonments on the hill side (on the site of
the present Reformatory and later on above Fairlea) and large
Naval Stores (near the shore in the neighbourhood of the
present Gas Company's premises) , the Happy Valley was at first
intended by British merchants for the principal business centre.
However, the prejudices of the Chinese merchants against the
Fungshui (geomantic aspects) of the Happy Valley and the
peculiarly malignant fever which emptied every European house
in that neighbourhood almost as soon as it was tenanted, caused
the business settlement to move gradually westwards. Hill sites ,
freely exposed towards the South-west and South -east, as well
as to the North , were soon discovered as being less subject to
the worst type of malarial fever, and were accordingly studded
with frail European houses mostly covered at first with palm-
leaves. A number of wooden houses were imported from
168 CHAPTER XII.
Singapore and erected on lower storeys of brick or stones. But
at first the only substantial buildings erected by private parties
were a house and godowns built at East Point by order of Mr.
A. Matheson who foresaw the permanency of the Colony at a
time when most people doubted it . The native stone masons,
brick-layers, carpenters and scaffold builders, required for the
construction of roads and barracks (by the Engineer corps of
the Expedition ) and for the erection of mercantile buildings ,
were immediately followed by a considerable influx of Chinese
provision dealers (who settled near the site of the present Central
Market, soon known as the Bazaar ' ), and by Chinese furniture
dealers, joiners, cabinet makers and curio shops, congregating
opposite the present Naval Yard, and along the present Queen's
Road East, then known as the Canton Bazaar.' The day
labourers settled down in huts at Taipingshan, at Saiyingpun
and at Tsimshatsui . But the largest proportion of the Chinese
population were the so-called Tanka or boat people, the pariahs
of South-China, whose intimate connection with the social life
of the foreign merchants in the Canton factories used to call
forth an annual proclamation on the part of the Cantonese
Authorities warning foreigners against the demoralising influences
of these people. These Tan-ka people, forbidden by Chinese
law (since A.D. 1730 ) to settle on shore or to compete at literary
examinations, and prohibited by custom from intermarrying
with the rest of the people, were from the earliest days of the
East India Company always the trusty allies of foreigners . They
furnished pilots and supplies of provisions to British men -of-
war, troopships and mercantile vessels, at times when doing so
was declared by the Chinese Government to be rank treason ,
unsparingly visited with capital punishment. They were the
hangers-on of the foreign factories of Canton and of the British
shipping at Lintin , Kamsingmoon, Tungku and Hongkong Bay.
They invaded Hongkong the moment the settlement was started,
living at first on boats in the harbour with their numerous
families, and gradually settling on shore. They have maintained
ever since almost a monopoly of the supply of pilots and ships'
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 169
crews, of the fish trade and the cattle trade, but unfortunately
also of the trade in girls and women . Strange to say, when
the settlement was first started , it was estimated that some 2,000
of these Tan-ka people had flocked to Hongkong, but at the
present time they are about the same number, a tendency having
set in among them to settle on shore rather than on the water
and to disavow their Tan-ka extraction in order to mix on equal
terms with the mass of the Chinese community. The half-caste
population in Hongkong were, from the earliest days of the
settlement of the Colony and down to the present day, almost
exclusively the off-spring of these Tan-ka people. But, like the
Tan-ka people themselves, they are happily under the influence
of a process of continuous re-absorption in the mass of the
Chinese residents of the Colony.
In addition to this spontaneous influx of Chinese provision-
dealers, artizans, labourers and boat-people, there commenced
also, early in 1841 , a natural trade movement, which, if war-times
had been protracted or if the Chinese Mandarins and the policy
of the Hongkong Government had permitted its continuance,
would have resulted in the gradual transfer to Hongkong of
the larger portion of the Macao and Canton junk-trade and
made Hongkong the trade centre of the whole coast of the
Canton Province and the great depot of the entire China trade.
We have on this point the valuable evidence of Mr. A. Matheson
(given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons
on May 4 , 1847 ). Prior to our taking possession of Hongkong,
and for some time after, all the native traders between Canton
and the East Coast passed through the harbour, and generally
anchored there. When the first Europeans settled in Hongkong,
the Chinese showed every disposition to frequent the place ;
and there was a fair prospect of its becoming a place of
considerable trade. The junks from the coast made up their
cargoes there, in place of going to Canton and Macao ; these
cargoes consisted of opium, cotton shirtings, a few pieces of
camlets, and other woollens, and Straits produce, such as pepper,
betel-nut, rattans, &c .' Mr. William Scott, another former Canton
170 CHAPTER XII.
and Hongkong merchant, gave simillar evidence (May 18 , 1847 )
to the effect that, in the first instance, there was no disinclination
whatever on the part of the respectable Chinese shopkeepers,
and other useful people, to come to the Colony. Lieutenant-
Colonel Malcolm's evidence (June 1 , 1847) confirms the
foregoing statements. In a few months,' he said, ' an extensive
trade sprung up and immense quantities of piece goods were
sold on the island , which were transported to the mainland in
native boats. Small vessels were passing hourly between Canton
and Hongkong carrying the goods which were sold by sample
at the former place, and daily vessels were coming from the
north to obtain supplies for the other ports .' Both Mr.
A. Matheson and Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm further stated
that this prosperous state of things, brought on rather suddenly,.
continued until an equally sudden reaction set in about two years
later (in 1843) . In our own opinion , this early trade movement
was simply the natural result of the interference caused by the
war of 1841 with the junk trade of the Canton river. The junk
trade having once gravitated towards Hongkong, it took some
time, after the declaration of peace in 1842 , to return to its
original channel. But, certainly, had the free trade policy been
maintained in Hongkong, a large share of the junk trade might
have been retained in the Colony.
With the return of the troops from Chusan, the harbour
of Hongkong began to be crowded again with men- of-war and
troopships, and a Naval Court of Inquiry was he'd in Hongkong,
(April 25, 1841 ) to accertain the causes of the extraordinary
rate of mortality which had decimated the troops stationed at
Chusan in 1840 .
An augury of the rapid progress which the new settlement
of Hongkong was expected to make, was the appearance (May 1 ,
1841 ) of the first Hongkong Government Gazette. In the first
number of this Gazette (printed yet at Macao) Captain Elliot ,
as charged with the Government of Hongkong, notified that ,
pending Her Majesty's further pleasure, he had appointed (April
30 , 1841 ) Captain W. Caine (26th Cameronian Regiment) Chief
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 171
Magistrate of the Island of Hongkong to exercise authority, for
the preservation of the peace and the protection of life and
property, over all non-Chinese inhabitants (those of the Army
and Navy excepted) according to the customs and usages of
British police law, and over all Chinese inhabitants according to
the laws, customs and usages of China, as near as may be,
every description of torture excepted . But all cases requiring
punishments exceeding a fine of $100, or imprisonment of over
3 months, or, in case of flogging, more than 100 lashes, or
capital punishment, were to be remitted to the judgment of the
Head of the Government. Captain Caine was at the same time
appointed Superintendent of the Goal, which had been hastily
constructed, but as all minor offences committed by the Chinese
were punished by a free resort to bambooing, the Gaol, small as
it was, was never crowded while this rough and ready system
of adminstering justice by means of the bamboo continued in
force.
The next Gazette (May 15 , 1841 ) published the first Census
of Hongkong. By some clerical blunder, however, the hamlet
of Stanley, which never counted more than a few hundred
inbabitants, was put down as having 2,000 Chinese inhabitants ,
and accordingly received the false description of the capital (of
Hongkong) , a large town.' It never was anything of the sort.
Correcting this first Census table accordingly, we find that there
were in Hongkong, in May 1841 , altogether 5,650 Chinese
residents, viz. 2,550 villagers and fishermen, scattered over 20
hamlets among which Shaukiwan and Wongnaichung take a
prominent place, 800 Chinese in the Bazaar, 2,000 Chinese living
in boats on the harbour, and 300 labourers from Kowloon. The
Census also states that at that time the population of Tsimshatsui
(not included in the Census) amounted to 800 Chinese.
One of the most important measures of Captain Elliot's
regime was the declaration of the freedom of the port which
constituted in fact the most powerful incentive to bring trade
to Hongkong. By a proclamation issued at Macao (June 7 ,
1841) , Captain Elliot informed the merchants and traders at
172 CHAPTER XII.
Canton and in all parts of the Empire, that they and their ships
have free permission to resort to and trade at the port of
Hongkong where they will receive full protection from the High
Officers of the British nation and that, Hongkong being on the
shores of the Chinese Empire, neither will there be any charges
on imports and exports payable to the British Government.'
By these words Captain Elliot appears to assign , as a raison
d'être of the port of Hongkong, the topographical fact that
Hongkong is situated within the waters of China. It is just
possible, though we have no further grounds for the inference,
that Elliot may have cherished the notion that the Chinese
Government were justified in levying, outside the limits of
Hongkong, in Chinese waters, duties on all goods entering or
leaving the harbour of Hongkong. If so, he virtually treated
Hongkong as an open port of China, whilst admitting the
Island to be Her Majesty's Possession . Sir Henry Pottinger
subsequently rectified this assumption by a clear distinction
of the British Possession of Hongkong from the five ports of
China, opened by the Nanking Treaty.
That Elliot now had reason to believe that a permanent
settlement on Hongkong Island would eventually receive the
formal sanction of the Home Government, appears from the fact
that he now advertized (June 7, 1841 ) a sale, by public auction,
of the annual quit-rent of 100 lots of land, having water
frontage, on Saturday the 12th instant, as also of 100 town or
suburburban lots.' As many merchants had purchased land
from natives, Captain Elliot notified them at the same time that
arrangements with natives for the cession of land were to be
made only through an officer deputed by the Government and
that all native occupiers of land would be constrained to establish
their rights. It was originally intended to dispose by this first
land sale of a sufficiently large number of lots, situated both
North and South of the present Queen's Road, which had been
already roughly staked out by this time. But it was found
impossible to survey and stake out, in time for the sale (though
postponed from 8th to 14th June) , more than 40 lots, all situated
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 173
along the shore, North of Queen's Road, and having each a sea
frontage of 100 feet. Six of these lots were reserved for the
Crown, one remained unsold, but the remaining 33 lots, put up
at an upset price of £ 10 , were sold (June 14, 1841 ) at an average
rate of £71 , prices ranging from £20 to £265 per lot. Those 33
lots amounted in the aggregate to an extent not much exceeding
nine acres. The annual payment bid for them was £ 3,032 .
This amounts to an average of £ 7 88. 6d. per 1,000 square feet,
a price which is equal to a rate of more than £323 per annum
for the acre. The principle of the sale was somewhat undefined ,
but it was understood to be an annual rate of quit rent, if that
tenure should be sanctioned by the Home Government, coupled
with the condition of prepayment of one year's rent, and a deposit
of $500 (which, however, was never claimed by the Government)
as a guarantee that the purchaser would, within six months, spend
at least $ 1,000 on buildings or other improvements of the lot.
There are on record several criticisms of this first land sale.
Sir H. Pottinger stated (March 27 , 1841 ) that the tenure which
Captain Elliot proposed to obtain was wholly unprecedented and
untenable, and later on (November 19, 1844) he added that
Captain Elliot had not been armed with any authority to dispose
of the public lands. Mr. A Matheson (May 4 , 1847 ) gave it
as his opinion that, had a sufficient number of sea frontage lots
been put up for sale, the rate would not have much exceeded the
upset price of £ 10, but that, owing to the number of lots being
quite disproportionate to the number of competitors, a keen
competition drove the price up to £ 100 and upwards, for some
lots, and that the average of this was afterwards (unjustly)
retained by the Government as the standard of value. The
purchasers, somewhat sanguinely but honestly believed themselves
entitled to receive eventually a perpetual lease at the prices at
which they had bought the land, because Captain Elliot wrote
(June 17, 1841 ) to Jardine, Matheson & Co. and to Dent
& Co., declaring his purpose to move Her Majesty's Govern-
ment either to pass the lands in fee simple for one or two
years purchase at the late rates or to charge them in future with
174 CHAPTER XII.
no more than a nominal quit rent, if that tenure continues to
obtain.' When later on (April 10, 1843 ) it was understood that
the Government would only grant leases for 75 years, the
Hongkong merchants had a real grievance which they thenceforth
nursed industriously until they brought it before Parliament in
1847.
The purchasers of those lots, who may be considered as the
first British settlers on Hongkong, were the following firms
or individuals, viz.: Jardine, Matheson & Co.; Heerjeebhoy
Rustomjee ; Dent & Co.; Macvicar & Co.; Gemmel & Co .;
John Smith ; D. Rustomjee ; Gribble, Hughes & Co.; Lindsay
& Co.; Hooker and Lane ; Holliday & Co.; F. Leighton & Co.;
Innes, Fletcher & Co.; Jamieson and How ; Fox, Rawson & Co.;
Turner & Co.; Robert Webster ; R. Gully ; Charles Hart ;
Captain Larkins ; P. F. Robertson ; Captain Morgan ; Dirom
& Co.; Pestonjee Cowasjee ; and Framjee Jamsetjee. This sale
was followed by the erection of godowns and houses, and the
building of a seawall, the road alongside of which was thenceforth
(in imitation of Macao parlance) called the Praya . The following
places were the first to be utilized for commercial buildings, and
private residences of merchants, viz .: West Point, the Happy
Valley, Spring Gardens, the neighbourhood of the present Naval
Yard (Canton Bazaar) ; the sites now occupied by Butterfield and
Swire, by the Hongkong Hotel, by the China Mail, by the
Hongkong Dispensary (which can trace back its history to 1841 ) ;
the slope below Wyndham Street ; Pottinger Street, Queen's Road
Central (the Bazaar) ; the site below Gough Street enclosed by
a ring fence (Gibb, Livingston & Co.) ; Jervois Street (where the
first Chinese piece goods trade settled) , ending in the Upper
Bazaar ; the Civil Hospital site ; and Saiyingpun .
Captain Elliot, whose attention and presence was required
by the troubles brewing at Canton, consequent upon the disavowal
of the Chuenpi Treaty. appointed Mr. A. R. Johnston, the
Second Superintendent of Trade, to be Acting Governor of
the Island of Hongkong . Mr. Johnston accordingly assumed
charge of the local Government on behalfof Captain Elliot
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 175
(June 22 , 1841 ) , assisted by Mr. J. R. Morrison , the Chinese
Secretary. How little these three men, trained in the East
India Company's service, understood the important bearing
which the maintenance of free trade principles had on the future
welfare of the new Colony, appears from the fact that in one
of his earliest dispatches Mr. Johnston forwarded (June 28,
1841 ) , with Captain Elliot's approval, a recommendation framed
by Mr. Morrison to impose in England a differential duty of a
penny per pound on tea imported from Hongkong. Happily
the sinister suggestion was not listened to. But a mournful
time now set in at Hongkong . With the progress made in
terracing the hill sides, in road making, and excavating sites
for houses, a peculiar malarial fever spread everywhere, thence-
forth known as Hongkong fever. This fever arose wherever
the ground, having been opened up for the first time, was
exposed for some time to the heat of the sun and then to heavy
rains. The troops encamped at West Point, above the present
Fairlea (where the cantonment lines can still be traced) and
below it, suffered most particularly. But the Chinese settlers
at the foot of the same hill in the district called Saiyingpun
(lit. Western English Camp) suffered likewise severely. Deaths
now became frequent occurrences also among the European
community, hospitals had to be hastily constructed , and the
first cemetery (near the present St. Francis' Chapel, above
Queen's Road East ) began to fill. The death , by fever, of the
Senior Naval Officer, Sir H. le Fleming Senhouse (June 13,
1841 ) cast a gloom over the whole community.
Moreover, this outburst of sickness was but the precursor
of a terrific typhoon which soon after swept over the Colony.
During the night from July 21st to 22nd, 1841 , the harbour
and the new settlement on shore presented a weird scene of
heart-rending disasters . The overcrowded and badly built hospi-
tals were all levelled to the ground, mat houses, booths and
shanties were shattered and their fragments whirled through
the air. Almost every bungalow or house on shore was unroofed,
6 foreign ships were totally lost, 4 were driven on shore, 22
176 CHAPTER XII.
were dismasted or otherwise injured, and the loss of life among
the Chinese boat population was very great. The general
impression among foreign residents during that dreadful night
was that thelast days of Hongkong seemed to be approaching.'
Nevertheless, as soon as the typhoon was over, everybody set
to work with unabated energy to repair the damages . The sick
were sent on board improvised floating hospitals, the barracks,
mat houses, bungalows, godowns, booths and huts were speedily
made habitable again. When the typhoon recurved and, during
the night of 25th to 26th, again burst over Hongkong, and
levelled once more to the ground every frail structure, the
residents of Hongkong had learned a valuable lesson : they now
commenced to build a new style of godowns, such as should
stand a typhoon , and houses which combined with spacious
verandahs also strong walls and substantial roofs . There was
little loss of life during the two typhoons among the European
community. The Chinese boat people were the principal sufferers.
Nevertheless His benevolent Majesty, the Emperor of China,
rejoiced when he heard the news. Kikung and Eliang, the
Viceroy and Governor of Canton, sent a hasty memorial to
Peking, stating that at Hongkong innumerable foreign ships had
been dashed to pieces, that innumerable foreign soldiers and
Chinese traitors had been swept into the sea, that all their tents
and matsheds, the new Praya, and so forth, had been utterly
annihilated and that the sea was literally covered with corpses.
On receipt of this news, the Emperor went forthwith in festive
procession to the temple of the dragon god of the seas, and
solemnly returned thanks for the destruction of Hongkong. An
Imperial Edict , published with rejoicing all over the Empire,
also proclaimed the judgment that had fallen on Hongkong,
with the same display of inhumanity, contrary to the leading
principle of Confucian ethics which declares humaneness to be
the essential characteristic of civilized humanity.
This typhoon, by which Captain Elliot and Commodore
Bremer were overtaken on their way (in the cutter Louise)
from Macao to Hongkong, and themselves shipwrecked and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT. 177
well-nigh captured by the Chinese, was followed a few weeks
later by a conflagration (August 12, 1841 ) which destroyed the
greater part of the Bazaar. The very first period in the history
of Hongkong brought thus to the front the three great enemies
of local prosperity, fever, typhoons and conflagrations . Never-
theless the settlers persevered and the number of inhabitants
steadily continued to increase from month to month . The
provisional Government also continued to perfect its organization .
A Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate was now appointed ,
in the person of Lieutenant W. Pedder, R.N. , with Mr. A. Lena
as Assistant Harbour Master. The hill, on which the Harbour
Master established his quarters, has ever since been known as
Pedder's Hill. The Public Works Department was organized
by the appointment of Mr. J. R. Bird as Clerk of Works .
Finally arrangements were made for the establishment of a Civil
Hospital for foreign seamen. This was done under the influence
of the generous offer of a donation of $ 12,000 by Mr. Herjeebhoy
Rustomjee (June 23 , 1841 ) , and the arrangements were placed
under the direction of a Committee consisting of Messrs.
A. Anderson (Assistant Surgeon to H.M. Superintendents),
James Matheson and J. R. Morrison. Unfortunately, however,
the Committee neglected to secure payment of the donation.
On July 29, 1841 , H.M.S. Phlegeton arrived in Hongkong
with dispatches informing Captain Elliot of the disapproval of
the Chuenpi Treaty by Her Majesty's Government and of the
appointment of Sir H. Pottinger as Plenipotentiary. Captain
Elliot's administration ended on August 10, 1841. A fortnight
later he left Macao, with his family, accompanied by Sir
J. J. Gordon Bremer, en route for Europe (August 24, 1841 ) .
As he embarked on the Atalanta, a Portuguese fort fired a
salute of thirteen guns, but we read of no public address
presented to him, nor of any honours bestowed either by the
Hongkong community or by the Government on the man who
found Hongkong a barren rock and left it a prosperous city.
The new settlers on Hongkong, feeling the grievances they had
in connection with Elliot's attitude towards the opium trade
12
178 CHAPTER XII
trade and his dishonoured Treasury bills, and subsequently
learning the disavowal by the Government of his land sales, were
unable at the time to do justice to Elliot's real merits. They
indeed gave to what was once the most romantic glen on the
•
Island the name Elliot's Vale, ' but in later years, when it was
shorn of much of its beauty, called it ' Glenealy. Early in 1842,
Sir Robert Peel, who soon after appointed Elliot as Consul-
General for Texas (June 1 , 1842 ) , did some tardy justice to
Elliot's memory by stating in the House of Commons, that,
without giving any opinion on the conduct or character of
Captain Elliot, during the occupancy of his difficult and embar-
rassing position at Canton, he nevertheless was disposed, from
his intercourse with him since he returned home, to repose the
highest confidence in his integrity and ability.'
CHAPTER XIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HENRY POTTINGER.
August 10, 1841 , to May 8, 1844.
IR Henry Pottinger arrived (August 10, 1841 ) in Macao
S after what was then called ' an astonishingly short passage
of sixty-seven days, by the overland route. It is stated that
his arrival was warmly hailed by all the British residents. No
wonder, for with his advent as Her Majesty's Sole Plenipotentiary
and Minister Extraordinary to the Court of Peking (charged
also with the duties of the Chief Superintendency of Trade)
doubts, as to the permanency of the British occupation of
Hongkong, began to vanish. Not that he proclaimed the Queen's
approval of the cession of the Island, or that he came to
undertake the Government of the new settlement. But Sir
Henry at once gave to those that met him the impression that
the days of vacillation and yielding to Chinese cunning and
duplicity were over, and that England was going now simply
to state its grievances, formulate its demands and insist upon
immediate redress .
Sir H. Pottinger did not disturb Mr. Johnston in his office.
of Acting Governor, and that meant a good deal . As the latter
had now ceased to be Superintendent of Trade, Sir Henry
appointed him Deputy Superintendent. But what confirmed
the general belief now gaining ground that Hongkong would
never be surrendered by the British Government, was an
announcement which Sir H. Pottinger made in a Notification
issued at Macao (August 12 , 1841 ) stating that ' the arrangements
which had been made by his predecessor (Captain Elliot) ,
connected with the Island of Hongkong, should remain in force
until the pleasure of Her Majesty regarding that Island and those
180 CHAPTER XIII.
arrangements should be received .' Mr. Johnston accordingly
continued his duties as Acting Governor, whilst Sir H. Pottinger
went North with the expedition, and occupied towards Sir Henry
the same position which he had previously held in relation to
Captain Elliot . In fact, Mr. Johnston acted on behalf ' of
Sir H. Pottinger as Governor of the Island until Sir Henry
himself assumed the Government of the Colony.
About noon on August 21 , 1841 , Sir H. Pottinger arrived in
Hongkong by the steam-frigate Queen. He landed immediately,
visited all the departmental offices, inspected the public works
and expressed himself much pleased with the appearance and
evident progress of the new Colony. In consequence of dispatches
which arrived just then, he directed Mr. Johnston to discontinue
all further grants or sales of land, but allowed Captain Elliot's
arrangements to remain as he found them. He gave orders for
the expedition to start for the North at once, leaving behind
seven war-vessels, with the steamer Hooghly under the command
of Captain J. Nias, C.B. , to guard the harbour and mouth of the
Canton River, whilst Major-General Burrell, with a garrison
consisting of a wing of the 49th Regiment, the 37th Madras
Native Infantry and the Bengal Volunteers, was to see to the
defence of the Colony. Literally overwhelmed and oppressed
with the variety of affairs that demanded instant attention, Sir
H. Pottinger returned in the evening on board the Queen, paid
another hurried visit to some of the Government offices next
morning and then started (August 22 , 1841 ) to overtake the
expedition, having spent in the Colony barely twenty-four hours.
The work of organizing the administrative machinery of the
Government now continued unchecked . A Colonial Surgeon's
Department, under Mr. H. Holgate, was established (August,
1841 ) but subsequently disallowed . A Notary Public and Coroner
was appointed (September, 1841 ) in the person of Mr. S. Fearon,
who acted also as Interpreter and Clerk of Court. Captain
G. F. Mylius took charge of the Land Office (September, 1841 ),
with the able assistance of Lieutenant Sargent who acted as land
surveyor and made the first map of building lots. A small
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 181
granite Gaol building, on the site now occupied by Victoria
Gaol, was completed, and the erection of a Court House near
the site of the present Masonic Hall was commenced (October,
1841 ) . At the same time Colonel Burrell constructed a fort on
Kellett Island for the protection of the eastern section of the
harbour, destroyed two masonry forts erected by the Chinese at
Tsimshatsui in 1839, and constructed in their place two batteries
for heavy pieces in the same locality. On the arrival of the
French Frigate Erigone (December 8 , 1841 ) , which brought
Colonel de Jancigny on a commercial mission to China, the port
was for the first time saluted . The American men-of-war delayed
this courtesy for several years longer.
The progress of Hongkong was furthered by disturbances
which occurred at Canton (December 14, 1841 ) , causing a number
of European merchants to remove their offices from Canton to
Hongkong, and by the blockade of the Canton River by Captain
Nias' Squadron ( December 1 , 1841 ) which caused numbers of salt
junks to resort to Hongkong and to make the Colony, for some
time after, the centre of a considerable trade in salt. On his
return from the North (February 1 , 1842 ) , Sir H. Pottinger at
once countermanded this blockade and ordered restoration to be
made to the Chinese whose junks and cargoes had been sold by
auction. He also discovered to his great annoyance, that the
Acting Governor, Mr. A. R. Johnston , under a misconception of
the hurried instructions given to him on August 22, 1842 , had
framed rules for fresh grants of Crown -land and had allowed
additional lands to be assigned to applicants. Sir H. Pottinger,
therefore, now renewed his prohibition against granting land to
general applicants. Nevertheless, he did make some grants
to persons chiefly in the employ of the Government and also to
some of the charitable institutions such as the Morrison
Education Society, the Medical Missionary Society (Dr. Hobson),
the future St. Paul's College, and the Roman Catholic Church.
Without reference to Elliot's former declarations of the
freedom of the port, Sir H. Pottinger issued (February 6 , 1842 )
a proclamation notifying that, pending the receipt of the Queen's
182 CHAPTER XIII.
gracious and royal pleasure, the harbour of Hongkong ( like that of
Chusan) should be considered a free port and that no manner
of customs, port duties or any other charges, should be levied
on any ships or vessels of whatever nation or on their cargoes.
He then proceeded ( February 15 , 1842 ) to Macao and removed
the whole establishment of the Superintendency of Trade from
thence to Hongkong (February 27 , 1842 ) . The staff of this
Department (under Mr. A. R. Johnston, as Deputy Superin-
tendent) , consisted of E. Elmslie (Secretary and Treasurer) ,
J. R. Morrison (Chinese Secretary and Interpreter) , L. d'Almada
e Castro, A. W. Elmslic , and J. M. d'Almada e Castro (Clerks),
Rev. Ch. Gützlaff and R. Thom (Joint Interpreters), J. B.
Rodriguez, W. H. Medhurst, and Kazigachi Kiukitchi (Clerks) .
These two measures of Sir Henry, the removal of the Superin-
tendency to Hongkong, and the encouragement he held out, by
the confirmation of the freedom of the port, to Chinese and
foreign vessels to resort to Hongkong, were generally viewed, in
combination with the purchase of the Commissariat Buildings,
and the large sums now spent in the erection of barracks,
hospitals, naval and victualling stores, as an indirect intimation.
that the settlement on Hongkong would sooner or later receive
official recognition as a British Colony. Even the news of the
debate which took place in the House of Commons on the subject
(March 15 , 1842), unsatisfactory as it was, did not shake the
faith now generally placed in the future of Hongkong . For the
words of Sir Robert Peel (who had meanwhile stepped into the
place of Lord Palmerston) that, really, during the progress of
hostilities in China, he must decline to commit the Government
by answering the question as to what were the intentions of
the Government regarding the Island of Hongkong,' were read
by the residents in the light of the above measures of Sir
H. Pottinger.
Ever since this belief in the permanency of the British
occupation of Hongkong gained ground, some of the leading
British merchants, instead of merely opening branch offices at
Hongkong, began to break up their establishments at Macao
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 183
and Canton and to remove their offices to the new settlement .
Contrary to the views of a minority which stubbornly preferred
Canton, they expected that Chinese trade would speedily gravitate
towards Hongkong, if but the freedom of the port were strictly
and vigorously maintained by the Government. Indeed, the
experience of the Colony's first eighteen months fully bore out
the soundness of their views. As soon as the rumour of the
expected permanency of the new settlement began to spread
abroad, there set in a rapid and steady influx of Chinese traders
as well as artizans and labourers flocking together in Hongkong
from all the neighbouring districts, and business was flourishing .
In October 1841 , the total population of Hongkong, including
both the troops and residents of all nationalities, was estimated to
amount to 15,000 people, three times the amount at which the
population stood six months previous. With the advent of the
cool season (October, 1841 ) sickness was noticed to decline all
of a sudden and the spirits of the community were considerably
cheered by the appearance, on the new Queen's Road, of the
first carriage and pair imported from Manila, as a sign of the
coming comforts of civilization .
A fresh indication of the intentions of the Government
to retain permanent possession of Hongkong, was given by a
Notification of Sir H. Pottinger, which appeared in the first
locally printed newspaper, the Friend of China and Hongkong
Gazette, issued on March 24, 1842, under the editorship of
the Rev. J. L. Schuck and Mr. James White (subsequently
M.P. for Brighton ) . In this Notification ( dated Hongkong
Government House, March 22, 1842) Sir H. Pottinger announced
his intention of appointing a Land Committee to investigate
claims, to mark off boundaries, to fix the direction and breadth
of the road, now for the first time called ' Queen's Road , ' and
other public roads, to order the removal of encroachments,
and to assign new locations for dwellings of Europeans and
Chinese. At the same time, Sir H. Pottinger expressly notified
that no purchases or renting of ground from the natives,
formerly or now in possession, would be recognized or confirmed,
184 CHAPTER XIII.
unless the previous sanction of the constituted Authorities should
have been obtained , it being the basis of the footing on which
the Island of Hongkong has been taken possession of and is
to be held pending the Queen's royal and gracious commands,
that the proprietary of the soil is vested in and appertains
solely to the Crown.' The same principle was also applied to
reclamations of foreshore. But the fact that Sir H. Pottinger
referred in a public document to an officially recognized and
defined footing on which the Island had been taken possession
of, convinced everybody now that the formal recognition of
Hongkong as a British Colony had already been decided upon
and was only delayed pending diplomatic and war-like dealings
with the Peking Government .
The promised Land Committee, consisting of Major Mal-
colm , Captain Meik, Lieutenant Sargent, Surgeon W. Woosnam,
and Captain J. Pascoe, was appointed (March 29 , 1842 ) and
instructed to recommend the amount of remuneration to be
given to native Chinese, for ground which was in their possession
previous to the British occupation of the Island and which
had been appropriated, to select spots for public landing places,
to define the limits of cantonments, to fix the extent of the
ground to be reserved for H.M. Naval Yard and for private
commercial ventures in the shape of patent slips, and finally
to recommend a watering place with a good running stream of
water to be reserved for the shipping. The points previously
mentioned and not now included in the instructions of the
Committee were no doubt left to the discretion of the Land
Officer, Captain Mylius, who had been provided with a new
Assistant, Mr. E. G. Reynolds. The separation of the Land
Office from the Public Works Department was, however, soon
after disapproved (May 17 , 1842 ) by the Home Government.
Another important problem which Sir H. Pottinger now
took in hand was the regulation of the currency of the settle-
ment. For this purpose he took the dollar for a standard and
fixed the rate at which Indian coins and Chinese copper cash
were to be accepted as legal tender. A proclamation (March
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 185
29, 1842 ) stated , that two and a quarter Company's rupees
should be equal to one dollar ; one rupee and two annas (or
half a quarter) equal to half a dollar ; half a rupee and two annas
equal to a quarter dollar ; 1,200 cash equal to one dollar ; 600
cash equal to half a dollar ; 300 cash equal to a quarter dollar ;
533 cash equal to a rupee ; 266 cash equal to a half a rupee ;
and 133 cash equal to a quarter of a rupee. Subsequently
(April 27 , 1842 ) Sir H. Pottinger issued, at the suggestion
of the leading English firms, a further proclamation declaring
Mexican or other Republican dollars to be the standard in all
matters of trade unless otherwise particularly specified ..
Sir H. Pottinger organized also a Post Office (under
Mr. Fitz Gibbon, succeeded by Mr. Mullaly and R. Edwards) ,
which was to receive and deliver, free of any charge, letters
or parcels. This office was located on the hill just above the
present Cathedral, and the communication between the office and
the ships was under the charge of the Harbour Master. The
erection of substantial barracks on Cantonment Hill (S. of present
Wellington Barracks) and at Stanley and Aberdeen , was also
taken in hand and pushed on vigorously.
All these measures of Sir H. Pottinger contradicted the
rumour which was persistently going about that the cession of
Hongkong was not officially recognized and that the Government
was prepared to relinquish Hongkong in case the Chinese
Government should, in the coming negotiations, raise any serious
objection on that score, and to be satisfied in that case with the
opening of some treaty ports. That the Home Government had
at this time, in order not to prejudice the pending negotiations
with the Chinese Government, left the question of the permanency
of the new Colony in abeyance, is evident from the fact that
in June, 1842 , just before leaving Hongkong to rejoin the
expedition, Sir H. Pottinger received a dispatch from the Earl
of Aberdeen directing that this Island should be considered
a mere military position and that all buildings & c. , not required
in that light, should be discontinued .' Sir H. Pottinger, however,
knew perfectly well that the necessities of British trade would
186 CHAPTER XIII.
be sure to bring sooner or later a ratification of the cession of
Hongkong, regarding which he stated in a dispatch to Lord
Stanley (July 17, 1843) that he had always been of opinion
that the sole or at least chief object of it was to secure an
emporium of trade. The fact that Sir H. Pottinger's measures
all rested on the assumption that the occupation of Hongkong
would never be annulled, gave a fresh impetus to the growth of
the settlement. In March, 1842 , the population , then estimated
at over 15,000 people, was stated to include 12,361 Chinese,
mostly labourers and artizans, attracted to Hongkong by the high
wages obtainable here, and numbers of large buildings were
reported to be in course of erection . The Central Market, then
South of Queen's Road, opposite its present site, was formally
opened (June 10, 1842 ) and farmed out to a Chinaman (Afoon ) ;
all the roads were improved and extended , a good road, in the
direction of Stanley, completed as far as Taitamtuk (June, 1842 ) ,
and a picnic house built at Little Hongkong by Mr. Johnston ,
Major Caine and a number of other private subscribers .
Apart from all these signs of material progress, there are
also evidences of the higher interests of religion and education
receiving now recognition and attention in Hongkong. The
building of a Roman Catholic church was commenced , in June
1842, on a site in Wellington Street granted by Government .
A Baptist chapel was opened in Queen's Road (July 7 , 1842 )
by the Rev. J. L. Schuck, by subscriptions obtained from the
foreign residents and visitors. The Morrison Education Society
of Canton and Macao, which for years past had supported various
Mission Schools in the Straits and in China by money grants
and (in 1841 ) started at Macao a training school (under Mr. and
Mrs. Brown) , now arranged to remove its establishment to
Hongkong and commenced (October, 1842 ) building a large
house on Morrison Hill on a site granted by Sir H. Pottinger
(February 22 , 1842 ) , who became the patron of the institution
(April 5, 1842 ). In antumn 1842 , a Naval Chaplain, Mr. Phelps
and Mr. A. R. Johnston started a subscription by means of which
a room was erected on the site of the present Parade ground
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 187
for occasional services in connection with the Church of England
or any other Protestant denomination .
When the news of the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty
and the consequent confirmation of the cession of Hongkong
reached the settlers (September 9 , 1842 ) , no particular rejoicing
took place, for the recognition of the cession had all along been
to the local community a mere question of time or of official
etiquette. The merchants were yet unaware of the serious crisis
now at hand for the commerce of the Colony in consequence of
the cessation of the war and the opening of five Chinese ports.
On the contrary, the expectation appears to have been entertained
that these measures would forthwith enhance the prospects of the
Colony. We are nearly bewildered, ' apostrophized the Editor of
the Friend of China (September 22 , 1842 ) , at the magnificence
of the prosperous career which seems now before us. Our Island
will be the single British possession in China. What more in
praise of its prospects can we say than this ? Already we hear
of teeming projects fraught with good for our Island.' The
conclusion of the war and the departure of the fleet and troops,
which considerably desolated the harbour, affected for the present
the social life of the community far more than its commerce,
which continued in its old grooves yet for a little while longer.
With the return to Europe of the expeditionary forces, which left
behind (December 24, 1842 ) only 700 men as a garrison, the
settlement now entered at last upon its normal condition of a
purely commercial community.
Consequent upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking,
the British Government took immediate steps for the formal
organisation of a distinctly Colonial Government at Hongkong,
by transferring the management of local affairs from the Foreign
Office to the Colonial Office. The Superintendency of Trade
and the direction of the new Consular Service in China, subject
to the Foreign Office, were, however, for the present combined
with the office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the
Colony. On this basis an Order in Council was issued (January
4, 1843) establishing in Hongkong the Court of Justice, with
188 CHAPTER XIII.
Criminal and Admiralty Jurisdiction, which nominally had
existed, since the time of Lord Napier, in Chinese waters, under
an Order of the Privy Council of December 9 , 1833. This Court
was now endowed with jurisdiction over British subjects residing
within the Colony or on the mainland of China or on the high
seas within 100 miles of the coast thereof. Three months later
(April 5 , 1843 ) , the Privy Council issued Letters Patent, under
the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, erecting the settlement
on the Island of Hongkong into a Crown Colony by Charter,
and on the same day a Royal Warrant was issued, under the
Queen's Signet and Sign Manual, appointing the Chief Superin-
tendent of Trade, Sir Henry Pottinger, Baronet, K.C.B., as
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong
and its Dependencies, to enact laws and to govern the Colony
with or without the assistance of a Council. A grand ceremony
was performed at Government House on May 20, 1843 , when
Sir William Parker, by order of the Queen, invested Sir
H. Pottinger with the insignia of a Knight Commander of
the Order of the Bath . When the ratifications of the Nanking
Treaty were exchanged (June 26, 1843 ) between Sir H. Pottinger
and the Chinese Commissioners who had come to Hongkong for
the purpose, the Charter of Hongkong and the Royal Warrant
were read out at Government House before a large assembly
of residents, and subsequently published (June 29 , 1843 ) by
proclamation in the Gazette. The same proclamation fixed the
6
name of Her Majesty's new possession as the Colony of
Hongkong,' (not Hong Kong, as previously used) , and the name
of the city as Victoria.' The Governor, having previously
(June 17, 1843) sworn in Mr. Johnston ( Deputy Superin-
tendent of Trade ) , Major Caine ( Chief Magistrate ) and
Mr. C. B. Hillier (Assistant Magistrate) , as the first Justices
of the Peace, now appointed 43 more persons, among whom
there where 15 officials, as additional Justices of the Peace. As
these unofficial Justices represent the leading merchants of
this earliest period of the Colony, we append their names.
They were, A. Jardine, A. Matheson, W. Morgan , W. Stewart,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 189
G. Braine, J. Dent, F. C. Drummond, D. L. Burn, W. Le
Geyt, P. Dudgeon, T. W. L. Mackean, H. Dundas , C. Kerr,
J. F. Edger, A. Fletcher, J. A. Gibb, W. P. Livingston,
W. Gray, H. R. Parker, J. Holliday, J. Wise, J. A. Mercer,
P. Stewart, J. White, A. Wilkinson and J. M. Smith. The
office of Deputy Superintendent of Trade having been abolished,
Mr. Johnston was now appointed Assistant and Registrar to the
Superintendent of Trade, with about the same staff as before.
The Colonial Government was now organized as follows :-Sir
H. Pottinger (Governor), Captain G. T. Brooke (Military
Secretary and A.D.C. ) , Captain T. Ormsby ( Extra A.D.C.),
Major-General G. C. D'Aguilar ( Lieutenant Governor), Lieuten-
ant-Colonel G. A. Malcolm (Colonial Secretary) , R. Woosnam
(Deputy Colonial Secretary) , Ch. E. Stewart (Treasurer and
Financial Secretary) , J. R. Morrison (Chinese Secretary and
Interpreter, afterwards succeeded by Rev. Ch . Gützlaff) , Rev.
V. Stanton (Colonial Chaplain) , R. Burgass (Legal Adviser),
A. Anderson (Colonial Surgeon) , L. d'Almada e Castro (Chief
Clerk) , D. Stephen (Book-keeper), Major W. Caine (Chief
Magistrate) , Ch. B. Hillier ( Assistant Magistrate ) , D. R.
Caldwell (Interpreter) , Lieutenant W. Pedder (Harbour Master) ,
A. Lena (Assistant Harbour Master ) , A. T. Gordon ( Land
Officer and Civil Engineer), Ch . St. George Cleverly (Assistant
Surveyor) , W. Tarrant ( Assistant to Land Officer), M. Bruce
( Inspector of Buildings) , and F. Spring (Postmaster) . An
Executive Council was formed, consisting of the Hon. A. R.
Johnston and the Hon. W. Caine, and a Legislative Council,
from which for the present unofficial members were shut out ,
was constituted. It consisted of the Hon . A. R. Johnston , the
Hon . J. R. Morrison (who died soon after, greatly lamented),
and the Hon . W. Caine, with R. Burgass (the Governor's
legal adviser) as Clerk of Council. A public seal was supplied
to the Colony from England (September 5, 1843 ) and Her
Majesty's approval was obtained (December 6, 1843) for the
above-mentioned appropriation of the name Victoria for the
rising city of Hongkong.
190 CHAPTER XIII.
During the year 1843, the religious and missionary agencies
in the Colony bestirred themselves considerably in the general
interest. Funds had been raised in 1842 for the erection of a
Colonial Church, at first intended to be a sort of Union Church
for both Churchmen and Nonconformists. A Colonial Chaplain
having been appointed in England at the request of the local
Government, which disapproved the proposed union, services
were conducted (since June, 1843 ) by Naval Chaplains in a
"
temporary structure now called the Matshed Church,' and a
building (the present St. John's Cathedral) was ordered to be
commenced at Government expense and meanwhile dedicated
to St. John (October 17 , 1843) , though building operations were
delayed for several years as the Home Government postponed
its sanction. It was , however, locally decided that the Colonial
Chaplain should have sole charge of the Church . The Chaplain,
Rev. V. J. Stanton, preached his first sermon in the Colonial
Matshed Church on December 24th, 1843. The R. C. Prefect
Apostolic, Fra Antonio Feliciani, consecrated the building
erected by him at the corner of Wellington and Pottinger Streets
as the R. C. Church of the Conception, on June 18th , 1843, when
a Seminary for native clergy was opened in connection with it .
The Mohammedans built (in 1843) a Mosque on the hill thence-
forth called Mosque Gardens (Moloshan) . The Chinese, who
had already four temples from 75 to 100 years old, viz . one at
Aplichow (dating from 1770 A.D. ) , one at Stanley, one in Spring
Gardens (Taiwongkung) , and one at Tunglowan (Causeway Bay),
commenced building their City Temple (Sheng-wong-miu) on
the site of the present Queen's College. The American Baptist
Mission, under Dr. Deane and Dr. Ball, started in 1843 a Chinese
(Tiechiu) Church in the Upper Bazaar (Sheungwan Market) . In
addition to the establishment of the Morrison Education Society's
School on Morrison Hill (opened November 1 , 1843 ) , Dr. Legge
of the London Missionary Society transferred to Hongkong the
Society's Malacca College, opening (November, 1843 ) a Pre-
paratory School and a Seminary for the training of Chinese
ministers, which was (in autumn 1844 ) located on the London
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 191
Mission premises in Aberdeen and Staunton Streets as the Anglo-
Chinese College (Ying-wa Shü-ün ) . The Colonial Chaplain,
Rev. V. J. Stanton, immediately on his arrival (December 22,
1843) , made preparations for the opening of a Training School
for native ministers in connection with the Church of England,
on a site previously granted for the purpose by the Government
(May 26, 1843 ) , under the name of St. Paul's College. In
autumn 1843, the Protestant Missionaries of Hongkong (Legge,
Medhurst , Milne, Bridgman and J. Stronach) commenced the
work which eventually resulted in a new Chinese translation of
the Bible, known as the Delegates Version, the best in style and
diction (though not in literal accuracy) that has ever been
produced to the present day.
Several Hospitals also were established during this year.
The Medical Missionary Society of Canton and Macao (originally
established in 1838 through the efforts of Dr. Peter Parker,
and largely aided by the London Missionary Society ) opened
a Hospital (June 1 , 1843) , under Dr. Hobson of the London
Mission, on the hill now occupied by the Naval Hospital (above
Wantsai) . The Seamen's Hospital (on the site of the present
Civil Hospital) , started (as above-mentioned ) at the instigation
of a promise of a donation by Mr. J. Rustomjee (which was never
paid), was built by means of a public subscription of $6,000
and with additional funds generously advanced by Jardine,
Matheson & Co., and opened by the Committee, in August, 1843
(with 50 beds) , under the charge of Dr. Peter Young (of the
6
Hongkong Dispensary, then located in the Bird Cage, ' South
of its present location) , who gave his services gratuitously .
These Hospitals, together with the Naval and Military
Hospitals (on the site of the present Barracks near Hawan) were
soon overcrowded with patients. For in summer 1843 occurred
an extraordinary outbreak of Hongkong fever which, during
the six months from May to October, carried off by death 24
per cent. of the troops, and 10 per cent. of the European
civilians. It was noticed that this virulent fever ravaged chiefly
the extreme eastern and western ends of the settlement, whilst
192 CHAPTER XIII.
the central parts of the city and especially the Gaol escaped
almost untouched. At Westpoint Barracks (above Pokfulam
Road), where the Indian troops had lost nearly half their number
in 1842, sickness was so universal in 1843, that the European
troops stationed there were hastily removed (July 20, 1843 ) on
board ships in the harbour. In the year 1843, the total strength
of the European and native troops was only 1,526 , but, as 7,893
cases were treated in the hospitals during the same year, it
appears that on an average each man passed through hospital
more than five times during that dreadful year. The deaths
among the troops on the Island amounted to 440, out of 1,526
men, or 1 in 3 , the cause of death being fever in 155 cases,
dysentery in 137 cases, diarrhoea in 80 cases. The number
of men invalided or unfit for duty was such that frequently
no more than one half of the men of a company were able
to attend parade and sometimes there were hardly five or six men,
out of 100, fit for duty. The sanitation question was now
at last taken up by the Government, and a Committee of Public
Health and Cleanliness was appointed (August 16, 1843 ) with
authority to enforce rigid sanitary rules among all classes of
residents, but no effective measures were undertaken . Those
rules were subsequently formulated by Ordinance No. 5 of March
20, 1844 .
The land policy of the Government caused considerable
dissatisfaction among the merchants. There was no objection
on the part of the mercantile community to a revenue being
derived from land ; on the contrary they were of opinion that,
Hongkong being guaranteed to be a free port, long leases and
annual rents should be the sole source of revenue, to the exclusion
of all other forms of taxation, such as duties on goods sold by
auction, auctioneers ' licence fees, registration fees, market farms,
etc. Mr. A. Matheson expressed the unanimous views of
Hongkong merchants when he stated that it was a most
unadvisable course for the Government to attempt raising any
other revenue than the land rents, at any rate until the Colony
should have advanced considerably in wealth and population.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 193
But the great grievance of the merchants was that the conditions
of Captain Elliot's sales of land had not been fulfilled by the
Government, and that merchants who, trusting in the good faith
of the Government, had bought land and expended large sums
on buildings in the expectation to have a permanent property
at an annual quit rent, did not get the land granted to them
in perpetuity but were peremptorily called upon to take leases of
75 years only or to surrender their land . There were minor
complaints, that some of the sales of January, 1844, were
fictitious, that there was a great deal of deception practised in
the purchase of land in 1843 and 1844 by parties who bought
land without really intending to hold it, aud that such practices.
had been encouraged by negligence on the part of the Government
in enforcing the conditions of sale and in collecting the land
rents. The Colonial Treasurer ( R. M. Martin ) corroborated some
of these statements by the allegation he made that, out of the
whole amount of land-sales from June 1841 to June 1844 ,
amounting to £ 3,224 per annum, only £ 641 had actually been
paid. Land jobbing, in fact, was at that early time already
one of the great evils of Hongkong . But it was not confined
to merchants only, for the same Colonial Treasurer alleged that,
with the exception of the Attorney General ( P. J. Stirling) and
himself, almost every individual connected with the Government
was identified with the purchase and sale of building land in
the Colony. In fact it is evident that the land sales of 1843
and 1844 gave rise to the first local outburst of the gambling
6
mania . Men of straw,' said Mr. A. Matheson, ‘ gambled in
land and raised the price of it upon those people who were
bona fide purchasers .'
Proceeding on the legally correct but historically false and
unjust assumption that the lawful land tenure of Hongkong
dated from the exchange of treaty ratifications , the Secretary
of State had laid down the following principles as a basis for
the future land policy of the Government, ( 1 ) that the Governor
should abstain fron alienating any land for any time greater
than might be necessary to induce tenants to erect substantial
13
194 CHAPTER XIII.
buildings, ( 2 ) that no grants or sales of land that had taken
place previous to the exchange of the Treaty ratifications should
be deemed valid, ( 3 ) that all equitable claims and titles of
land-holders should be inquired into with a view to confirmation,
(4 ) that the payment of rents should commence from the day
when the Treaty ratifications were exchanged , and (5 ) that
henceforth no lan should be sold except by public auction, at
a reserved minimum price, equal to the value of the annual
rent. On this basis, the Governor appointed (August 21 , 1843 )
a Committee, consisting of A. T. Gordon, Land Officer and
Colonial Engineer ( Head of the new Public Works Department),
Captain de Havilland ( Assistant Surveyor), Ch . E. Hewart
(Financial Secretary) , assisted by R. Burgass (Legal Adviser) .
The instructions of this Committee were, ( 1 ) to inquire into the
equitable claims and titles of all holders of land, ( 2 ) to define
the classes to which particular lots should henceforth belong,
(3 ) to fix their annual rent, and (4) to arrange for the sale
of further lots. The Committee accordingly inquired into and
settled all claims on land previously sold, and granted leases of
75 years in all cases of proved ownership . It was on the basis
of the above-mentioned principles, that the land-sale of January
22, 1844, was held, when about 25 acres of land, divided into
101 lots, each about 105 feet square, were sold for £ 2,562 annual
rental, prices ranging from £ 11 to £ 88 annual rental, at an
average rate of £ 20 per lot or £ 100 per acre. The solution of
the land question was pushed a step further by the establish-
ment of a Registry Office ( Ordinance No. 3 of 1844 ) , which
provided ready means for tracing all titles to landed property.
It was laid down by law that thenceforth all deeds, wills,
conveyances and nortgages relating to land, should be registered
within a certain time after execution . But what kept discontent
rankling in the minds of many was the fact that the Crown had
refused and in spite of all remonstrances persisted in refusing
to confirm, as a matter of right, Captain Elliot's land sales,
disavowing in fact any grants of land made prior to the signing
of the Treaty, and prohibiting the granting of perpetuities.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 195
The newly-established Legislative Council commenced its
sittings on January 11 , 1844, and displayed an extraordinary
amount of energy. Within four months the Council compiled,
considered and passed twelve Colonial and five Consular Or-
dinances, that is to say about one Ordinance each week. The
Council began its labours by grappling, boldly rather than wisely,
with one of the congenital diseases of the Chinese social organism ,
which has survived to the present day, viz . Chinese bond-
servitude, a contractual relationship which, from a moral point
of view, is indeed but a form of slavery but which differs widely
from that kind of slavery to which the Acts of Parliament had
reference. Ordinance No. 1 of 1844, intended to define and
promulgate the law relating to slavery in Hongkong, was
promptly launched by the Council ( February 28, 1844) , but
wisely disallowed by the Secretary of State on the ground that
the English laws as to slavery extend by their own proper force
and authority to Hongkong and require no further definition or
promulgation. Among six other Ordinances passed on the same
busy day (February 28, 1844) , there was one (No. 2 of 1844)
intended to regulate the printing of books and papers and the
keeping of printing presses, which the community considered
needless and premature but which remained on the statute book
until 1886. Another (No. 3 of 1844) , organising the Land
Registry, above mentioned, also became law. A third (No. 4 of
1844) , intended to obviate an evil which, to the present day,
troubles the Colony in connection with the practice of shipmasters
to leave behind destitute seamen (locally called beachcombers) ,
was unfortunately disallowed . Another batch of five Ordinances
was passed on March 20 , 1844. One of them (No. 5 of 1844)
dealt with the preservation of order and cleanliness and was
subsequently repealed by No. 14 of 1845. Another (No. 6 of
1844) provided that, pending the arrival of Chief Justice
Hulme, all civil suits should be settled by arbitration . Another
Ordinance (No. 7 of 1844) limited legal interest to 12 per cent.,
whilst again another prohibited the unlicensed distillation of
spirits (No. 8 of 1844) . Three more Ordinances were passed on
196 CHAPTER XIII.
April 19 and two on May 1 , 1844, dealing with the illegitimate
trade with ports North of 32° N. L. ( No. 9 of April 10, 1844) ,
with the regulation of summary proceedings before Justices of
the Peace (No. 10 of April 10, 1844 ) , with the licensing of public
houses and the retail of spirits (No. 11 of May 1 , 1844) and with
the establishment and regulation of a Police Force (No. 12 of
May 1 , 1844) .
Unfortunately, however, the zeal of the Government in
organizing the various departments of the Civil Service , in push-
ing on the erection of costly public buildings, and in legislating
for a Colony which was yet in its swaddling clothes, appeared now
to the colonists to outrun, not only the actual growth of the
community, but even its prospective future for years to come.
There were indeed twelve large English firms established in
Hongkong, representing numerous constituencies in the United
Kingdom. There were further half a dozen Indian firms,
chiefly Parsees, but ever since the Treaty of Nanking and the
introduction of steam navigation, the share of the Parsees in
the China trade had commenced to dwindle down rapidly,
being gradually pushed out by Jewish firms from Bombay, and
those Parsees who remained preferred to conduct their business
at Canton. There were further some ten or so private English
merchants of smaller means. Then one might point to the many
brick godowns, commercial offices and private residences scattered
along the shore. There were shipwrights ( Kent and Babes ) and
even a patent slip at East Point, where Captain Lamont launched
(February 7, 1843 ) the first Hongkong-built vessel (the Celestial,
80 tons). There were, besides the Friend of China (established
March 17, 1842 ), actually two other newspaper offices, the Eastern
Globe and the Canton Register. The former of these papers
published (January 1 , 1843) a long list of local buildings and a
series of lithographs of public edifices was published in London
about the same time. In spite of this architectural activity.
Sir H. Pottinger reported (January 22, 1844) that the erection
of houses could by no means keep pace with the demand for
them. Even so late as November 19, 1844, Lord Stanley pointed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 197
out that the terms fixed for the disposal of land bad evidently
been no discouragement to building speculations. There were
some large floating warehouses in the harbour, notably the
Hormanjee Bomanjee belonging to Jardine, Matheson & Co. ,
and the John Barry belonging to Dent & Co. Finally, there
was a brisk business done in opium by half a dozen British
firms. Unfortunately, however, as to other business, there was
since the commencement of 1844 next to none in Hongkong,
although the Chinese population continued to increase and
reached, in April 1844, a total of 19,000 Chinese, including now
even a sprinkling of some 1,000 women and children. The
cessation of the war, the opening of the port of Shanghai
(November 17 , 1843 ) and of four other Chinese ports, coupled
with the gradual increase of steamers in place of sailing vessels,
had disorganized the old lines of business both on the Chinese
and on the foreign side, had scattered and drawn away to those
open ports capital and enterprise at the expense of Hongkong.
In addition to these causes detrimental to Hongkong, the Chinese
Authorities did everything in their power to discourage trade
with Hongkong, whilst the Hongkong Government appeared to
the merchants to work into the hands of the Mandarins. All the
sanguine expectations, entertained since 1841 , that business would
flourish at Hongkong just as it used to flourish at Whampoa,
gradually vanished from month to month ever since the exchange
of the Treaty ratifications. Hongkong now seemed in 1844 to
be at best a second Lintin, the flourishing centre of a limited and
illegal trade in opium, but palpably shunned by the legitimate
Chinese trade. Numbers of Chinese merchants in Canton would
have been willing enough to send down to Hongkong junks
laden with tea, rhubarb, camphor, silk and cassia, and to send
back those junks to Canton freighted with India cotton or yarn
or English piece goods, but the Cantonese Authorities set their
faces against it like a flint. It had been the fond dream of British
merchants that, whilst indeed foreign vessels could only trade
with the five open ports, natives of China would be allowed to
bring goods from any port of China, and convey British goods
198 CHAPTER XIII.
from Hongkong, in Chinese junks, to any part of the coast of
China, so that Hongkong would become the centre of a vast junk
trade, and of a coasting trade possessing infinite capabilities of
expansion. We can well imagine what was their disappointment ,
when they learned that the Chinese copy of the Supplementary
Treaty, signed at the Bogue (October 8 , 1843 ) , contained , over
Sir Henry's signature, the following words, not to be found
in the English text : -At ports within the other provinces
and within the four provinces of Canton, Foochow, Kiangsu
and Chehkiang, such as Chapou and the like places, all of
which are not open marts, Chinese merchants shall not be
permitted there arbitrarily to apply for permits to go to and
from Hongkong, and if any persist in doing so, the Coastguard
Officer at Kowloon shall, in concert with the British Officer
(at Hongkong), forthwith make investigation and report to
their superiors.' When Sir H. Pottinger, a few months previous,
announced (July 22, 1843) the successful conclusion of a Sup-
plementary Commercial Treaty, embodying rules and regulations
for the conduct of trade at the open ports and a detailed tariff
of duties, he had unfortunately accompanied the announcement
by some well meant exhortations addressed to British merchants
in general, though intended for a few low class individuals,
implicated in systematic smuggling transactions. These exhorta-
tions, by their vituperative generalities rather than by any
definite insinuations, had given great offence and caused the
beginning of a breach, between Sir Henry and the mercantile
community, which widened as the miscarriage of the Supple-
mentary Treaty concluded at the Bogue became apparent. Sir
Henry made a great secret of some of the provisions contained
in the Supplementary Treaty of October 8 , 1843. It was known
that Article XII contained the startling words, it is to be
hoped that the system of smuggling which has heretofore been
carried on between English and Chinese merchants, in many
cases with the open connivance and collusion of the Chinese
Custom -house Officers, will entirely cease.' But for a long time
it was not known that, on this ground, Articles XIV and XVI
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 199
not only confined the Chinese junk trade of the Colony rigidly
to the five Treaty -ports (virtually to Canton alone) , but required
the appointment of a British Officer in Hongkong who was to
report to the Chinese Customs Officers the nature of the
cargo and other particulars of every Chinese vessel resorting to
Hongkong and to condemn and report, as an unauthorized or
smuggling vessel , every junk trading between Hongkong and
any unauthorized port of China. As regards further provisions,
injurious to the interest of the Colony, the Journal des Débats
stated later on (Monday, September 30, 1844 ) what at the
time was the subject of acrimonious discussion in the Colony,
that Sir H. Pottinger, in concluding the Supplementary Treaty ,
had been the victim of unworthy trickery (supercherie) ; that
the Chinese diplomatists, profiting by the ignorance of the
English Plenipotentiary, both of commercial affairs and of the
Chinese language, and by the bitter feeling which existed between
him and the English merchants who would have been able to
advise him, bribed by a sum of money the interpreter who
was employed to replace the late Mr. Morrison ; that thus the
Chinese diplomatists slipped into the Chinese text , unbeknown
to Sir H. Pottinger, alterations and suppressions bearing on all
the provisions made but particularly on the 13th and the 17th
Articles, the immediate effect being that these Articles now
strike with nullity the establishment of Hongkong, exclude
the Colony from any participation by transit or coasting trade
in the commerce of the different nations with the five ports ,
and, in fine, restrain, almost as before the war, the commerce
(of Hongkong) to the port of Canton alone. Some of the
passages of the Chinese text, which were suppressed in the version
submitted to and published by Sir H. Pottinger, were, according
to the Journal des Débats, translated in England by the most
learned professors of the Chinese language as follows. Article
XIII. Every Chinese merchant who shall purchase merchandise
at Hongkong can only ship it in Chinese bottoms provided
with passports delivered at Hongkong. These passports and
these permits will be viséd at every time and on every voyage
200 CHAPTER XIII.
by the officers of the Chinese Custom-house in order to avoid
•
contravention .' Article XVII. Both (vessels from Hongkong
of under 75 or 150 tons) one and the other, shall pay one
mace per ton each time they shall enter port (at Canton). All
1
that shall exceed 150 tons will be considered as large vessels
coming from abroad and, following the new tariff, shall pay
five mace per ton. As to Foochow, Amoy, Ningpo and Shanghai,
as no coasting vessels enter those ports, it is useless to make
any regulations with regard to them .' These two articles, says
the Journal des Débats, ' coincide and link together with a degree
of art which we could not but admire, if their consequences
were not equally injurious to the coasting trade of all nations.
by excluding them, or nearly so, from the four ports so recently
opened. In point of fact, according to the text of these articles,
it becomes exceedingly ruinous to land at Hongkong merchandise
destined for the Chinese continent....Thanks to the drawing
up of the Supplementary Treaty, freedom of commerce with
the northern ports is become illusory, the privilege nominal.'
With reference, no doubt, to the foregoing statement of
the Journal des Débats, which is, however, supported, as to the
correctness of the translation here given, by statements which
previously appeared in the Chinese Repository ( March 1844) ,
in the Friend of China (April 13 , 1844) and subsequently (July
31 , 1844 ) in the Commercial Guide, Sir Henry, later on
(December 11 , 1844) , made the following remarks at a public
entertainment given in his honour at the Merchant Tailors'
Hall in London. A very erroneous impression went abroad
through, I believe, some papers on the continent, that there
had been some mistake committed in the (Supplementary) Treaty.
That is quite incorrect. It arose from the necessity of my
making public an abstract of the Treaty, while the Chinese
published the whole, and a translation was made with many
important omissions. Having been asked seriously whether
there was any ground for the allegation that mistakes had been
committed, I am happy to say that there was no cause whatever
for alarm.'
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 201
In the absence, however, of any positive denial of the
points really complained of, this negative and evasive statement
of Sir H. Pottinger failed to satisfy the mercantile community
of Hongkong. They did not for a moment believe the absurd
allegation that Sir H. Pottinger's interpreter had been bribed,
but they were convinced that, when Sir H. Pottinger signed
the Chinese text of the Supplementary Treaty, he was ignorant
of some of the objectionable provisions it contained , and that
by his known aversion to a literal English version to be submitted
to him for publication, and by his being content (for unexplained
reasons of his own ) with an English abstract, the Chinese
Mandarins were enabled to slip into that version which they
submitted to him for signature, provisions which, while looking
in a free English translation like harmless prolixity of diction,
had the effect of limiting the Hongkong coast trade to dealings
with Canton under arbitrary restrictions (differential duties) and
excluding it (by a flourish of the pen) from the other open ports.
Sir H. Pottinger, it was said, fumed and fretted when he
discovered how he had been duped by Kiying and the other
Commissioners, whom he and all Hongkong had honoured as
exceptionally meek and truthful men. The Cantonese Authorities
had all along put an embargo on all trade with Hongkong, but
now claimed Sir H. Pottinger's express authority for doing so.
At all the Treaty ports the Chinese officials frowned at any
reckless Chinaman who had the hardihood to apply for a permit
to ship goods to Hongkong, telling him that he was a base
traitor to the national cause and ought to be dealt with accord-
ingly. On June 7 , 1841 , Captain Elliot had ' clearly declared
that there will be an immediate embargo upon the port of
Canton and all the large ports of the Empire if there be the
least obstruction to the freedom of Hongkong.' Had Sir H.
Pottinger now carried out this threat, the Chinese would have
yielded at once. But he shrank from a renewal of the war
and from the confession that he had been duped by Kiying as
much as Elliot was duped by Kishen . So he confined himself
to diplomatic remonstrances, a game in which Europeans have
202 CHAPTER XIII.
always been worsted by Chinese Machiavellis. Under these
circumstances, not only were Chinese merchants afraid of entering
upon any commercial dealings with British or Chinese firms in
Hongkong, but even among the mass of the Chinese population
of the districts near Hongkong the notion got abroad that
the Hongkong Governors were powerless in the hands of the
Mandarins, and that the Chinese Authorities might punish
artizans and labourers, resorting to Hongkong or settling down
in the new Colony, by subjecting their relatives on the mainland
to extortion and maltreatment. As trade could only be brought
to Hongkong by guaranteeing perfect freedom from custom
and excise exactions and inspiring native and foreign merchants
with confidence in the Colonial Government. Sir Henry's
Supplementary Treaty, by destroying both the freedom of the
port and confidence in the independence of the Hongkong
Government, unwittingly annihilated for the time all chances
of Hongkong becoming the centre of the coasting trade.
Successful as a diplomatist, dictating the terms of peace forced
upon the Chinese at the point of the bayonet, Sir Henry
appeared now to have been an utter failure when he attempted
to negotiate a Commercial Treaty on equal terms with astute
Chinese diplomatists. The principal points for which Sir H.
Pottinger may be blamed consist in his leaving the important
opium question entirely in statu quo ante and in omitting to
secure for Chinese subjects residing in Hongkong freedom to
trade (in Chinese bottoms at least) with the whole of China . It
is said that when this truth at last forced itself upon the recogni-
tion of Her Majesty's Government, the proposal to raise Sir
Henry to the peerage, in reward of the glorious negotiation of
the Nanking Treaty, was dropped in view of this signal failure
of the Supplementary Commercial Treaty.
The Chinese had yet other objections to Hongkong . The
sea all around the Island was infested by pirates whose head-
quarters and stores of supplies were (falsely) believed to be under
the direction of a Chinese resident of Hongkong enjoying official
patronage. Sir H. Pottinger endeavoured (since May, 1843)
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 203
to induce the Chinese Authorities to co-operate with him in
putting down piracy in Hongkong and Canton waters , but his
efforts were neutralized by corruption on the Chinese side and
resulted only in further measures militating against the freedom
of the port. For no other reason did the Canton Authorities
condescend to co-operate with Sir Henry in this matter, but
because it enabled them to persuade Sir Henry to place additional
restrictions on Chinese junks visiting Hongkong. Moreover,
as pirates ruled the sea all around Hongkong, so highway
robbers and burglars seemed to have things their own way
all over the Island. Government House even was entered by
burglars (April 26, 1843) , three mercantile houses (Dent's,
Jardine's, Gillespie's) were attacked in one and the same night
(April 28 , 1843 ) , the Morrison Institution was plundered by
robbers who carried off the Chief Superintendent's Great Seal
(May 19 , 1843) , and James White's bungalow was attacked
and held by an armed gang until some sepoys opened fire upon
them (February 23, 1844) . No European ventured abroad
without a revolver, and a loaded pistol was kept at night under
every pillow. The principal merchants kept armed constables
in their employ for the protection of their property , having
no confidence whatever in the Colonial constables . Jardine,
Matheson & Co. kept twelve armed men to protect their premises
at East Point at an expense of £ 60 a month. Every private
house inhabited by Europeans had its watchman going the
round of the premises all night and striking a hollow bamboo
from time to time in proof of his watchfulness . The scum of
the criminal classes of the neighbouring districts looked upon
Hongkong as their Eldorado and upon English law as a mere
farce. Major Caine's floggings seemed to have no terror for
them, and imprisonment in the Gaol, the healthiest locality
of Hongkong, appeared to the half-starved gaol-birds of Canton
a coveted boon. The Government now (May 1 , 1844) made
arrangements, a fortnight before Sir H. Pottinger left Hongkong,
to organize a Police Force, thenceforth known among the Chinese
as ' green coats ' (Lukee), but as the discharged English and
204 CHAPTER XIII.
Indian soldiers of whom the corps was made up were helpless,
in their ignorance of the native language, without the assistance
of Chinese constables, and as the latter were of the lowest
order, this establishment of a Colonial police made things rather
worse. An order was also issued (May 10 , 1843) that no boat
on the harbour should leave its moorings after 9 p.m. and
that, on shore, Chinese should carry lanterns after dark and
not stir out of their houses after 10 p.m. Incendiarism ,
robberies, murders, piratical exploits on land and sea were in
no way diminished by the foregoing measures. The nursery
of crime was a heavily armed contraband trade in salt, sulphur
and opium, established and vigorously developed by the lowest
classes of Chinese residents in the Colony, doing as much injury
to the best interests of Hongkong commerce as to the revenues
of the Chinese Government.
No wonder that Hongkong was in bad odour among the
Cantonese officials and people, that Chinese trading junks now
commenced to give the harbour of Hongkong a wide berth and
that the Chinese mercantile community, which had just begun
to develop, disappeared even more rapidly than it had come.
But what a depressing effect all this had on the mercantile
prospects of the Colony may easily be imagined. English
merchants now began to fear that the Colony was an egregious
failure. Chusan was freely spoken of as being after all vastly
preferable to Hongkong on sanitary and commercial grounds.
Among the merchants, regrets were heard on all sides over the
amount of money sunk in investments in land and buildings.
A summary of the complaints which the mercantile commu-
nity gave expression to on sundry occasions, may be of interest .
The allegations made against Sir H. Pottinger at the close of
his administration were as follow : ( 1 ) that, relying upon the
validity of Elliot's and Johnston's land-sales and expecting
perpetuity of tenure, British merchants spent from $25,000 to
$200,000 each, in buildings and improvements, but that Sir
Henry advised the Home Government, ignorant of these facts,
to grant them only leases of 75 years ; ( 2) that he thus broke
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 205
faith with the mercantile community after he had, from 1841 to
1843 , used every endeavour, both by facilities temporarily offered
to early occupants of land, and by the threat of the penalty
of forfeiting their purchases to all who did not commence
building, to induce British merchants of Macao and Canton
to remove to Hongkong ; ( 3) that, in negotiating the Nanking
Treaty, he studiously neglected to provide for any extension
of the ground allotted to the foreign community in Canton,
or indeed for adequate facilities for building on the space they
formerly occupied in Canton, and this with a view (at one time
openly avowed) of forcing the British merchants at Cantou to
settle in Hongkong ; (4) that, with a view to make the Colony
pay its own expenses, he imposed on the colonists all sorts of
financial and commercial restrictions and taxation, whilst giving
the British community no municipal powers nor any representa-
tion in Council ; (5) that, in the case of the Supplementary
Treaty, acting as Plenipotentiary, he signed away the freedom
of the port and betrayed the commercial and maritime interests
of the Colony by giving the Canton Mandarins every facility
to strangle the young commerce of Hongkong ; (6 ) that, acting
as Governor, he may have sought to further the interests of
the Crown but failed to identify himself with the interests of
British trade in Hongkong, being too proud to consult the
views of the leading merchants, deaf to the voice of the press
and callous to the wants of the people ; ( 7 ) that, influenced
by prejudices against the opium traffic and ignorant of the
complexity of the commercial problem involved in it, he was
in a fog as to the real requirements of the commerce of
Hongkong and mistakenly assumed the rôle of a coast -guard
officer of Chinese revenue, counteracting in every respect those
free trade principles on which the commercial prosperity of the
Colony in reality depended ; (8 ) that, whilst doing everything
to foster the illusion that Hongkong would immediately become
a vast emporium of commerce and lavishly spending money
on official salaries and buildings, he neglected the commonest
sanitary measures and, instead of increasing the force of 28 police
206 CHAPTER XIII.
constables so as to provide at least a night patrol for Queen's
Road, appointed a ridiculous corps of 44 Magistrates ; ( 9 )
that, by irregularities connected with the Survey Department,
which he placed under the charge of a relative of his own,
and by looseness in the management of land-sales, as well as by
granting Crown -lots to officials, he furthered the growth of a
regular gamble in land and house property ; (10) that he
unduly postponed the organization of civil jurisdiction, left the
Magistracy for years in the hands of a military officer having
no legal knowledge or instinct whatever, whilst the Criminal
Sessions, presided over on one occasion (March 8, 1844) by him-
self, were a solemn farce, and his final measure of handing over
all civil suits to arbitration by Justices of the Peace was a
reckless measure unsuited and injurious to the Colony ; ( 11 )
that socially he isolated himself to such an extent that he never
was in touch with any section of the community, whilst he,
and the civilians nearest to him in office, thinking that the
community were but opium dealers and smugglers intent only
upon robbing the Government, acted throughout on the principle.
of not granting anything that could possibly be withheld .
It remains to sketch briefly the social life of this period.
After the departure of the fleet and of the troops of the
expedition, in the winter of 1842, the social life of the
Colony underwent, as above stated, a sudden revolution.
Previous to that time the head centre of social entertainments
was formed by the head-quarters, where diplomatists, military
and naval officers and local Government officers, domineered ,
and the leading merchants were but condescendingly admitted .
With the commencement of the year 1843, the mercantile
community had the preponderance, the Governor and his
favourite officials insulated themselves at Government House,
whilst the principal merchants kept open table for military and
naval officers and visitors, gaining for themselves by their bound-
less hospitality the title of merchant princes. The European
mercantile community (prevailingly British, but interspersed
with a few German, American, Dutch, French and Italian
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 207
merchants), now became the pivot of the social life of the
Colony, and the more the Governor became estranged to them ,
the closer were drawn the bonds of social intercourse between
the merchants and the officers of Her Majesty's Army and
Navy. Major-General Lord Saltoun (since November 3, 1842)
made himself popular as President of the local Madrigal Society.
Major-General D'Aguilar and his staff rapidly became and
continued to be (for a short time) the favourites of the whole
community. Even Commodore Parker (since June 22 , 1843) , of
the U.S. Frigate Brandywine, and his officers (in 1843 and 1844)
vied with Rear-Admiral Sir Th. Cochrane (since June 19, 1842)
and the officers of H.M.S. Agincourt in reciprocating the social
entente cordiale which reigned everywhere in the Colony, outside
of Government House and Government Offices. A theatrical
company from Australia enlivened the winter evenings of 1842 .
A slightly better company ( Signor Delle Casse) visited the Colony
in winter 1843 and continued to occupy the Royal Theatre till
1844. But the annual races and regatta were, during this
administration, still held in Macao, for which purposes a general
pilgrimage to Macao occupied the latter half of the month of
February in 1842 and 1843. The sympathies of the community
were powerfully aroused at the news of the Cabul disasters, and
a public subscription was immediately raised (October 13 , 1842)
for the relief of sufferers in Afghanistan. The whole community
was in mourning when one of the heroes of Cabul, Lieutenant
Eldred Pottinger, the brother and expected successor of the
Governor, died at Hongkong, particularly as his death happened
so soon after the decease of the Hon. J. R. Morrison (August 29 ,
1843 ) whose death was viewed as a national calamity ' and was
followed three weeks later by the death of Lieutenant-Colonel
Knowles (November 7 , 1843 ) . The birthof the first British
subject ushered into the world in Hongkong (January 20, 1843)
was the occasion of much social humour ; whilst, a year later,
the rumour that the Governor, in view of the insufficiency of
house accommodation procurable in the Colony, meditated
billetting all military officers upon the European inhabitants
208 CHAPTER XIII.
(January 13, 1844) , aroused an extraordinary amount of sarcasm .
Between the public press and the Governors of Macao and
Hongkong there arose (since January, 1844) a good deal of
acrimonious discussion , which led to historical inquiries as to
the exact title under which the Portuguese held their Colony.
The cause of the misunderstanding was the fact that the original
draft of an Ordinance published by Sir Henry, on January 26,
1844, to extend the law of England to all British subjects in
China, particularized Macao as situate within the dominions.
of the Emperor of China, ' and that this was viewed by the
Governor and loyal Senate of Macao as a gross violation of
international law and comity. Between the Canton and Macao
communities on the one hand and the European community of
Hongkong on the other hand, there was constant and intimate
social intercourse . Though every commercial house readily
accommodated visitors, there were several flourishing hotels ,
first Lane's Hotel ' ( 1841 to 1843 ) and then (since May 1 ,
1844) the Waterloo ' (Lopes) and the Commercial Inn'
(Maclehose) .
With the commencement of the year 1844, the foreign
community of Hongkong began to be divided between friends
and enemies of the Colony. Sir H. Pottinger, whose health
was undermined by the strain of his diplomatic worries and by
the influence of the climate, and who had never courted friendly
relations with the leading British merchants, now began to show
more plainly than ever that he held no higher opinion of the
typical British Colonial trader than that which the Duke of
Wellington held in the days of Lord Napier. And the British
merchants, feeling themselves classed by the Governor with
smugglers and pirates, and resenting the mismanagement of the
Supplementary Treaty, were not slow in attributing to Sir H.
Pottinger a considerable share in the supposed ruin of Hongkong
commerce. The officials and the community were thoroughly
out of touch with each other ; the newspapers freely libelled
the Surveyor General, the Chief Magistrate, the Postmaster
and other officials, whilst the official reports sent to Downing
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. POTTINGER. 209
Street were believed to paint the iniquities of the merchants in
glowing colours. In short the Colony of Hongkong earned in
these early days the soubriquet, which it sustained for several
decades later, of being both the land of libel and the haunt
of fever.'
Such was the state of affairs when, to the astonishment
of the colonists, Sir John Davis, the former successor of Lord
Napier in the Superintendency of Trade, arrived with his suite
in Hongkong ( May 13 , 1844 ) to relieve Sir H. Pottinger. The
latter, it appeared, had been promised the next vacancy of the
Governorship of the Presidency of Madras, which settlement,
though nearer to the Equator, was then justly considered to
be not by any means so hot a place for a British official
as Hongkong had by this time become. Three years previous
the editor of the Canton Register had assumed the role of
the prophet and uttered the following diresome vaticination,
6
Hongkong,' we read in the Canton Register of February 23,
1841. will be the resort and rendezvous of all the Chinese
smugglers ; opium smoking shops and gambling houses will
soon spread ; to those haunts will flock all the discontented and
bad spirits of the Empire ; the Island will be surrounded by
floating Shameens (haunts of vice) and become a gehenna of
the waters.' Such was the voice of Hongkong's Cassandra in
1841 , and by the time that Sir H. Pottinger's administration
closed, this prophecy seemed well nigh fulfilment . It may be
doubted if Sir Henry returned to England in a much happier
frame of mind than Captain Elliot whom he had superseded
but hardly excelled.
When Sir H. Pottinger, after another visit to the Bogue
for the vain purpose of patching up the Supplementary Treaty,
left the Colony (June 12 , 1844) , the leading local newspaper,
expressing the harsh views entertained at the time by the
residents, spoke of him as a man who, with all his brilliant
talents, appears either to have been utterly devoid of a sense
of the moral obligations imposed upon him, his heart being
perfectly seared to the impression of suffering humanity, or
14
210 CHAPTER XIII.
deliberately living in seclusion among a few adoring parasites
whose limited intellects were devoted to pander to the great
man's vanity. ' Exaggerative as this statement appears, the general
verdict of the mercantile community on Sir H. Pottinger's regime
certainly was, that the deserved fame of the Plenipotentiary
had been seriously tarnished by the acts of the Governor.
Upon his return to England he was sworn in as a Member
of the Privy Council and the House of Commons voted him a
pension of £ 1,500 per annum . He did not immediately take
up the Madras appointment but went first to the Cape Colony
( 1846 to 1847 ) as Governor, and then held the governorship
and command-in-chief of Madras Presidency till 1854. Born
in 1789, he died in 1856, but 67 years old, at Malta.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JOHN F. DAVIS .
May 8, 1844, to March 18, 1848.
T has been pointed out above what a serious error it was that
was committed when the British Cabinet , sending out Lord
Napier as the King's representative at Canton, associated him
in office with men who had been trained in the East India
Company's Canton school of truculent submission to Chinese
mandarindom and who were looked upon by Chinese officials as
contemptible traders. A similar mistake was made when Her
Majesty's Government, looking out for a successor of Sir
H. Pottinger, in that game of diplomacy with Chinese statesmen
in which he had been so smartly duped, and in the government
of a Colony established on the express principles of free trade,
selected for this difficult post a gentleman who, as a former
member of the East India Company's Select Committee at Macao
and Canton, was altogether identified with the ideas of mingled
servility, autocracy and monopoly as exemplified in the history of
that Company. Mr. (subsequently, since July, 1845 , Sir) John
Francis Davis, Baronet, had indeed great experience of Chinese
affairs. In his youth ( 1816 to 1817 ) he had served on the staff
of Lord Amherst's mission to China. He had spent the best
part of his life in the service of the Company in South China,
bowing to Chinese officials and frowning upon European free
traders, till he retired ( January 21 , 1835 ) in all the glory of a
Chief Superintendent of Trade. He had meanwhile composed
and published a work on China, ' in two volumes, which is still
recognized as one of the best descriptions of the Celestial Empire,
and he posed now as a great sinologue and scholar. No doubt
he knew the Chinese character and naturally he thought also he
212 CHAPTER XIV.
knew the typical British free trader, despoiled and despondent as
the latter was (at the close of Sir H. Pottinger's administration) ,
under the conviction that the free port of Hongkong had proved
a commercial failure. If Sir Henry had been duped by the
Chinese Mandarins in connection with his Supplementary Com-
mercial Treaty, it was no doubt because he knew nothing of
commerce and even less of Chinese. But here was Sir John, a
China merchant and Chinese sinologue rolled in one. Who
could be a better successor for Sir Henry ? And as to the puzzle
of Hongkong's commercial decay, why Sir John Davis understood
it perfectly the China Trade had reached its zenith under the
regime of the East India Company, and where the Company
could do no more, free trade was naturally bound to bring about
a gradual diminution of the volume of trade. He understood it
all protection and monopoly was the remedy, and free traders
must simply draw in their horns and learn to eat humble pie.
His mission was to teach them to do that. And he did it — with
what result, we shall see. But one thing more I have to add
to these introductory remarks. Sir John Davis was not merely
a scion in Chinese diplomacy and an exponent of British
protectionism , but above all he was a scholar and a philanthropist :
in this British Colony, placed at the very gates of China's
antiquated semi-barbarism, he would demonstrate the kindlier
humanities of British law and government and illustrate by
the example of his administration the superiority of European
learning and civilization.
Before Sir H. Pottinger left China, Sir John Davis, having
entered ( May 8 , 1844) upon the duties of Superintendent of
Trade under the Foreign Office, as well as upon those of Governor
and Commander- in- Chief of Hongkong under the Colonial Office,
had an opportunity to show off his diplomatic prowess by
assisting his predecessor, at a meeting with Kiying (June 13 , 1844) ,
to try and persuade the latter to surrender, or make amends
for, some of the advantages he had gained by his trickery
in connection with the Supplementary Treaty of October 8 , 1843.
Two of the newly-arrived Colonial officials, the Hon. F. Bruce
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 213
(Colonial Secretary) and M. Martin (Colonial Treasurer ) assisted
at the memorable interview. But Kiying was a match for them
all, blandly explained away everything that seemed shady and
-conceded nothing . The fact was, the Pottinger Treaties had, as
Sir John Bowring once put it ( April 19 , 1852 ) , inflicted a
deep wound upon the pride, but by no means altered the policy, of
the Chinese Government.' The Treaty remained as it was, and
our two diplomatists were reluctantly compelled to try and gloss
things over by publishing a garbled account by a proclamation
(July 10, 1844) and an imperfect translation (July 16, 1844) ,
leaving it to the public to find out the mischievous provisions
of the Treaty for themselves in course of time. An illustrative
case soon occurred. On August 10 , 1844, a Chinese junk,
heavily armed and manned by a crew of 70 ruffians, but
having no clearance papers as required by Article XIV of the
Supplementary Treaty, ventured to drop anchor in Hongkong
harbour. The junk had really come to frighten away or report
upon any Chinese trading junks that might be in harbour. But
the harbour police mistakenly suspecting her to be a piratical
vessel, arrested her, and as there were doubts whether she was
a trader without papers or a pirate, Sir John Davis ordered
her to be delivered to the Kowloon Mandarin as having come
into harbour without the clearance papers required by Treaty.
This was the first and only case when the foolish concessions
of the Supplementary Treaty, constituting the harbour police
of Hongkong as underlings of the Chinese revenue preventive
service, were acted upon by a benighted Hongkong governor.
The denouement was too ridiculous : the junk turned out to be
neither a trading nor a piratical craft but a Chinese revenue
farmer's guardboat. However, the news got abroad that every
Chinese trading junk, visiting Hongkong without those precious
clearance papers , which no Chinese customs office would grant,
was to be handed over by the British harbour police to the
tender mercies of the Kowloon Mandarin . This contributed
materially to injure the native commerce of the Colony and to
keep away the junk trade for some time to come.
214 CHAPTER XIV.
As Superintendent of Trade and Head of the Consular
Service in China, Sir John Davis had to visit all the Treaty
ports once a year, in order to inspect the Consulates and give
the necessary directions. During his periodical absence from
the Colony in connection with these duties, Major-General
D'Aguilar used to administer the government of the Colony
as Lieutenant - Governor. In the matter of the Supplementary
Treaty, the mischievous provisions of which were condemned
by Her Majesty's Government as much as by the community,
Sir John had another interview with Kiying at the Bogue (April,
1846 ) but failed again to get any concession in favour of the
Chinese trade of Hongkong. Nor did he succeed to wring
from that astute diplomatist anything but vague promises as
to granting British merchants in Canton the rights secured by
the Nanking Treaty with reference to protection from mob
violence, freedom of building residences on a separate concession,
liberty to enter the city of Canton, or to make excursions inland.
Again and again British subjects were assaulted at Canton and
all he could get from Kiying was a series of specious pretexts
for blaming British merchants for being so insolent as to ask for
their rights or to expect exemption from molestation by mob
violence. Sir John Davis used the hints of Kiying freely and,
without rhyme or reason, accused the merchants of being the prime
movers in all disturbances and made himself as much hated by
the British community at Canton as he made himself, by his
gullibility, ridiculous to Kiying, who, however, played the role
of Sir John's very good friend and even came to visit him in
Hongkong (November 22 to 25, 1845) , when the compliment
could be turned to good account . One thing, however, Sir John
did succeed in obtaining from the Canton Authorities and that
was the publication of a dispatch by the Provincial Treasurer
of Canton, addressed (December 26, 1844) to the Hongkong
Government, in which the former magnanimously renounced
all claims to the land-tax of Hongkong and virtually admitted
the sovereignty of Her Majesty over the whole Island . It was
worth something, to be sure, to have this not merely stated
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 215
in a Treaty, which most Chinese now regarded as waste paper,
but actually acknowledged by a subordinate Chinese official.
It was indeed a great deviation from the practice hitherto
adopted by Chinese officers. For instance, on November
23, 1844, it was accidentally discovered that officers of the
San-on District Magistrate openly collected at Stanley, as they
had all along been accustomed to do, the annual fishing tax of
400 cash per boat for the privilege ( granted to 150 junks) of
fishing in Hongkong waters. This was merely one of many
cases shewing that the San-on Magistrate still considered
Hongkong to be part and parcel of the Chinese dominions and
all further doubts on the subject were removed by a case
(November 14, 1846 ) in which Chinese officers boldly arrested
some Chinese- British subjects within the Colony and carried
them off by force .
Meanwhile the complaints of the Canton merchants as to
the utter insecurity of life and property in Canton and as to
the striking want of sympathy and energy displayed on their
behalf by Sir John Davis, made themselves heard in England
and as usual stirred Lord Palmerston's spirit. Two sailors of
a British ship at Canton , strolling into the city, had been
frightfully illtreatel by a Canton mob in October, 1846. Sir
John, as usual, instead of claiming redress at the hands of the
Cantonese Anthorities, ordered the Consul to fine the captain
for turning the two seamen loose upon the populace and thereby
causing a disturbance. In a dispatch to Lord Palmerston he
casually alluded to the case as one of no importance, asking
for no powers at all to proceed in the matter, but in reply
he received the following stunning instructions. I have to
instruct you,' wrote Lord Palmerston (January 12 , 1847 ) , ' to
demand the punishment of the parties guilty of this outrage,
and you will moreover inform the Chinese Authorities, in plain
and distinct terms, that the British Government will not tolerate
that a Chinese mob shall with impunity maltreat British subjects
whenever they get them into their power, and that , if the Chinese
Authorities will not by the exercise of their own authority punish
216 CHAPTER XIV.
and prevent such outrages, the British Government will be
obliged to take the matter into their own hands .'
.
On receipt of this dispatch Sir John Davis lost his head
completely. He thought he had an opportunity now to steal
a march upon the Chinese Authorities, to take them by surprise,
to occupy Canton city by a sudden descent upon it with au
armed force, and then to dictate his own terms as a triumphant
conqueror. He consulted Major-General G. D'Aguilar, who
reluctantly yielded to the Quixotic plan . An engineer officer
went secretly to reconnoitre the Bogue Forts and reported them
to be practically untenanted. So a force of 1,000 men was
quietly mobilized, part of Lord Palmerston's dispatch was
published on fools ' day, and next morning (April 2 , 1847 ) the
expedition started with three men-of-war ( H.M.S. Vulture, Pluto
and Espiègle) and a chartered steamer ( Corsair) , the latter
having on board Sir John, the Major-General with his staff
and the Senior Naval Officer, Captain Macdougall. In the course
of 36 hours this redoubtable force, waging a private war of
Sir John's upon a defenceless and unwarned foe, captured all
the principal forts in the Canton River without the loss of a man
and, in spite of the fire of several batteries, spiked 879 guns.
On April 3, 1847, the expedition dropped anchor at Canton
abreast of the factories, and disembarked the troops, to the
utter amazement of Kiying and the British community. The
British Chamber of Commerce sent a deputation to Sir John
to inquire what it all meant, but they were told by Consul
Macgregor that Sir John had expressed no wish to see them.
Kiying was blandly informed (April 4, 1847 ) of Sir John's
demands and next day informed by an ultimatum that, unless
these were granted at the interview for which he fixed the
6th April, the city of Canton would be bombarded and taken by
assault. After some hesitation , Kiying at last consented to meet
Sir John Davis (April 6 ) , and, as usual, satisfied him with
empty promises. He offered to let the British community buy
or rent 50 acres on Honam island if the individual owners should
be willing to sell. He further offered to open Canton city to
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 217
foreigners on or about April 6 , 1849, if it were practicable by
that time, and to allow excursions into the country, also to let
Europeans build a church near the factories and bury their dead
at Whampoa. Meanwhile he secretly made his arrangements
for an attack. But Sir John at once accepted the terms, though
they virtually were below the level of what the Nanking Treaty
had granted in 1842 , and on April 8, 1847 , the British expedition
returned to Hongkong triumphantly, leaving Kiying to report
to the Emperor that he detained Sir John in parleys whilst
collecting and bringing up his army, but that Sir John preci-
pitately fled to Hongkong as soon as he found himself threatened
by the Chinese troops. The British communities at Canton
and Hongkong were indignant at this wanton and bootless
bucaneering expedition ' which merely served to cause a sudden
stagnation of the Canton trade, to render the lives and property
of foreigners in Canton even less secure than before, and to
make European views of state policy and international law
ridiculous in the eyes of the Chinese. It seemed clear to them
that Sir John Davis was even a worse failure as a diplomatist
than Sir Henry Pottinger had been. Lord Palmerston, however,
approved of Sir John's proceedings and so the matter rested
for the time, the more so as Kiying treated Sir John's warlike
frolic with silent contempt .
A few months afterwards, however, a new disturbance arose
in Canton, and when Sir John Davis, none the wiser for his
past experiences, me litated another military expedition against
Canton, and induced Major- General D'Aguilar to write to Ceylon
for re-inforcements, Sir G. Grey, delighted to have an opportunity
of subverting Lord Palmerston's policy, peremptorily prohibited
any further offensive operations to be undertaken against
the Chinese without the previous sanction of Her Majesty's
Government. At the same time Earl Grey censured the April
6
expedition in plain terms. Although the late operations, ' he
"
wrote (September 22, 1847 ) , were attended with immediate
success, the risk of a second attempt of the same kind would
far overbalance any advantage to be derived from such a step.
218 CHAPTER XIV.
If the conduct of the Chinese Authorities should unfortunately
render another appeal to arms inevitable, it will be necessary
that it should be made after due preparation and with the
employment of such an amount of force as may afford just
grounds for expecting that the objects which may be purposed
by such a measure will be effectually accomplished without
unnecessary loss. ' It has been alleged that Sir John was so
taken aback by this censure, that he forthwith resigned, but at
the time when this dispatch was penned, Sir John Davis had
already sent in his resignation which was unhesitatingly accepted
( November 18 , 1847 ) . Sir John's term of the Superintendency
of Trade closed with another sad outbreak of popular temper
at Canton. Six young foreigners, visiting a village some three
miles above Canton (December 5, 1847 ) were set upon by a
mob, tortured and murdered in cold blood . When Kiying
delayed punishment of the guilty, Sir J. Davis pluckily prepared
for another armed demonstration (January 5 , 1848 ) . But as
soon as Kiying found that Sir John had a squadron ready for
action (February 17, 1848 ) , he yielded and had some of the
guilty parties executed near the village in question (Wongchukee)
in the presence of a company of the 95th Regiment, sent up
for the purpose, from Hongkong, in H.M.S. Pluto.
Sir John Davis had an opportunity to distinguish himself
as a diplomatist in another field. He was directed to arrange
a commercial treaty with Annam. Had he been furnished with
proper information, and especially with capable interpreters ,
there would have been a chance for him to do a great work
for the expansion of British trade, opening new markets , new
trade routes, tapping Yunnan and Kwangsi, and keeping the
French out of Annam and Tungking. But being without any
diplomatic link of connection whatever and having neither agent
nor friend at the Annamese Court, where French influence was
already at work to keep off British intervention, nor even a
capable interpreter, he naturally failed as signally with the
Annamese officials as he had failed with Chinese diplomatists.
Leaving Hongkong on October 6 , 1847 , he in vain attempted to
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 219
open up negotiations with the officials on the coast near Huéh .
Every Annamese officer appealed to refused to take any message.
Leaving a letter addressed to the sovereign of Annam deposited
on the beach, he at last received a message by subordinate
officials, declining all negotiation and refusing admittance to
Huch . Sir John gave up any further attempt to thwart French
influence in Cochin-China and returned to Hongkong (October
30, 1847 ) disappointed .
Sir John's relations with the neighbouring Colony of Macao
were peaceful but by no means of the happiest sort. As the
fortunes of the Colony of Hongkong were visibly declining, the
Macao Government thought there was a chance of retrieving
the mistakes of the past and bringing back to Macao the
discontented free traders of Hongkong as well as the American,
Dutch, French and Parsee merchants established at Canton.
Accordingly a decree was obtained at Lisbon (November 20 ,
1845 ) which, though far from being a complete free trade
measure, reduced the harbour dues and custom house exactions
to the lowest possible minimum and virtually made trade at
Macao less cumbersome and more propitious than it was at
Hongkong. The measure failed to re-establish the former for-
tunes of Macao : it came too late for that. But it contributed
its quota towards a further diminution of the commerce of
Hongkong and a considerable increase of the discontent felt by
Hongkong merchants. An assault that was committed on Sir
John Davis (April 11 , 1845 ) , whilst on a visit to Macao, was
without any political significance, but indicative of that turbulent
character of the Macao Chinese which was so fatally to manifest
itself against the next Governor of Macao (Senhor Amaral)
who, within a year after his arrival (April 18, 1846 ), ordering
a road to be cut through the Campo and interfering thereby
with Chinese graves, had subsequently to pay with his life for
this disregard of Chinese religious superstition. In March, 1847 ,
the prospects of Macao were as discouraging as those of
Hongkong and a cession of Macao to France was talked of, but
the movement, if it ever had any reality, came to nothing.
220 CHAPTER XIV.
Turning now to Sir J. Davis' gubernatorial measures, we
find that the expansion of the Civil Service and reforms in
the constitution of the Councils occupied much of his time. He
brought with him, on his arrival (May 7 , 1844) a Colonial
Secretary (Hon . F. Bruce) , a Colonial Treasurer ( M. Montgomery
Martin) , a Court Registrar ( R. D. Cay) , a Private Secretary
(W. T. Mercer) , an Auditor General (A. E. Shelley) , a Civil
Engineer (J. Pope, to whom we owe the designs of Government
House, Colonial Offices, and Cathedral) and a warrant appointing
Major Caine (the Chief Magistrate) as Sheriff and Provost
Marshal of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice (J. W. Hulme)
came a month later (June 9, 1844) and the first Hongkong
Barrister (H. Ch . Sirr) arrived on July 1 , 1844, but as the
Colonial Office postponed the appointment of an Attorney
General (P. I. Stirling ) till August 5 and made some other
important omissions, the Supreme Court could not be opened
until October 1 , 1844. Two years later (November 18, 1847)
the present Court House was obtained by purchasing from
Dent & Co. the so-called Exchange Building. The working
of the Supreme Court, which held its first criminal sessions on
October 2, 1844, was gradually perfected by a series of legislative
enactments, dealing with the constitution of the Court (No. 6
of 1845 and 2 of 1846 ) , trial by jury (No. 7 of 1845 ) , criminal
procedure ( No. 8 of 1845 and 6 of 1846 ) , summary jurisdiction
(No. 9 of 1845 ) , insolvency ( No. 3 and 5 of 1846 ) and coroner's
juries (No, 5 of 1847 ) . A Vice- Admiralty Court was established
(March 4 , 1846 ) and held its first session on January 14, 1847 .
The division of the town into the present three districts
(Sheungwan, Chungwan, Hawan), the lines of demarcation being
Aberdeen Street in the West and Elliot's Vale (the present
Glenealy ravine) in the East, dates from July 24, 1844, when
the previously existing popular terms were officially adopted .
By the opening of a new market (July 25, 1844) at Taipingshan,
the congested state of the Chungwan and Sheungwan markets
was considerably relieved. Owing to the dearth and high rents
of houses suitable for Civil Servants, the Government provided
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS . 221
(August 16 , 1844) special Civil Service Buildings (now known
as Albany ) which were, however, later on ( May 15 , 1847 )
transferred to the Military Authorities. Two new offices were
established by Sir J. Davis, viz. the office of Registrar General
and Collector of the land-tax (S. Fearon) who commenced his
duties on January, 1845 , and the office of Marine Magistrate
(March 15 , 1845) the duties of which were, however, during
Mr. W. Pedder's absence on leave, temporarily discharged by
Mr. S. Fearon, whilst Mr. A. Lena acted as Harbour Master.
A paid Coroner (Ch. G. Holdforth was substituted (October 11 ,
1845) for the popular voluntary Coroner ( E. Farncomb) who
had joined the opposition against certain Government measures.
After various changes in the constitution of the Councils, and
in spite of the continuous demands of the British community
for adequate representation in the Legislative Council, at least
through the nomination by the Crown of an equal number of
official and unofficial Members, this burning question was
temporarily decided by Sir John Davis refusing all popular
representation. Warrants were issued (December 1 , 1845 ) for the
Lieutenant -Governor, Colonial Secretary and Police Magistrate
to be Members of Executive Council, and for the Lieutenant-
Governor, the Chief Justice and Attorney General to constitute,
with the Governor, the Legislative Council of the Colony. For
some inscrutable reason the Surveyor General's title was reduced
to that of Colonial Surveyor (August 8 , 1846 ) on the occassion
of the abolition of the office of Assistant Surveyor General, and
by the amalgamation of the duties of Auditor and Colonial
Secretary (September 15 , 1846 ) the audit of local official accounts
was reduced to a mere formality. These two measures were but
equalled in want of foresight by the decision of the Military
Authorities (March 8, 1847) to erect defensible barracks-
' soldiers' grave-yards ' they ought to have been called - at
Stanley.
The legislative labours of Sir John Davis commenced with
the knotty problem of regulating the Chinese population . The
humble attempt to control the Chinese in Hongkong quietly
222 CHAPTER XIV.
by means of their own elders on the basis of the Pocheung and
Pokap system (Ordinance 13 to May 31 , 1844) was one of the
legacies handed over to Sir John Davis by his predecessor. Sir
John Davis, however, disliked such a non-autocratic measure,
having his own ideas on the subject . Although he got that
Ordinance passed by the Council, he practically disregarded it
and set to work to devise a measure of his own which, by means
of registration, should immediately purge the Colony of the
bad blood imported into it by the continuous influx of criminals
from the neighbouring districts, as if registration would keep
them away or reveal their habits. The care proved to be worse
than the evil.
On August 21 , 1844 , the Legislative Council, intending to
check the indiscriminate influx into Hongkong of the scum of
the population of the neighbouring mainland and at the same
time anxious to avoid class legislation, passed a Bill to establish
a registry of all the inhabitants of Hongkong without distinction
of nationality. Neither the European nor the Chinese mercantile
communities were consulted in the matter, nor was anything
done, after passing the Bill, until Sir J. Davis returned
( October 18 , 1844 ) from a visit to the Consular ports, when the
Ordinance was made public and it was notified that it was to come
into force on 1st November. Then the European community
woke up to the startling discovery that a poll-tax was to be
levied not only on Chinese vagabonds but on all the inhabitants
without exception, that all British residents, as well as Chinese,
were to appear once every year before the Registrar General,
answer questions as to birth, parentage, age, income and so forth,
being liable to be deported if the answers were not satisfactory,
and that the only distinction between a British merchant and a
Chinese coolie was the enactment that the former should pay
five dollars and the latter one dollar a year for his registration
ticket. The reception by the British residents of such an
Ordinance may well be imagined . They rose up like one man
in wrathful indignation, feeling their personal self- respect, their
national honour, the liberty of the subject trampled under foot
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 223
even more ruthlessly than in the days of the Co- Hong bondage
at Canton. Accordingly, the first Public Meeting of Hongkong
was held (October 28 , 1844 ) at the residence of Mr. A. Carter.
This meeting, after unanimously condemning the Bill as
iniquitous, unconstitutional and un - English in principle, appointed
a Committee (J. D. Gibb, D) . Matheson , S. Rawson, Pat. Dudgeon
and A Carter) to memorialize the Government accordingly.
On the same day the Government published an obscurely-worded
Chinese translation of the Ordinance which only added to the
excitement and misunderstanding that prevailed among the
Chinese, giving them the impression that the poll-tax to be levied
from 1st November was monthly and not annual. 'The
Celestials,' said the Friend of China a few days later, are a
passive race and will bear squeezing to any ordinary extent,
but when this blundering translation would squeeze one half
of their monthly wages out of them, then they thought it was
time to return to their own country, nor would we blame them
had they left in a body.' On the 30th October there was a
universal suspension of all forms of Chinese labour. The shops
and markets were shut, cargo boats, coolies , domestic servants,
all went on strike simultaneously and all business was at a
standstill. The Chinese made preparations to desert Hongkong
en masse on the next day, if the Government should enforce this
law, but there was no rioting of any sort . At 4 p.m. the
deputation of the European community waited on the Governor
to present a Memorial dated October 30 and signed by 107
British subjects. This Memorial stated that the principles of the
Ordinance were as unjust as they were arbitrary and unconstitu-
tional, because taxing unrepresented British subjects in the most
iniquitous of forms ; that the provisions of the Ordinance violated
the Treaty with China ; that they interfered with labour and
consequently with the prosperity of the Colony and that it would
be found impracticable to work this Ordinance. Unaware at
the time of the strong language of the Memorial, which was
handed by the deputation to the Clerk of Councils, the Governor
told them that the Ordinance would not be enforced for two
224 CHAPTER XIV.
or more months to come and that it would then be carried out
but partially. Subsequently, however, the Memorial was returned
to the Committee by the Clerk of Councils, as disapproved on
the ground that the language of the Memorial was of a character
directly opposed to respect for the constituted authorities of the
Colony and it was requested that the document be properly
worded. But before this message could be delivered , the
Committee, observing the alarming state of affairs in town,
had drafted a second Memorial, dated October 31 , 1844, drawing
attention to the suspension of all business and the stoppage of
provisions, and begging that some official notification be
immediately promulgated to allay the excitement prevailing
among all classes. After forwarding this second Memorial, the
Committee wrote to the Clerk of Councils, saying that the
language of the first Memorial, though strong, represented their
sentiments and was imperatively called for by the urgency of
the occasion, but at the same time they disavowed the remotest
intention of addressing the Governor in Council in any other
than the most respectful terms. But this letter did not reach
the Governor till 1st November . Meanwhile, in reply to the
second Memorial, the Clerk of Councils informed the Committee
(October 31 ) that, whereas all seditious rioting on the part of
the Chinese had been easily suppressed, the Governor and
Council were now prepared to receive properly-worded suggestions.
Thereupon the Committee at once suggested (October 31 ) the
ultimate abrogation of the Ordinance, but, as meanwhile an
exodus of some 3,000 Chinese had taken place and business was
for several days at a complete standstill, the Committee summoned
another Public Meeting on Saturday, 2nd November. Before
that meeting, the Committee received a letter from the Clerk
of Councils (dated November 2, 1844) censuring the unbecoming
reiteration in their last letter of those disrespectful sentiments
and stating that, while the Committee continue to maintain
such views, all further communication between the Government
and the Committee must cease. At the same time an official
notification (November 2, 1844) was issued in which the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 225
Governor, on the ground that the comprador of a leading firm
was reported to have called a meeting of Chinese who used the
same disrespectful language, accused the British community of
having, by unworthy practices, tampered with an ignorant.
and unfortunate Chinese population by instigating them to
passive resistance.' An enthusiastic Public Meeting, however,
unanimously endorsed forthwith the procedure and the views
of the Committee, as all residents looked upon the ticketing and
labelling of British subjects as an inequitable if not iniquitous
procedure. The speakers congratulated each other upon their
escape from a system of petty tyranny which, however, they
admitted was not really contemplated by Government in passing
the objectionable Ordinance. A standing Committee was
appointed to co-operate with the Government in remodelling
the Ordinance, and the formation of a Chamber of Commerce
was suggested . But a threat was also expressel that British
merchants might return to Macao where, under a foreign
flag, they would not be subjected to laws repugnant to their
feelings and utterly opposed to the enjoyment of that personal
freedom which was their inalienable birthright. One of the
speakers quoted Blackstone's commentaries to prove that without
representation there can be no legal taxation of British subjects .
This made a great impression. Representative and municipal
government was thenceforth frequently but vainly demanded .
The Public Meeting having thus abstained from condemning the
registration of Chinese and confined itself to a protest against
the taxation connected with it and against the application of the
proposed Ordinance to British subjects, as putting Europeans
upon a par with the canaille of China,' there was a way open for
reconciliation with the Government. Accordingly, on November
4, 1844, the standing Committee (T. A. Gibb, Don. Matheson
and A. Carter) wrote to the Clerk of Councils expressing regret as
to the strong language use by them and disavowing any motive
of disrespect. Thereupon the Governor in Council, accepting
this declaration, made his peace with the community. But the
British residents of Canton (most of whom were representatives
15
226 CHAPTER XIV.
of firms established in Hongkong) sent to the Governor
(November 6, 1844 ) a stately remonstrance, signed by W. Leslie,
W. Bell and 38 other British subjects, recording ' their respectful
but firm remonstrance against a measure unexampled in modern
British legislation, fraught with great and certain mischief,
calculated in no ordinary degree to interfere with and restrict
the rights and liberties of Her Majesty's subjects, and utterly
subversive of that confidence, cordiality and co-operation which
ought to subsist between Governors and the Governed, and are
so essential to the tranquillity and prosperity of every Colony,
and which, if forced into operation, will reduce apparently the
Island of Hongkong to the level of a Penal Settlement .' It
was also proposed in Hongkong to memorialize Her Majesty's
Government to say that the Colonists had lost faith in the
local Government. However, after a few days, moderate
counsels prevailed , and the whole excitement gradually subsided .
On November 13 , 1844, the Legislative Council passed an
amended Registration Ordinance (16 of 1844) , applying
registration only to the lowest classes, abandoning the idea of
any poll-tax of Chinese residents, and exempting from registration
all civil, military and naval employees, all members of the learned
professions, merchants, shopkeepers , householders, tenants of
Crown property and persons having an income of $500 a year.
In fact, this Ordinance granted all that the British community
had contended for, and if the Governor had consulted the leading
merchants or allowed them representation in Council, the whole
conflict between the community and the Government, and the
defeat and consequent humiliation and degradation of the
Government, in the eyes of the astounded Chinese population,
would have been avoided . On January 1 , 1845 , this Ordinance
came into force and worked so smoothly that, on December 31 ,
1846 , it was possible to modify it (No. 7 of 1846 ) so as to
provide also for a periodical census of the whole population.
An outgrowth of the mistaken autocratic attitude which
Sir John Davis assumed towards the community was the severity
with which he enforced (since July 25, 1844 ) the ejectment
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 227
of house owners to make room for new improvements, and
particularly his Martial Law Ordinance (20 of 1844) which he
passed through Legislative Council on November 20, 1844, in
order to give the Executive the power of declaring the Island
to be under martial law without the concurrence of that Council.
Never in the whole history of Hongkong was there, nor is
there ever likely to be, any need for such a drastic measure.
The characteristic attitude towards any enlightened and strong
government, which Chinese residing on British soil display in
every part of the world, gives a complete denial to the supposition
which called forth this enactment. Yet the accomplished
sinologue misread the character of the Chinese so completely
that he passed this Bill which, when it became known to the
Chinese that Her Majesty's Government curtly disallowed it,
only served to lower him in the eyes of the Chinese people as
a defeated would-be autocrat.
But there is worse to tell. Mandarin misrule of the
neighbouring provinces of China had at this time reached such
a pitch that throughout South China the population was honey-
combed with secret political societies, the principal of which was
called the Triad Society. The aim of these secret associations
was to act on the first suitable occasion upon the recognized
right of rebellion, a right plainly taught in the authorized
national school-books . To drive out the Manchas and to re-
establish a Chinese dynasty, was the secret desire of almost
every energetic Chinaman unconnected with mandarindom.
When the first mutterings of the coming storm of the Taiping
Rebellion, which in the providence of God was destined to
re-establish the waning fortunes of Hongkong, were observed
by the Cantonese Authorities, they shrewdly availed themselves
of the known fact, that the Chinese in Hongkong were as
much influenced by that secret political propaganda as those
in the interior of China, to strike another blow at the success
of Hongkong as a Colony for Chinese. So they persuaded Sir
J. Davis into passing an Ordinance (No. 1 of 1845 ) the effect
of which was that the Hongkong Police should search out and
228 CHAPTER XIV.
arrest political refugees as being members of the Triad and
other secret societies, who, after a term of imprisonment, should
be branded each on the cheek and then be deported to Chinese
territory where of course the Mandarins would forthwith arrest,
torture and execute them. That a British Governor should
ever have enacted such a monstrously barbaric and un-English
law is hardly credible . It is a strange fact that with all his
experience of Chinese, philanthropic Sir John Davis allowed
himself to be so duped by Chinese diplomatists as to become
the unconscious tool of Mandarin oppression in its worst form.
It was not merely an unwise disregard of the sound principle
6
formulated by Gladstone, that England never makes laws to
benefit the internal condition of any other State ' ; it was not
merely a drastic denial of the world-wide assumption that British
soil is a safe refuge from political tyranny and oppression ; but
it was also a positive assertion, in the face of all China, that
Hongkong Governors would pledge themselves to co-operate with
the Manchu conquerors of China in arresting, imprisoning,
branding on the cheek (as the life-long mark of the outlaw )
and delivering into the hands of Mandarins for execution any
hapless Chinese patriot that should be fool enough to put his
foot on British soil . By order of the Home Government this
barbaric Ordinance (No. 1 of 1845 ) was modified nine months
later (October 20, 1845 ) by substituting, in an amendment
(No. 12 of 1845) , branding under the arm for that mark on
the check which would have made reform even in the case of
a criminal absolutely impossible.
Not quite so bad, but based on an equal ignorance of the
utter inapplicability of European enactments to the peculiar
features of the social and political organism of China, was
the interference with local Chinese bond-servitude which Sir
H. Pottinger had attempted in his Slavery Ordinance (No. 1
of 1844) , the disallowance of which Sir John Davis had
now (January 24, 1845 ) to proclaim. He announced by a
proclamation that the said Ordinance was null and void, and
gave notice that the Acts of Parliament for the abolition of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 229
slave trade and slavery extend by their own proper force and
authority to Hongkong, and that these Acts will be enforced
by all Her Majesty's officers civil and military within the Colony.'
The secretly underlying insinuation that Hongkong bond-
servitude belongs to the category of slavery as defined by the
Slave-trade Acts was a pure fiction, put forward only to gloss
over the defeat of the Government in attempting to meddle
with Chinese national customs. The general question as to what
English laws were in force in Hongkong was dealt with by
Ordinance (August 19, 1845, and May 6, 1846 ) when it was
laid down somewhat vaguely that all laws of England that
existed when Hongkong first obtained a local legislature (April 5,
•
1843 ) should be deemed in force in the Colony when applicable.'
Unfortunate as the Governor was as a legislator, riding
rough-shod over the whole community, both European and
Chinese, he was even more unfortunate in his dealings with
the local representatives of British judicature. From the time
of the arrival of the Chief Justice (J. W. Hulme) and the
establishment of a Supreme Court, there was a standing feud
between the Governor and the Chief Justice. It arose first of
all out of the mistaken view of their position, adopted by the
local Police Magistrates (Major Caine and Mr. Hillier) who
supposed themselves to be rather executive officers under the
direct orders and control of the Governor, than independent
expositors of the law. The Chief Justice did not conceal from
the Governor his disapproval of this anomalous connection
existing between the Magistrates and the Head of the Executive.
The result was for the first few years merely a straining of the
relations between the Chief Justice on the one hand and the
Governor and the Magistrates on the other hand. Soon the
community began to take sides with the former against the latter.
Great indignation was expressed by the whole British community
when the Police Magistrates, at the order of the Governor who
appeared to be simply desirous of obliging the Macao Governor
by complying with an informal request of the latter, signed a
warrant (August 25, 1846 ) for the arrest and extradition,
230 CHAPTER XIV.
without any prima facie evidence, of three Portuguese gentlemen,-
who, after being sent to Macao as prisoners by a British gunboat
(H.M.S. Young Hebe) were, when tried at Macao, found not
guilty in the suit (a civil one) which they had sought to post-
pone by coming to Hongkong. A similar case occurred soon
after (October 23, 1846 ) , when some Portuguese slaves, vainly
supposing that British Slavery Acts were in force in Hongkong
(for others than Chinese), fled to the Colony. Their masters,
however, brought against them, in Macao, a charge of theft .
Although there was no extradition treaty to rely on, the Macao-
Governor forthwith requested Sir John Davis to extradite those
slaves, and as the Magistrates again complied, without the
formality of a trial, with the orders of the Governor, the latter
forthwith informed Senhor Amaral, that the slaves were in
custody and would be delivered on application. Soon after this,
the conflict between the Governor and the Chief Justice became
more pointed. A prominent British merchant at Canton ,
Mr. Ch . Sp. Compton, happened one day (July 4, 1846 ) to-
overturn a huckster's stall, obstructing one of the Factory lanes,
and two days afterwards he pushed a coolie out of his way,
telling Consul Macgregor, who was close by, that he had done.
so. On July 8 , 1846 , one of those periodical riots occurred for
which Canton mobs were notorious. Three months later,
the Consul informed Mr. Compton that Sir John Davis, as
Superintendent of Trade, had (without trial) fined him £ 45 for
upsetting a huckster's stall, intimating that this circumstance
had caused the riot of 8th July. Further, on November 12 ,
1846 , a local paper published a dispatch by Sir J. Davis to
Kiying, in which Mr. Compton was referred to as ' the exciter
of the riots. As the whole European community of Canton
supported Mr. Compton in his contention that the Canton riots
had no connection with his doings, Mr. Compton appealed to
the Supreme Court against Sir John Davis ' sentence. Chief
Justice Hulme tried the case, and, on giving judgment in favour
of appellant, pronounced the sentence of the Consul (ie. the
decision of Sir John Davis) as unjust, excessive and illegal "
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 231
and as evincing a total disregard for all forms of law and for
law itself. Moreover, the Chief Justice added that in this
first Consular appeal case the whole proceedings were so irregular
as to render all that occurred a perfect nullity.' The whole
British community applauded this decision, but the Governor
interpreted it as a personal affront. At the same time the
differences between the Chief Justice and the Magistrates
became accentuated . On October 27 , 1846 , a typical case was
tried in the Supreme Court and attracted general attention.
Two Chinese junks had collided in the harbour, and as the
junk which was manifestly at fault attempted to sail away,
the crew of the injured junk fired their muskets to attract
attention. A police boat, supposing the runaway junk to be
a pirate, fired into her and in the mêlée 5 men were drowned
and 13 captured. The Police Magistrate, dealing with the case
in his usual off-hand manner, flogged the 13 men and then
handed them over to the Kowloon Mandarin to be further dealt
with. But the Coroner's jury, after three days ' investigation ,
returned a verdict of manslaughter against the Police and
(by implication) declared the innocence of the 13 men who had
been flogged and deported by the Magistrate. The Supreme
Court now set aside the verdict on the ground of the irregularity
of the whole proceedings, the prisoners having been sworn to
the truth of their depositions, thus making them to incriminate
themselves. The community, convinced for some time past
that a reform in the Police Court personnel was needed, drew
the conclusion that Magistrates should have a legal training.
The following day (October 28, 1846 ) another case, heard in
the Supreme Court, strongly confirmed them in this conclusion.
The Magistrate had sentenced nine men to three months'
imprisonment on a charge of intent to commit a felony, but
when, on appeal to the Supreme Court, the intent of felony
was clearly disproved, the Magistrate explained to the Chief
Justice that he, in reality, had sentenced the prisoners under
the Vagrants' Act of George IV. This practice of the
Magistrates had often been complained of by the public, and
232 CHAPTER XIV.
the Chief Justice now severely reprimanded the Magistrate for
sentencing the men under an Act which had locally been
superseded by Ordinance 14 of 1845 and discharged the prisoners
forthwith. When, some time later, the Chief Justice complained
to the Governor that the Magistrates appeared to pass sentence
in cases which ought to have been remitted to the Supreme
Court, the two Magistrates commenced systematically to commit
for trial at the Supreme Court the most trivial offences. This
became so painfully evident during the criminal session of
February, 14th to 19th, 1847 , that the jurors addressed a formal
complaint to the Court of having their time wasted on cases
of petty larceny which ought to have been summarily dealt
with by the Magistrates. The Chief Justice agreed with them
and addressed the Government accordingly. During the same
sessions it was stated in evidence that the Police, who had
refused to protect a citizen against an assault by a soldier, had
been ordered by the Government not to interfere with soldiers,
and that a general order was read in barracks informing the
soldiers of the instructions given to the Police. The Chief
Justice, commenting adversely on this point, remarked that the
general order referred to was waste paper, as only an Act of
Parliament could exempt soldiers from being amenable to the
civil authorities. The Adjutant General thereupon wrote to
the papers denying that any such general order had been issued,
but the truth soon leaked out, viz . that , what the evidence
before the Court had referred to as a general order, was a
speech addressed to the regiment by the Major- General. After
this the relations between the Governor and the Chief Justice
became marked by personalities. On April 16, 1847 , the
Governor had an altercation with the Chief Justice, as the
former claimed the right to fix the sittings of the Vice - Admiralty
Court for any day he pleased, and as the latter claimed that
he should be addressed as His Lordship, which title the Governor
refused to allow. It was stated that the Governor had threatened
the Chief Justice with suspension . A lull now ensued, but on
November 22, 1847 , the Chief Justice was tried by the Executive
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 233
Council on certain charges of private misconduct which, it
appeared , Sir John Davis had detailed in a confidential com-
munication to Lord Palmerston . The latter, disregarding the
private character of the document, had sent it to the Colonial
Office, which forthwith ordered an Executive Council inquiry
into the charges as formulated in the Governor's original letter.
Major-General D'Aguilar, as Lieutenant-Governor , protested
indignantly against the whole inquiry. Two members of the
Council (Major Caine and Mr. Johnston) gave evidence in
support of the charges, but all the other witnesses exonerated
the Chief Justice. Nevertheless the Governor in Council
pronounced his suspension from office. The moment this became
known in town, the whole British community (apart from the
officials) called and left their cards at the Chief Justice's residence.
Once more, as in the registration days, a unanimous outcry
of indignation was raised against the Government . Three days
later, the local solicitors (N. D'E. Parker, R. Coley, W. Gaskell,
P. C. McSwyney, and E. Farncombe) presented to the Chief
Justice (November 25, 1847 ) an address denouncing the
Governor's action as an attack of enmity,' and a gold snuff-
box bearing the inscription indignante invidia florebit justus.
Later on (November 30, 1847 ) the community presented a
sympathizing address signed by 116 residents , and on December
2, 1847, all the special jurors addressed the Chief Justice ,
expressing their respect for his character and their sympathy
and regret with reference to his suspension and temporary
retirement. By this time the Governor had already sent in
his resignation and the dispatch accepting it (dated November
18, 1847 ) was then on its way. The news of the Governor's
resignation having been accepted served to blunt the edge of
popular excitement and the Colonial Office, which considered
the charges not proved, immediately removed the suspension
and reinstated the Chief Justice.
In his endeavours to improve the revenues of the Colony,
which naturally constitute one of the most anxious cares of a
Colonial Governor, Sir John Davis ran counter to the deepest
234 CHAPTER XIV.
feelings and most inveterate principles of the mercantile
community. Whilst the mercantile community contended that
Hongkong was simply a depot for the neighbouring coasts, a
mere post for general influence and for the protection of the
general trade in the China Seas, benefitting Imperial rather
than local interests, and that therefore Great Britain ought
naturally to bear the greater share in the expenses of the Colonial
establishment, Sir John Davis acted on the assumption that
Hongkong was a Colony in the ordinary sense and should not only
bear the whole burden of its own civil government but contribute
also, as soon as possible, towards the military expenses of the
Empire. Whilst the merchants therefore still looked to free
trade principles to further the growth of Hongkong, Sir John
Davis thought only of license -fees, farms and monopolies .
Compromise or reconciliation was out of the question . Free
trade was officially derided, and protection gained the ascendancy .
On the day when Sir John announced his fatal intention of
extending registration to all the inhabitants of the Colony in
the interest of good order (July 24, 1844 ) , he declared also
his determination to establish a quarry farm , a salt farm and
an opium farm for the purpose of raising a revenue, and on
the day when he passed his obnoxious Martial Law Ordinance
(November 20, 1844 ) , he launched his first Revenue Ordinance
(No. 21 of 1844) by licensing the retail of salt and levying a
duty of 23 per cent . on all goods sold by auction. In connection
with these purposes he regulated also local weights and measures
(No. 22 of 1844 ) . The British community growled at the
auction duty (though on January 15 , 1845, it was decided to
remit it in certain cases) , derided the salt and opium farms,
and made fun of the tax imposed on marriage licenses, coupling
them with the new burial and tombstone fees (January 15,
1845). The quarry farm yielded (September 1 , 1845 ) only
£702. When the Governor ( February 23 and May 23, 1845 ) ,
proceeded to introduce police rates ( Ordinance 2 of 1845 )
and to ascertain the rateable value of all house property, the
merchants declared the ruin of Hongkong to be complete and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 235
began to talk seditiously of united resistance. So great was
the popular excitement that the Governor became afraid and
announced his willingness to reduce the assessment made by
the two official valuators (Tarrant and Pope) by 40 per cent .
(July 14, 1845) . In spite of this concession the leading paper
of the Colony declared this tax to be a most tyrannical and
intolerable encroachment upon the rights of the inhabitants,
because passed by a Council in which the community was not
represented . However the Ordinance received Her Majesty's
consent (December 25 , 1845 ) , and the people soon learned to
submit to it gracefully . Not satisfied with the financial results of
these measures, Sir John added, by Ordinances 3 and 4 of 1845,
duties on the retail of tobacco and fermented liquors (July 7,
1845 ) . So great was his craving for monopolies that he persisted
in farming out the monopoly of fishing in Hongkong waters,
though it brought in only 17 shillings for the year 1845. His
great grief and trouble was the total absence of a custom house
establishment ' in the free port of Hongkong. He was decidedly
of opinion that, as most of the available spots for building
purposes had already been disposed of (thanks to the gambling
mania which his predecessor and himself had unconsciously
fostered) , no great expansion of the land revenue could be looked
for in the future . Consequently he turned his attention to
licenses and excise farms and among these he commended to
Her Majesty's Government the opium farm as being the most
productive source of revenue and one that should increase with
the progress of the place.'
When the Legislative Council passed the first Hongkong
Opium Ordinance (November 26, 1844), the Colonial Treasurer,
R. M. Martin, strongly protested against this Government
measure on the ground that private vice should not be made a
source of public revenue . Finding his protest disregarded , he
forthwith applied for leave of absence. When this application
was refused, he resigned his office and returned to England (July
12 , 1845 ) , where he thenceforth laboured , with a pen dipped in
gall, to prove that Hongkong, whose majestic peak he compared
236 CHAPTER XIV.
with a decayed Stilton cheese and whose charming surroundings
he likened to the back of a negro streaked with leprosy, was an
utter failure, and that the Colony ought to be removed to Chusan.
The exclusive privilege of selling opium in quantities less
than a chest for consumption in the Colony, was put up to
auction ( February 20 , 1844) , and notwithstanding the machina-
tions of a ring of Chinese opium dealers, purchased by an
Englishman ( G. Duddell) at a monthly rental of $720 . But
the purchaser soon found himself outwitted by the Chinese
who, taking advantage of the loose wording of the Ordinance,
openly retailed opium in the Colony for exportation ' and gained
the protection of the Court in doing so. The faulty Ordinance
was thereupon amended (July 12, 1845 ) and the opium farm
put up to auction again (August 1 , 1845 ) when it was bought
by a Chinese syndicate for $ 1,710 a month. Next year, a
re-sale having been offered (May 24, 1846 ), further powers
were demanded by the farmers ; the monopoly was once more
offered for sale (June 30 , 1846 ) , but no bids were made to
obtain further concessions. At last the farm was sold (July 2,
1846 ) at the reduced rate of $ 1,560 a month . However, it soon
became apparent that the powers extorted by the farmers, who
employed constables and even an armed cruizer for the protection
of their revenue, seriously interfered with the legitimate junk
trade and the freedom of the port. Even the Chinese themselves
petitioned the Governor (January 27 , 1847 ) for the abolition
of the opium monopoly. The Governor hesitated and substituted
licences for this troublesome opium farm ( August 1 , 1847)
after it had yielded £ 4,118 in 1846 , and £ 3,183 in 1847. It
is remarkable that this first experiment in opinm farming at
once brought to the surface the evils which ever afterwards
characterized the system in Hongkong, viz. unscrupulous
circumvention of the law, organized withholding of a just rental
and vexatious interference with the native trade and with the
freedom of the port.
The revenues of the Colony improved considerably under
the Governor's assiduous care. By enforcing the recovery of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 237
arrears of rent on land and buildings, the income of the Colony
was raised, at a bound, from £9,534 in 1844 , to £ 22,242 in 1845 .
The opium farm caused the revenue of 1846 to mount up to
£ 27,842 and by charging higher fees on boat registry (Ordinance
7 of 1846 ) the revenue of 1847 came to £31,078 . On the
other hand the attention paid to public works caused the
expenditure to rise, from £ 49,901 in 1845 , to £ 66,726 in 1846 .
But it was reduced again in 1847 to £50,959 .
What assisted the Governor in his efforts to improve the
finances of the Colony, in spite of the fearful odds that were
against him, was the fact that, though the foreign trade was
stagnating, the native junk trade held its own, and that the
population of the Colony, though decimated by removals to
the Treaty ports of China, remained for several years wonderfully
steady. During the three years from 1845 to 1847 , the
population numbered respectively 23,748 , 22,453, and 23,872
souls. In the year 1848, the population was indeed reduced
to 21,514 persons. But the Governor attributed this decrease,
not to the alleged decay of local commerce, but to a more careful
registration which, while giving a truer account of the actual
number, relieved the Colony from those who hung loose on
and only applied for registration tickets to make a bad use
of them .'
In his efforts to repress crime. Sir J. Davis found himself
handicapped, like every successive Governor of Hongkong, by the
continuous influx of criminals from the neighbouring mainland
of China, by the untrustworthiness and inactivity of native
constables, by the dissolute character of European sailors or
soldiers enlisted in the local Police Force, who were ignorant
of the native language and consequently dependent on truculent
native interpreters, by the costliness of importing trained British
constables, and finally by the inherent inapplicability to Asiatics
of British laws and British modes of punishment. Sir J. Davis
was, however, fortunate in obtaining ( September 6, 1844) , from
London, the services of an Inspector of the Metropolitan Police,
Ch. May, who did the best possible with the imperfect material
238 CHAPTER XIV.
supplied to him and reorganized the Police Force of Hongkong
on the model of the Irish Constabulary with due adaptations to
local circumstances . With the aim of suppressing the system
of private night- watchmen, kept by every European house-owner
on the model of the old practice in vogue in the Canton and
Macao days, Major-General D'Aguilar (acting as Lieutenant-
Governor in the temporary absence of Sir J. Davis ) passed
6
(September 11 , 1844 ) the unpopular Bamboo Ordinance '
(17 of 1844) prohibiting the use of the bamboo-drums by which
those watchmen used to make night hideous in order to prove
(not merely to their employers as the Ordinance alleged) that
they were on the alert . But whilst securing by this premature
measure the peace and quiet of the town during the night, he
rather encouraged, in the absence of an efficient Police Force,
nightly depredations by native burglars.
Highway robberies and burglaries continued to be of almost
daily occurrence . Government House was once more robbed
(July 16, 1844) and some of the Governor's valuables carried
off. No house in the Colony was safe without armed watchmen
and no one ventured out after dark except revolver in hand.
The Police Magistrate issued (August 25 , 1846 ) a notice warning
residents not to go beyond the limits of the town singly nor
even in parties unless armed .' In 1847 European householders
were ordered to supplement the imperfect street - lighting system
by suspending lamps before the doors of their houses. The
Police Force possessed as yet neither the training nor the moral
tone that would have inspired the community with confidence
and prevented collusion between native constables and criminals.
As to the latter it seemed as if English law, though ever so
severely administered, was unable to provide penalties sufficiently
deterrent. Flogging was indeed resorted to very freely and
even for comparatively shadowy offences such as vagrancy. The
House of Commons occupied itself, rather needlessly, with this
point (in autumn, 1846 ) at the motion of Dr. Bowring, the
Member for Bolton, who drew the attention of the Ministry
to the allegation that 54 natives had been flogged in Hongkong
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 239
in one day for not having tickets of registration. The
consequence was that the criminals of Hongkong had an easier
time for a few months, as public flogging was suspended from
January 23 to May 8, 1847 .
The most predominant form of crime at this period was
piracy. The whole coast- line of the Canton and Fohkien
provinces was virtually under the control of a piratical
confederacy under the leadership of Cheung Shap-ng-tsai and
Chui A-pou, to whom trading and fishing junks had to pay
regular black-mail. The waters of the Colony swarmed with
pirates, and Hongkong -registered junks were, on escaping the
pirates and entering the Canton River, subjected to all sorts
of lawless plunderings on the part of the crews of the gunboats
under the orders of the Canton revenue farmers. Hence
the peaceful trading junk of this period had to sail heavily
armed, so much so that there was frequently nothing but
the cargo to distinguish a trading junk from a pirate. The
worst feature of the case was the fact that lawless European
seamen occasionally enlisted in the service of the native pirates
and that the leaders of piratical facets made Hongkong their
headquarters, where native marine-storekeepers not only supplied
them with arms and ammunition and disposed of their booty ,
but furnished them also, through well-paid spies in mercantile
offices and Government departments, with information as to the
shipments of valuable cargo and particularly as to the movements
of the Police and of British gunboats. A Colonial gunboat,
manned by the Police, was procured (June 5, 1846 ) to cruize
in the waters of the Colony and did some little service until
the vessel was wrecked (September 1 , 1848 ) . Deportation of
convicted criminals inspired the Chinese with no terror, as it
offered innumerable chances of eventual escape. The last convict
ship of this period , the General Wood,' which sailed for Penang
on January 2 , 1848 , was piratically taken possession of by
the convicts most of whom made good their escape.
The European commerce of the Colony appearel to decline
or to stagnate during this administration . The trade in Indian
240 CHAPTER XIV.
opium, driven away from Hongkong by the measures of Sir
H. Pottinger, was for some time conducted at Whampoa and,
on being forced away thence, by a crusade instituted through
the Canton Consuls at the instance of the Canton monopolists of
the sulphur trade, took refuge at Kapsingmoon near Macao. The
Kapsingmoon anchorage being unsafe during the N.E. monsoon ,
the Hongkong merchants were hoping to procure the return
of the trade to their port, when the establishment of an opium
farm by Sir J. Davis frustrated their design . Arrangements
had been made by some merchants to introduce silk- weaving
establishments into the Colony, but the scheme was abandoned
in despair when it became apparent that the Governor, with
his passion for fiscal exactions, would certainly tax the looms.
Competition and trade rivalries, between the merchants estab-
lished in the Treaty ports of China and those who remained
at Hongkong, became intensified by bitter feelings of jealousy .
It was publicly stated (August 1 , 1846) that Canton merchants
had been for some time instructing their correspondents in
England to stipulate that vessels by which they shipped goods for
the different Treaty ports of China should first come to Whampoa
and there discharge goods for Canton before proceeding to
Hongkong. In retaliation for this measure, and in their despair
at seeing free trade principles overwhelmed by a flood of
Government monopolies, Hongkong merchants now broke faith
with the established free trade creed of their predecessors and
began themselves to look out for protectionist measures to
re-establish the decaying commerce of the Colony. Free trade
was now looked upon as a bright dream of the past, and it
was seriously proposed to agitate, as Captain Elliot had done
in June 1841 , for an Act of Parliament declaring that for
ten years all teas shipped at Hongkong would be protected in
Great Britain by a differential duty of one penny per pound
on congous and twopence on the finer sorts . This scheme was
urged upon the Secretary of State by Hongkong merchants
residing in London, and several letters appeared in the Times
(December 9 and 24, 1846 ) alvocating the imposition of a
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 241
differential duty of twopence farthing on all teas shipped at
Hongkong. The sinister expectation of the promoters of this
measure avowedly was that the death-blow would be struck
to the trade of Canton ' (and Foochow). Of course this
fratricidal plan of reviving the commerce of Hongkong by
killing that of Canton (or any other Treaty port ) had no chance
of even a hearing in a Parliament the previously divided counsels
of which had just converged towards the adoption , from a
conscientious recognition of economic truths, of positive free
trade principles by the abrogation of the corn laws (June 25 ,
1846 ) . Lord Stanley emphatically refused (September 4, 1846 )
to entertain the proposal of a differential duty. As a last refuge,
the community addressed (February 27 , 1848 ) a Memorial to
Earl Grey praying for a reduction or abolition of the land rent .
They were informed in reply (July 17 , 1848 ) that Earl Grey
was willing to extend the terms of the leases or even to grant
them in perpetuity.
The fact of a serious decline having overtaken the European
commerce of Hongkong gradually forced itself upon public
recognition and was interpreted by extremists to involve the
Colony in absolute ruin. On August 13, 1845 , all the leading
British firms (31 in number) memorialized Lord Stanley on
the subject. Sir J. Davis viewed their statements as gross
exaggerations and replied by a series of arguments propounded
by the Acting Colonial Secretary (W. Caine) . Thereupon a
deputation ( A. Matheson, G. T. Braine, Gilbert Smith , and
Crawford Kerr) presented ( August 29 , 1845 ) a second Memorial,
6
in the course of which they stated that Hongkong has no
trade at all and is the mere place of residence of Government
and its officers with a few British merchants and a very scanty
and poor population . ' The Governor remained unconvinced,
and later on (January 6, 1846 ) published an exhaustive trade
report from the pen of Dr. Gützlaff, intended to refute the
allegations of the local merchants, who, however, disputed the
correctness of Dr. Gützlaff's statistics . This official report
contains a rather remarkable admission of the failure of Sir
16
242 CHAPTER XIV.
H. Pottinger's commercial policy, in stating that in spite of
the discouragement afforded by the Supplementary Treaty, the
Chinese trade appears to be rather on the increase . ' The dispute
was continued in the home papers and on April 6 , 1846, the
Times gave expression to the melancholy views of the European
community in the following words. Hongkong has quite lost
caste as a place for mercantile operations. Many of the
merchants have already abandoned the Island. Since the
beginning of the present year two firms have given up their
establishments, two more of old standing have expressed their
determination to quit the Colony, and two others are hesitating
about following their example or at most of leaving a clerk
in possession to forward goods or letters . ' The climax was
reached when an American contributor to the Economist (August
8, 1846) incisively declared that Hongkong is nothing now
but a depot for a few opium smugglers, soldiers, officers and men-
of-war's men.' These sensational statements, however, represented
merely the feelings of disappointment aroused by a natural but
unusually prolonged period of depression consequent upon
previous unnatural inflation . While friends and foes of the
Colony debated the extent and causes of its rain, Hongkong
itself stood smiling like Patience on a monument bearing the
6
bold legend Resurgam.
As regards the native trade of Hongkong, there were
distinct signs visible in 1846 of a speedy revival. Junks from
Pakhoi, Hoihow and Tinpak, in the south-west, commenced
in 1846 a prosperous trade with Hongkong. The fact that the
Chinese Mandarins dared not, or on account of the piratical
fleets could not, stop this trade, combined with the rising faith
in the power of Great Britain, produced by the repeated
humiliations which Sir J. Davis had inflicted on Kiying, now
gave currency to the belief that Chinese merchants residing in
Hongkong need not confine their operations (by means of native
junks) to the Treaty ports of China. Thenceforth Chinese
subjects established in the Colony rejoiced in, and commercially
took all the advantages of, the double status of residing under ›
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 243
British rule and protection without forfeiting their privileges
as natives of China. Canton native merchants now took to
visiting the auction rooms of Hongkong and began, for fear
of pirates, to charter small European sailing vessels (mostly
German or Danish) for the carrying on of their own coasting
trade with the Treaty ports on the east coast. Fleets of Chinese
trading junks also occasionally engaged small English steamers
to convoy them as a protection against, pirates. Thus the
reviving native trade reacted as a fillip upon the stagnating
European commerce of the Colony.
Communication with Canton was at this period a source
of much trouble to British merchants. Endeavours which had
been made, by Mr. Donald Matheson in 1845 and by Mr. A.
Campbell in 1847, to persuade the directors of the Peninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company to connect their
monthly mail steamers to Hongkong by a branch line with
Canton, failed to have any effect till the close of the year 1848 ,
when it was too late. Meanwhile some sixty merchants had
made an arrangement with the owners of the S.S. Corsair to
carry their mails to Canton for a monthly subsidy of £ 150.
In 1847 the Postmaster insisted on the steamer's carrying 6 and
delivering Post Office letters for Canton at twopence each .
When the captain of the Corsair refused to deliver the letters
to the addressees on the ground that there was no Post Office
in Canton , Sir J. Davis ordered legal proceedings to be instituted ,
which resulted (February 23, 1847 ) in the infliction of a fine of
£ 100 . Although the verdict (based on an Imperial Act ) was
accompanied by a recommendation that the fine be remitted , the
Governor declined to exercise his prerogative in the case. The
British community, feeling themselves once more sorely aggrieved,
addressed their complaints to the Postmaster General in London,
and resolved to help themselves by establishing a Hongkong
and Canton Steamboat Company as a joint-stock enterprise.
Sir J. Davis boldly attempted to reform the currency of
the Colony without consulting the mercantile community. Sir
H. Pottinger had, as mentioned above, fixed the value of the East
244 CHAPTER XIV.
India Company's rupees in relation to dollars and cash (March
29, 1842 ) and declared the dollar to be the standard medium
in commercial transactions unless it were otherwise specified
(April 27 , 1842 ) . Sir J. Davis now issued a proclamation (May
1 , 1845 ) which cancelled the foregoing proclamations and
ordained that the following coins should thenceforth constitute
a legal tender of payment in Hongkong, viz. ( 1 ) the gold, silver
and copper coins of the United Kingdom, ( 2 ) gold mohur at
298. 2d., (3 ) Spanish, Mexican or South-American dollars at
48. 2d., (4) rupees at 18. 10d. , (5) cash at the rate of 280 cash
to one shilling. This attempt to establish a uniform gold
standard in Hongkong was received by the community with
blank astonishment. But it did not affect trade in any way,
because there was no demand for gold, whilst silver, coined and
uncoined, passed current in the Colony by weight. Consequently
Indian and British silver coins were, irrespective of their Sterling
value, taken weight for weight with old chopped dollars. But
the proclamation did affect official salaries and payments to
Government. An attempt was also made in 1846 to introduce
a sufficient quantity of British coins to compete with Mexican
and Spanish dollars . At the close of the year, the Deputy-
Commissary General presented to the Governor a very favourable
report on the British coin sent out by the Treasury. He
stated that it had proved extremely useful for small payments,
that even the Chinese brought dollars to be exchanged for
Sterling, and that he had applied for more to be sent out to
the amount of £ 10,000 . Subsequent experience, however,
contradicted the hopes entertained as to the success of a British .
currency in China and the dollar continued to reign supreme.
Among the more hopeful symptoms of local commerce at
this period may be mentioned the establishment (in April, 1845 )
of a branch of the Oriental Bank Corporation, which put in
circulation in 1847 , though as yet unchartered, over $56,000
worth of bank-notes, to the great relief of local trade. The
appointment of three Consular officers is another noteworthy
feature. Mr. F. T. Bush acted (since November 12 , 1845 ) as
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 245
Consul for the United States, Mr. J. Burd (since March 11
1847 ) as Consul for Denmark, and Mr. F. J. de Paiva (since
March 12 , 1847 ) as Consul for Portugal.
In the interest of sanitation, an Ordinance was passed (De-
· cember 26 , 1845 ) enforcing a modicum of order and cleanliness .
The deadly Wongnaichung Valley (Happy Valley) was drained
(April 23, 1845 ) and the cultivation of rice there forbidden.
Otherwise sanitation and cleanliness were left to take care of
themselves. The period of Sir J. Davis' administration stands
out, however, very favourably so far as mortality returns are
concerned. The Colonial Surgeon, Dr. W. Morrison, who
succeeded Dr. Peter Young on November 15, 1847, gave the
death rate of the whole population in 1847 as 114 per cent .
and that of the Europeans alone (June 1 , 1847 , to May 31 , 1848)
at 565 per cent., not including deaths from accidents which
brought up the mortality of Europeans to 6.25 per cent .
Compared with 1843 , when the return gave the European
mortality as 22.00 per cent . , this was of course a great
improvement . Fever was the most fatal malady in 1844 and
dysentery in 1845. Among the European troops the improvement
was, thanks to the new Barracks and Hospitals, the erection
of which General D'Aguilar ordered on his own responsibility,
even more striking . In 1843 the death rate among European
soldiers was 22:20 and in 1845 it was 13.25 per cent. In the
year 1845 the rate fell to 8:50 and in 1847 to 4.00 per cent .
Strange to say, the Indian troops suffered during this period
more than the Europeans. In 1847 the deaths among the
Madras sepoys amounted to 9-25 per cent. It may be mentioned ,
in this connection, that on March 8, 1848 , the first surgical
operation performed in Hongkong with the use of chloroform
(by Dr. Harland of the Seamen's Hospital) was reported as
a great novelty.
Sir J. Davis was the first Governor of Hongkong that took
a lively interest in the promotion of both religion and education.
To promote the better observance of Sunday, he issued (June 28 ,
1844) a notification ordering strict observation of a Sunday
246 CHAPTER XIV.
rest to be included in all contracts for public works . This
regulation, enforcing entire cessation of labour on Sundays so-
far as the Public Works Department was concerned, received
the full approval of the Colonial Office (October 8 , 1844 ) . Sir
John was also supposed to be engaged in wringing from an
unwilling Home Government their consent to the early erection of
the Colonial Church. Yet building operations were unaccountably
delayed from October, 1843, to October, 1846. Great was,
therefore, the indignation felt in Hongkong when it became
known, through a private letter of Mr. Gladstone (of June 27 ,
1846 ) , that the cause of the delay in the erection of a suitable
Church at Hongkong has been the want of any estimate
transmitted from the Colony, for without this preliminary step
the Treasury will not grant the public money.' It was not
till March 11 , 1847 , that, as stated in a pompous Latin
inscription on a brass plate inserted in the foundation stone,
6 The corner stone of this Church, dedicated to St. John the
Evangelist, and destined for the worship of Almighty God,
was laid by Lord J. F. Davis, Baronet, a Legate of the British
Queen in China and bedecked with proconsular dignity, on the
fifth day of the Ides of March in the tenth year of Queen
Victoria, A.D. 1847.' At a meeting of contributors to the
Colonial Church fund (April 12, 1847) an additional subscription
was raised bringing up the fund to £ 1.888 and Government
now doubled this sum . Two Trustees (Wilkinson Dent and
T. D. Neave) were elected by the subscribers , and four others by
the Government. During the progress of the building, services
were held at the present Court House opposite the Club. A
Union Chapel, in connection with the London Mission, and
intended for services in the English and Chinese languages,
was built in the present Hollywood Road, in spring 1845, by
means of a public subscription raised ( September 9, 1844) by Dr.
Legge . In 1847 and 1848 meetings for Presbyterian worship
were held every Sunday in a bungalow immediately behind the
present Club House. A mortuary chapel was erected, in 1845 ,
in the new cemetery in the Happy Valley.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 247
In addition to the three Anglo-Chinese Schools (the Morrison
Institution on Morrison Hill , the Anglo-Chinese College of the
London Mission and St. Paul's College ) started under the
preceding administration, a number of smaller Schools was
"
established under the fostering care of Sir J. Davis . An English
Children's School ' was opened, in 1845 , by the Colonial Chaplain
(V. Stanton) , and in emulation of it the Propaganda Society
started at once a similar School for Roman Catholic children,
which was, however, discontinued in 1847. For the benefit
of the Chinese population , which had at this period nine
Confucian Schools at work, the Governor devised, early in 1847 ,
in imitation of the English religious education grants then hotly
discussed in Parliament, a Government Grant -in- Aid Scheme
to provide non-compulsory religious education in Chinese Schools
under the direction of an Educational Committee (gazetted on
December 6 , 1847 ) , consisting of the Police Magistrate, the
Colonial Chaplain and the Registrar General. That Sir J. Davis
was to some extent a religious visionary, may be inferred from
a dispatch (March 13, 1847 ) in which he commended his scheme
to the Colonial Office by saying that, If these Schools were
eventually placed in charge of native Christian teachers, bred
up by the Protestant Missionaries, it would afford the most
rational prospect of converting the native population of the
Island.' Sancta simplicitas!
The social and general progress of the Colony during this
period centered principally in the year 1845. The erection in
1844 of the Seamen's Hospital (September 30 , 1844) and the
formation of an Amateur Dramatic Corps (December 18, 1844)
were succeeded by the following events of the fruitful year
1845, viz . the first issue of the China Mail newspaper ( February
20 ) , the completion of a carriage road round the Happy Valley
(March 1 ) , establishment of an Ice House Company (April 17) ,
building of a Picnic House at Little Hongkong ( April 26) ,
establishment of a Medico- Chirurgical Society ( May 13 ),
organisation of Freemasonry and starting of Zetland Lodge
(June 18 and December 8 ) , commencement of a monthly line
248 CHAPTER XIV.
of mail steamers by the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation
Company (August 1 ) and completion of a temporary Government
House (November 1 ) . The Hongkong Club, also planned in
1845. was opened on May 26 , 1846, in a stately building erected,
opposite the new Court House, at a cost of £ 15,000 by
G. Strachan with funds provided by shareholders who appointed
a Board of Trustees as a Standing Committee of the Club.
Resident members were to be admitted by ballot and required
to pay an entrance fee ($30) and a monthly subscription ($4) .
A fund for the relief of sick and destitute foreigners was
established by a public meeting (July 13 , 1846 ) which passed
the remarkable resolution that the term foreigner shall include
natives of every country except China. ' This public sanction
of the local use of the word foreigner was dictated by common
sense yielding to the force of a usage which dated from the time
when Englishmen were residing, as foreigners, in Canton aud
Macao. At a meeting of the above-mentioned Medical Society
(January 5 , 1847 ) , it was proposed to establish a Philosophical
Society for China, and this proposal resulted in the organisation
(January 15, 1847 ) of a China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society in Hongkong, under the presidency of Sir J. Davis. A
public subscription was started (May 24, 1847 ) for the relief
of destitution in Ireland and Scotland and realised £ 1,000 .
At the close of the year 1846 and throughout the early
part of the following year, dissensions were rife among the officers
and civil employees of the garrison . Court-martials were frequent
and differences arose even between the officers constituting the
Court and Major-General D'Aguilar. Local society, centering
still in the grandees of the mercantile community, took a lively
interest in the matter adverse to the General, who, as he resented
the criticisms of civilians, was at this time as much detested
by the community as the Governor himself. But the animosities
thus aroused speedily died away. Before the close of the year
the breach was healed . The ceremony of presenting new colours
to the 95th Regiment (February 17, 1848) , on which occasion
the General's successor, Major- General Staveley, took over the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 249
command of the garrison, was a sort of public festival of
reconciliation in which the leading merchants took an active
part by presenting to General D'Aguilar a laudatory address
of farewell. Next week the community enthusiastically took
the General to its bosom again, by a stately banquet given
in his honour ( February 24, 1848 ) . The day before the great
reconciliation scene, the leading merchants presented also a public
address to the Senior Naval Officer, Captain MacQuhae, on his
departure from the station. What gave a piquant zest to these
demonstrations of popular affection for the departing commanding
officers of the Army and Navy, was the underlying thought of
the difference with which the Governor's impending departure
was to be treated by the community.
When the time came for Sir J. Davis to embark (March 30 ,
1848 ) on his homeward voyage, the community, with stolid
apathy, watched from a distance the salutes fired, the faint
cheer of a few devoted friends, the yards manned by the mail
steamer. But there was no public address, no banquet, no
popular farewell . The leading paper of the Colony gave voice
6
to the feelings of the public by stating that Sir John was
not only unpopular from his official acts but unfit for a Colonial
Government by his personal demeanour and disposition , ' and ,
with sarcastic allusion to the Governor's fondness for the Latin
tongue, closed its valedictory oration with this canstic farewell,
6
Exi, mi fili, et vile quam minima sapientia mundus hic regitur ' !
Conscious, no doubt, of having manfully and patiently done
his duty, according to his lights, by his God and his country,
and viewing the mercantile community as blinded by prejudice
and passion, Sir J. Davis could well afford to smile at all this
badinage. But he had suffered the mortification, nearly a year
before his return to England, of seeing the whole of his
administrative policy inquired into, held up to the public
gaze, and solemnly condemned by higher authorities than the
Hongkong merchants.
A Parliamentary Committee was appointed (in March, 1847)
to inquire into British commercial relations with China. Mr.
250 CHAPTER XIV.
R. M. Martin , of course, came once more to the front.
According to him, Sir J. Davis erred, first, in raising undue
expectations of the future of Hongkong by assuring Her
Majesty's Government that Hongkong would be the Carthage
of the East, that its population would equal that of ancient
Rome, and that commercially Hongkong would ultimately
supersede Canton . He further erred , according to Mr. Martin,
in that he, having raised such expectations, endeavoured by
measures forced upon the Colony to fulfil his predictions.
6
The constant endeavour to realize those expectations led to
a continued system of taxation , an unfortunate desire for
legislation, and an unnecessarily expensive system of government.
This produced irritation on the part of the merchants who,
smarting under their losses, felt more irritable at every
transaction ; and thus there has been produced an unfortunate
state of feeling between the community and the Governor .'
Mr. Martin thought that Sir J. Davis would have exercised
a sound discretion if he had represented to Her Majesty's
Government that it was not possible to raise a revenue without
diminishing the commerce or injuring the merchants in their
endeavours to make the place more available for trade.
But a more seriou and weig
s hty condemnation of the
policy maintained by Sir J. Davis , is contained in the evidence
given before that Select Committee of the House of Commons
and particularly in the final report of the Committee . Whilst
Mr. Martin's criticisms , particularly as embodied in his famous
report of July 24, 1844 , were too sweeping to carry conviction
and have in part been contradicted by the events of history ,
the evidence given by Mr. A. Matheson , whilst freely exposing
the evil results of Sir J. Davis ' policy , bore the stamp of a
mature and sober judgment , and contained , moreover, a prophecy
which history has fulfilled . The whole of the British merchants ,'
said Mr. A. Matheson ( May 4, 1847 ) , ' would abandon Hongkong ,
were it not for the very large sums they had sunk in buildings
in the early days of the Colony and which they were reluctant
to abandon , though I believe doing so would have been the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. DAVIS. 251
wisest course and will certainly be the course adopted unless
under a change of policy the prosperity of the place revives.
Let perpetual leases be granted at a moderate ground
rent (say £20 or so for a sea frontage lot and £ 2 for a suburban
lot) and let the revenue thus levied be applied exclusively to-
the maintenance of an efficient Police Force, leaving the other
expenses to be borne by the nation, and I feel convinced that
in the course of a few years Hongkong will take a new turn
and become one of our most flourishing as well as valuable
possessions.'
The final report of this Parliamentary Committee, though
not mentioning Sir J. Davis, and aiming at reform rather than
criticism, condemned his administrative policy in toto. 'In
addition to natural and necessary disadvantages, Hongkong
appears to have laboured under others, created by a system
of monopolies and farms and petty regulations peculiarly
unsuited to its position and prejudicial to its progress . These
seem to have arisen partly from an attempt to struggle with
the difficulties of establishing order and security in the midst
of the vagabond and piratical population which frequent its
waters and infest its coasts ; and partly from a desire to raise
a revenue in the Island in some degree adequate to the
maintenance of its civil Government. To this latter object ,
however, we think it unwise to sacrifice the real interests of
the settlement , which can only prosper under the greatest
amount of freedom of intercourse and traffic which is consistent
with the engagements of treaties and internal order ; nor do
we think it right that the burden of maintaining that which
is rather a post for general influence and the protection of the-
general trade in the China Seas than a colony in the ordinary
sense, should be thrown in any great degree on the merchants
or other persons who may be resident upon it. To the revision
of the whole system we would call the early attention of the
Government, as well as to that of the establishment of the
Settlement which we cannot but think has been placed on a
footing of needless expense .' The Committee finally pressed
252 CHAPTER XIV.
upon the Government the acceptance of the following positive
recommendations, viz . ( 1 ) that regular post-office communication
by steamboats be established from Hongkong to Canton and
northern ports ; (2) that the dependence of the Governor on
both the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office be simplified ;
(3) that a short Code of Law be substituted for the present
system of general references to the laws of England ; (4) that
draft ordinances and regulations be published for three or six
months before they are enacted ; (5 ) that a share in the
administration of the ordinary and local affairs of the Island
be given, by some system of municipal government , to the
British residents ; and ( 6 ) that facilities be given in Hongkong
for the acquisition of the Chinese language and encouragement
to Schools for the Chinese.
No one ever discerned with greater clearness Hongkong's true
path to higher destinies, than this Parliamentary Committee.
After his retirement from the Governorship of Hongkong,
Sir John Davis was honoured by being appointed a Deputy-
Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (in 1852 ) , a Knight Commander
of the Order of the Bath (June 14, 1854) , and a Doctor of
Civil Law of Oxford (June 21 , 1876 ) . He died on November
13, 1890 , in his ninety-sixth year, full of days and ripe for
glory.
CHAPTER XV .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR SAMUEL GEORGE BONHAM.
March 20, 1848, to April 12, 1854.
ZOR some months before the departure of Sir J. Davis, the
European community of Hongkong looked forward to
the arrival of a new Governor in the hope that he would abandon
the trade restraining system of monopolies, and revive the waning
fortunes of the Colony by carrying into effect the recommen-
dations of the Parliamentary Committee of 1847. At the same
time the Home Authorities, casting about for a successor to
Sir J. Davis, found it difficult to determine what sort of man
would be suitable for such a trying office, the more so as public
opinion in England had it that an angel for a Governor would
fail to give satisfaction in Hongkong. The choice of Her
Majesty's Government fell eventually on Sir Samuel George
Bonham, C.B. He had been brought up in the service of the
East India Company which, owing to the variety of duties-
financial, judicial and executive -generally thrown upon its higher
officers, was considered an excellent training school for a difficult
governorship. Sir George Bonham had served under the Colonial
Office for nearly ten years ( 1833 to 1842 ) as Governor of Prince
of Wales Island (now included in Queensland) , Singapore and
Malacca and had given great satisfaction. Lord Palmerston
subsequently stated that Sir George's practical common sense
was the chief cause of his appointment to the governorship of
Hongkong.
On landing at Hongkong (March 20 , 1848 ) , Sir G. Bonham
was received by the leaders of the community with a hearty cheer.
Next day he took with due solemnity the customary oaths on
assuming his double office of Chief-Superintendent of Trade and
254 CHAPTER XV.
H. M. Plenipotentiary in China, and as Governor and Comman-
der-in-chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies
and Vice-Admiral of the same. His commissions and letters
patent were published at the same time (March 21 , 1848 ) .
Mr. (subsequently Sir) Thomas F. Wade, who had been for
some time Student- Interpreter under Dr. Gützlaff, in the
Secretariate of the Superintendency of Trade, and had acted
latterly also as Assistant-Interpreter in the Supreme Court,
was appointed Private Secretary to the Governor ( April 8 ,
1848 ) , and acted thenceforth as the Governor's adviser in all
Chinese matters.
Like his predecessors , Sir G. Bonham had to leave Hongkong
-occasionally, on tours of inspection, to visit the Consular Stations
in China, and on several occasions his diplomatic duties as
H. M. Plenipotentiary took him likewise away for brief intervals
to Macao, Canton or Shanghai . In March, 1852 , he left on
twelve mouths ' leave to recruit health by a visit to England
(on which occasion the community presented him with a
laudatory farewell address) but was back again at his post in
February, 1853. On all these occasions Sir George had either
Major-General Staveley, C.B. (till February 25, 1851 ) or Major-
General Jervois, K.G. (from February, 1851 , to April, 1854) to
act as Lieutenant-Governors in his place, and both of them gave
general satisfaction by maintaining Sir George's policy during his
absence. Major- General Jervois particularly endeared himself
to the hearts of all residents by his invariable urbanity and
cordial hospitality which effectively promoted good feeling in
Hongkong's limited society, as much as by the even tenor of
the way in which he conducted the affairs of the Colony. When
he left Hongkong, the community presented him (April 7 , 1854)
with an address testifying to the great respect and esteem in
which he was held . During Sir G. Bonham's absence in 1852.
Dr. Bowring, then H.M. Consul in Canton , came down (April
14, 1852 ) as Sir George's locum tenens in the Superintendency of
Trade and resided at Government House (until February 16,
1853 ) , confining himself, however, strictly to his diplomatic and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 255
consular duties, while Major-General Jervois administered the
government of the Colony as Lieutenant-Governor.
Throughout the six years of his tenure of office, Sir G.
Bonham maintained friendly relations with the successive Gover-
nors of Macao, J. M. F. d'Amiral (until August 22 , 1849 ) , P. A.
da Cunha (since May 27 , 1850) , S. Cardazo (since January 21 ,
1851 ) , and T. F. Guimaraes ( since November 18 , 1851 ) . Nor
were these amicable relations interrupted even by that plucky
but hasty action of the Senior British Naval Officer, Captain
H. Keppel, who (June 7 , 1849 ) landed at Macao, with Captain
Troubridge and 115 men of H.M.S. Maeander, and rescued from
the Portuguese gaol-guard a British prisoner by an act of force
which unfortunately involved the death of one Portuguese soldier
and the wounding of two others. The prisoner was Mr. J.
Summers, preceptor of St. Paul's College, who had been lodged ,
with unreasonable harshness, in the common jail at Macao for
not taking off his hat at the passing of the Corpus Christi
procession. When Captain Keppel applied for the prisoner's
immediate rendition, Governor Amiral curtly refused it because
the gallant Captain declined to ask for it as a personal favour.
Captain Keppel fancied that his forcible interference would be
held justifiable on the ground of the above-mentioned Hongkong
Ordinance, which included Macao in the dominions of the
Emperor of China. As Governor Bonham, however, took a
different view of the case, and induced the British Admiralty to
grant substantial compensation for the injuries inflicted, the
relations between the Governors of the two Colonies continued
unimpaired . Great troubles came over that unfortunate settle-
ment at Macao in connection with the anti-Chinese policy and
consequent murder of Governor Amiral (August 22 , 1849 ) by
hired Chinese assassins, and by the equally sudden death through
cholera (not poison) of his successor, Commodore da Cunha
(July 6 , 1850) . The latter had just arrived from Europe
with two frigates, demanding of the Chinese Government, as
compensation for the assassination of Governor Amiral, a
recognition of the perfect independence of Macao. As the
256 CHAPTER XV.
Chinese Authorities stubbornly resisted these claims , and not-
only incited the Chinese residents of Macao to acts of treason ,
but commenced measures of hostility, many European and
Chinese merchants, and even Portuguese families, removed from
Macao and settled on the safer shores of Hongkong.
Sir G. Bonham found the Chinese Government as oblivious
of Treaty obligations and as uncompromisingly hostile to the
essential aims of British commercial policy as ever. The retro-
grade policy of the Emperor Taokwang and his successor (since
February 25, 1849 ) Hien-fung had been demonstrated by the
degradation of every Mandarin that had had anything to do with
the Pottinger Treaties . No one was now in favour at Peking who
did not distinguish himself by marked anti-foreign proclivities.
The Imperial Commissioner Seu Kwang-tsin, the successor of
Kiying at Canton, persistently sought to undermine the position
granted by the Nanking Treaty by bringing foreign trade under
the old restrictions of the time of the East India Company. For
this purpose he set to work quietly to force one after the other
of the main staples of foreign trade into the hands of responsible
Chinese monopolists. A United States Commissioner, J. W. Davis,
plied Seu (November 6 , 1848 ) with the suavest blandishments
of cute diplomacy but met only with discourtesy and blunt
refusals to listen to any reasoning whatever. When Governor
Bonham succeeded in wringing from Seu a reluctant consent
to an interview ( February 17 , 1849 ) on board H.M.S. Hastings
near the Bogue, Seu behaved with studied sulkiness, evaded
all serious discussion of the burning question of the promised
opening of Canton city, and declined even the customary
refreshments. He knew that Sir George was not in a position
to enforce the fulfilment of the promise which Sir J. Davis had
forcibly extorted from Kiying to grant foreign merchants, from
after April 6 , 1849 , the right of entering Canton city. When
Sir G. Bonham in repeated dispatches insisted upon the
immediate opening of Canton city, Seu fell back upon Kiying's
tactics of postponing action on the ground that at the present
time it would provoke popular disturbances. Fortified by an
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 257
Imperial Edict he finally declared ( March 31 , 1849 ) the opening
of Canton city impossible because the Chinese Government
cannot thwart the inclinations of its people.' Sir George's
practical common sense forbade, under present circumstances,
his taking the bull by the horns. In view of the state of public
feeling in England, and in the interest of the general commerce
with China, he deemed it prudent to abstain from using the
only argument that would have made an impression on the
Chinese mind, that of an armed demonstration. Nor did he
shrink from making a public confession of his helplessness by
notifying the British merchants at Canton (April 2 , 1849 )
that the Chinese Government has declined to carry into effect
the stipulation entered into by Kiying on April 6 , 1847. Sir
George took, however, prompt measures to afford to the British
community at Canton all possible protection in the event of
the outbreak of those disturbances which the literati of Canton
wantonly threatened but wisely refrained from in the presence
of a British gunboat . That Sir G. Bonham, in resorting to
the waiting game he played in this case, acted upon his own
convictions and not merely under pressure of his instructions,
is evident from the fact that about this same time (April 20 ,
1849 ) Lord Palmerston , in replying to a Memorial of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce (of October 12, 1848 )
concerning the unsatisfactory position of trade with China,
quoted Sir G. Bonham as having stated that it is necessary to
allow time to work an improvement in China.'
Nevertheless Sir George did not rest idly on his diplomatic
oars. In March, 1850, he protested so vigorously against an
attempt made by the Hoppo of Canton to prevent Hongkong
river-steamers carrying Chinese cargo between Hongkong and
Canton, that the Canton Authorities yielded the point . But as
he despaired of obtaining any radical concessions in the matter
of Treaty rights from any of the provincial magnates, Sir George
endeavoured to gain for his representations the Imperial ear
and proceeded for that purpose in H.M.S. Reynard (June,
1850) to the Peiho with the intention to proceed to Tientsin
17
258 CHAPTER XV.
and Peking. Circumstances, however, prevented his reaching
Tientsin and compelled him to rest satisfied with the forwarding
of a dispatch to the Emperor's advisers by the hands of
Mr. Medhurst. Although no tangible result was obtained,
H.M. Government marked their sense of Sir G. Bonham's
discreet diplomacy by promoting him (November 22 , 1850 ) from
the third to the second rank of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B. )
and bestowed on him at the same time a baronetcy.
Though highly thought of, Sir G. Bonham was not always
victorious with his representations to the Foreign Office . Being,
like most common -sense Europeans in China, of opinion that
the close attention indispensable for a successful study of the
Chinese language warps the mind and imbues it with a defective
perception of the common things of real life, he systematically
promoted men, having no knowledge of Chinese, over the heads
of interpreters to the more responsible posts of Vice- Consul or
Consul. But when he did this in the case of Mr. (subsequently
Sir) Harry Parkes in Canton (autumn, 1853) , there ensued what
was thenceforth called the Battle of the Interpreters . ' In this
battle Sir George was worsted . Sir Harry Parkes ' case was
indeed an exceptional one. He had just gained special kudos.
as an uncommonly shrewd man by his prudent dealing with
the fracas which occurred at Canton (March, 1853 ) between
the European residents and the French Minister M. de Bourbillon
over the erection of a French flagstaff in the garden of the
factories. On appealing therefore against Sir G. Bonham's
decision to Lord Clarendon, Sir Harry Parkes gained a complete
victory by an immediate reversal of Sir George's system of
withholding promotion from Consular interpreters.
In the sphere of British diplomacy in China, there was at
this time specially gool reason for the waiting policy which
Sir G. Bonham initiated and which even Dr. Bowring, during
his brief term as Acting Plenipotentiary in 1852 , continued .
The fact was, a serious rebellion, preceded by sporadic dis-
turbances in several districts of the Canton province, broke out
in 1850 in the adjoining province of Kwangsi, under the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 259
leadership of a religious fanatic, Hung Siu-tsuen, who had come
under Christian influences in Canton. This rebellion , which was
for the first time mentioned in the newspapers of Hongkong on
August 24, 1850, had originally the powerful support of the
secret Triad societies. A split , however, took place, and while
the adherents of Hung Siu-tsuen commenced, in 1852 , their
devastating march through the central provinces of China and
established, in 1853, the short-lived Taiping Dynasty at Nanking ,
the Triad societies ' bands of insurgents pillaged independently
town after town in the maritime provinces of southern China .
As these marauders gained power, and gradually drew nearer
to Canton city, the Colony of Hongkong began to reap the
harvest which invariably falls to its lot whenever the adjoining
districts of the Canton province are in a disturbed state. A
flood tide of emigration set in towards Hongkong (and Macao)
and thence to the Straits Settlements, to California and the
West Indies. For San Francisco alone as many as 30,000
Chinese embarked in Hongkong in the year 1852, paying in
Hongkong, in passage money alone, a sum of $ 1,500,000 .
Various branches of Chinese industry were established in
Hongkong. The population increased rapidly, and Chinese
capital, seeking a safe refuge from the clutches of the marauders,
commenced to flow into the Colony for investment .
Although the British Government determined at first to
observe strict neutrality, the question soon arose which of the
two contending Dynasties, the Taiping rebels (favoured by the
Missionary party) or the Manchu rulers (supported by the
mercantile community) would be more likely to bring about
that moral regeneration of the nation without which China
could never fully enter into the comity of nations. This
important question became more pressing when Taiping armies
approached or took possession of Treaty ports ( 1852 and 1853)
threatening a cessation of trade. Sir G. Bonham therefore
took the bold step of proceeding (April, 1853) to the
headquarters of the Taiping rebels enthroned at Nanking. His
object was to explain to the rebel leaders, as he had done to
260 CHAPTER XV.
the Imperialists, the principles of British neutrality, to demand'
of them a strict observance of the Nanking Treaty of 1842,
and to inquire what elements of stability there might be in-
the rebel government then established at Nanking. The
result was complete disillusion on both sides. The rebels
understood thenceforth what they had to expect from the British
Government. Sir G. Bonham, on the other hand, was now able
to satisfy the Foreign Office that the Taiping Dynasty was a
mere bubble, that their policy was as anti-foreign as that of the
Manchus, and that even less was to be expected from the former
than from the latter for an eventual repression of that cancer
of corruption which is gnawing at the vitals of China's political
organism . Sir George's action, in visiting the rebel leaders, was
afterwards severely and adversely criticized, but the mercantile
community of Hongkong were unanimous in their applause
of his proceedings. In the farewell address presented to Sir
George on 7th April, 1854, the leading merchants of Hongkong
specially praised him for having acted with prompitude in
restoring confidence and relieving the public mind at Shanghai,
at a moment of great alarm and excitement, by his bold, well-
judged and successful movement up the Yang-tsze to Nanking
in April, 1853.'
Now this same patient but practical and determined common
sense, which marked Sir G. Bonham's policy as H.M. Plenipo-
tentiary in China, characterized also his administration of
Hongkong's local affairs. It appears from the last dispatch
which he penned in Hongkong, that he from the first considered
himself bound by the opinions expressed by the Committee of
the House of Commons in the session of 1847 , but that he
was by no means satisfied with the conclusions which the
Committee arrived at . However, the constitutional questions
of popular representation in Legislative Council and municipal
organisation were among the first subjects which occupied
Governor Bonham's serious attention.
In January, 1849 , the leading merchants signed a Petition
to the House of Commons soliciting attention to the fact that
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 261
the Colonial Office had, with the exception of the land tenure
which it seemed inclined to offer in perpetuity, not attended
as yet to the recommendations of the Report of the Parliamentary
Committee of 1847, and stating that the expenditure of the
Colony should not in any great degree be thrown on local
commerce : that a system of municipal government of ordinary
and local affairs ought to be established ; and that some short
code of law ought to be drawn up. The petitioners particularly
complained that the inhabitants had no share in the legislature,
neither by elective representatives nor by nominees selected by
the Governor, and that the forms and fees of the Supreme Court
were unduly heavy. There is no record shewing that this
Petition was ever presented to Parliament. Sir George, however,
forwarded (January 30 , 1849 ) a copy of the Petition for the
information of the Colonial Office. Nine months later, he
selected fifteen of the unofficial Justices of the Peace and
summoned them to a conference (November 3 , 1849 ) . He
informed them that Earl Grey had sanctioned his proposal for
the admission of two members of the civil community into
the Legislative Council, that the nomination rested with him,
but that he thought it better for the Justices themselves to elect
two of their number. A meeting of the Justices of the Peace
was accordingly held at the Club on 6th December, 1849 , and
Messrs . David Jardine and 'J. F. Edger were nominated as the
first non-official Members of the Legislative Council. The fact
that their election had to be approved by the Colonial Office
and that they could not be sworn in until the Queen's warrants
arrived (June 14, 1850) , did not detract from the general rejoicing
over this first step gained in the direction of representative
government .
At that same conference (November 3, 1849 ) Sir G. Bonham
had also stated , that, whilst agreeing with the principle of giving
taxpayers some sort of municipal government, he doubted the
practicability of the scheme in the case of Hongkong. He
-quoted the words of Sir James Mackintosh (regarding the
Bombay municipality) that men of standing, engaged in their
262 CHAPTER XV.
own absorbing pursuits would possess neither time nor inclination
to devote to the interests of the public .' However, he requested
the fifteen Justices of his selection to consult on the organisation
of a 6 Municipal Committee of Police Commissioners." The
Justices thereupon passed, at their meeting of 6th December,
1849 , the following resolutions,-first , that no advantage can
be derived from having a Municipal Council , unless the entire
management of the Police, of the streets and roads within the
precincts of the town, and of all other matters usually given
to corporations are confided to it, and secondly that , whereas
the mode of raising so large a revenue from land rents is only
retained as being the most convenient and is in lieu of assessment
and taxes, consequently the amount raised from that source,
together with the £ 3,000 or 4,000 raised from licences and
rents, should, with the police assessments, be applicable, as far as
may be required, for municipal purposes. If the Justices had
been satisfied to begin, in a small way, as a mere Committee
of Police Commissioners, looking to future improvement of the
revenue to provide the means for extending the scope of their
functions, Hongkong would not have remained for fifty years
longer without municipal government. As it was, they demanded
a full-blown Municipal Council under impossible financial
conditions. Governor Bonham, earnestly desiring to meet the
wishes of the community as far as possible, made later on some
fresh propositions (January 10 , 1851 ) . He offered to place the
whole management of the Police under a Municipal Committee
on condition that the entire expense of the Police Force be
provided by an adequate police tax. He further proposed to
hand over to this Committee the management of streets, roads
and sewers, on condition that the requisite funds be provided
either by an assessed tax on real property (as proposed formerly
by a Draft Ordinance of Sir J. Davis), or by a tax upon horses
and carriages. Sir George was evidently determined on reserving
the land rents to meet the establishment charges and, at great
risk to his popularity, strove not only to raise the general revenue
by increased taxation but to make the Colony as soon as possible
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 263
independent of those Parliamentary Grants on which the
community meant to lean for ever. To reconcile these conflicting
purposes was impossible. A breach in the Governor's good
relations with the community seemed inevitable. The virulent
odium which Sir J. Davis bad incurred threatened to overwhelin
Sir G. Bonham also. What saved his policy and popularity
from shipwreck, was his persistent habit of taking the leaders
of the community into his confidence, of consulting public
opinion about his difficulties, and most of all his evident
sincerity in seeking not only to establish the coveted Muni-
cipal Council, but to carry into effect the whole programine
sketched out by the Parliamentary Committee of 1847. That
programme constituted the political creed of the community
and the Governor had made it his own. The Justices could
not be angry with a man who did this and who moreover
treated them as a sincere friend . In their replies (January 31
and March, 1 , 1851 ) they declined good -humouredly both of
the Governor's offers . Whilst again expressing their willingness
to undertake the duties of a Municipal Committee , they objected ,
first, that any further taxation would be injurious as the cost
of living was already exorbitant, and secondly that the police
tax would not be sufficient to provide the necessary funds because,
whilst the Colony remained a rendezvous for pirates and outlaws,
making even the harbour unsafe for native traders, the Police
Force was too small and composed of too untrustworthy and
ill-paid material. Addison would have said of the points in
dispute that much might be said on both sides. The discussion
closed with the Governor's declaration (March 15, 1851 ) that, as
the Justices objected to any further taxation, and as application
to the Home Government for further grants of money would, in
view of recent discussions in the House of Commons, be of no
avail, it was impossible for him to meet the views of the Justices .
Greek had fought Greek on the arena of common sense views of
finance and both parties were pleased to terminate the conflict .
The finances of the Colony were indeed in a desperate
state. When the Governor published (January 8 , 1849) a
264 CHAPTER XV.
statement of income and expenditure for the year 1848, shewing
£23.509 local revenue (apart from the Parliamentary Grant)
and £ 62,308 expenditure, a local paper summed up the position
of affairs by saying, the Colony is now in a state of insolvency,
the public works are suspended and the officials only paid a
portion of their salaries.' The difficulty was enhanced by the
fact that a public loan was out of the question , that the
Parliamentary Grant for 1849 had been reduced to £ 25,000,
and that but little could be saved by retrenchment of the civil
establishment without committing an act of injustice or impairing
efficiency. Sir George was, indeed, even then of the opinion
which he expressed later on , that, were this Colony taxed in
the same way as are the Settlements in the Straits under the
government of the East India Company, it would in a year
or two be made to pay its own expenses.' But he also knew
that any attempt at additional taxation would be violently
resisted by the community as injurious to trade. All eyes
were therefore directed to the Imperial Exchequer. Sir George
himself appears to have considered the temporary continuance
of a small annual grant from the Exchequer a reasonable
measure. Seeing,' he wrote ( April 2 , 1850) , ' that the trade
of the Colony benefits the British Exchequer and the Indian
Government conjointly to the extent of upwards of seven millions
Sterling, an expenditure on the part of the mother country of
from £ 12,000 to £ 15,000 annually, to uphold the establishment
of a Colony which is the seat of the Superintendent of British
trade with China, ought not to be considered excessive.' This
was, however, a question to be decided by Parliament, and
public opinion in England declared that the Colony was now
out of its swaddling clothes and ought to learn to stand on
its own legs.
Sir G. Bonham did his best to bring about this desirable
result by revising taxation as far as practicable and enforcing
retrenchment in every possible direction . For the ad valorem
duty on goods sold by auction , he substituted increased
auctioneers' licence fees . He introduced a tax on the exportation
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 265
of granite which was at the time largely used as ballast for
tea ships. He shrank from reviving the opium monopoly, but
stimulate the revenue from the opium retail licences which
had been substituted (since August 1 , 1847 ) for the farming
system . He left the police tax assessment untouched at the
low rate of 5 per cent. but reduced the expensive European
contingent of the Police Force to the lowest possible minimum.
Finally he restricted public works (with the exception of the
erection of a new Government House) to the bare maintenance
of existing roads and buildings . By these and other minor
forms of retrenchment, he produced at the close of the year
1849 an immediate reduction of £ 23,672 on the expenditure
of the preceding year. He thenceforth maintained this low
rate of expenditure ( £ 38,986 in 1849 ) which averaged £ 34,398
per annum during the next three years and rose in 1853 to no
more than £36,418 . He was unable, indeed , to bring about any
great improvement of the local revenue, which, though it rose
temporarily, by the rigorous exaction of arrears of land rent in
1849 , to £ 35,536, fell again to £ 23,526 in 1850, and produced
during the next three years ( 1851 to 1853 ) an annual average
of £23,254. However, at the close of his administration he was
justified in saying ( April 7, 1854) that he had brought the Parlia-
mentary Grant from £25,000 in 1849 down to £ 8,500 (correctly
£9,200) in 1853, and that he had reduced the expenditure of
the Colony, within six years, from £ 62,658 to £ 36,418 .
During a period of such financial difficulties, the vexed
question of land tenure could not possibly be solved in the way
in which the mercantile community desired it to be settled .
The merchants were not satisfied with perpetuity of leases . They
desired an entire revision of the terms on which they had
originally bought their land . Instead of fixing an annual rental
and putting up to auction only the rate of bonus to be paid once
for all, Elliot had ( in the absence of a reliable standard of
land values) initiated the system of putting up to auction the
rate of the crown rent to be paid from year to year. In the early
times of keen competition , of booms and speculations, land
266 CHAPTER XV.
jobbing forced up the crown rents to a maximum commensurate
with inflated values. But this maximum, which at the time of sale
seemel reasonable enough, appeared in after years of commercial
stagnation to be a monstrously oppressive rate. Moreover, just
when these rents pressed most heavily on the land owners, the
Government , whose revenues suffered likewise under commercial
depression, was leas: inclined , nor indeed in a position , to reduce
the income from land rents. At a public meeting , principally
representing the land owners, a Memorial to the Government
was agreed to (January 19, 1849 ) , complaining that the land
rents were a burden too heavy to be borne. The memorialists
suggested, that the expenses of the civil establishment should
be made to fall on trade generally (the Imperial trade) and
not on local owners of land and that the crown rents should
be materially reduced or abolished . Sir George was in no hurry
to take up a problem which could not be solved under the
circumstances of the time and left it as a legacy to his successors.
After appointing (October, 1849) a Commission of Inquiry to
report on the land tenure of the Colony for the information of
Her Majesty's Government, he informed his select committee
of Justices of the Peace, at the conference of November 3 ,
1849, that any general reduction in the ground rents would be
immediately followed up by the Home Government with the
imposition of some general scheme of excise or assessment which
would be found much more oppressive and vexatious, besides
requiring a cumbersome and costly fixed machinery .' Fifteen
months later (February 14, 1851 ) the Colonial Secretary , in
reviewing the merits of Sir G. Bonham's administration (by
order of the Governor ) , stated that the petty sources of revenue
alleged to have been oppressive, had been abolished and for
the consideration of the chief source, said to be oppressive , a
Committee of five was appointed and their report forwarded
to Her Majesty's Government . No more was heard of this
troublous question during this administration .
The legislative activity of Governor Bonham's regime
centered in reforms of the administration of justice. When
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 267
it was found, in October 1848 , that there were only 23 persons
in the Colony capable of serving on juries, the Governor reduced
the property qualification of common jurors from $ 1,000 to
$500 . According to his habit of consulting the community
about difficult problems, Sir G. Bonham published, in January,
1849, with a view to elicit an expression of public opinion , a
Draft Ordinance to regulate the flogging of criminals. Little
accustomed, as the residents then were, to being consulted by
their Governors, they imagined that Sir George had no definite
views on a subject on which the whole community, convinced
of the absolute necessity of applying exceptional severity to the
treatment of Chinese criminals, felt very strongly. Nevertheless,
the Governor deemed it prudent to shelve the question, while-
weightier matters pressed for settlement. To remove the friction
between the Police Magistrates and the Chief Justice, which
had troubled the preceding administration, Sir George created
(December 17 , 1850) a bench of Magistrates , perfectly independent
of the Government and having powers considerably greater than
those ordinarily accorded to similar bodies, by the establishment
of a Court of Petty Sessions . Unofficial Justices of the Peace
were to sit once a week with the Police Magistrates to hear
cases which otherwise would have been remitted to the Supreme
Court for trial by jury. The aim of this new measure ( Ordinance
5 of 1850 ) was to provide a more speedy settlement of small
debts, misdemeanours and minor crimes. But it expected, on
the part of the Justices, a greater readiness to sacrifice their time
and more legal acumen, than subsequent experience proved that
they possessed. Hence this measure did not give permanent
satisfaction. Further, as the Governor, in his capacity as
Plenipotentiary, extended at the same time the judicial powers
of Consuls in Treaty ports at the expense of Supreme Court
jurisdiction, many of his critics (and seemingly the Chief Justice
himself) saw in this creation of a Court of Petty Sessions an
objectionable encroachment upon the criminal jurisdiction of
the Supreme Court . An opposition paper went so far as to
impute to Sir G. Bonham the intention of eventually abolishing
268 CHAPTER XV.
the costly Supreme Court altogether by the appointment of civil
-officers combining judicial and administrative functions under
a system of plurality of offices which would save expenditure.
However, the Governor made no such attempt . On the contrary,
he extended the summary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
to civil cases not involving more than $500, and pleased the
community considerably in giving effect to another suggestion
of the Parliamentary Committee of 1847 by publishing, for
the protection of suitors, a table of fees chargeable by attorneys.
The question of the form of oath to be administered to Chinese
witnesses occupied public attention in December, 1851 , the
Chief Justice having stated that he was greatly afraid that
fully half the cases adjudicated summarily had been determined
on false testimony. Originally the practice had been adopted
of making Chinese witnesses cut a cock's head in Court.
Subsequently the breaking of an earthen-ware basin was sub-
stituted and latterly it had been customary to burn a yellow
paper with oath and imprecation inscribed on it or signed by
the witness. The modern practice of a simple (though generally
unintelligible) oral affirmation in place of oath was now (in)
1852 ) adopted. Among the minor Ordinances passed during
this administration was an Ordinance to restrain the careless
manufacture of gunpowder by Chinese (August 31 , 1848 ) , and
a Marriage Ordinance ( March 16 , 1852 ) the operation of which
was, however, confined to the registration of Christian marriages ,
leaving the polygamic marriage system of the Chinese unregulated .
Sir G. Bonham's common sense administration is naturally dis-
tinguished by the paucity of itslegal enactments . The strained
relations which formerly existed between the Governor and Chief
Justice Hulme (who was restored to office on June 16 , 1848 )
were ended. But the Chief Justice's relations with Governor
Bonham, though never unfriendly, were not marked by cordiality.
Among the community, however, Chief Justice J. W. Hulme
was extremely popular. On his departure (April 7, 1854) the
leading residents presented him with an address testifying to
the high character he had always maintained on the bench, to
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 269
his satisfactory administration of the law under perplexing
difficulties, and to his undeviating impartiality and uprightness .
During the first two years of Sir G. Bonham's adminis
tration , crime was still rife in the Celony, but from the year
1850 there was, with the exception of piracy, a sensible
decrease of serious offences. Occasional outbursts of a grave
nature were, indeed, not wanting, but the number of felonies,
674 in 1850, fell during the next two years to an average
of 505 cases per annum, and was reduced in 1853 to 471
cases. An attempt was made by Chinese, on July 8 , 1848 ,
to poison 25 men of the Royal Artillery. This was followed
by a fight in the harbour between the police, assisted by boats
of H.M.S. Cambrian, and some junks ( October 15 , 1848 ) . Three
Chinese junkmen and a policeman were shot . The Coroner's
jury, however, acquitted the junk people and public opinion.
blamed the police . Next came an attempt (December 24, 1848 )
to fire the Central Market. Soon after (February 28, 1849)
occurred the murder at Wongmakok (near Stanley) of Captain
da Costa , R.E., and Lieutenant Dwyer of the Ceylon Rifles,
by the pirate chief Chui Apou , who was subsequently ( March 10 ,
1851 ) convicted of manslaughter but committed suicide in jail .
In September, 1849, a foolish rumour gained currency among
the native population to the effect that the Chinese Government
had offered a reward for the assassination of Governor Bonham.
The suggestion was, however, seriously made, and subsequently
acted upon, that in his carriage drives the Governor should
always be attended by an escort of armed troopers, During
September, 1850, some street fights occurred owing to the
carpenters' guild intimidating independent journeymen who
refused to submit to the guild regulations. With the exception
of a murderous attack made upon the Rev. Van Geniss (August ,
1852 ) , on the road between Little Hongkong and Wongnaichung,
the latter years of this administration were remarkably free
from highway robberies and burglaries.
But piracy lifted up its head high during this period , in
spite of the periodical destruction of piratical fleets by British
270 CHAPTER XV.
gunboats. By a series of hotly contested engagements ( September
28 to October 3 , 1849 ) , Commander J. C. Dalrymple Hay,
with H.M. Ships Columbine, Fury, and Medea, destroyed the
entire fleet of Chui Apou, consisting of 23 junks, carrying 12
to 18 guns each and manned by 1,800 desperadoes . Two piratical
dock-yards were also destroyed on the same occasion . A few
weeks later (October 19 to 22, 1849 ) , Commander Hay, having
under his orders H.M. Ships Phlegeton, Fury, Columbine, and
a large party of officers and men from H.M.S. Hastings,
destroyed the greater part of the fleet of the other pirate chief,
Shap-ng-tsai . Out of 64 junks, manned by 3,150 men with
1,224 guns, as many as 58 junks were destroyed . Commander
Hay officially reported that these successes were obtained on
the information given by that invaluable officer Daniel R.
Caldwell.' So intense was the rejoicing in commercial circles
of Hongkong over these wholesale massacres of pirates, that
a public subscription was raised and each of the captains present
at the destruction of Shap-ng-tsai's fleet, was presented with
a service of plate of the value of £ 200 . A third piratical fleet
of 13 junks, collected by Chui Apou, was destroyed (March 4,
1850) in Mirs Bay, close to Hongkong, by H.M.S. Medea
which had on board Mr. Caldwell and a Mandarin from Kowloon.
Finally, on May 10, 1853, another piratical fleet was destroyed
by H.M.S. Rattler. Nevertheless , sporadic cases of piracy
continued to increase in the neighbourhood of Hongkong. On
February 20, 1851 , a pitched battle was fought in Aberdeen
Bay between some piratical junks and 8 Chinese gunboats. A
week later ( February 28, 1851 ) a conspiracy to loot the river-
steamer Hongkong on her way to Canton , was discovered by
Mr. Caldwell. In the year 1852 some 19 cases of piracy were
reported as having occurred in the waters of Hongkong.
During the summer of 1853 piracies occurred at an average
rate of 14 per month . As many as 70 cases were reported
during the year 1853, the most shocking case being the murder
(August 5 , 1853 ) of the captain, officers and passengers of the
S.S. Arratoon Apcar, by the Chinese crew .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 271
The Government was almost helpless in the matter of piracy.
Sir G. Bonham did what he could to organize a detective
department and appointed for this purpose the best colloquial
linguist Hongkong ever possessed , Mr. D. R. Caldwell, as
Assistant-Superintendent of Police ( September 1 , 1848 ) . His
services were highly effective, particulary in connection with
piracy cases. The patent failure of the Police, with regard to
the prevention of crime, was unavoidable, as this extraordinary
activity of Chinese criminals on land and sea was the natural
corrollary of the Taiping and Triad rebellion, and as the Police
Force was deficient in numerical strength so long as financial
considerations prevented its re-organisation on a proper footing.
Governor Bonham, who thought the Force was quite sufficient
for the policing of the town, stated at the close of his
administration that, while the Colony had been improving in
every respect, and contentment prevailed throughout the entire
population, the only subject of regret was the extent to which
piracy prevailed in the neighbouring waters. To suppress it , '
he added, ' is impossible without the co-operation of the Chinese
Government. This co-operation I have repeatedly requested
without avail, and in the present disorganized state of the
sea-board part of the Empire it is now useless to expect it.'
It has already been stated that to the Taiping rebellion
is due the great advance ( 81 per cent. ) which the population
made during this period . Even the proportion of males and
females commenced now to improve, as the disturbances in
the neighbouring districts drove whole families to seek refuge
in Hongkong. In 1848 the population numbered 21,514
residents. In 1849 it rose to 29,507 and by the year 1853 it
numbered 39,017 residents . In 1848 one fifth and in 1853
one third of the population were females.
The development of the Colony's commercial prosperity
kept pace with the increase of the population . The fresh streams
that stirred the stagnant pool of local commerce into renewed
life came, however, not merely from the rebellion-fed source
of Chinese emigration, but to a great extent also from the
272 CHAPTER XV.
discovery of the Californian gold- fields, from the development
of the North-Pacific whale and seal fisheries, from the progress
made by the Australian Colonies and from the opening up of
Japan to British trade and civilization . It may be said, in fact ,
that it was during this period that the Pacific Ocean commenced
to rise into that commercial importance, which, as it has
increased ever since, including also the smaller islands of Oceania,
is bound to make the Pacific ere long one of the most important
centres of the world's commercial politics.
The fresh life infused into the arteries of local commerce
naturally manifested itself in the first instance by an increase in
the shipping trade. The number of square-rigged vessels regularly
frequenting the port increased during this period from 700 to 1,103,
while their tonnage was nearly doubled . Ship-building went on
briskly at J. Lamont's patent slip at East Point and from 16 to
30 European vessels were annually registered in the Colony. The
native junk trade, though restrained by piracy, also increased
considerably. The system of employing small British steamers
to convoy and protect by force of arms fleets of native junks,
continued so long as the coast of China was infested with
swarms of piratical fleets. Of course this practice had its atten-
dant evils. The Chinese Authorities protested against it and
British naval commanders were its sworn enemies. One of the
latter arrested the little steamer Spec and prosecute her captain
and crew in the Consular Court at Shanghai on a charge of
piracy, for having fired into junks which were mistaken for
pirates. The prosecution, however, fell to the ground when
tried in the Supreme Court of Hongkong (September, 1848 ) .
Governor Bonham was averse to the convoying system, but
Her Majesty's Government permitted its continuance as it had
its justification in the fact that the spasmodic efforts, made by
the few British men -of-war on the station to suppress piracy, were
practically of no avail so long as the Chinese rebellion continued .
Lord Palmerston also informed the Governor (in 1848 ) that
Chinese vessels in tow of British merchant vessels have a right
to British protection .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 273
The opening of the gold- fields in the Sacramento valley
in 1848 and the organisation of the new State of California
in 1850 caused a new line of commerce to connect Hongkong
with San Francisco. It commenced (July, 1849 ) with large
orders for slop clothes and wooden houses (shipped in frame)
which were made in Hongkong . Next, Chinese artizans were
sent to California to set up those houses. These were followed
by an annually increasing stream of Chinese emigrants embarking
at Hongkong for San Francisco and a steadily developing trade
in all sorts of articles . In the year 1851 forty-four vessels left
Hongkong for California and this line of connection has been
maintained ever since.
In December, 1848 , a few American whalers put into
Hongkong to refit and were so pleased with the resources of
the Colony that for many years after they repeated their visits
in increasing numbers. Thirteen such vessels arrived at the
close of the year 1849. Between December 1850 and March
1851 , fifteen vessels arrived laden with oil, of which a considerable
portion was shipped in British bottoms to England under the
navigation laws. As each of these vessels spent about £ 500
in the Colony, their visits were hailed with satisfaction, apart
from the incipient oil trade connected with them. During the
next season as many as 37 whalers arrived (December 2, 1851
to February 21 , 1852 ) with 616,203 gallons of oil, of which
however only a small portion was shipped from Hongkong to
London.
Coolie emigration to Peru and Cuba , though chiefly conducted
at Macao, because the crimping and kidnapping system connected
with it would not have been tolerated in Hongkong, benefitted
the Colony at first to some extent (in 1852 ) . But the frequent
mutinies which occurred among the coolies shipped on that
system soon caused British skippers to eschew the Peruvian
coolie trade. Properly regulated coolie emigration to Guiana
commenced in 1853 under the direction of Mr. J. Gardiner
Austin, the Immigration Agent - General of the Government of
British Guiana. Emigration to Australia commenced in a small
18
274 CHAPTER XV.
way, in 1853, with three vessels carrying 268 Chinese settlers .
The restrictive policy which in after years, when pushed to an
extreme, banished coolie emigration from the Colony, was initiated
by Governor Bonham in a proclamation (January 4, 1854)
which, however, did not go beyond regulating the provisioning
and dietary scale of coolie ships.
At the close of Sir G. Bonham's administration, the
conviction forced itself upon Hongkong merchants that the
Nanking Treaty, though it improved British relations with China,
had commercially but little effect, and that the expansion of
trade that took place since the year 1843 would anyhow have
resulted from purely natural causes. The returns of the Board
of Trade shewed that the import of British manufactures into
China was, at the close of the year 1850 , less by nearly three-
quarters of a million sterling, compared with what it was in 1844.
Exports of tea and silk increased indeed enormously, but this
increase was chiefly owing to opium and specie and not to the
vast trade in manufactured goods which had been expected to
result from the Nanking Treaty. It was seen at last that what
restrains the influx of British fabrics into the interior of China
is not the paucity of open ports but the fact that the industry
of China can beat British power- looms with regard to both the
cost of production and the durability of the fabric.
The opium trade of the Colony, which Sir Robert Peel's
Government had at one time (in 1846 ) intended to suppress
by the imposition of a prohibitive tax, entered in spring 1853
into its present state of legitimate commerce, through the decision
of the Chinese Government to legalise the importation of opium.
The published raison d'être of this decision was the inefficiency
of the laws against opium by reason of their excessive severity.'
In reality, however, Chinese statesmen, as they had been induced
by financial considerations to prohibit the importation of opium
in 1839, now legalised its importation in 1853 on purely financial
grounds. In 1839 they excluded Indian opium because it
drained China of its silver. In 1853 they imposed a heavy
import duty on Indian opium to provide funds for the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 275
suppression of the Taiping rebellion. But whatever treatment
they accorded to Indian opium, they all along permitted the
cultivation of native opium in the inland provinces .
Questions of currency were much debated in Hongkong
during this period, since October, 1850, when the comparatively
rare Spanish dollars commanded a high premium in the market
at Canton, where at the time the bulk of Hongkong exchange
operations was conducted. Rather sudden fluctuations occurred.
in 1851 , placing Mexican dollars, rupees and English money
at an enormous discount. Various schemes were propounded
to smooth matters, but all proved futile. In 1852, the coinage
of a British dollar was first mooted in connection with the
resolution of a public meeting held at Singapore (January, 1852 )
which suggested the coinage of an East India Company's dollar
with divisions of half, quarter and eighth dollars for circulation
in the Straits. Unfortunately the proposal was shelved for years .
By notification of April 27 , 1853, Sir G. Bonham published a
Royal proclamation of October 16, 1852 , to the effect that, where-
as hitherto the silver coins of the United Kingdom had passed
current in Hongkong (and some other British Colonies) as an
unlimited tender for payments, they should henceforth (as in
England) not be a legal tender in payment of sums exceeding
forty shillings due by or to the Government. This proclamation ,
artificially bolstering up a theoretical gold standard, which had
no commercial reality in the Colony, came into force on October
1 , 1853 , and delayed the rehabilitation of Hongkong's original
silver (dollar) standard. Meanwhile contention arose in
Hongkong through contradictory official decisions . In January,
1854, the Chief Justice ruled that, when an agreement runs
for dollars of any denomination, such dollars must be paid
with - in English money-whatever premium they command in
the Hongkong market,' and again, that Court fees must be
paid in dollars, but that it is not proper to refuse English money
in payment of costs.' On the other hand, the Colonial Treasurer
(W. T. Mercer) made an order (February 9 , 1854 ) that ' all
Government land rents must for the future be paid in dollars
276 CHAPTER XV.
according to the terms of the lease. ' As the Colonial Treasurer
refused the Queen's sovereigns, which about this time had been
declared by the Lords of the Treasury to be a legal discharge
for the sums they represented throughout Her Majesty's
dominions ' and to require no further Colonial enactment for
their legalisation, complaints were made on all sides . The
contention was accentuated by the fact that the Colonial
Treasurer took dollars at a fixed rate of four shillings and
twopence though the market value might be five shillings.
Steam communication between Hongkong and Canton was
placed on a satisfactory basis by the establishment ( October 19 ,
1848) of the Hongkong and Canton Steam Packet Company.'
The first Hongkong Directors of this Company were Messrs .
D. Matheson, A. Campbell , T. D. Neave and F. T. Bush. They
commenced operations in spring 1849 with two small steamers
(of 250 tons each) built in London. The Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company commenced in 1849 running
a steamer (the Lady Mary Wood) regularly between Hongkong
and Shanghai, but failed in an attempt, made in December 1850,
to induce local merchants to pay a monthly subsidy in lieu of
postage. The same Company established, in January 1853 ,
a regular monthly mail between Hongkong and Calcutta, giving
thereby the Colony the advantage of regular fortnightly
communication with England . Telegrams had to be sent through
intermediary agents at Gibraltar or Trieste, the latter route
becoming now the favourite. The increased facilities thus
provided, were not much relished by Hongkong merchants,
because they accentuated the keenness of competition. The
leisure with which business was formerly conducted in the time
of monthly mails, was now supplanted by an annually increasing
high- pressure rate of communication with all parts of the world .
In other respects also local trade had by this time undergone
an alteration. The profits of the China trade, formerly enjoyed
by a few, were now divided among the many. The days of
the merchant princes were now a dream of the past . Fortunes
were still made but it took some decades of years now to make
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 277
them. However, the commercial prospects of the Colony were
certainly extending and assuming a character of greater
permanency. When (in summer 1850 ) the great firms in India
were prostrated one after the other, the China firms dealing
with India bore the shock firmly with but one exception .
But it took years before Hongkong's commercial reputation
was rehabilitated in England. The Economist, which had
maligned the good fame of the Colony (in 1846), continued even
in 1851 ( March 8 ) to belittle the progress which had been
made meanwhile. How very little was thought or known of
Hongkong at this time even by those in authority in England,
is evidenced by the fact that the Royal Commissioners of the
International Exhibition of 1851 gave no place to Hongkong
as a Colony. They merely invited the merchants of Hongkong
to join in an exhibition representing China. Naturally resenting
this slight, the Committee, appointed at a public meeting that
was held on June 24, 1850, resolved to leave it to the Canton
Committee, which had already appointed numerous Sub-Com-
mittees, to take action . But the latter also threw up the project
and it was left to a few enthusiastic individuals in Canton
and Shanghai (chiefly Consuls) to collect and forward to
London specimens of Chinese produce and manufactures. China
merchants in London were the principal contributors. The only
exhibits representing Hongkong in that fair temple of the world's
commercial competition at Hyde Park consisted of a tiny
pagoda, a jade cup and two silver race cups exhibited by
Mr. W. Walkinshaw, and a North-China walking stick added
by Mr. F. S. Carpenter of St. John's Wood . The Royal
Commissioners further demonstrated the prevailing popular
ignorance of Hongkong's position by labelling and cataloguing
the Canton Consul's exhibits of specimens of Chinese coal as
•
collected by H.M. Consul at Hongkong.'
The sanitary record of this period presents a remarkable
illustration of the vagaries of Hongkong fever and of human
inability to restrain or even account for them. It had previously
been customary to attribute the origin of Hongkong fever to
278 CHAPTER XV.
exhalations from disturbed virgin soil arising after exposure
to sun and rain. In 1848, the Colonial Surgeon traced it to
the prevalence of electricity in the atmosphere. But during
the next few years fever put in a sudden and equally malignant
appearance in places where the soil had not been disturbed
and at times when electricity in the atmosphere was particularly
scarce. At a former period Hongkong fever attacked Indian
troops when it spared European troops . During the adminis-
tration of Sir G. Bonham fever raged epidemically in the
garrison, both European and Indian, while it left the civilian
population untouched . Thus it was particularly in July and
August, 1848 , when, after several months of excessive heat,
fever decimated the garrison to an alarming degree. The same
epidemic recurred among the garrison in July and August , 1850,
when no excessive heat but an unusually prolonged winter season
had preceded it. In the short interval of six weeks, the 59th
Regiment was more than decimated, 43 men having died (thought
many more were stricken with fever) between 14th July and 23rd
August, 1850, whilst the health of the civilians in Hongkong
continued generally good. It is noteworthy also that, after that
unusually prolonged winter of 1849 to 1850, an epidemic, having
all the appearances of the plague (black death) which devastated
London in 1665 , broke out in Canton in May, 1850, but, though
it raged there for several months, it did not spread to Hongkong-
In autumn ( 1850 ) , when the fever had ceased ravaging the
garrison of Hongkong, it broke out among the Chinese population .
It was then ascribed to long continued drought . From 1850 to
1853 the average annual death rate among the civilian European
population was 8 per cent. and among the Chinese 3 per cent .,
while among the troops it varied considerably. In 1850 the
death rate among European troops was 23 per cent. and among
the Indian troops 10 per cent. The case was reversed in 1852 ,
when the death rate of European troops was 3.6 per cent. and
that of the Indian troops 10.02 per cent. In 1851 and 1853
the death rate was the same among both classes of troops. But
whilst in all the preceding years fever appeared principally in
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 279
the summer months, it made its appearance among the garrison
in 1854 as early as April, when 73 men were stricken with fever
and dysentery in one month. Six cases of Beriberi, a disease
previously unknown in Hongkong, occurred at this time among
the Indian troops .
Great as the vagaries of disease were during this period ,
the divergencies of public opinion on the subject were still
greater. While English newspapers denounced Hongkong as a
pest-hole, while the music-halls in London resounded with the
popular refrain You may go to Hongkong for me, ' Governor
Bonham grew eloquent (in his annual reports ) on the salubrity
of the climate of Hongkong which he considered to be as well
adapted to the European constitution as other places similarly
situated within the tropics.' Equally great was the variation
of opinion among military and civilian surgeons as to the utility
of Peak sanatoriums. These were first recommended in 1848
by the Colonial Surgeon (Dr. Morrison), who suggested the
erection of a Government sanatorium at an altitude of 1,774 feet
above the sea.
The Colonial church was at last completed and formally
opened (March 11 , 1849 ) on the anniversary of the day on which
Sir J. Davis had laid the foundation stone. Unfortunately this
ceremony revived for a moment the community's bitter feelings.
against their former Governor, because his coat of arms, including
a bloody hand, was observed emblazoned over the porte cochère.
The indignant community assumed , probably without good
grounds, that this apparent impropriety, for which the Surveyor
General (Ch. St. J. Cleverly) was responsible, was due to instruc-
tions left by Sir J. Davis. The building was neatly fitted up.
As the cost of erection, even after leaving the tower without
a steeple, exceeded the funds available ( £ 4,600 ) , power was
given to the Trustees by a special Ordinance ( 3 of 1850 ) to
raise a loan to cover the deficit ( $ 2,500 ) . Advantage was taken
of this Ordinance to transfer the management of the Church
from the Colonial Chaplain to the Lorl Bishop of Victoria.
For letters patent had meanwhile been issued ( May 11 , 1849 )
280 CHAPTER XV.
declaring the Colony to be the diocese of a Lord Bishop and
constituting St. John's church as a cathedral church and bishop's
see. It appeared that a fund of £ 18,000 had been raised in
England for the endowment of a Hongkong bishopric, that an
annual grant of £ 6,000 from the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund had
been promised by the Bishop of London, and that an additional
sum of £2,000 was available for the special purposes of St. Paul's
College. The latter institution was to be (like Dr. Legge's
Anglo-Chinese College) a school for the training of Chinese
ministers, and the Bishop was appointed its warden under
statutes approved (October 15 , 1849 ) by the Archbishop of
Canterbury. The College received later on also a small Parlia-
mentary grant to train interpreters for the public service.
With the arrival (March 29, 1850) of the Bishop, G. Smith,
who consecrated the new cathedral in September, 1850, a period
of increased missionary and educational activity set in, for Bishop
Smith possessed stimulating energy and looked upon the whole
of China, as well as Hongkong, as his diocese. The Jewish
Colony at Kaifungfoo (in North- China ) received a share of
the Bishop's attention, a curious testimony of which is exhibited
in the City Hall Library in the shape of a portion of the Hebrew
pentateuch recovered from Kaifungfoo. The Taiping rebellion
and the missionary politics connected with it occupied much
of the Bishop's time. For the benefit of seamen passing through
Hongkong, the lorcha Anne was converted into a floating Bethel
in charge of a seamen's chaplain (Mr. Holdermann ) . The
Government Grant-in -Aid Schools were soon brought under the
supervision of the Bishop as chairman of the Educational
Committee, and worked as feeders of St. Paul's College. The
latter was taught (until 1849 ) by Mr. J. Summers (afterwards
Professor of Chinese Literature at King's College, London) and
subsequently by the Bishop himself and his chaplains . Though
the College produced not a single native minister, nor any
official interpreter, many of the best educated native residents
of the Colony received their training there. The same may
be said of Dr. Legge's Anglo -Chinese College which also failed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 281
to produce any native preacher or teacher but trained some
eminent English-speaking Chinese. While Bishop Smith was
great in religious politics, Dr. Legge made himself a European
reputation as the translator of the Chinese classics. On the
other hand, some of the scholars of the Morrison Institution ,
of the Anglo-Chinese College and of St. Paul's College, gained
at different times an unenviable notoriety in Police Court cases.
Hence the public drew the inference that, in the case of Chinese
youths, an English education, even when conducted on a religious
basis, fails to effect any moral reform, and rather tends to draw
out the vicious elements inherent in the Chinese character. The
mercantile community, which had hitherto munificently supported
missionary institutions, commenced about this time to withdraw
their sympathies from the missionary cause altogether. The
Morrison Education Society's School on Morrison Hill had
to be closed, in spring 1849 , for want of public support.
Mr. Stanton's English Children's School , under Mr. Drake,
also collapsed in 1849 and the attempt made by Miss Mitchell
to revive it resulted , in 1853, in complete failure . Dr. Gützlaff's
Chinese Union of native colporteurs, which had for many years
made a greater stir in Europe than in China, ended in October
1849 , during the temporary absence of Dr. Gützlaff, in a
miserable fiasco. The London Mission Hospital for Chinese,
having for some years past lost its hold on public sympathy,
was closed in October, 1850. The London Missionary Society
opened, however, a chapel in Queen's Road ( May, 1851 ) where
out-patients were occasionally attended to. As the mercantile
public became severe critics of the labours of the missionaries,
the latter now came to look upon Hongkong as a stumbling-
block to the progress of christianity and civilization in China. '
The Roman Catholic Missions, seeking on the quiet the support
of Government rather than of the public, continued the even
tenor of their way. They started several small schools which
gave to Portuguese youths an elementary English education
and thus commenced the work which eventually filled commercial
and Government offices with Portuguese clerks. The Chinese
282 CHAPTER XV.
population, who were still in the habit of sending their sons
to be educated outside the Colony, in Canton or in their
respective native villages, cared little for local education . Public
spirit among the Chinese vented itself in guild meetings,
processions and temple-committees . Among the latter, the
Committee of the Man-moo temple (rebuilt and enlarged in
May, 1851 ) now rose into eminence as a sort of unrecognized
and unofficial local-government board (principally made up by
Nampak-hong or export merchants) . This Committee secretly
controlled native affairs, acted as commercial arbitrators, arranged
for the due reception of mandarins passing through the Colony,
negotiated the sale of official titles, and formed an unofficial
link between the Chinese residents of Hongkong and the Canton
Anthorities.
With the advent of Sir G. Bonham, who possessed the
secret of making himself thoroughly popular without surrendering
a vestige of his dignity as Her Majesty's Representative, and
who was fortunate in having for his co-adjutors popular and
hospitable men like the Major-Generals Staveley and Jervois,
a great change came over the social life of the Colony . From
the very commencement of this administration , Hongkong society
began to take its tone from, and was thenceforth held together
by, the spirit that prevailed at Government House. The
transition, from the state of things in the days of Sir
H. Pottinger and Sir J. Davis, when Government House was
virtually under a self-imposed ban of social ostracism , to the
time of Sir G. Bonham, when the social life of the Colony
gathered round Government House as its pivot, was too sudden
and too great to pass off smoothly. When Sir George (November,
1849) selected fifteen of the unofficial Justices of the Peace,
summoned them to a conference, and thenceforth frequently
consulted them collectively or individually, he virtually created,
in succession to the merchant princes of former days, an untitled
commercial aristocracy. Unfortunately, this select company
had no natural basis of demarcation. Merchants, formerly of
equal standing with some of the chosen fifteen, resented their
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 283
exclusion from the charmed circle. Hence (particularly in
summer 1850 ) the epithets of flunkyism and toadyism were
freely applied to the attitude of the Governor's commercial
friends. Even among the latter, there arose occasionally
acrimonious questions of precedence at the gubernatorial dinner
table. Moreover the gradations of social rank thus originated
in the upper circles reproduced themselves in the middle and
lower strata of local society, which accordingly became subdivided
into mutually exclusive cliques and sets. The revival of the
Amateur Dramatic Corps (December 2, 1848 ) , the formation
of the Victoria Regatta Club (October 25, 1849) and the
establishment of a Cricket Club (June, 1851 ) , served, together
with the annual race meetings (transferred since 1850 from
January to February) , and the growing popularity of the Masonic
fraternity (which gave its first ball on February 1 , 1853 ) , to
contribute some powerful elements of social redintegration . The
presence, in 1852 and 1853 , of the U. S. Squadron , consisting
of seven vessels, under Commodore Perry, was also helpful to
level down invidious social distinctions . The sympathy which
always interconnected the mercantile community and the local
garrison, became specially conspicuous when , in 1848 , sickness
made such frightful ravages among the troops. The kindness
then shown , particularly by the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.,
to the non-commissioned officers and men of the 95th Regiment ,
was acknowledged on the part of the latter by the presentation,
to the head of that firm, of a memorial cup (February, 1849 ) .
The growingly cosmopolitan tone of public feeling in Hongkong
was evidenced by the universal approval given to the salute
which the British men-of-war in harbour fired on July 4, 1851 ,
in memory of the Declaration of the Independence of the
United States .
At the beginning of Sir G. Bonham's administration, a
Colonial Hospital was organised ( October 1 , 1848 ) and the
new Government offices (close to the Cathedral) completed
(November 10, 1848 ) . But with the exception of the erection
of a new Government House ( 1850 to 1853) , no other public
284 CHAPTER XV.
works of any pretension were undertaken . On August 8 , 1848 ,
a stirring paper from the pen of Dr. Gützlaff was read at a
meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, advocating the advantages
to be derived from the establishment of a Botanical Garden
in Hongkong. ' A Committee was forthwith appointed to make
inquiries as to the best site and cost of the undertaking . The
Government was also approached on the subject which was
warmly applauded on all sides. But financial considerations
caused Sir G. Bonham to postpone the execution of the scheme.
The private organisation (August , 1848 ) of the Victoria Library
and Reading Rooms (which laid the foundation for a future
public library) and the existence throughout this period of three
local newspapers and two advertisers, testified to the continuance
of a literary as well as commercial spirit in the Colony. The
temporary stay of Dr. Bowring in Hongkong ( 1852 to 1853)
fanned the languishing energies of the Royal Asiatic Society
into a new flame. Masonic pursuits were popularized by the
elaborate solemnity of laying the foundation stone ( February
1, 1853 ) of the Masonic Hall, under the direction of the
Provincial Grand Master (S. Rawson) of British Masons in
-China.
Few but serious calamities marred the general prosperity
which characterized this period . A storm of unusual violence,
the severest since 1841 , swept over Hongkong on August 31
and September 1 , 1848. The barometer fell as low as 28-84
but the wind did not attain to full typhoon force . Although
timely warning had been given by the Harbour Master, the
shipping suffered severely. Thirteen vessels in harbour were
damaged or wrecked and a considerable loss of life and property
ensued. House property on shore, and the troop-ships in the
harbour ( filled with men who had been removed on board to
escape the fever) , suffered but little damage. The storm was
far more destructive in Macao and Canton than in Hongkong.
On December 28, 1851 , one of the greatest conflagrations
occurred that Hongkong ever experienced . During a strong
gale, a fire broke out near the Sheungwan market and, in spite
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 285
of heroic efforts made by the Royal Engineers under the personal
direction of Major- General Jervois to stay the fire, 472 Chinese
houses, north of Queen's Road, between the present Fire Brigade-
Station in the East and the P. & O. Company's godowns in
the West, were entirely destroyed and thirty lives lost. Liberal
aid was afforded by Governor Bonham in housing the burnt-
out people and the crown rents of properties concerned were
temporarily abated. The whole district was speedily rebuilt with
considerable improvements. A new town sprang up in the place
and the most eastern and the most western of the new streets
were respectively named Jervois Street and Bonham Strand, the
latter being laid out on land newly reclaimed from the sea.
The obituary of this period includes, among others, the
names of Dr. and Mrs. James (April, 1848), Rear- Admiral Sir
Francis A. Collier, C.B. (October 28, 1849 ) , Captain Troubridge
(above mentioned), Macao's famous painter Chinnerey (May 30,
1852) , Mrs. J. T. M. Legge (October 17 , 1852) and Dr. Gützlaff
(August 9 , 1854 ) .
A survey of Sir George Bonham's administration clearly
marks him out as the first model Governor of Hongkong. The
renewed prosperity of the Colony, that set in with his regime,
was indeed principally due to a fortunate combination of events
quite beyond his control. But whilst it never is in the power
of a Governor to create prosperity, he has it in his power to
hinder, mar and destroy it. Sir George, when convinced that
he might gain for himself the glory of making the Colony for
the first time financially self-supporting by an increase of
taxation which he knew to be practicable, refrained from forcing
his views upon the community in deference to public feeling.
He was the first Governor of Hongkong who, basing his action
on the programme sketched out by the Parliamentary Committee.
of 1847 , administered the government of this Crown Colony on
popularly recognized principles, systematically sacrificing his
individual views and his personal advancement to the welfare
of the common weal. Both as a diplomatist and as a governor,
Sir George was an unqualified success .
286 CHAPTER XV.
Detractors of his merits were not wanting. The Hongkong
public man is nothing if not severely critical. A small opposition
party in the Colony, whilst fully admitting the affability,
hospitality, liberality and gentlemanly bearing of Governor
Bonham, alleged- that he systematically favoured Consular
Courts at the expense of the local Supreme Court ; that he lost
no opportunity of curtailing the powers of the latter and did
nothing to make good the glaring deficiencies of Court inter-
pretation ; that his ignorance of the shipping resources of the
Colony was on a par with his perfect indifference regarding
them ; that he arbitrarily created a set of pampered aristocrats
and, whilst cajoling them by pretending to consult their views
in minor affairs, ignored them concerning more weighty matters
such as the regulation of emigration ; that his conduct regarding
the currency was impolitic and disgraceful, violating a
Government proclamation (May 5 , 1845 ) that had regulated
the currency since the Island was ceded , because forsooth
the Chief Justice expressed an opinion that the proclamation
was illegal ; that his constant endeavour was to do away with the
Commissariat Treasury department, because it was not under his
control ; that he did nothing to assist the Post Office because
it was independent of him, though the Postmaster did good
service by establishing branch-offices at the Treaty ports ; that
he allowed the Police Force to sink into the most wretched
and ineffective condition such as admitted of robberies occurring
nightly and people being often knocked down in the centre
of the town in the middle of the day ; that the place had been
blockaded by pirates and nothing had been done except by fits
and starts when a smart man-of-war happened to be here ;
that in fine Sir George had been a useless governor, purely
ornamental, highly decorated and extravagantly paid.
On the other hand, when Sir George Bonham went on
furlough (March 25 , 1852) , the leading merchants of the Colony
(David Jardine, Wilkinson Dent, C. J. F. Stuart, and George
Lyall) presented him with an address signed by all the local
British firms of any standing (35 in number) . This address
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR G. BONHAM. 287
expressed the satisfaction felt by the community with the
Governor's general administration and stated that the changes
made in the administration of justice had gained him the
confidence of all and particularly of the Chinese community,
improving the latter and increasing native trade. The address
also acknowledged that Sir George's social qualities had produced
general harmony and confidence . Again, in 1854, when Sir
George Bonham finally left the Colony, another public address,
as numerously signed as the previous one, was presented to him
(April 7 , 1854) . This farewell memorial gave Sir George the
renewed assurance of the general confidence reposed in his
administration, and referred to important and beneficial changes,
introduced by him, which had promoted the general interest.
The same merchants who six years before had assured Sir J.
Davis that the Colony was ruined, lauded Sir G. Bonham on
the ground that the evidence of the increased prosperity of the
Colony was now quite apparent. They pointed to the new town
(Bonham Strand) which had sprung up with remarkable rapidity
and contributed to the large increase of the native population.
In conclusion this address stated that the friendly intercourse
which had subsisted between Governor Bonham and the com-
munity would leave a lasting memorial of the high estimation
in which he had been held .
Nevertheless this model Governor, the first really popular
and successful one of the Colony's rulers, was soon forgotten
by the fluctuating community. In modern Hongkong , Sir
George Bonham is about the least known of its former governors.
Her Majesty's Government also bestowed no further honours
on the man who had done such credit to Lord Palmerston's
selection . Sir George Bonham died in 1863, leaving his greatness
to appeal to the future for the recognition it deserves.
CHAPTER XVI.
A BRIEF SURVEY.
A.D. 1634 to 1854.
THE THE period covered by the administration of Sir G. Bonhanr
clearly marks, when compared with the preceding epochs,
a turning point in the history of Hongkong. The reader who
cares only for a detailed record of the most noteworthy facts and
events connected with the history of Hongkong, will readily
dispense with this chapter and hurry on to the next . But he
who would understand that history in itself, discern its inner
workings and decipher its deeper import, so as to study the
history of Hongkong in the light of cause and effect, may well
pause at this point for a brief survey of the facts presented in
the preceding chapters.
The Island of Hongkong, it will have been observed, was
even in its pre-British times an eccentric vantage point. It
never was so much of an integral portion of Asia as to be of
any practical moment to the Chinese political or social organism .
Its very name was unknown to the topographers or statesmen
of China and men had to come from the Far West to give it a
name in the history of the East. Its situation at the farthest
south-east point of the Chinese Empire, in line with the British
Possessions in Africa, India and North-America, constituted it a
natural Anglo-Chinese outstation in the Pacific. Hongkong
never belonged naturally either to Asia or to Europe, but was
plainly destined in God's providence to form the connecting
link for both.
As the place so its people. Ever since the first dawning
of its known history, Hongkong was the refuge of the oppressed
from among the nations. The Hakkas ill-treated by the Puntis,
A BRIEF SURVEY. 289
the Puntis Tie-chius and Tan-ka people weary of the yoke of
mandarindom, as well as the Chinese Emperor fleeing before
the ruthless Tartar invaders, the industrious Chinese settler as
well as the roving pirate, and finally the British merchant
self- exiled from Europe finding his personal and national self-
respect trampled under foot by Manchu-Chinese tyrants -all
turned, with hesitating reluctance but impelled by resistless fate ,
to the Island of Hongkong as the haven of refuge, the home
of the free.
It was not in the nature of things that Hongkong should
at once become a paradise of liberty . It was not to be expected
that the seekers of liberty, self-expatriated from the antipodes
of the West and the East yet with the love of their respective
national homes fresh in their hearts, would either be left
undisturbed from without or consolidate otherwise than by years
of internal friction into one political and social organism within
the Colony. A stormy career, war without and dissensions
within, yet real though slow growth withal and eventual power
radiating from a healthful centre of innate Anglo- Saxon vitality,
was what the seer gifted with power to look into the future might
have predicted as the fate in store for this phenomenal Anglo-
Chinese Colony in the Far East.
Searching deeper still into the underlying causes of this
Eurasian phenomenon, it will be seen that the evolution of
the Colony of Hongkong was in reality the product of a quasi
marriage-alliance between Europe and Asia, concluded at Canton
(after 1634 A.D. ) between the East India Company and the
Chinese Government . But this international union carelessly
entered upon was characterized, in the course of the next two
centuries, by a deep-seated and growingly manifested incompati-
bility of temper, such as made Anglo-Chinese international life
at Canton a burden too heavy to be borne by either nation .
British free trade notions based on the assumption of international
equality could not remain in wedlock with China's iron rule
of monopoly based on the claim of political supremacy over
the universe. The crisis came when that claim was confronted
19
290 CHAPTER XVI.
(A.D. 1833) by an Act of Parliament establishing British
authority in the East and by the substitution ( A.D. 1834)
of an independent community of lusty free traders for the servile
and effete East India Company. The domestic alliance contracted
after A.D. 1634 between Europe and Asia on terms so
humiliating for the former, was bound to result in a temporary
divorce. That divorce was solemnly and emphatically pro-
nounced, though with patent unwillingness, by Commissioner
Lin ( A.D. 1839) acting on behalf of Asia, whereupon Captain
Elliot, acting as the representative of Europe, secured Hongkong
as a cradle for the offspring of that unhappy union (born A.D.
1841 ) , that is to say for the Colony whose divine destiny it
is to reconcile its parents hereafter in a happier reunion by a
due subordination of Asia to Europe. The elder shall serve
the younger and be taught to love and obey -such is the
historic problem which Hongkong has to solve in the dim
future.
This conception of Hongkong as the vantage point from
which the Anglo - Saxon race has to work out its divine mission of
promoting the civilization of Europe in the East, and establishing
the rule of constitutional liberty on the continent of Asia and
on the main of the Pacific, is not a mere fancy. However
imperfectly the problem may have been stated here, the foregoing
remarks undoubtedly contain an approximate formulation of a
true historic lesson which he who runs may read. Now this
lesson, however it may be modified and amended by a critical
reader, provides the student of the history of Hongkong with
a definite standard by which he can measure the progress of
the Colony and judge the merits of its Governors at any
successive period. If the reader is once clear as to what it
is that the past history of Hongkong shews the purport of the
establishment of Hongkong to have been in the providence of
God, he will have no difficulty in determining, with regard
to the public measures or public men of any period , whether
they marred or promoted the Colony's progress towards fulfilling
its divine mission.
A BRIEF SURVEY. 291
It appears then from this point of view that the Colony
of Hongkong, the offspring of a union between Europe and Asia,
ushered into the world in the year 1841 , was nursed by brave
Captain Elliot in the cradle of liberty and free trade, solemnly
christened at Nanking, in 1842, by the despotic autocrat, Sir
H. Pottinger, weaned from 1844 to 1848 by pedantic Sir
J. Davis amid an amount of tempest and strife which made
the empoverished Colonial nursery resound with cries for
representative government and with groans condemnatory of
monopoly, until Parliament stepped in (in 1847 ) and laid down
the programme on which the schooling of the young fledgeling
was accordingly conducted by Sir G. Bonham, who gave the
Colony its first common-sense instructions in the A- B- C of
constitutional government. In other words, of the first four
Governors of Hongkong only Captain Elliot and Sir G. Bonham
appear to have read aright the lessons of the past history of
British intercourse with China and to have applied those lessons
correctly to the establishment of the Colony of Hongkong.
To begin with Captain Elliot, he seems to have recognized
or at any rate acted upon the following principles- ( 1 ) that
Hongkong must be regarded in the first instance as a point from
which should radiate the general influence of Europe upon Asia ;
(2 ) that it is therefore of primary importance to maintain at
Hongkong British supremacy ris à vis Chinese mandarindom ;
(3) that the settlement on Hongkong must be treated rather
as a station for the protection of British trade in the Far East
in general than as a Colony in the ordinary sense of the word,
that is to say that Hongkong is in truth neither a mere Crown
Colony acquired by war nor a Colony formed by productive
settlement ; (4) that the Colony of Hongkong can be made
to prosper only by keeping sacredly inviolate its free trade
palladium and by governing the colonists on principles of
constitutional liberty. Unfortunately Captain Elliot was recalled
before he could give full effect to these fundamental principles.
But that he established the Colony on this basis redounds to
his honour.
·
292 CHAPTER XVI.
It was even more unfortunate that Captain Elliot's successors,
Sir H. Pottinger and Sir J. Davis, pursued a policy which,
while theoretically accepting the first of those propositions,
virtually ran counter to all of them. It is quite possible that
the recall of Captain Elliot implied a condemnation on the
part of the Colonial Office of the above stated propositions rather
than of his Palmerstonian war policy, and that the contrary
principles adopted by Elliot's successors originated with the
Downing Street Authorities rather than with themselves. But
if so, it is remarkable that both Sir H. Pottinger and Sir J.
Davis appear to have carried out con amore those pernicious
instructions and to have personally identified themselves with
the autocratic and protectionist spirit that must have governed
the authors of those instructions whoever they were. Sir H.
Pottinger, indeed, gloriously maintained, while the British army
and navy were at work, the ascendancy of Europe in Asia ,
but, the moment the sword was sheathed, he allowed Mandarin
duplicity and arrogance to cajole him so as to surrender one
and all of the principles established by Captain Elliot. Sir
H. Pottinger thought so highly of Chinese officials and so badly
of British merchants that, for very fear of furthering the
interests of opiam dealers and smugglers, he shrank from
maintaining free trade principles. In result , he preferred to
allow the Cantonese Authorities to frame regulations for
Hongkong's commerce which effectually strangled it . Moreover,
whilst thus sacrificing the liberty and prosperity of British
commerce, Sir H. Pottinger, though in the Nanking Treaty he
had defined Hongkong as a mere naval station for careening and
refitting British ships, governed the settlers as if Hongkong
were a regular Colony bound to maintain by taxes an extrav-
agantly expensive official establishment, and yet refused to give
them any representation or voice whatsoever in a Council which
autocratically disposed of the taxpayers' money. Sir J. Davis,
specially selected as the trained tool of Mandarin autocracy
and monopoly, not only followed in the footsteps of his
predecessor, but went even farther in violation of the principles
A BRIEF SURVEY. 293
which had guided Captain ElliotElliot.. By his Triad Society's
Ordinance he sacrificed the rudimentary principles of European
civilization and the British axiom of the liberty of the subject
to a cringing subservience of the aims of Mandarin tyranny
in its most barbaric aspects. By his buccaneering expedition
of April, 1847 , he injured British prestige in the East even
more than his predecessor had ever done. By his monopolies
and farms and petty regulations he hampered and injured the
foreign and native commerce of the Colony and nullified the
freedom of the port . The result of the misgovernment, initiated
by Sir H. Pottinger and continued by Sir J. Davis, was that
Parliament had to step in to warn the Colonial Office against
the mischievous policy pursued at Hongkong, and to rescue the
Colony from plainly and imminently impending ruin by a return
to the principles established by Captain Elliot. Let the reader
who doubts the soundness of the above analysis of Hongkong's
early history ponder the incontrovertible fact that the policy
of autocracy, monopoly and protectionism, pursued by Sir H.
Pottinger and Sir J. Davis, not only drove commerce away from
Hongkong and made the Colony contemptible in the eyes of the
Chinese, but brought the settlement to the verge of commercial
and financial ruin and delivered British commerce at Hongkong ,
under the shadow of the British flag, into a bondage of Chinese
mandarindom, as effective, as despicable and as galling as that
under which the East India Company and the British free
traders ever groaned whilst located at Canton . What stayed off
the impending ruin was a reversion to the principles of Elliot.
The foregoing remarks may serve to show that the formula-
tion, by the Parliamentary Committee of 1847 , of the programme
essential for Hongkong's prosperity, was but a comprehensive
re-statement of the principles which led to and guided the
original establishment of the Colony. Those principles, discarded
for a while by Sir H. Pottinger and Sir J. Davis to the Colony's
manifest injury, were re-introduced by Sir G. Bonham who
conformed his administration to those principles, though he
did not agree with all the propositions which the Parliamentary
294 CHAPTER XVI.
Committee had deduced therefrom . Sir G. Bonham's administra-
tion stands thus connected positively with that of Captain Elliot
and negatively with that of Sir H. Pottinger and Sir J. Davis..
This view comprehends, in one organic process, the whole period
from 1841 to 1854 as the first epoch in the pragmatic history
of Hongkong. It also gives its due importance to the
administration of Sir G. Bonham which, as it was with regard
to the misrule of his two predecessors, the grave of the past ,.
was at the same time, by the restoration of Elliot's vital
principles, the cradle of the future.
What constitutes, therefore, the close of Sir G. Bonham's
administration as one of the great turning points in the history
of the Colony is this, that by this time both the colonists and
the Colonial Office had attained to the clear consciousness of
Hongkong's mission as the representative of free trade in the
East and of the need of some sort of representative government .
An equally clear apprehension of the difficulties standing in
the way of a practical realisation of this ideal was not wanting.
But the recognition of the ideal itself was now established.
This was for the young Colony what the first effulgence of
personal self-consciousness is in the evolution of the human
mind. Autocratic despotism, protectionism and monopoly, were
now doomed , in principle at least . The commercial and financial
prosperity of Hongkong was now, though not perfected yet ,
virtually established . A definite prospect of the Colony becom-
ing soon absolutely self-supporting, was now looming within
measurable distance. And as to Hongkong's exercising, on
behalf of Europe, a civilizing influence upon the adjoining
continent of Asia, the colonists and their rulers could well
trust to the natural course of events to work out that problem.
A British Colony thus firmly established in Asia, on the root
principles of European liberty, was and is sure to play, in the
drama of the future, such a part as will illustrate, in the sight of
Asia, the superiority of British over Chinese forms of civilization.
and government and make Hongkong for all times the bulwark
of the cause of Europe in the East.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JOHN BOWRING.
April 13, 1854, to May 5, 1859.
DURING the ten months of Sir G. Bonham's absence on
furlough (1852 to 1853) , while Major- General Jervois
administered the government of the Colony, the affairs of the
Superintendency of Trade were, as mentioned above, separately
attended to by H.M. Consul of Canton who, for this purpose,
temporarily resided at Government House, Hongkong. That
Consul and Acting Chief- Superintendent of British Trade in
China was Dr. Bowring.
He had previously gained for himself a measure of European
renown and the verdict of public opinion was, to use the words
of his own epigrammatic critique of Byron, that more could be
said of his genius than of his character. Dr. Bowring's natural
abilities were marked by great versatility but appeared to lack in
depth. Starting in commercial life and having occupied several
responsible posts on the Continent, he distinguished himself as
a linguist, as a racy translator of foreign literature, as the author
of promiscuous pamphlets on commerce, finance, and political
economy, and as a member of numerous Literary Societies.
So great was his literary and political reputation , that, when
the Westminster Review was started (1824) to expound the
doctrines of the so-called philosophical radicals, headed by
Jeremy Bentham, and to advocate the views of the advanced
liberal party, he was chosen as first editor and successfully held
the office for many years in conjunction with H. Southern .
During Earl Grey's Ministry, the Government also recognized
his abilities and employed him repeatedly, first as Secretary
to a Commission for investigating the public accounts, and
296 CHAPTER XVII.
on subsequent occasions in connection with Commercial Treaties
concluded with France, the Zoll -Verein, the Levant and Holland .
Whilst in Holland, he received ( 1829) from the Academy of
Groningen the honorary title of Doctor Literarum Humaniorum.
In the year 1833 he entered Parliament as Member for
Kilmarnock ( 1833 to 1837 ) and, after three unsuccessful contests
for Blackburn and Kirkcaldy, sat for seven years for Bolton
( 1841 to 1849 ) . During this period he directed ( in 1846 )
the attention of the Ministry to alleged illegal flogging in
Hongkong and took, as a member of the Parliamentary
Committee of 1847 , a prominent part in the inquiry into
Hongkong affairs and British relations with China . He was
also for a number of years President of the Peace Society
(established since 1816 ) which labours to procure universal
disarmament and the substitution of international arbitration
for war. Earl Clarendon and Lord Palmerston thought highly
of Dr. Bowring and always remained his staunch supporters.
Owing to financial reverses, however, Dr. Bowring had to seek
a lucrative post and accepted, in January 1849 , a Consular
appointment. Lord Palmerston,' he says in his autobiography,
offered me the Consulship of Canton where diplomatic questions
with the Central Kingdom were discussed . ' His actual occu-
pations in Canton were, however, of a disenchantingly humble
description and even during his short tenure of the Acting
Superintendency in 1852, he disdained the limits of his little
reign and considered himself a disappointed man . However,
he adhered to Sir G. Bonham's policy, ruled in peace over
the few Consular stations and abstained, while in Hongkong,
from all interference with the affairs of the Colony, beyond
resuscitating by sundry sinological contributions and by the
inspiration of his personal presence the moribund Hongkong
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. One of the most valuable
papers he wrote at this time is his dispatch to Lord Clarendon
of April 19, 1852, in which he correctly and lucidly summed
up the policy of the Chinese Government, during the preceding
ten years, as one of unflinching hostility and shewed the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 297
essential incompatibility of British and Chinese aims in the
Far East.
On the return of Sir G. Bonham, Dr. Bowring, instead of
resuming his duties at Canton, went on furlough (February 16 ,
1853 ) and returned by way of Java to England . There he
secured for himself the long coveted appointment to the double
office of H.M. Plenipotentiary in China and Governor of
Hongkong. On December 24, 1853, he was created by Her
Majesty a Knight Bachelor and a warrant issued which, while
making provision for the eventual separation of the office of
Chief- Superintendent of Trade from the Governorship of Hong-
kong, appointed Sir John Bowring to be H.M. Plenipotentiary
and Chief-Superintendent of Trade, as well as Governor of
Hongkong and its Dependencies and Commander-in-Chief and
Vice-Admiral of the same. When Sir John received (February
13, 1854) his instructions under this warrant, and found himself
also authorized to arrange for a commercial treaty with Siam,
he felt his greatness overpowering him. To China I went,'
says Sir John, as the representative of the Queen, and was
accredited not to Peking alone but to Japan, Siam, China and
Corea, I believe to a greater number of beings (indeed no less
than a third of the race of man) than any individual had been
accredited before .' Thus, bearing his blushing honours thick
upon him, he sailed to China with the sound of glory ringing
in his ears.
When he arrived in Hongkong (April 13, 1854), where he
had Colonel W. Caine for his Lieutenant- Governor and the Hon.
W. T. Mercer for his Colonial Secretary, he found the community
contented and the Civil Service still free from any dissension.
The residents were certainly not enamoured with their new
Governor but, though they attributed to him an inordinate
anxiety for self-glorification, humorously saying that he had
come back big with the fate of China and himself, there was no
ill-will against him. Stirring times were certainly approaching.
Within a fortnight of his arrival in Hongkong, Sir John
received the news of the declaration of war (March 28, 1854)
298 CHAPTER XVII.
against Russia. Immediately he started off, with the Admiral
(Sir James Stirling) for Chusan, hoping to intercept the Russian
fleet under the command of Count Pontiatin. It was a wild
goose chase. The Russians had left for regions unknown.
Meanwhile the fear of a Russian descent upon Hongkong grew
apace among the residents. Indeed fear developed into panic
(June 3 , 1854) when the Lieutenant- Governor announced the
defenceless condition of the Colony and in hot haste ordered
batteries to be erected . Nothing came of it, however, as the
combined Anglo-French squadron kept the Russians at bay on
the Siberian coast. The port of Petropaulowsky was bombarded
(September 1 , 1854) but the land attack failed. The allied fleet,
consisting only of six vessels, was too weak for any purpose
but that of harrassing the Russian outposts. The Governor
returned inglorious . But Hongkong patriotism vented itself
in a public meeting (February 21 , 1855) which resulted in an
amalgamation of sundry private subscriptions that had been
commenced, and sums of money eventually aggregating £2,500
were forwarded to the Patriotic Fund in London. This was
C
done as a testimony of the admiration felt in the Colony for
the heroic deeds of the British Army and Navy engaged in what
was called ' the noble struggle against Russian aggression ' and
of Hongkong's sympathy with the sufferings consequent thereon .
In addition to this, a patriotic address to the Queen was
dispatched (March 15 , 1855 ) declaring the approval of the
community of the war against Russia and of the alliance entered
into with the great French Empire,' and expressing a hope
that this contest so unavoidably taken up would be vigorously
pursued. The excitement was renewed when news came that
the Hon. Ch. G. J. B. Elliot, in command of H.M. Ships Sibylle,
Hornet, and Bittern, having discovered five Russian vessels in
hiding in Castries Bay, had sneaked away, to the disgust of his
subordinate officers, not daring to engage the Russians. The
matter became afterwards the subject of a court martial in
England which exculpated the commander of the squadron .
The only event in the Russian war that affected Hongkong
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 299
directly was the arrival in the harbour (September 21 , 1855 )
of the German brig Greta in charge of a prize crew of H.M.S.
Barracouta with 270 Russian prisoners of war and among them
Prince Michaeloff. These were the officers and men of the
Russian frigate Diana which had been wrecked at Japan. The
Greta, having been chartered to convey the Russians from Simoda
to Ayen was captured by Admiral Stirling. In November
(1855 ) , the Vice-Admiralty Court of Hongkong condemned the
vessel as a lawful prize to H.M.S. Barracouta. Great was the
rejoicing when the news of the restoration of peace with Russia
was received (June 26 , 1856 ) . All the ships in harbour were
dressed in their gayest, salutes were fired, and thanksgiving
services were held in Union Church (July 2, 1856) and on the
following Sunday in the Cathedral.
Siam next claimed the attention of Sir J. Bowring. The
British Government had long been anxious, in the interests of
commerce, to conclude a treaty with Siam, but repeated attempts
made in this direction by the Governor-General of India and
subsequently (1850) by Sir James Brooke of Sarawak had failed .
The United States of America also had been foiled in their
endeavour to open up Siam to foreign trade. Sir J. Bowring
now tried his hand and succeeded where greater men had signally
failed . He began by opening up a private literary correspondence
with the young King who had received a European education
and, being a kindred spirit likewise endowed with belletristic
aspirations, was fascinated by the learned doctor's fame as a
literary genius. Consequently, in reply to Sir John's overtures
of literary brotherhood, there arrived in Hongkong (August 12,
1854) two envoys from Siam, bearers of a royal dispatch. Sir
John adroitly arranged through these envoys an official visit
as a proper compliment in return for the favour of a royal
missive. Fortunate as he had been so far, he was even more
favoured by fortune in securing for this delicate mission , the-
utter failure of which was confidently predicted on all sides,
the services of that astute young diplomatist, Mr. (subsequently
Sir) Harry Parkes of the Canton Consulate. Great was the
300 CHAPTER XVII.
need for diplomacy. There was a strong party at the Siamese
Court, determined to make no concessions to foreign commerce.
Sir John, therefore, starting for Siam in February, 1855, with
but two vessels of war, avoided all display and went to work
with the utmost caution. But the promptitude with which
every obstacle, that the opposition party placed in the way of
the mission, was astutely brushed away, was partly owing to the
resource and acumen displayed by Sir Harry Parkes. Within
an unexpectedly short period all preliminaries were settled and
an important commercial treaty solemnly concluded (April 18,
1855) . Sir J. Bowring returned to Hongkong victorious (May
11 , 1855 ) while Sir Harry Parkes proceeded to England to
obtain Her Majesty's signature and a year later the ratified
treaties were exchanged ( April 5 , 1856 ) and supplementary
articles signed ( May 13 , 1856 ) . The great progress which Siam
thenceforth made in commerce and civilization and the annually
increasing trade which at once sprang up between Siam and
Hongkong, date from the conclusion of these treaties, the success
of which is in the first instance due to Sir John Bowring.
During his brief tenure of the Superintendency of Trade.
Sir John devised, and succeeded in persuading the Earl of
Clarendon (in 1854) to adopt, a scheme which has not only
endured to the present day but formed the model of Consular
organization followed by other nations, and was finally introduced
in Hongkong (by Sir H. Robinson) as a Cadet scheme . It
was a scheme for supplying the British Consular Service in
China with Student Interpreters who, while studying the
Mandarin dialect and the written language of China, should make
themselves acquainted with the routine of Consular business.
In sanctioning the immediate adoption of Sir J. Bowring's plan,
the Earl of Clarendon forthwith presented one nomination to
King's College, London, and one to each of the three Queen's
Colleges in Ireland.
In his relations with the Chinese Government the learned
doctor was unfortunate. His experience in the negotiation and
formulation of commercial treaties, which had proved so
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 301
eminently successful in Siam, gave him no advantage in contact
with a nation that despised trade. As to literary affinities,
there was nothing but contempt on the Chinese side. The
doctor's gown of Groningen, which captivated the Siamese
King, appeared ridiculous in the eyes of Chinese Mandarins
whenever he displayed it before them. The most ingenious
and persistent efforts which he put forth to open up personal
relations with high Chinese officials invariably met with a stolid
rebuff. Sir John saw this very soon but, ignorant yet of the
utter futility of peaceful measures, he attempted to gain by
direct intercourse with the Court at Peking what he had failed
to obtain at the hands of provincial dignitaries . Accordingly
he started (September 16, 1854 ) in H.M.S. Rattler for Shanghai,
in company with the French Minister M. Bourbillon, leaving
Mr. D. B. Robertson in charge of the Superintendency of Trade
at Hongkong, while Colonel W. Caine acted, as before, as
Lieutenant-Governor. After some consultations held at Shanghai ,
Sir John, the U.S. Minister McLane and M. Bourbillon's
Secretary proceeded , with H.M.S. Rattler and U.S.S. Powhattan,
to the mouth of the Peiho where a conference, vainly expected
to result in the opening up of direct negotiations with Peking ,
had been arranged with deputies of the Viceroy of Chihli .
Beyond the opportunity which the foreign Ministers bere had
of stating their wishes, ventilating their grievances and hinting
at intervention in aid of the suppression of the Taiping rebellion,
this move was absolutely futile. On their return to Shanghai ,
the Ministers observed the strictest silence as to the results of
their conference at the Peiho. Undeterred by this failure, Sir
John was, two years later (October, 1856 ) , on the point of
starting on a second visit to the Gulf of Pehchihli, when troubles
arose at Canton. But of these later on.
Sir John and the other Ministers had thought they might
possibly succeed in securing direct diplomatic intercourse with
Peking, without the pressure of an armed demonstration, because
the Imperial Government was at this time hardly pressed by
the progress of the Taiping rebellion and supposed to be secretly
302 . CHAPTER XVII.
desirous of foreign intervention. Sir John, following the example
of his predecessor, and having sent Consular Officers to Chinkiang
and Nanking (September, 1854) to report to him upon the
stability, resources and prospects of the Rebel Dynasty, came
to the conclusion that the Rebel Government was a gigantic
imposture. Hence he concluded that the interests of British
commerce in the East demanded an abandonment of the
neutrality insisted upon by the Foreign Office and he vainly
hoped to secure the opening up of China to foreign trade by
the offer of foreign intervention . In taking this view, Sir John
ran counter to a party powerfully represented in China and in
England by Bishop Smith and the Missionary Societies whose
views were at the time efficiently advocated by a Consular
Officer (T. T. Meadows) . If the Taipings,' wrote Mr. Meadows,
were to succeed, then 480 millions of human beings out of 900
millions that inhabit the earth would profess Christianity and
take the Bible as the standard of their belief.' That Sir John,
with his conviction of being accredited, as the Queen's
representative, to so great a portion of the human race, resisted
the temptation of posing as the apostle of the much belauded
Taiping cause does credit to his sagacity. But that the ex-
President of the Peace Society should think of putting the
sword of Great Britain into the scale against the so-called
Christian Taipings and eventually draw the sword against the
ruling Manchus, was an anomaly which, while it caused his
fanatical opponents in China to slander him as being an atheist,
alienated from him the attachment of his calm political friends
in England .
Meanwhile the Taiping rebels continued their depredations
in the central and southern provinces of China. In July, 1854,
the city of Fatshan (the Birmingham of South-China) fell into
their hands and a panic broke out in Canton (July 20 , 1854)
resulting in a general exodus of the wealthier classes. Crowds
of fugitives took refuge in Hongkong . Kowloon city, opposite
Hongkong, was at the end of September, 1854, repeatedly
taken and retaken by the Rebels and the Imperialists. The
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 303
former closed in upon Canton from all sides and commenced
a blockade of the Canton River which caused the junk trade of
Canton city to migrate for a time to Hongkong. Owing to
the general increase of piracy and the facilities for smuggling
afforded by the general paralysis of the Imperial revenue service,
there sprang up in Hongkong a strong demand for small
European vessels (lorchas ) which were chartered or purchased
by local Chinese firms to convoy fleets of junks or to engage
in an irregular coasting trade. Sir J. Bowring fostered this
movement by passing two Ordinances ( No. 4 of 1855 and No. 9
of 1856) which granted a Colonial register, and the use of the
British flag, to vessels owned by such Chinese residents as were
registered lessees of Crown lands within the Colony. The
capture, by the Taipings, of the Hoifung and Lukfung district
cities (in the N.E. of Hongkong) in September, 1854, seriously
interfered, for a time, with the market supplies of the Colony.
Armed bands of Taipings also paraded the streets occasionally ,
until the police (December 21 , 1854) stopped it by arresting,
in the Lower Bazaar, several hundred armed Rebels who were
about to embark to attack Kowloon city. About the same
time, the Governor issued a Neutrality Ordinance (No. 1 of
1855) to regulate the exclusion from the harbour of armed
vessels under the contending Chinese flags and the manufacture
and sale of arms and ammunition. Since September, 1854,
•
there was at anchor in the harbour a fleet of war-junks under
the command of an alleged prince ( Hung Seu-tsung) of the
Taiping Dynasty who, with his officers, fraternized with the
local Chinese Christians and some of the Missionaries . More
than a week elapsed after the passing of that Ordinance without
its being acted upon and meanwhile the Colony narrowly escaped
(January 23 , 1855 ) the danger of a naval battle being waged
in the harbour, as nine war-junks, carrying 2,000 Imperialist
soldiers, arrived and anchored west of the Lower Bazaar whilst
a large number of Taiping war-junks were lying close to the
Hospital-ship Minden. After much delay, however, both parties
were ordered off and peacefully departed in different directions.
304 CHAPTER XVII.
The Taiping fleet returned to Hongkong in September, 1856,
when Hung Seu-tsung addressed a letter to the Governor, stating
that he had been commissioned by the Taiping Emperor to
reduce the Kwangtung province, and asking for permission to
charter in Hongkong steamers and junks to convey his troops
to Poklo whence they would start operations against the Manchu
troops. Sir John Bowring sent a copy of the letter to Viceroy
Yeh and vainly claimed some credit for having declined the
proposed alliance.
It is worthy of notice that the long continued successes
of the Taipings did not induce the Manchu Government to relax
its anti-European policy in the slightest degree. Repeatedly
did Sir John hint to the Canton Viceroy how valuable the
friendship of England might be to him. Again and again he
reminded the stolid Mandarin of an accumulation of unredressed
grievances owing to his incessant disregard of Treaty rights ,
and pressed him to concede at least a friendly interview for an
informal discussion of the situation . It was all in vain. When
Mr. (subsequently Sir) Rutherford Alcock was to be installed
in his office as H.M. Consul in Canton, Sir John wrote to
Viceroy Yeh (June 11 , 1854 ) and proposed to introduce the
Consul to him. Yeh left the dispatch unacknowledged for a
month and then informed Sir John unceremoniously that there
was no precedent for granting his request. At the close of
the same year, when the Taipings blockaded the Canton river
and defeated the Imperialist fleet (December 29 , 1854 ) in a
pitched battle at Whampoa, the proud Viceroy, in his hour of
distress, condescended to ask Sir John to protect Canton city
against the impending assault of the Taipings. Sir John
hastened to Canton with Admiral Stirling (January, 1855 )
and, under the pretext of protecting the lives and property of
British residents at Canton, took with him a large force
(H.M. Ships Winchester, Barracouta, Comus, Rattler and
Styx). This move had the desired effect of over-awing the
Taiping fleet which forthwith retired. But when Sir John
now once more asked Yeh for an interview and alluded to the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 305
unfulfilled promise of the opening of Canton city, the ungrateful
Viceroy was as intractable as ever. The Earl of Clarendon had,
when giving Sir John his instructions ( February 13 , 1854) ,
specially warned him, ' to treat all questions of unrestricted inter-
course with the Chinese with much caution, so as not to imperil
commercial interests which, with temperate management, would
daily acquire greater extension .' But this policy of waiving at
Canton the rights granted to British residents and condoning
the insults incessantly offered to them by that proud city, did
no good with people like the Cantonese gentry. It merely
postponed the impending crisis and put off for a brief interval
the day of reckoning for years of continued breaches of Treaty
rights. Canton was now the only port in China where the
Nanking Treaty was systematically disregarded , and this was
done at Canton simply on account of the proximity of Hongkong.
The establishment of a British Colony at the mouth of the
Canton river was to the haughty Cantonese what German Alsatia
is to sensitive Frenchmen : a festering wound in their side, a
source of constant irritation.
Yeh Ming-shen, the successor of Seu Kwang-tsin in the
Imperial Commissionership and Viceroyalty at Canton and the
most faithful exponent of that Manchu policy which heeds none
but forcible lessons and is bound by none but material
guarantees. was the very man to bring the existing popular
irritation to a crisis . He was the idol of the gentry and literati
of Canton who had (in 1848 ) erected, in honour of Seu and
Yeh, a stone tablet recording their anthropophagous hatred of
Europeans in the following memorable words, whilst all the
common people yielded , as if bewitched, to all the inclinations of
the barbarians, only we of Canton , at Samyuenli ( 1841 ) have ever
destroyed them , and at Wongchukee ( 1847 ) cut them in pieces :
even our tender children are desirous to devour their flesh and
to sleep upon their skins.' Viceroy Yeh, the representative of this
party, hated the power, the commerce, the civilization of Europe
even more than any of his predecessors . He was not aggressive,
however, nor did he think it worth while to strengthen his
20
306 CHAPTER XVII.
defences or his army. Yet he was determined to maintain the
supremacy of China over all barbarians. He blamed Seu for
having had too much parleying with Plenipotentiaries and
Consuls. He would have no interviews of any sort . He would
simply dictate his terms to them. As a matter of fact he never
granted an interview to any foreigner, though Sir John plied
him with arguments and Sir M. Seymour bombarded his
residence to obtain one, and he never met a European face to
face until that memorable day (January 5 , 1858 ) when his
apartments were unceremoniously burst into by the blue-jackets
of H.M.S. Sanspareil and he was, while climbing over a wall,
caught in the strong arms of Sir Astley Cooper Key whilst
Commodore Elliot's coxswain twisted the august tail of the
Imperial Commissioner round his fist.' But I am anticipating.
From the time of Yeh's assumption of office, the anti-
foreign attitude of the literati at Canton became more and more
pronounced . There was a brief lull in 1855 and 1856 while
the Taipings hovered around Canton city. But when the rebels
retreated, the gentry of Canton resumed their hostile demeanour.
Inflammatory anti- European placards and handbills were
distributed broadcast over the city and suburbs in summer
1856. Englishmen were stoned if they shewed themselves
anywhere outside the factories. It was felt on both sides that
an explosion was imminent. Yet neither side prepared for the
coming struggle.
Such was the position of affairs when, on 8th October,
1856 , the little incident occurred which gave rise to the famous
Arrow War. The Chinese Annalist tells the story in the following
words. The difficulty arose through a lorcha (named the
Arrow ), having an English captain and a Chinese crew, anchoring
off Canton with the Russian (sic) flag flying. Now the Nanking
Treaty provided for the surrender of such Chinese as shall take
refuge in Hongkong or on board English ships. When the
Chinese Naval Authorities became aware that the crew was
Chinese, a charge of being in collusion with barbarians was
preferred and twelve Chinese seamen were taken in chains into
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 307
Canton.' In reality, the facts were briefly these. Some Chinese
crown-lessees of Hongkong had legally purchased in Chinese
territory and from Chinese officials a small clipper-built vessel
(lorcha) which those officials had re- captured from Chinese
pirates. The purchasers, residents of Hongkong, brought the
vessel to the Colony, gave her the name Arrow, and in due form
obtained for her (in October, 1855) a Colonial register under
Ordinance No. 4 of 1855. As the original owners of the vessel
(whose rights the Chinese officials had set aside) brought an
action against the purchasers in the Supreme Court of Hongkong,
the ownership of the vessel was judicially established . The
Arrow was then employed in the legitimate coasting trade,
open to British ships, and thus visited the port of Canton, flying
the British flag, on 8th October, 1856. Although the renewal
of her register happened to be several days over-due. that did
not in law deprive her of her privileges as a British vessel. Nor
did the Chinese Authorities know of it . The unceremonious
arrest of her crew on the part of the Chinese Authorities on
the charge of collusion with barbarians ' and their refusal of
Consul Parkes' demand that the men be surrendered to him for
trial in the Consular Court (as required by the Treaty) , constitute
the indisputed facts of the case. The only point in which this
violation of Treaty rights differed from numerous previous acts
of the Cantonese Authorities was the fact that the arrest of
the crew involved in this case a deliberate insult to the British
flag.
To the Chinese merchants and shipowners residing in
Hongkong, the point in dispute appeared to be the question
whether their owning vessels, lawfully registered under a Hong-
kong Ordinance, made them liable to a charge of being in
collusion with barbarians. The Admiral on the station, Sir
Michael Seymour, rightly looked upon the case as an unprovoked
insult to the British flag, such as demanded an immediate
apology or redress . Sir John Bowring saw in this move of
the insolent Viceroy a good opportunity for settling the question
of official intercourse dear to himself and for securing the
308 CHAPTER XVII.
promised opening of Canton city demanded by the merchants .
His Chinese advisers, Consul Parkes and Secretary Wade, saw
deeper and recognized in the case, not merely the old foolish
assumption of Chinese supremacy, but the unavoidable conflict
between Europe and Asia or (as Parkes put it at the time )
between Christian civilization and semi-civilized paganism. At
any rate, this much is perfectly clear, that, even if the Arrow
case had never occurred, hostilities would have broken out all
the same.
Sir J. Bowring commenced action by demanding (October
10 , 1856 ) a public surrender of the crew. This was refused .
He next demanded ( October 12th ) an apology. This was also
refused . Sir John then authorized the seizure (October 14th ) of
a Chinese gunboat . Yeh ridiculed such petty retribution and sent
word that the gunboat was not his at all. At last (October 21st )
Sir John solemnly threatened warlike operations unless an
apology was tendered and the crew restored to their vessel within
24 hours. Yeh sent the twelve men to the Consul with a
message that two of the men must be returned to him as they
were wanted , and refused an apology. Admiral Seymour now
stepped in and undertook to avenge the insult to the British flag.
He commenced by demanding of Yeh a formal apology and
access, for that purpose, into the city. When Yeh cartly refused
this demand, there commenced what was thenceforth known as
the Arrow War.
The Admiral demolished forthwith some Chinese forts
(October 23rd and 24th) , and, when this failed to impress the
stubborn Viceroy, the Admiral bombarded ( October 27th to 29th)
his official residence. Contrary to all expectation this measure
also failed to elicit an apology. Next the city wall opposite
Yeh's residence was breached (October 29th) , but Yeh, having
removed to a safe distance within the city, defied the Admiral
to do his worst, feeling sure that the handful of men under the
Admiral's order would not venture inside Canton city which the
literati and their trainbands had declared safe from invasion.
To move Yeh's colleagues, the Admiral bombarded (November
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 309
3rd to 5th) the official residences of the Civil Governor and of
the Tartar General. Yeh still held out. The Admiral destroyed
another fort (November 6th) and dismantled the Bogue forts
(November 12th and 13th) . But, when these measures also
Jeft the Viceroy as indomitable and intractable as ever, the
Admiral informed Sir John that, in the absence of troops.
nothing more could be done and retired to Hongkong, whence
he wrote home asking for a reinforcement of at least 5,000 meu .
Chinese and European residents of Hongkong were dismayed .
Now it was Yeh's turn to commence hostilities in his
own way. He had previously (October 28, 1856 ) put a price
of $ 30 on English heads. He now raised the reward to taels
100 per head, called upon the Chinese population of Hongkong
to leave the Colony immediately, and placarded the streets of
Hongkong and Canton with appeals to the people to avenge
his wrongs by any means whatever. In response to this appeal,
which had at first no effect in Hongkong, the Canton mob set
fire to the European factories at Canton (December 14, 1856)
and later on ( January, 1857 ) to the British docks and stores
at Whampoa.
In Hongkong, where Taiping rebels and professional pirates
and brigands had been making common cause under the aegis
of the local Triad societies, the European community was, ever
since the Arrow incident, pervaded by a growing sense of
insecurity . On 16th October, 1856, a public meeting, summoned
to consider matters seriously affecting the interests of the Colony,
bitterly complained of the total inefficiency of the Police Force
for the protection of life and property. Various forms of
registering the Chinese residents, so as to exclude all Chinese
whose honesty was not vonched for, were proposed and urged
upon the Government with the utmost confidence. Sir John ,
however, put no trust in the vouchers that would have been
produced and shrank from a measure the thorough execution
of which would have involved the forcible deportation of the
vast majority of the local Chinese residents . His refusal to
sanction any of the popular measures proposed by the British
310 CHAPTER XVII.
community gave great offence and the irritation increased when
the fleet retreated from Canton, foiled by Yeh's obstinacy, and
more particularly when his placards appeared at every street 1
corner calling upon all loyal Chinese residents of Hongkong to
avenge his wrongs and to make war against all Europeans which
they could do only by dagger, poison or incendiarism. The
European community now felt the enemy lurking in their midst ,
the British flag successfully insulted, the navy defeated, the
Governor indifferent to their danger. What measures the
Governor did take, served only to increase the excitement which
now commenced to take hold of the community . On 30th
December, 1856 , a general rising of the mob being apprehended.
H.M.S. Acorn was anchored near the Central Market to overawe
the Chinese rowdies congregating in that neighbourhood . On
the same day an auxiliary Police Force was organized and an
attempt was made to enrol volunteers as special constables. The
new-year opened with the news that the S.S. Feima, having been
attacked by Chinese soldiers, was hulled in several places, and
that incendaries had been at work in different parts of the
town. The Governor now issued (January 6 , 1857 ) in great
haste a draft Ordinance for better securing the peace of the
Colony. But the measures it resorted to, greater stringency
as to night-pass regulations, deportation of suspected emissaries
or abettors of enemies and compulsory co-operation for the
extinction of fires, gave no satisfaction to the community in
the absence of a Draconic form of compulsory registration . It
was once more suggested that every Chinaman not carrying on
his person an official badge and registered voucher of his honesty
should be deported . The feeling of insecurity increased . Jardine
Matheson and Company found it necessary to obtain a detachment
of blue-jackets and marines to guard their premises, and the local
papers now published a ' daily chronicle of Chinese atrocities ."
Within the first fortnight of 1857 this chronicle contained daily
items of local outrages such as ' shooting of four men with fire
balls upon them ; temporary stupefaction of three Europeans
after eating poisoned soup ; discovery of a headless body in the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 311
Wongnaichung valley ; firing matsheds on Crosby's premises in
Queen's Road Central ; capture of S.S. Thistle (January 13 ,
1857 ) by Chinese soldiers disguised as passengers , who murdered
eleven Europeans and several Chinese and burned the vessel.'
On the morning of January 15th, 1857 , a few hours before
the mail carrying to England the foregoing budget of news left
the harbour, the foreign community was seized by a general
panic, as at every European breakfast table there arose the
simultaneous cry of ' poison in the bread. Some 400 Europeans ,
partaking that morning of bread supplied by the E- sing bakery,
owned by a Heungshan man called Ab-lum , suffered more or
less from arsenical poisoning. Every 4 lb. loaf of white bread,
subsequently analysed at Woolwich (by F. A. Abel) , contained
grains 92 per cent. of white arsenic. Toasted bread contained
the smallest proportion ( 15 grains per cent . ) of poison, yet
4 ounces of it were found to contain 24 grains of arsenious acid .
Brown bread contained about 2 times and white bread about
6 times the quantity found in the toast . Those who ate least
suffered the most . Some, Lady Bowring for one, were delirious
for a time ; many had their health permanently injured ; all
received a severe nervous shock by the sudden consciousness
of being surrounded by assassins. No immediate death was
caused by this poisoning incident but some, as for instance
Lady Bowring, who had to return to England and failed to
recover, were evidently hurried into the grave by it. Even
after the lapse of a year (January 17 , 1858 ) the local papers
asserted, with reference to the death of a Mr. S. Drinker and
Captain Williams of the S.S. Lily, that their deaths had been
medically traced to the arsenic swallowed by them on the great
day of poisoning. On that memorable morning the excitement
was of course most intense. The medical men of the Colony,
whilst personally in agonies through the effects of the poison.
were hurrying from house to house, interrupted at every step
by frantic summons from all directions. Emetics were in urgent
request in every European family. Ah-lum, the baker, who
for some weeks previous had been worried by messages from the
312 CHAPTER XVII.
Heungshan Mandarins to remove from Hongkong , had left
for Macao that morning with his wife and children , but they also
found themselves poisoned, and Ah-lum was returning voluntarily
to Hongkong when he was arrested . Strange to say, his work-
men did not run away even after the poison had taken effect,
but remained at the bakery until the police, after a delay of
many hours, came and arrested 51 men . As many as 42 of them
were kept for 20 consecutive days and nights on remand, in an
underground police cell, 15 feet square by 12 feet high. It was
thenceforth justly termed the Black Hole of Hongkong.' The
local papers seriously urged the Governor to have the whole
of the poisoning crew of E-sing's bakery strung up in front of
the shop where the scheme was concocted .' Justices of the
Peace, shrinking from the application of lynch law, entreated
the Governor to proclaim forthwith martial law and to deport
every Chinaman whose loyalty could not be vouched for.
Though every member of his family suffered from the poison,
Sir John remained calm and rejected all suggestions of hasty
measures. But to the eyes of the terror-stricken community
his firmness bore at the time the aspect of callous indifference.
When, by the end of the month, the excitement had somewhat
abated, the European residents still complained that nothing was
done by the Governor to assure public confidence against the
recurrence of a similar or worse catastrophe, and that the
deportation (to Hainan) of 123 prisoners, released owing to
the overcrowded state of the gaol, increased the general feeling
of insecurity.
The result of the criminal prosecution instituted against
Ah-lum and his workmen was equally unsatisfactory to the
public mind. There was no evidence incriminating the persons
arrested, and Ah-lum, who was defended by the Acting Colonial
Secretary (Dr. W. T. Bridges ) , was acquitted by the verdict
of an impartial jury. He was, however, re-arrested as a
suspicious character and detained in gaol until July 31st, 1857,
when he was released, by order of the Secretary of State, on
condition of his not resorting to the Colony for five years.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 313
A civil action had meanwhile been brought against Ab-lum by the
editor of the Friend of China (W. Tarrant) who obtained (June
24, 1857) $ 1,000 damages for specific injuries, that resulted from
eating the poisoned bread sold to him by Ah-lum. The latter
was, however, by this time reduced from affluence to bankruptcy.
He may have been innocent of any direct complicity, but the
community, which unanimously attributed the crime to the
instigations of Cantonese Mandarins, would not believe otherwise
but that Ah-lum had, in some measure, connived at the diabolical
attempt to poison the whole of the foreign residents of Hongkong.
When the news of the outbreak of hostilities at Canton
reached England, the several political parties in opposition
formed a coalition with a view to censure the Ministry . Lord
Derby, supported by Lord Lyndhurst in the House of Lords
(February 24, 1857 ) , and Mr. Cobden, supported by Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons (February 26, 1857 ) ,
heroically espoused the causeof that innocent lamb-like Yeh
and condemned the proceedings initiated by Sir John Bowring
in the most unsparing terms. It was said that the Government
had one rule for the weak and another for the strong, and that
the conduct of Sir John Bowring had been characterized by
overbearing insolence towards the Chinese Authorities. Lord
Palmerston warmly defended the action of Sir John but, as the
debate proceeded, it soon became evident that the question
involved was not merely the proposed appointment of a
Committee to investigate British relations with China, nor even
the recall of Sir John, but the fate of the Ministry. However,
when Mr. Cobden's vote of censure was carried in the Commons
by a majority of 16 votes, the Ministers, instead of resigning,
announced (March 5 , 1857 ) that, after passing certain urgent
measures, they would dissolve Parliament in order to appeal,
on the Chinese question, to the nation . They added that mean-
while the policy of the Government with regard to China would
continue to be what it always had been, viz. a policy for the
protection of British commercial interests, and that the question
of the continuance or recall of Sir John Bowring was one that
314 CHAPTER XVII.
had been and still was under the grave consideration of the
Cabinet. Without waiting for the result of the coming elections,
Lord Palmerston sent orders to Mauritius and Madras to mobilize
troops for service in China, and forthwith selected the Earl of
Elgin and Kinkardine to proceed by the mail of April 26 , 1857 ,
as special Plenipotentiary to China . A supplementary force of
troops, steam-vessels and gun-boats was immediately dispatched
from England. The Viceroy's placards and the poisoning of the
Hongkong community, which the Cantonese Mandarins had
considered a master stroke of their policy, exercised , at the
general elections, a considerable influence towards bringing
about the deliberate adoption by the nation of the warlike
policy of Lord Palmerston . He returned to power stronger
than ever. However, so far as Sir John Bowring was concerned ,
the debate in Parliament blasted in one fell swoop all his
ambitious hopes. Lord Clarendon indeed wrote to him sym-
pathetically, saying, I think that you have been most unjustly
treated and that in defiance of reason and common sense the
whole blame of events which could not have been foreseen and
which had got beyond your control was cast upon you .' But
there was no comfort to Sir John in such a private declaration
of his innocence, seeing that it was accompanied by the official
announcement that he had been superseded in his office as
H.M. Plenipotentiary in China. This measure virtually left him
but the Governorship of Hongkong. But what was that in
the eyes of the man who had been accustomed to say, ' I have
China, I have Siam, I have no time for Hongkong ' ? Moreover,
the loss of personal friends like Cobden and others, who could
not get over the fact that the late President of the Peace
Society had been the originator of the latest war, cut him to
the quick. Fame now seemed to him but a glorious bubble and
honour the darling of but one short day.
Owing to the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny (May, 1857 )
nearly a year passed by before the troops sent out to China
and opportunely diverted to India, were ready to recall the
Chinese Government to a sense of Treaty obligations. Meanwhile
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 315
Viceroy Yeh continued his irregular warfare. The S.S. Queen
suffered (February 23, 1857) the same fate as the Thistle and
her captain and European crew were assassinated . Incendiarism
flourished in a petty way in Hongkong, and Duddel!' s bakery,
inaccessible to poisoners, was fired (February 28, 1857 ) . Man-
darin proclamations once more (March, 1857) peremptorily
ordered all Chinese to leave Hongkong on pain of expatriation ,
but as yet with little result. A vast conspiracy was discovered
(April 15, 1857 ) to have been organized in Canton to make
war in Hongkong against British lives and property. Attacks
on British shipping and even on British gunboats were of
frequent occurrence until Commodores Elliot and Keppel (May
to June, 1857 ) , by a series of dashing exploits, drove Yeh's
war-junks out of the delta of the Canton River and, by a brilliant
action near Hyacinth Island, destroyed Yeh's naval headquarters "
in the Fatshan creek .
On 2nd July, 1857 , Lord Elgin arrived in Hongkong.
Reluctantly he condescended to receive an address from the
British community, but departed presently for Calcutta . He
left upon Sir John and the leading residents, whose suggestions
he treated in supine cavalier fashion, the impression that his
sympathies were rather with poor old Yeh than with his own
countrymen. He shewed plainly that he looked upon the Arrow
incident as a wretched blunder. Hongkong residents rejoiced
to learn that his instructions (of April 20 , 1857) included ,.
besides the demands for compensation, for a restoration of Treaty
rights and the establishment of a British Minister at Peking,
also permission to be secured for Chinese vessels to resort to
Hongkong from all parts of the Chinese Empire without
distinction.' But this hope, like every other local expectation
centering in Lord Elgin , was doomed to disappointment . Before
his departure he would not even listen to Sir John's urgent
advice that the reduction of Canton was a necessary preliminary
to an expedition to the Peiho. But when he returned from
Calcutta (September 20, 1857 ) , together with Major-General
C. van Straubenzee and his staff, he yielded the point as it
316 CHAPTER XVII.
was then too late in the year for operations in the North. A
further delay was necessary to await the arrival of the French
Plenipotentiary, Baron Gros, and his forces, as the French ,
under the pretext of having the murder of a missionary to avenge,
desired to co-operate in the humiliation of China. Meanwhile
the Canton River had been blockaded ( August 7 , 1857 ) by the
British fleet and a Chinese coolie-corps of 750 Hakkas had
been organized. When all was ready at last, fully a year had
passed by since the British retreat from Canton . At last the
formulated demands of the Allied Plenipotentiaries were forwarded
(December 12 , 1857 ) to Yeh. After ten days ' consideration,
Yeh calmly replied by a lengthy dispatch, full of what even
his friend Lord Elgin characterized as sheer twaddle. He
promised nothing but was willing to go on as of yore. An
ultimatum was now presented ( December 24, 1857 ) giving him
48 hours to yield or refuse the demands of the Allies . Meanwhile
5,000 English and 1,000 French troops moved into position
in front of Canton city without opposition . Yeh had notified
the people that, as the rebellious English had seduced the French
to join them in their mutinous proceedings, it was now necessary
to stop the trade altogether and utterly to annihilate the
barbarians . But this appeal to a people without popular leaders
was fruitless. Yeh replied to the ultimatum by a reiteration
of his trite arguments. So the bombardment of Canton, or
the ' Massacre of the Innocents ' as Lord Elgin termed it,
commenced (December 28 , 1857) . The fire was, as on former
occasions, exclusively directed against the (untenanted ) official
buildings and Tartar quarters and against the city wall and
forts. Lin's fort blew up by accident. Yeh quietly continued
ordering wholesale executions of Chinese rebels. Next day
(December 29 , 1857 ) Magazine Hill , which commands the whole
town, was captured and the city walls occupied without much
loss. Yeh remained obstinate. At last, after a strange pause
in the proceedings, detachments of British and French troops
entered the city simultaneously from different points (January
5 , 1858) and, after a few hours of unopposed search, Yeh as
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 317
well as the Civil Governor (Pih Kwei ) fell into the hands of
British marines, while the French captured the Tartar General.
The question now arose what to do with Canton city and its
captured officials. Lord Elgin reluctantly admitted that a
successful organisation of the government of Canton city was
impossible so long as Yeh was on the scene. So he sent him
to Hongkong en route for Calcutta where he died two years
later. Whilst Yeh was in Hongkong, Sir J. Bowring had at
last ( February 15, 1858) the long desired pleasure of an interview
with Yeh on board H.M.S. Inflexible, but Yeh would not enter
into any conversation and referred him to his interpreter
(Ch. Alabaster) . Meanwhile the government of Canton city had
been settled by the appointment (January 10, 1857 ) of a Mixed
Commission consisting of Consul Parkes, Colonel Holloway of
the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Captain Martineau des Chénez
of the French Navy and Governor Pih Kwei . This Commission ,
thanks to Sir 11. Parkes ' organizing genius, succeeded , with the
aid of a small force of Anglo - French police and by means of
re-instating all the executive and administrative officers under
Pih Kwei, in restoring forthwith public confidence and in
maintaining perfect order . These arrangements were made by
Lord Elgin, at the suggestion of Consul Parkes who was the
head and soul of the Commission, contrary to the advice of
Sir J. Bowring. The latter opposed such a mixed form of
government on the ground that a dual administration of this
sort, containing so many elements of discord, would fail to inspire
public confidence, produce mutual distrust and clashing of
authority, and give the Chinese in other provinces the idea that
the barbarians did not really conquer and govern Canton city.
Events disproved these vaticinations. For several years, the
most turbulent city of the Empire was successfully and peacefully
governed by the Allied Commissioners . Trade was immediately
resumed and the industries of Canton carried on as usual. The
village volunteers in the adjoining districts, with whom Pih
Kwei was secretly in league, were kept in check by occasional
military expeditions, organized at the suggestion of Consul Parkes
318 CHAPTER XVII.
and dispatched to Fatshan and Kongtsun ( January 18 , 1858 ) ,
to Fayen (February 8th) and far up the West River to a distance
of 200 miles (February 19th to March 3rd) . The government of
Canton city and these military expeditions into the interior
of Kwang-tung Province were indeed the only operations in
the whole Arrow War that made a good and lasting impression
upon the Chinese people. These measures shewed conclusively
the ease with which large masses of Chinese can be controlled
by a moderate but firm display of European power. They
demonstrated also the benefits that would accrue to the Chinese
as well as to foreign trade by a real opening up of South-China
to the civilizing influences of British power.
Lord Elgin, with his maudlin misconception of the true
character of the Manchu Government, proved a signal failure .
Like Sir H. Pottinger, he did well so long as warlike operations
proceeded, but the moment parleying commenced he allowed
himself to be duped. After sending the demands of the Allies
to Peking ( February 11 , 1858) and finding them to his surprise
treated with contempt, he took the Taku forts (May 20 , 1858 )
and occupied Tientsin with ease. But instead of pushing on to
Peking and dictating his terms there, he stopped at Tientsin and
negotiated a Treaty (June 26, 1858 ) void of any material
guarantees apart from money payments. Instead of retaining
at least possession of Tientsin until the ratification of this
compact, he retreated forthwith to Shanghai to settle commercial
regulations. Next he yielded the main point of his own Treaty
(permanent representation of Europe in Peking) and returned to
England (March, 1859 ) only to find, three months later, when
the Treaty ratifications came to be exchanged , that the wily
Chinese had fooled him. The success with which Yeh had for
years disregarded the Nanking Treaty in the South, naturally
encouraged the Mandarins in the North to signalize their
disregard of the Tientsin Treaty by their action at Taku (June
25 , 1859) which permanently injured British prestige in China.
In Hongkong the turmoil continued in one way or other
to the end of Sir J. Bowring's administration. On the day when
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 319
the bombardment of Canton commenced (December 28 , 1857),
there was among Europeans in Hongkong a serious apprehension
of an emeute which found expression in a startling Government
notification to the effect that in case of fire or serious dis-
turbance ' notice would be given by beat of drum and residents
would find 100 stand of arms ready for volunteers willing to
assist the police. Owing to the frequency of conflagrations,
ascribed to a gang of incendiaries headed by the famous pirate
chief Chu A-kwai , the Governor offered ( May 17 , 1858 ) rewards
of $500 for the arrest of the man and $ 100 for each of his
accomplices. This appeal to sordid cupidity in order to further
the ends of justice naturally appeared to the Chinese as ou a
par with Yeh's system of retaliating for the bombardment of
Canton by offers of head-money to private assassins and patriotic
incendiaries in Hongkong. That barbarous mode of warfare
against the Colony was steadily continued by the Mandarins of
the neighbouring districts who, in spite of the occupation
of Canton by the Allies and even after the conclusion of the
Tientsin Treaty, continued to worry Chinese residents of
Hongkong into hostile attitude against Europeans . In January,
1858, the Legislative Council had represented to Lord Elgin
the continued exactions practised by the Chinese Authorities at
Heungshan and especially at Casa Branca (near Macao) on the
Chinese in the employ of Europeans in Hongkong, but Lord
Elgin would not listen to the suggestion of the Council that a
forcible demonstration be made against those Anthorities . When
the Mandarins found how comparatively fruitless their pro-
clamations were, they moved the rural militia - associations to
compel all village elders to cut off the market supplies of the
Colony and to send word to their respective clansmen in
Hongkong to leave the Colony immediately on pain of their
relatives in the country being treated as rebels (including muti-
lation and forfeiture of property) . This popular measure had
its effect . Many Chinese in the Colony now resigned lucrative
employment for very fear. A sensible exodus of individuals of
all classes commenced and by the middle of July European
320 CHAPTER XVII.
residents began to feel themselves boycotted . A public meeting
was therefore held (July 29 , 1858 ) to discuss the extensive
departure of Chinese from the Colony and the stoppage of food
supplies. In accordance with the urgent resolutions unanimously
passed by this meeting, Sir John boldly departed from Lord
Elgin's line of policy and issued (July 31 , 1858) a proclamation
emphatically threatening the Heungshan and Sanon Districts
with the retributive vengeance of the British Government if
servants and food supplies were withheld any longer. Copies
of this proclamation were successfully delivered at Heungshan
by a party of British marines, but when H.M.S. Starling conveyed
copies of the same proclamation to Sanon, a boat's crew, while
under a flag of truce, were fired upon by the braves of Namtao .
Thereupon General C. van Straubenzee and the Commodore
(Hon. Keith Stewart ) proceeded to Sanon with a small military
and naval force and took the walled town of Namtao by assault ,
with the loss of two officers and three men . This measure had
its effect in an immediate restoration of the market supplies of
the Colony and an altere l attitude of the Mandarius.
In addition to all the excitement which the Arrow War
and its by-play of poisoning, incendiarism and boycotting
involved , the public life of Hongkong was, throughout this
administration, convulsed by an internal chronic warfare the
acerbities of which beggared all description . It is not the duty
of the historian to drag before the public eye the private failings
of individuals nor is it proposed here to enter upon all the details
of the mutual criminations and recriminations in which the
public men of the Colony and the local newspapers indulged
during this liveliest period in the history of Hongkong. But as
the eruptions of volcanoes reveal to us the secrets of the interior
of the earth, so these periodical explosions of feeling in the
Colony give us an insight into the inner workings of local
public life. It is necessary therefore to characterize, and trace
the real cause of, these dissensions which disturbed the public
peace, the more so as these matters became subjects of debate
in Parliament to the great injury of the reputation of Hongkong.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 321
When Sir John arrived in the Colony (April, 1854) , the
public mind had for some years been, and still was, in a state of
tolerable tranquillity, and peace reigned within the Civil Service.
The only disturbing element was a local newspaper, the Friend
of China, edited by a discharged Civil Servant, who generally
criticized the Government and most public officers with some
animus and repeatedly insinuated that the Lieutenant-Governor
(whilst Chief Magistrate) had been in collusion with his com-
prador's squeezing propensities. The fact that the Lieutenant-
Governor allowed five years to pass before he stopped these
unfounded calumnies by the appeal to the Court which, as soon
as made, consigned that editor to the ignominious silence of the
gao! (September 21 , 1859 ) , encouraged in the Colony a vicious.
taste for journalistic personalities. The more wicked a paper
was, the greater now became its popularity. Soon another local
editor (Daily Press) who, in certain business transactions in
connection with emigration , had been crossed by the Registrar
General, outstripped in scurrility his colleague of the Friend of
China, and commenced to insinuate that the Registrar General
was the tool of unscrupulous Chinese compradors and in league
with pirates . The Registrar General sent in his resignation
(June 11 , 1855) but the Government, as well as the Naval
Authorities, having perfect confidence in him, he was later on
(December 6, 1856 ) induced to resume his office.
The next source of trouble was the system of Petty Sessions
devised by Sir G. Bonham and continued by Sir J. Bowring
who appointed (October 4 , 1855) 13 non-official Justices of the
Peace (subsequently increased to 15 ) to assist the stipendiary
Magistrates. The non-official Justices, however, did not attend
the Sessions unless they were specially sent for and the Chief
Magistrate, as a rule, sent for them only when he had a difficulty
with the Executive. In spring 1856, the Governor several
times took occasion to remonstrate with the Chief Magistrate
(T. W. Davies) regarding his interpretation of the new Building
Ordinance (No. 8 of 1856 ) in cases of encroachments on Crown
land. The Magistrate, disregarding the minutes of the Executive
21
322 CHAPTER XVII.
Council on the subject of that Ordinance, twice (May 23rd and
June 3rd) sent for non-official Justices to assist him in cases
in which the Crown was prosecutor, and these Justices,
representing the interest of house owners, emphatically concurred
in his interpretation of the Building Ordinance. Thereupon
the Governor addressed (August 19 , 1856 ) a severe remonstrance
to the Justices of the Peace, blaming all for habitual neglect
of their duties in not giving regular attendance at the Petty
Sessions (at which half of them had never attended at all) and
censuring four Justices with having (May 23rd) concurred in
a decision by which the obvious intent of the law was abrogated,
and with having (June 3rd) supported the Magistrate in his
determination not to give effect to the law. An angry
correspondence ensued, in the course of which the Justices,
alleging that they had attended in Court whenever they were
requested to do so, claimed the right to frame their decisions
according to their own convictions and characterized the
Governor's action as an attempt to intimidate the stipendiary
6
Magistrate. The question at issue, ' they wrote, is in effect
this, whether the law is to be administered according to the
judgment of the Magistrates who are sworn to dispense it
according to the best of their knowledge and ability, subject
to correction by appeal to the Supreme Court, or according to
the dictation of the Governor and Executive Council.' The
dispute culminated in a passionate public meeting ( October
16 , 1856) . This meeting complained of the retrospective
character of the new Building Ordinance ( 8 of 1856 ) and the
insufficiency of the Surveyor General's staff, of the right given
to the Crown to recover costs at common law (Ordinance 14
of 1856) , of the exclusion of the public from the meetings of
Legislative Council and of the absence of a Municipal Council.
In his reply the Governor clearly had the best of the argument
but promised a reconstruction of the Legislative Council. He
added, however, that this reconstruction would not be based on
a representative principle, to which the circumstances of
Hongkong are, in the judgment of Her Majesty's Government
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 323
and of a majority of the members of the Executive Council,
far from adapted.'
But now a more potent element of discord appeared on the
scene in the person of a testy Attorney General who for some
reason or other had been sent out, fresh from the House of
Commons where he had represented the electors of Youghal
(1847 to 1856 ) . While considering it his mission in life to
set things right in Hongkong, he seemed to combine. with
thorough uprightness of character, a lamentable want of self-
restraint . He was hardly a month in the Colony before he
quarrelled with both Magistrates, and scenes of mutual re-
crimination were enacted in the Supreme Court (June, 1856 ) .
This was followed, two months later, by an action for defamation
brought by the junior Magistrate against the Attorney General.
With the exception of an allegation of defalcations in the Colonial
Treasury, which had been placed (in 1854) in charge of its
chief clerk ( R. Rienacker) and necessitated the appointment
(June 13, 1851 ) of a Commission of Inquiry, there was
brief lull in this internal turmoil, while the public mind was
occupied with , and wrought up to great nervous tension by,
the Arrow War and its local consequences . In spring 1858,
however, the shattered nerves of the community were thrilled
anew with a series of Civil Service disputes. The editor of
the Daily Press, having gone so far as to accuse the Governor
of corruptly favouring the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. in the
matter of public contracts, was promptly brought to book and
sent to gaol for six months (April 19 , 1858 ) . About the same
time the Acting Colonial Secretary who, being a barrister, had
taken over the office on condition of his being allowed private
practice, was charged by the Attorney General with collusion with
the new opium farmer (an ex-teacher of St. Paul's College ) from
whom he had accepted a retainer. A Commission ( H. T. Davies
and J. Dent) inquired into the charge (April, 1858) but, though
some slight blame was laid on the Acting Colonial Secretary,
his honesty and honour were held unimpeached. Next the
Attorney General resigned the Commission of the Peace unless
324 CHAPTER XVII.
the Registrar General were excluded from it (May 14 , 1858 ) .
The Governor at once asked the Justices to nominate a Committee
of Inquiry. The Justices declined to do so but, when the
Committee appointed by the Governor (Ch. St. G. Cleverly.
H. T. Davies, G. Lyall, A. Fletcher, John Scarth ) advised the
retention of the Registrar General in office (July 17 , 1858 ) ,
four of the Justices (J. D. Gibb, P. Campbell, J. Rickett ,
J. Dent) published their dissent from the verdict of the Com-
mittee. Now in the course of this inquiry side-issues had
meanwhile been raised which carried the conflict still further.
The Attorney General not only impeached the Acting Colonial
Secretary's integrity by insinuating that he had burned the
account books of a convicted pirate (Machow Wong) to screen
himself and the Registrar General against a charge of com-
plicity with pirates, but the Attorney General also publicly
divulged an unfavourable opinion, as to the character of the
Acting Colonial Secretary, which the Governor had expressed in
confidential consultation with the Attorney General . Naturally,
the Governor now suspended the Attorney General , and referred
the case to the Home Government . Although the Secretary of
State, in reply, expressed himself satisfied with the conduct of
the Acting Colonial Secretary, the latter voluntarily resigned
his office (August 28 , 1858 ) . However, when he commenced
an action for libel ( with reference to the burning of the
books of Machow Wong) against the editor of the Friend of
China, the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty and the
Court awarded costs against the Government (November, 1858 ) .
The conduct of the Governor who, to avoid a subpoena
served on him in this case, had hurriedly departed for Manila
(November 29, 1858 ) being too ill to attend, provoked much
criticism at the time. But unfortunately matters did not
stop here. Elated by this measure of success, the editor of
the Friend of China, and the suspended Attorney General,
commenced an agitation in England which only served to
bring upon the Colony greater odium and the contempt of
the nation.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 325
In January, 1859, a public meeting held at Newcastle-on-
Tyne, in the belief that the books of Machow Wong had been
burned to screen a public officer from conviction of complicity
with pirates, petitioned Parliament to direct such an inquiry as
would vindicate the honour of the British Crown and do justice .
This example was followed by meetings held at Tynemouth,
Macclesfield and Birmingham, and at some other towns public
meetings were convened for the same purpose. On March 3rd,
1859 , Earl Grey brought the Newcastle petition before the House
of Lords, while Sir E. Bulwer- Lytton dealt with the matter
before the Commons. The latter stated , that the documents
in the case had been referred to a legal and dispassionate adviser
of the Crown ; that he discovered in them hatred, malice and
uncharitableness in every possible variety and aspect ; that the
documents might consequently be considered a description of
official life in Hongkong ; that the mode in which the Attorney
General had originated and conducted the inquiry, and the breach
of official confidence which occurred in the course of the trial,
had led the Governor to suspend him ; that, after a dispassionate
-consideration of the papers, he could come to no other conclusion
than that the Governor's decision ought to be confirmed ; that
it was, however, his intention , as soon as possible, to direct a
most careful examination into the whole of the facts. Of course
the public press treated the whole case in a variety of ways, but
the verdict of public opinion in England was, no doubt, that to
which the Times gave utterance ( March 15 , 1859 ) in a scathing
article of which the following is a brief digest .
6
Hongkong is always connected with some fatal pestilence,
some doubtful war, or some discreditable internal squabble, so
much so that, in popular language, the name of this noisy,
bustling, quarrelsome, discontented little Island may not inaptly
be used as a euphemous synonym for a place not mentionable to
ears polite. Every official's hand is there against his neighbour.
The Governor has run away to seek health or quiet elsewhere.
The Lieutenant- Governor has been accused of having allowed
his servant to squeeze. The newspaper proprietors were, of late,
326 CHAPTER XVII.
all more or less in prison or going to prison or coming out of
prison, on prosecutions by some one or more of the incriminated
and incriminating officials. The heads of the mercantile houses.
hold themselves quite aloof from local disputes and conduct
themselves in a highly dignified manner, which is one of the
chief causes of the evil. But a section of the community deal
in private slander which the newspapers retail in public abuse.
The Hongkong press, which every one is using, prompting,
disavowing and prosecuting the less we say of it the better.
A dictator is needed, a sensible man, a man of tact and firmness .
We cannot be always investigating a storm in a teapot where
each individual tea-leaf has its dignity and its grievance.'
Black as the case thus put before the home country was,
it did not cover the whole extent of Hongkong's internal war-
fare . The dissensions which, as above recounted, disgraced the
public life of the Colony, invaded also the Legislative Council.
In the first instance the Members of Council, both unofficial
and official, frequently overstepped during this period the limit
of their proper functions, occupying themselves with matters
having no concern with legislation, and really trenching on
the powers of the Executive. Next, the official Members,
and notably the Attorney General and the Chief Magistrate,
claimed an extraordinary measure of independence. On more
than one occasion , and without any previous communication
to the Governor or Colonial Secretary, these officials censured
the Executive in strong terms. The Attorney General, with
whose advent the character of the Legislative Council under-
went a marked change, often repudiated the authority of
the superior Law Officers of the Crown when their opinions,
formally conveyed to the local Government, differed from his.
With equal nonchalance he declared that he took his seat in
Council as an independent legislator, not as a servant of the
Crown, and that he was there, if he thought fit, to criticize
and oppose the views of the Executive. Naturally the unofficial
Members felt under these circumstances justified in claiming
equal liberties.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 327
When Sir J. Bowring became Governor, the Legislative
Council was presided over by the Lieutenant-Governor and
consisted of 6 Members of whom 2 were non-officials. In 1855
Sir John submitted to the Secretary of State ( Mr. Labouchere) a
proposal to enlarge the basis of the Council by introducing 4
additional official and 3 non-official Members, giving a total
of 13 Members exclusive of the Governor. Mr. Labouchere
disapproved of so great an enlargement but sanctioned a
moderate addition . This was given effect to by the introduction
of the Colonial Treasurer, the Chief Magistrate and one non-
official Member, the relative proportions being thus preserved
and the Legislative Council then consisted of 6 officers of the
Government and 3 members of the community. Sir John
however added (in 1857 ) the Surveyor General and in November.
1858 , probably with a view to secure the passing of the Praya
Ordinance, he further introduced the Auditor General, so that
there were 8 official to 3 non -official Members . Against this
measure the unofficial Members at the bottom of the table,'
as Sir John humorously styled them, put in a formal protest
(November 20, 1858 ) and suggested that the nomination of
the Auditor General should remain in abeyance until the original
number of 6 officials be returned to by the occurrence of
vacancies or that the original proposition of Sir J. Bowring as
to the number of non-official Members should also be carried
out. A memorial impeaching the Governor was talked of, just
before he left for Manila, but after further consideration the
idea was abandoned . From after the close of the session of
1857 the proceedings of the Council were regularly published
and from March 25th, 1858, the Governor allowed the public
to be present at the debates.
The principal bone of contention between the Governor
and his Legislative Council was the construction of a Praya
or sea-wall which was to extend along the whole front of the
town from Navy Bay to Causeway Bay and to be named Bowring
Praya. The Council heartily approved of the completion
(October 1 , 1855 ) of the new Government House (at a total
328 CHAPTER XVII.
cost of £ 15,318 spread over many years), the erection of a
number of water tanks (1855) and the completion (in 1857)
of two Police Stations (Central and Westpoint Stations) and
four new Markets. But the projected Praya and particularly
its proposed name aroused determined opposition . Sir John's
scheme had the support of an official Commission appointed
by him to weigh all the objections which could be urged against
it, and he assiduously hoarded the surplus funds of several years
to provide the means for carrying out his pet scheme . The
scheme was published (November 10, 1855 ) with the announce-
ment that the Governor had power to enforce it under the
alternative, offered to unwilling lot-holders, of resumption
according to terms of lease. Most of the Chinese lot-holders
appeared to be willing to come to terms with the Government,
but a public meeting of European owners passed (December
5, 1855 ) resolutions to the effect that the Governor's plan was
defective and inadequate as a public measure, onerous upon
individuals and infringing on the rights of holders of marine-lots.
The opposition view thus formulated was ably maintained and
put before the Colonial Office by the Hon . J. Dent with the
support of the other unofficial Members of Council . The
Governor's contention was that many marine- lot holders had,
for years past, recovered from the sea and appropriated to their
own use, against the rights of the Crown, land measuring
298,685 square feet which had been arbitrarily superadded to
the respective leases granting in the aggregate other 260,326
square feet. The owners of marine-lots, having thus doubled
their respective properties, were naturally opposed to a scheme
intended to re-establish the rights of the Crown. However,
the Secretary of State ( Mr. Labouchere), after considering the
objections raised by Mr. Dent, decided against the marine-lot
holders and instructed the Governor to proceed with the
reclamation work as soon as the needful funds were available.
The Chinese owners of marine-lots consented (in 1857 ) to
reclaim , under Government supervision , and to pay rent for
a large portion of the Praya in front of their holdings. As
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 329
their work proceeded , the Governor succeeded in making amicable
arrangements also with most of the European holders of marine-
lots in front of the city, and that part of the Praya the frontage
of which properly belonged to the Government was forthwith
taken in hand. But two British firms (Dent and Lindsay) ,
holding the small portion of land situated between the parade-
ground and Pedder's wharf, obstinately resisted , though the
estimates for the sea-wall and piers for this section amounted
to less than £ 14,000 . Finding, in 1858, that a sum of £20,000
of hoarded surplus funds was available for public works , the
Governor, who had been advised by the Acting Attorney General
(J. Day succeeded by F. W. Green) to proceed by Ordinance ,
had a draft Bill prepared by a Committee consisting of the
Acting Attorney General, the Colonial Treasurer ( F. Forth) and
the Surveyor General (Ch. St. G. Cleverly) . These officers
assured the Governor that they were satisfied with the Bill which
they prepared and which was published in the Gazette (October
23, 1858). The first reading of the Bill was opposed by
Mr. Dent, voting alone. Owing to the Governor's absence on
a trip to the Philippine Islands, the second reading of the Bill
was delayed until 4th February, 1859. On that day the
Governor was confident of success . The Acting Attorney General
had assured him that the Bill would pass and would even have
the support of one of the unofficial Members. But when the
Council met, to consider this Bill on which the leading merchants
were at issue with the Governor, the Chief Justice and the
Lieutenant-Governor were absent, and Mr. Dent's motion that
the Praya question be adjourned sine die was, to the intense
surprise of the Governor, carried by six votes against three.
The effect on the audience was startling. There was a tragico-
-comical tableau, which a local artist forthwith perpetuated by
some woodcuts published in the Daily Press. It appeared
that none voted in favour of the Bill except the Acting Attorney
General, the Colonial Treasurer and the Auditor General . The
Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) had quite lately returned
from furlough and thought the Bill might be considered later
330 CHAPTER XVII.
on ; the Chief Magistrate (H. T. Davies) had not been consulted'
and thought water-works more urgent ; the Surveyor General
(Ch. St. G. Cleverly) said he had changed his mind ; and all
of them claimed the right of voting against the Government.
It must be said to the credit of Sir John that he did not
dispute the right of the official Members of Council to vote·
according to their conscientious convictions. But he had not
expected them to vote against his darling scheme without giving
him previous notice . Sir John, however, drew one important
lesson from this painful fiasco of his Praya Bill, viz. that the
leading firms can defeat a Governor and that the public service
must suffer if functionaries and especially the higher ones
(Attorney General and Surveyor General) are allowed to accept
6
private practice. The enormous power and influence of the
great commercial houses in China, when associated directly or
indirectly with personal pecuniary advantages which they are able-
to confer on public officers, who are permitted to be employed
and engaged by them, cannot but create a conflict between duties
not always compatible... One of the peculiar difficulties against
which this Government has to struggle is the enormous influence-
wielded by the great and opulent commercial Houses against
whose power and in opposition to whose personal views it is
hard to contend .' These words of Sir John, as well as the whole
story of this first Praya Bill, indicate a recognition of the fact
that the commercial aristocracy created by his predecessor had
by this time commenced to exercise a political influence liable
to be inspired, occasionally, by the interests of individual firms
rather than by unselfish consideration of the public good .
The legislative activity of the Council was, particularly
after the arrival (in spring 1856 ) of the Hon . Chisholm Austey.
the Attorney General, somewhat excessive. He had a passion
for reform and set to work, revising local procedure in civil and
criminal cases (Ordinance 5 of 1856 ) and in Chancery (Ordinance
7 of 1856 ) , limiting the admission of candidates to the rolls
of practitioners in the Supreme Court (Ordinance 13 of
1856) , regulating the summary jurisdiction of the Police Court
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 331
and appeals to the Supreme Court (Ordinance 4 of 1858 ) and
declaring sundry Acts of Parliament to be in force in the Colony
(Ordinances 3 of 1856 and 3 and 4 of 1857 ) . As many as 15-
Ordinances were passed by the Council in the year 1856 aud
12 Ordinances in 1857. Mr. Anstey received, however, small
thanks for his zeal. Shortly after his departure a Colonial Office
dispatch was read in Council (January 20, 1859 ) stating that
the legal advisers of the Crown had severely commented on the
careless manner in which British Acts of Parliament had been .
adopted in Hongkong. A lamentable state of affairs was revealed
when Mr. Anstey's successor, in admitting the justice of the
censure, stated that his own tenure of the office was too uncertain
to admit of his commencing any new system of legislation or
correcting mistakes for which he was not responsible.
Among the Ordinances of the year 1857 there is one (No.
12 of 1857 ) which requires special mention as it constitutes
the first attempt made by a British legislature to grapple with
and control the evils arising from prostitution, by the introduction
in Hongkong of the system of registration , compulsory medical
examination and the establishment of a Lock Hospital . This
Ordinance was the work of Dr. W. T. Bridges, the Acting
Colonial Secretary, who was an enthusiastic believer in the
philanthropic virtues of Contagious Diseases Acts. Sir J.
Bowring, with some diffidence, permitted the Ordinance to pass ,
stating that he reserved his opinion as to its value ; but, when
the Chinese community made an energetic stand against the
application of the measure to the inmates of houses visited by
Chinese, Sir John yielded and thereby deprived the scheme of
a fair trial in Hongkong. The problem involved in such a
C. D. Ordinance requires, for a just and charitable solution.
that unbiassed mind which but few possess . Let it be granted
that, in the rural surroundings of the domestic and social life
of Christian England, where every form of moral and religious
influence is at full play, regulations of the nature of the C. D..
Acts would fall under the condemnation of morality and religion
as being not only not required but distinct reminders and
332 CHAPTER XVII
encouragements of immorality. But it must then also be granted,
from the same Christian point of view, that the practice of
taking young men away from those moral and religious influences
of their rural homes and transplanting them, in the interest
of the nation, in an enervating climate, in the midst of all
the demoralising surroundings of sensuous native communities,
is a proceeding equally to be condemned on the score of both
morality and religion . The correct thing would therefore be,
to abolish our army, our navy, and our Colonial commerce.
This application of the Christian ideal is practically impossible.
If, then, we cannot nationally realise the higher ideal of the
Christian life and must perforce provide for war and commerce
abroad, it is neither a consistent nor a moral or charitable
proceeding to apply that impracticable ideal by withdrawing
from the men thus placed, in the interest of the nation , in
unnatural positions, the small measure of medical safeguards
which C. D. Ordinances provide.
The legislative work of Sir J. Bowring's administration
is further distinguished by the great attention paid to the
interests of the Chinese residents . In March, 1855 , Sir John
ordered an investigation to be instituted concerning the extensive
gambling system which had been in vogue among the Chinese
employees of the Government. Strict regulations were made to
prevent a recurrence of the evil. The right which Sir J. Bowring
gave to Chinese lessees of Crown -lands, to become owners of
British ships and to use the British flag in Colonially registered
vessels (Ordinances 4 of 1855 and 9 of 1856) , has already
been mentioned in connection with the Arrow War . As the
laws in force in the Colony appeared to tend to the avoidance
of all wills male in the Chinese manner, Sir John authorized
(Ordinance 4 of 1856) the recognition in local Courts of Chinese
wills when made according to Chinese laws and usages. Chinese
burials which hitherto studded the hill sides in all sorts of places
with graves, were regulated by the establishment of special
Chinese cemeteries (Ordinance 12 of 1856 ) . Chinese domiciled
in the Colony (and other alien residents) were granted (by
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 333
Ordinance 13 of 1856) the privilege of seeking qualification
as legal practitioners. The government of the Chinese people
by means of officially recognized and salaried head-men (Tipos )
under the supervision of the Registrar General was organized
(by Ordinance 8 of 1858) and a Census Office established..
As to the latter, Sir John all along recognized the practical
impossibility of individual Chinese registration, but insisted upon
a registration of houses. He revised also the night pass
regulations extending the time, when Chinese had to keep indoor,
from 8 to 9 P.M. The markets of the Colony having hitherto
been worked under a system of monopoly, which augmented
the price of food stuffs in the Colony, Sir John introduced an
Ordinance ( 9 of 1858 ) which to some extent diminished the
evils of monopoly and transferred to the Government, in the
shape of augmented rental, a portion at least of the profit
which was before in the hands of two or three compradors
supposed to enjoy special official patronage.
But the most effective and beneficial legislative act of this
period , and one for which Sir J. Bowring deserves much credit,
was the so-called Amalgamation Ordinance (No. 12 of 1858 ) .
This Ordinance empowered barristers to act as their own
attorneys and thus gave the public the choice of engaging an
attorney and barrister in the persons of two or of one member
of the legal profession. The evil which it was intended to
counteract by this measure consisted in the excessive amount
of pettifogging, needless litigation and worthless conveyancing
that prevailed in the Colony for many years previous. This
evil was supported by adventurers, the riff-raff of Australian
attorneys, who had infested the local Courts. Indeed the legal
profession of this period was in even greater need of reform than
the Civil Service. The Courts were in a continual ferment
and the lower one of the two branches of the legal profession was
a by-word. Evidence was produced before the Council, shewing
not only that the public was systematically fleeced by exorbitant
attorneys' bills for worthless work, but that attorneys kept
Chinese runners whose duty was to hunt up and to stir up
334 CHAPTER XVII.
litigation cases, and that the percentage payable to these men was
sometimes as much as two hundred dollars a month. There
was among the leading merchants as well as among the principal
barristers (Dr. Bridges, J. Day, H. Kingsmill ) a strong and
unanimous feeling in favour of an amalgamation of the two
legal professions as a permanent remedy of the existing state of
things. This proposal of an amalgamation was further supported
by a letter addressed by 50 local firms to the Attorney General,
and even the the leading attorneys (Cooper- Turner, Hazeland,
Woods) were either in favour of amalgamation or remained
neutral . But the other attorneys raised a powerful opposition .
The question was under the consideration of Sir J. Bowring for
six months and he gave both sides full and patient hearing.
When the Amalgamation Bill was considered by the Legislative
Council (June 24, 1858 ) , Mr. Parsons was heard and examined
on behalf of the attorneys but, when he claimed to represent also
the local Law Society, it was proved that he had received no
authority from that body. After the most painstaking inquiry,
the Bill was passed by seven votes against two and exercised
thereafter a beneficial influence as long as it remained in
force.
The cause celebre (apart from the actions for libel above
referred to ) of this period was a dispute raised by General
J. Keenan who , since July 11 , 1853, officiated in Hongkong as
U.S. Consul. After some animated correspondence with the
Colonial Secretary (in October, 1855) , concerning his views
as to Consular rights and jurisdiction over American subjects
on board American ships in harbour, the gallant General forcibly
took the law into his own hands. In result, he had to answer
(November 13, 1855 ) a charge of rescuing a prisoner (American)
from the Civil Authorities charged with assault and battery. The
cise was, however, amicably arranged and General Keenan became
a very popular man in the Colony.
The finances of the Colony gave Sir J. Bowring much
anxiety. Finance was supposed to be one of his strong points.
But he was hampered in every way and could not achieve much.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 335
He succeeded, indeed, in increasing the revenue by the sale of
Crown-land, principally marine lots. He was aided in this
respect by the surrender ( in 1854) of the ground at Westpoint
previously occupied by the Navy Department for stores which
were removed to Praya East. Sir John succeeded in doubling
the revenue within the five years of his administration and the
last year of it, when compared with the revenue of the last year
of his predecessor, presented an increase of £37,776 . But he
could not keep the expenditure within the limits of the revenue,
although he restrained public works as much as possible . Con-
sequently he had to fall back once more upon Parliamentary
grants, obtaining £ 10,000 per annum for the years 1857 and
1858. These grants were made for hospital and gaol buildings.
But by an advantageous exchange with the Rhenish and Berlin
Missions he obtained a new hospital at little cost, and by reducing
the proposed limits of gaol extension he made some further
savings, so that the greater part of the Parliamentary grants,
laid out at interest, could be left to accumulate for the purposes
of his great Praya scheme, which however broke down at the
last moment. After raising the police rate to 10 per cent ., Sir
John reduced it again (in 1857 ) to 8 per cent., only to find
that it after all proved insufficient to pay the cost of the police
and gaol departments owing to the extra expenses caused by the
disturbances consequent upon the Arrow War. In spring 1858 ,
Sir John stated that he had intended to claim from the Chinese
Government compensation for the increased expenditure caused
by the disturbed state of the neighbouring Districts, but that
the appointment of Lord Elgin had taken the power out of his
hands. As a matter of fact, the Colony never received any
compensation when the accounts between England and China
were settled at Canton, at Nanking or Tientsin. The Imperial
Exchequer appropriated in each case the whole amount of war
compensation paid by China. Sir John deserves credit for
having initiated the practice of depositing the surplus funds of
the Government in local chartered Banks, paying interest, instead
of leaving large sums of money lying idle in the vaults of the
336 CHAPTER XVII.
Treasury. The opium monopoly was re-instated by Sir John
(April 1 , 1858 ) to swell the revenue, but failed to fetch its true
price, being let at $33,000 a year. Sir John removed one impost ,
the productiveness of which, he said, was small whilst its.
annoyances and inconveniences were great, viz. that upon salt.
Sir John claimed credit for having wholly freed salt from
taxation, as it became thereby an article of increased commercial
importance . He seems, however, to have been oblivious of the
fact that, as salt is a heavily taxed Imperial monopoly in China,
his action in abolishing the salt tax in Hongkong merely gave
a fillip to the Chinese contraband trade carried on by the salt
smugglers in the Colony.
Sir J. Bowring paid much attention to the condition of
the Police Force . Being at first dissatisfied with its organisation,
he appointed (August, 1855) a Commission to inquire into the
police system of the Colony and invited the public to give
evidence verbally or in writing. Some changes were made in
the constitution of the Force (in 1857 ) and at the close of his
administration Sir John considered the outward appearance,
discipline and general efficiency of the Police Force to have
greatly improved. He stated that the complaints under this
head, which formerly were frequently addressed to the Govern-
ment, were in 1858 much diminished in number. Considering
the indifferent materials from which the selection , for economical
reasons, had necessarily to be made, Sir John considered the
state of the Force to be satisfactory and creditable to its
Superintendent ( Ch . May) .
It could not be expected that crime would decrease during:
a period of such extraordinary commotion . Yet the criminal
record of Sir John's regime compares, with the exception of the
unique attempt to poison the whole foreign community, by no
means unfavourably with that of other periods of the history of
Hongkong. Indeed , although Hongkong was at this time more
than ever the recipient of the scum of Canton and of the vilest
and fiercest of the population of South-China, the experienced
Superintendent of Police (Ch. May) , himself an ex -Inspector of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 337
Scotland Yard, reported in 1857 that the proportionate number
and gravity of offences committed in Hongkong was considerably
less than that of the British metropolis. The execution (in
1854) of two Europeans, who had murdered a Chinese boy on
the ship Mastiff, greatly impressed the Chinese residents with
the equality of justice dealt out by British tribunals . In 1854
and 1855, gangs of robbers, having their lairs on the hillside
or on the Peak, engaged in occasional skirmishes with the police
(April 24, 1855) and made a daring attack (November, 1855)
on some shops in Aberdeen, when several constables were
wounded while the robbers sailed away with their booty in a
junk. The conviction (June, 1854 ) of a Chinese boatman and
his wife of the murder of a Mr. Perkis, the attack made by
an armed gang on the comprador's office of Wardley & Co.
(December, 1855) , a similar attack made on shops at Jardine's
Bazaar (January 1 , 1856 ) , when several private policemen of
Jardine, Matheson & Co. were wounded, and finally the murder
(April 1 , 1857 ) of Mr. Ch. Markwick by his Chinese servant,
were the principal crimes, unconnected with the war, that
attracted public attention during this period. In the latter case,
the Registrar General (D. R. Caldwell) pursuing the murderer
with the assistance of a gunboat to his native village, obtained
his surrender by the threat of bombarding the village. The
Secretary of State subsequently expressed his disapproval of
this measure. Nevertheless the District city of Namtao was
(March 19 , 1859 ) actually bombarded by H.M.S. Cruiser (Captain
Bythesea ) to compel reparation for the sum of $ 4,500 which,
as the comprador of the Registrar General's Office alleged , had
been stolen by Namtao braves from a Hongkong passage-boat
in which he had an interest. These were high-handed measures
inspired by the war-spirit of the time rather than by justice.
Sir J. Bowring believed that the spot where almost all
crime was concocted in Hongkong was to be found in the
unlicensed gambling houses of Taipingshan. In connection
with this belief, and in view of the apparent impossibility of
finding constables who would not wink at and profit by existing
22
338 CHAPTER XVII.
abuses rooted in the inveterate Chinese habit of gambling,
Sir J. Bowring boldly proposed to Lord John Russell
(September 4, 1855) and subsequently to Mr. H. Labouchere
(February 11 , 1856) to regulate the vice that could not be
suppressed and to adopt the system in vogue at Macao of
controlling Chinese gambling houses by licensing a limited
number of them . The Lieutenant- Governor (W. Caine), the
Acting Colonial Secretary ( Dr. Bridges) and the Attorney
General (T. Ch. Anstey) , strongly supported the Governor's
arguments, which were fortified by a considerable array of
favourable reports, received from India, the Straits, the Dutch
Possessions and the Governor of Macao ( I. F. Guimaraes) as to
the good results of such a control of Chinese gambling. None
but the Superintendent of Police (Ch. May ) and the Chief
Magistrate (C. H. Hillier) raised a voice of warning. Accor-
dingly a draft Ordinance, relating to public gaming houses
and for the better suppression of crime, ' prepared by Dr. Bridges
and assented to by all the Members of Council ( Mr. Hillier
excepted), was submitted to H.M. Government (April 17, 1856) .
Although the measure met with a blank refusal on the part of
Mr. Labouchere , who would not even consider it, Sir J. Bowring
again and again, but in vain, represented to Mr. Labouchere's
successors (Lord Stanley and Sir E. B. Lytton ) his ardent
conviction that the system of licensing vice for the purpose of
controlling it was as legitimate in the case of gambling as in
the case of prostitution and opium smoking, and that the
existing state of things resulted in general corruption of the
Police. The problem was left to be taken up ten years later
by Sir Richard MacDonnell.
That piracy was specially rampant during this period was
natural. The periodical onslaughts which British men-of- war
made on the pirates swarming in the neighbourhood of Hongkong
appeared to make little impression. Captious critics, both in
the Colony and in Parliament, and particularly European friends
of the Taiping Government, occasionally threw out doubts
whether all the junks destroyed by British gunboats were actually
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 339
piratical craft or Taiping rebels or peaceful but in self-protection
heavily armed traders, officially traduced by Chinese informers as
pirates. H.M.S. Rattler made a successful raid against pirates
at Taichow (May 16 , 1855 ) . H.M. Brig Bittern burned 23
junks and killed 1.200 men at Sheifoo (September, 1855 ) with
the loss of her own commander killed and 19 men wounded.
H.M.S. Surprise, assisted by boats of H.M.S. Cambrian, captured
a whole pirate fleet at Lintin (May, 1858 ) and in result of this
action as many as 134 large cannons were sold in the Colony by
public auction and purchased by Chinese (probably confederates
of pirates) at the rate of $234 a pair. H.M.S. Magicienne,
Inferible, Plover, and Algerine, destroyed (September, 1858)
40 junks, 30 snake-boats, a stockaded battery and several piratical
villages. H.M.S. Fury and Bustard captured 12 junks near
Macao (December, 1858 ) and in the same neighbourhood H.M.S.
Niger, Janus, and Clown burned 20 junks and killed some 200
men ( March, 1859 ) . Mr. Caldwell, by whose information and
guidance all these expeditions were undertaken, enjoyed the fullest
confidence of the Authorities but incurred, at the same time,
much obloquy and animosity on the part of European friends of
the Taipings and particularly among the Chinese friends and
abettors of the pirates. On 1st June, 1854, a foolish rumour
gained credence among the local Chinese population that an
immense piratical fleet was coming to attack and plunder the
Colony. After the ontbreak of the Arrow War such rumours
were frequently in circulation owing to the general increase of
piracy. As many as 32 piracies were reported in Hongkong
between November 1st , 1856 , and 15th February, 1857. After
that they decreased in frequency. Only 5 cases of piracy were
reported in March, 5 more in May and June, and 11 cases
between June 28th and August 17th, 1857. One of the foreign
associates of pirates, Eli M. Boggs, an American, was convicted
(July 7 , 1857 ) of piracy and sentenced to transportation for
life, and a notorious pirate chief, Machow Wong, was sentenced
(September 2 , 1857 ) to 15 years' transportation (to Labuan) .
In October, 1857, the schooner Neva was attackel by pirates who
1
340 CHAPTER XVII
murdered the captain and two of the crew. Piracy continued
to worry the junk trade until March 1858 , and the capture of a
Hongkong passage-boat (Wing-sun) made some stir (January
17 , 1858 ), but after that time the numberof piracies sensibly
decreased and no further attack on European vessels occurred
until the day preceding the Governor's departure, when the
S.S. Cumfa was plundered by pirates (May 4, 1859 ) .
Owing to the long-continued disturbances in the Canton
Province, the population of Hongkong increased , with some
strange fluctuations (in 1856 and 1858 ) , from 56,011 people in
the year 1854 to 75,503 people in 1858 , the average annual
increase, during the five years of Sir J. Bowring's administration ,
being only 6,915 , though in the years 1854 and 1855 the annual
increment amounted to 16,954 people . Sir John explained these
fluctuations by saying that the returns of 1857 and 1858 were
under-estimated by error and that the ambulatory habits of the
Chinese residents might account for the inaccuracies of the
census of 1856 which reported 71,730 persons residing in
the Colony (exclusive of troops) . Referring to the year 1856 ,
Sir John reported an increase in the respectability of the Chinese
population and stated that a better class of people had com-
menced settling in Hongkong. It was also noticed in 1857
that the average proportion of Chinese females residing in the
Colony was far higher than it had ever been before.
In his report for the year 1854, the Colonial Surgeon (J.
Carroll Dempster) urged upon the Government the necessity of
securing drainage and ventilation for Chinese dwellings . He
stated that smallpox was the principal scourge of the Colony in
1854. In spring 1855, fever raged among the Chinese population , 1
some 800 deaths being reported between 6th February and 28th
April. Increased activity of the sanitary department caused,
in October 1856 , just after the commencement of the Arrow
War, much excitement among the Chinese residents owing to
the heavy fines imposed by the Magistrates under the new
Nuisance Ordinance (8 of 1856 ) and mobs of turbulent Chinese
paraded the streets . The year 1857 was reported upon by the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 341
next Colonial Surgeon (Dr. Menzies) as having been distinguished
by more than average unhealthiness consequent upon the failure
of the usual amount of rain . But the next year was positively
disastrous. When Dr. Harland (the successor of Dr. Menzies)
died of fever in the year 1858 , it was noticed that he was the
fourth Colonial Surgeon who had fallen a victim to the climate.
His successor, Dr. Chaldecott, reported, as a novel appearance in
the Colony, the outbreak of true Asiatic cholera and hydro-
phobia . Whilst insisting upon the urgent need of improving the
sanitary condition of the Colony, repeatedly pointed out by his
predecessors, Dr. Chaldecott stated that this first appearance of
Asiatic cholera was, if not entirely owing to, at least fearfully
aggravated and extended by, the neglect of proper drainage and
cleanliness, the results of which must act with double force in
a community so crowded together as that of Victoria, and in
a climate so favourable to the decomposition of animal and
vegetable products." He reported that Asiatic cholera in
Hongkong first attacked the worst lodged and worst fed part
of the Chinese community, then some Indian servants, next the
European seamen both ashore and afloat and at the same time
some of the soldiers of the garrison and the prisoners in the
gaol, and that it finally, in three cases, attacked the higher class
of European inhabitants of the Colony and in one of those cases
proved fatal. The residents of Macao suffered at the same
time from the disease and cases occurred among the Allied Forces
at Canton and in some of the men-of-war in the River. The
disease afterwards visited the East Coast, reached Shanghai and
then raged with great virulence over a large part of the Japanese
Empire.
The erection of waterworks was repeatedly mooted during
this period and particularly in the year 1858. Sir J. Bowring
publicly stated that some of the opponents of his Praya scheme
(Members of Council) had openly avowed their purpose of
swamping the surplus revenue, accumulating for Praya purposes,
by diverting it to other and hitherto unauthorized public works,
and that it was for this sinister purpose that the construction of
342 CHAPTER XVII.
waterworks was prominently put forward. One of the principal
advocates of the waterworks scheme was the Colonial Secretary
(W. T. Mercer) . Observing that the pancity of the hill streams
on the northern side of the Island renders the procural of a
sufficient water supply for the city a matter of extreme difficulty,
and noticing also that this want is specially felt in the winter
season when conflagrations are most frequent among the Chinese
houses, he suggested to lead the water from Pokfulam round the
side of the hill, attracting at the same time the smaller rivulets
crossing the course of the proposed aqueduct. The Surveyor
General estimated the cost of this undertaking at £25,000.
Sir J. Bowring, however, opined that it was not the business
of the Government to furnish individuals with water any more
than any other necessaries of life and that therefore the annual
income of the Colony was not fairly applicable to such specula-
tions. Sir John suggested the formation of a joint-stock
company, but pointed out, at the same time, the difficulty of
collecting a water rate from the Chinese population .
In the sphere of commercial affairs, Sir J. Bowring was
unfortunate in coming, almost immediately after his arrival in
China, into collision with the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce.
When the capture of Shanghai by the Taipings brought the
Imperial customs office of that port to a standstill ( September
7 , 1853 , to February 9 , 1854) , Sir G. Bonham had suggested
that British merchants continuing trade there should deposit, in
the Consulate, bonds for the eventual payment of customs dues ..
The merchants demurred, on the ground that the Chinese
Government could not claim duties, as it had ceased to exercise
authority and to afford protection, and that American, Prussian
and Austrian vessels actually came and went without paying duty
on their cargoes. Sir J. Bowring had, before leaving London,
discussed the matter with Earl Clarendon and understood him
to say that those duties must be paid. By the time Sir John
reached Shanghai, the Chinese customs office had been re-
established (February 10, 1854) , but, after working irregularly,
ceased again (March 28, 1854 ) , whereupon the foreign Consuls -
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 343
agreed to collect duties by promissory notes. Sir John having
informed the Chamber of Commerce of Earl Clarendon's decision ,
the British merchants handed in their bonds for arrears of duties
down to July 12 , 1854. After making an arrangement with the
U.S. Minister that a European Inspector should be appointed
to collect temporarily the duties payable to the Chinese Govern-
ment, Sir John returned to Hongkong (Angust, 1854 ) and ,
to his great surprise, found there a dispatch awaiting him in
which the Foreign Office, acting under the advice of the Crown
Lawyers, instructed him to return the bonds to the parties by
whom they were given. Sir John forthwith ordered restoration
of those bonds which covered the period from September to
February, but retained the other bonds, as he interpreted his
instructions to authorize his doing so . But when the Shanghai
Chamber once more appealed to the Foreign Office, Earl
Clarendon told a deputation of the East India and China
Association (November, 1854) that Sir J. Bowring had received
positive instructions not to interfere in any way with the collec-
tion of duties. Sir John now suffered unmerited obloquy as the
Shanghai merchants, supposing him to have acted throughout
in a manner contrary to his instructions, censured his action in
the matter as markedly insincere and autocratic. So much more
does it redound to the credit of those same merchants, that they,
as soon as the news of the Parliamentary condemnation of Sir
John's character and conduct in connection with the Arrow
War reached Shanghai (April, 1857 ) , immediately passed reso-
lutions enthusiastically defending his character and justifying his
general conduct and policy.
The commerce of the Colony flourished throughout this
administration. The conclusion of Sir John's treaty with Siam
caused, since May, 1855, large shipments of Siamese produce
to pour into Hongkong. This caused an immediate revolution
of the rice trade which now fell largely into foreign hands,
whence resulted a welcome reduction of prices, as famine rates
had been ruling in Canton. The opening of Japan, by the
Convention concluded (October 14, 1854) by Admiral Sir James
344 CHAPTER XVII.
Stirling, had no such immediate effect upon the trade of
Hongkong, but laid the basis of an important though slowly
developing branch of commerce. So also the trade with the
Philippine Islands, materially furthered by the opening (June
11 , 1855 ) of the ports of Saul, Iloilo, and Zamboanga (on the
island of Mindanao) , waited only for the establishment of regular
steam communication to benefit Hongkong more extensively
by an annually increasing demand for British manufactures.
Chinese emigration continued to develop from year to year.
An emigration officer was appointed by Sir John ( May, 1854)
with good effect. The first ship-load of emigrants to Jamaica
was reported (November, 1854) to have arrived safely at
Kingston. The efflux of emigrants to California and Australia
(especially to Melbourne) continued to increase. As many as
14,683 Chinese emigrants were shipped from Hongkong in the
year 1855, and 13,856 in 1858. The prohibition placed at one
time (September 1 , 1854) on the coolie trade to the Chincha
Islands, when that trade was believed to result in the most
aggravated form of slavery, was withdrawn again ( February 3,
1855) as measures had meanwhile been taken for the better
treatment and regular supervision of Chinese labourers on those
Islands. About the same time new regulations concerning the
diet and provisions of Chinese passengers in emigrant ships were
made (March 7, 1855) . Hongkong continued to be the port from
which all South-China emigrants, able to pay their passage,
preferred to embark for foreign countries. The existence at one
time (March, 1857 ) of closed coolie barracoons in Hongkong
was a shocking discovery, and was immediately put down . Sir
John thought the Chinese Passenger Ordinance too stringent as
regards Chinese emigrants paying their own passage, though for
the emigration of hired labourers under contract he considered
the Act much needed. The disturbed condition of affairs within
and without the Colony did not interfere much with the trade
of the Colony. The junk trade, indeed, fell off suddenly in
1857, during the pause in the hostilities when the Canton River
was virtually closed to Hongkong junks, and decreased by
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 345
270,244 tons in one year, but it speedily recovered again. The
foreign shipping returns for the five years of this administration
show an average yearly increase of 487 vessels, representing
251,350 tons, being 68 per cent. The tonnage increased from
300,000 to 700,000 tons of square-rigged vessels . The junk
trade improved on the whole in similar proportions. Aided
during this period by a great extension of the lines of com-
munication connecting Hongkong with other parts of the world,
the Colony not only continued to be the headquarters of all the
great commercial establishments in China, but became by this
time the most extensively visited port in the Pacific.
The currency question was not advanced in any way by
Sir J. Bowring. By order of the Colonial Office he published
(July 9 , 1857 ) a notification to the effect that Australian
sovereigns and half-sovereigns should have legal currency in
Hongkong. But he urged upon the consideration of Her
Majesty's Government the inconvenience of making the sover-
eign the standard of exchange in a country where gold is
not legal tender. He also inveighed against the absurdity of
keeping the accounts of the Government in Sterling in a
Colony where not a merchant, shopkeeper or any individual has
any transaction except in dollars and cents. Sir J. Bowring
went even further and urged the Lords Commissioners of H.M.
Treasury to sanction the introduction of a British dollar and
the establishment of a Mint in Hongkong. Unfortunately, this
sage proposal was rejected by the Treasury Board on the plea
that the mercantile supporters of Sir J. Bowring's notions were
merely some Shanghai merchants who had, from dissension
among themselves, prevented the introduction of Mexican dollars
into that place and whose obvious interest it was to advocate
any scheme which, if it succeeded, relieved them from difficulty
and, if it failed, would cost them nothing. Sir J. Bowring's
call for a British dollar was not only considered a risky
and expensive experiment but premature in view of the fact
that Sterling money remained, under the terms of the Royal
proclamation of May 1 , 1845 , the standard of value" in Hongkong,
346 CHAPTER XVII
In this, as in some other respects, Sir John's ideas were in
advance of his time.
How far behind the times some worthy men in Hongkong
kept lagging, is evidenced by the fact that in spring 1856 the
Lieutenant- Governor, Colonel W. Caine, revived the old sugges-
tion, first made by Captain Elliot (June 28 , 1841 ) and then
repeated by misguided Hongkong merchants (December, 1846) ,
that Parliament should impose a differential duty of one penny
per pound in favour of teas shipped from Hongkong. Colonel
Caine thought that, if this measure were adopted, the result
would need no demonstration. Sir J. Bowring, however,
incisively remarked in his covering dispatch, that the whole
system of differential duties was, in his view, obnoxious in
principle, fraudulent in practice and disappointing in result .
After this, no more was heard of the scheme.
Among the minor commercial topics which ephemerically
occupied the attention of the public, may be mentioned the
complaint made by the Postmaster General regarding the irregular
arrival of mail steamers (December 10 , 1854), the breaking up
of the Hongkong and Canton Steam Packet Company (December
13 , 1854) , and a decision given by the Supreme Court (May 2 ,
1855 ) to the effect that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company must forward parcels without unnecessary
delay and have no right to leave any of the parcels for Europe
behind, at any point on their route, to make room for other
cargo.
The fact that the commercial reputation of the Colony had ,
even by this time, not yet been re- established in England, became
painfully evident by an article which appeared ( December 17 ,
1858) in the Times and caused much comment in the Colony.
Hongkong was there represented as feeling humiliated and dis-
placed by the opening of so many Treaty ports in China. It was
alleged that all the success of British arms in China, so valuable
to the rest of the world and so important to the great interests
of humanity, was rather carped at by Hongkong merchants,
owing to their natural tendency towards their own individual
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 347
interests. The notion of the writer was apparently that of Mr.
M. Martin, whose influence came here once more (for the last
time perhaps ) to the fore, that the Colony was misplaced at
Hongkong and should be removed to Chusan, if a British Colony
was at all wanted in China. All the advantages of Hongkong
were said to consist exclusively in its proximity to the single
privileged port of Canton, the writer labouring under the
supposition that Hongkong's successes were merely derived from
Canton's difficulties .
The educational history of this period is characterized by
a sensible decline of the voluntary schools . The Anglo -Chinese
College, numbering from 30 to 85 scholars, was closed at the
end of the year 1856 owing to the results not justifying its
continuance. Though it had trained some useful clerks for
mercantile offices, it had failed from a missionary and educational
point of view, and, recognizing the failure, Dr. Legge courageously
closed this College. St. Paul's College continued for some years
longer, but Sir J. Bowring, weighing its results in the official
6
scales, pronounced it likewise a failure. For the last six years '
6
he said, 250 pounds a year has been voted by Parliament to the
Bishop's College for the education of six persons destined to the
public service, and not a single individual from that College has
been yet declared competent to undertake even the meanest
department of an interpreter's duty, though I have no doubt of
the Bishop's zeal and wish to show some practical and beneficial
result from the said Parliamentary grant. To the missionaries
alone I can at present look for active assistance, and their special
objects do not usually fit them for the direction of popular and
general education.' A new educational movement was initiated.
(March 6 , 1855 ) by a public meeting which, complaining that
Hongkong was still without a Public School for English children,
who were educationally less cared for than the Chinese, esta-
blished amid general enthusiasm a school (thenceforth known as
St. Andrew's School) under a representative and highly popular
Committee (the Hon . J. F. Edger, A. Shortrede, James Smith,
B. C. Antrobus, C. D. Williams, Douglas Lapraik, F. W. M. Green,
348 CHAPTER XVII.
and Geo. Lyall). But though this School was well started
and continued under the fostering care of Mr. Shortrede , the
conviction soon forced itself upon public recognition that the
Committee's original idea of confining the School to the tuition
of the children of British residents was impracticable. Weighed
in the popular scales, this School was also found wanting , though
it lingered on for a few years longer. But while the principal
voluntary schools thus declined during this period , and the
smaller day schools established by the Protestant and Catholic
missions for the benefit of the Chinese also continued in a lan-
guishing condition , the 13 Government Schools, giving a purely
Chinese education , flourished and developed both in attendance
and in organisation, through the appointment (May 12, 1857)
of an Inspector, the Rev. W. Lobscheid . The Acting Colonial
Secretary (Dr. W. T. Bridges ) , while stating ( March, 1857 ) that
nothing could well be at a lower ebb than the local educational
movement, recognized distinct signs of healthy vitality in the
Government Schools (small as they were) which he personally
visited.
There is but little to record concerning the religious affairs
of this period . Great indignation was aroused when Sir
J. Bowring declined (May 25 , 1855 ) the request of Bishop Smith
that the Governor should appoint the 6th June, 1855 , as a day
of fast and humiliation , with reference to the Crimean War and
in imitation of the popular action taken in England . Sir John
incurred the unjust condemnation of most religiously inclined
people in the Colony, but his action was strongly approved by
the Colonial Office because the proclamation of a public fast day
is a prerogative which even the Sovereign, as the head of the
Church of England, may exercise only in the form of an Order
in Council. A few years later, Bishop Smith came (October 18,
1858 ) again to the front by the publication of a stirring letter
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury in review of the
Tientsin Treaty as favourably affecting the prospects of Chris-
tianity in the East . This letter, in which the zealous Bishop
appealed to the Church for renewed missionary efforts in China,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 349
had considerable effect both in England and on the Continent .
In May, 1858, a public subscription was raised in Hongkong to
obtain, under the advice of Sir F. G. Ouseley, the Oxford
Professor of Music. an organ (to cost £ 125 ) and a first- class
organist. In result a highly trained and talented musician
(C. F. A. Sangster) was sent out (in 1860) and he conducted
the Cathedral choir for 35 years with great success.
While the social life of Hongkong continued on the whole
to center in Government House, Sir J. Bowring occupied to some
extent the position held by his literary confrère and one of his
gubernatorial predecessors, Sir J. Davis. Both men were about
equal in genius and equally unpopular in Hongkong. It was
often remarked that the friends and admirers of Sir J. Bowring-
and that he had such, there is ample testimony-were mostly
non-English . A correspondent of the New York Times (January
4, 1859 ) represented in glowing colours Sir John Bowring's
sociability and intellectuality, alleging that one secret of Sir
John's unpopularity in the detestable society of Hongkong ' was
the democratic simplicity he adhered to in his style of living.
Among the occurrences which gave colour to the social life of
this period, the following incidents may be enumerated , viz . the
arrival (August 1, 1854) of the U.S. store-ship Supply, the
officers of which had just surveyed extensive coal beds in
Formosa ; the arrival (August 14, 1854) of the American ship
Lady Pierce with her owner Silas E. Burrows ; the strike
(September 12 , 1854) of local washermen who demanded better
pay the presentation (September 14, 1854) by the American
community of Canton and Hongkong of a service of plate to
Commodore Perry in command of the U.S. Squadron ; the arrival
(November 1 , 1854 ) from the Arctic Ocean of the discovery-ship
Enterprise ; a public farewell dinner given (November 20 , 1858 )
to the officers of the 59th Regiment (2nd Nottinghamshire)
which had been nine years in China ; the series of theatrical
entertainments (since January, 1859 ) given by the officers of
the 1st or Royal Regiment who issued season tickets for the
purpose.
350 CHAPTER XVII.
The following facts may be mentioned as indicative of the
progress made by the Colony during this period, viz. the form-
ation, at the instance of Mr. W. Gaskell, of a local Law Society
(October 28 , 1854) ; the organisation of a volunteer fire brigade
(January 23) and a Chinese fire- brigade ( March 7 , 1856 ) ; the
improved lighting of the town, including now also Praya East
and Wantsai , 100 oil lamps being added (October 1 , 1856 ) to
the previously existing 250 oil lamps, and the lighting rate
providing for the whole expenditure (Ordinance 11 of 1856 ) ;
the establishment at Pokfulam of a number of villas for use as
sanatoriums and of farms laid out to grow ginger and coffee
(June, 1856 ) ; the establishment by Mr. Douglas Lapraik and
Captain J. Lamont of new docks at Aberdeen (June, 1857) .
The measure of turmoil which the Colony underwent, during
this period, through warfare without and within, was added to by
accidental calamities. Even before the emissaries of Cantonese
Mandarins invaded Hongkong as patriotic incendiaries, some
serious conflagrations took place in the central part of the town
( February 16 , 1855 ) , in Taipingshan (January 27 , 1856 ) and
at the western market (February 23, 1856 ) . A harmless shock
of earthquake was felt in Hongkong ( September 28 , 1854 ) , heavy
rains did a great amount of damage to drains, roads and Chinese
houses (June 22 , 1855 ) , and a typhoon passed very near to the
Colony (September, 1855 ) causing much injury to the shipping
and the piers, besides burying a number of houses at Queen's
Road West by a land-slip, the immediate consequence of the
heavy rain which accompanied this typhoon.
The obituary of this period includes, among others, the
names of Mrs. Irwin (July 21 , 1857 ) , Colonel Lugard
(December 1 , 1857 ) , Dr. W. A. Harland (September 12 , 1858 ),
and Acting Attorney General J. Day ( September 21 , 1858 ) .
Since the death of J. R. Morrison (in 1843 ) , no event in
Hongkong was mourned so generally and so deeply as the death
of Dr. Harland, who since 1844 had acted as Resident Surgeon at
Seamen's Hospital and latterly as Colonial Surgeon, and died of
fever contracted while charitably attending on the Chinese poor.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. BOWRING. 351
Sir J. Bowring's administration terminated at a time
( May 5 , 1859 ) when the passionate comments of the English
press, reviewing the Parliamentary discussions of Hongkong's
misdeeds , reached the Colony and thereby reproduced a consider-
able amount of popular excitement. Sir J. Bowring departed,
like Sir J. Davis, amid the execrations of a large portion of
the European community and the blustering roar of farewell
condemnations poured forth by local editors. In one respect
Sir J. Bowring fared even worse than his predecessors . Neither
Sir H. Pottinger, nor Sir J. Davis, nor in fact any Governor
of Hongkong before or after him, not even Sir J. Pope Hennessy ,
was so extravagantly abused as Sir J. Bowring. The venomous
epithets and libellous accusations, continuously hurled at him by
the public press (China Mail excepted) until the very moment
of his departure, are unfit to be mentioned. It clearly was
his personal character rather than his policy that provoked the
ire of his political opponents. As in the case of Sir J. Davis,
so now the European community marked their dislike of the
Governor by lavishing extra favours on the departing Admiral
while ignoring the Governor's exit . On 16th March, 1859, the
leading merchants presented to Sir Michael Seymour, K.C.B. ,
a magniloquent address and a draft on London to the amount of
2,000 guineas for the purchase of a service of plate, to mark the
sense of the Hongkong community of his great services and of
the respect entertained for him personally. In his reply,
Sir Michael gracefully referred to the advantages he had enjoyed
in having had, previous to the arrival of Lord Elgin, the advice
and experience of Sir J. Bowring to aid him. But when, a
few weeks later, the Governor left the Colony, the European
community presented neither address nor testimonial, sullenly
ignoring his departure, until the rare event of a public auction
held at Government House (May 20, 1859) drew the European
community together in sarcastic frolics over their ex-Governor's
goods and chattels,
The Chinese community, however, stolidly indifferent to
the dissentient views of foreign public opinion, came forward
352 CHAPTER XVII.
right loyally. Two stately deputations of Chinese waited on
Sir J. Bowring at the last moment of his departure and expressed
the genuine esteem in which he was held among all classes of
the native population, by presenting him with some magnificent
testimonials including a mirror, a bronze vase, a porcelain bowl
and a bale of satin which bore the names of 200 subscribers.
The spontaneous character of these presentations was undoubted
and did much to cheer the departing Governor's heart.
On his way home by S.S. Pekin, Sir J. Bowring had the
misfortune of being shipwrecked in the Red Sea, but he reached
England in safety. He, the advanced Liberal, received the
thanks of a Conservative Ministry for his faithful and patient
services in Hongkong, but he was, on the other hand, given the
cold shoulder in the lobby of the House of Commons by some
of his former political friends. After his retirement from the
public service on a liberal pension, he lectured frequently on
Oriental topics ; wrote papers on social, economical and statistical
questions ; gave addresses at meetings of the Social Science
Association, the British Association, the Devonshire and other
Societies : studied Chinese and composed religious poems, some
of which possess enduring value. Calmly looking back at the
close of his life over all the varied events of his chequered history,
and viewing his career in China as but a small portion of his
life work, Sir J. Bowring penned, in his auto- biographical
recollections, the following memorable words. 'My career in
China belongs so much to history, that I do not feel it needful
to record its vicissitudes . I have been severely blamed for the
policy I pursued , yet that policy has been most beneficial to
my country and to mankind at large. It is not fair or just to
suppose that a course of action, which may be practicable or
prudent at home, will always succeed abroad.' Sir J. Bowring
died peacefully on 23rd November, 1872 , having just completed
his eightieth year.
G
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HERCULES ROBINSON .
September 9, 1859, to March 15, 1865.
T the close of Sir J. Bowring's administration , the condition
A
of the Colony and its reputation in England were such
that the selection of a new Governor was as difficult a matter
as it had been when Sir H. Pottinger or Sir J. Davis vacated
the post . It was evident, on the one hand, that now a man
was wanted who possessed not only common sense but combined
with the firmness of a strict disciplinarian the fine tact and
large views of a man whose mind is seasoned with humanity and
able to bring into ripening maturity what seeds of goodness had
been sown . But, on the other hand, the sanitary, social and
moral reputation of Hongkong was so bad that the offer of the
governorship of Hongkong afforded no encouragement to a man
of such high abilities as were required for this office. Sir
Hercules Robinson was precisely the man that was wanted to
clear out this redoubtable Augean stable in China. Though he
occupied at the time an insignificant governorship on the opposite
side of the globe, he probably did not feel in the least flattered
by the offer of the Hongkong appointment, unless he looked at
it as implying, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, a
compliment to his abilities. Sir Hercules had originally served
in the 87th Fusiliers and, on his retirement from the Army,
found civil employment during the Irish famine ( 1846 to 1849)
under the Commissioners of Public Work and Poor-Law Board
in Ireland. He had subsequently ( 1852) acted as Chief-
Commissioner to inquire into the fairs and markets of Ireland
and, in recognition of his services, been promoted to the
Presidency of Montserrat ( 1854) . Then he became Lieutenant-
23
354 .. CHAPTER XVIII.
Governor of St. Christopher ( 1854) and combined with the latter
post the dormant commission of Governor-in-chief of the Leeward
Islands. Consequent upon his courageous acceptance of the
governorship of Hongkong, he was created a Knight Bachelor
in June, 1859.
Sir H. Robinson, destined by Providence to reap where his
predecessors had sown, arrived in Hongkong on September 9th,
1859 , and took on the same day the oaths of his office as
Governor and Commander-in-chief and Vice-Admiral, being the
first Governor of Hongkong entirely dissociated from the Super-
intendency of Trade and from the diplomatic duties of H.M.
Plenipotentiary in China. During his tenure of office, Sir
Hercules was twice absent on furlough, first for a brief visit to
Japan (July 17 to September 8 , 1861 ) , and subsequently for a
longer term (July 12 , 1862, to February 11 , 1864) , during which
he visited England and transacted (in autumn , 1863) some
business for the Colonial Office as a Member of the Commission
appointed to inquire into the financial condition of the Straits
Settlements. On leaving Hongkong on the latter occasion (July
12, 1862 ) , after but three years of his administration, so great
was the change already wrought in the commercial, financial
and administrative condition of Hongkong affairs, that he was
presented on his departure with enthusiastic addresses from the
local Volunteers, the Bishop and all the Members of Council,
congratulating him on the undoubted success achieved . During
his absence from Hongkong, the government of the Colony was
on both occasions, as well as after his final departure,
administered by the Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) who
faithfully and successfully continued the line of policy initiated
by Sir Hercules. The recognition of the improved status which
the Colony had gained by this time found expression in the
permission now (January 23, 1863) given to the Governor of
Hongkong to wear the uniform of the first class.
By the time when Sir H. Robinson arrived in Hongkong
(September 9, 1859), the Superintendency of Trade had already
been removed to Shanghai where Sir F. W. Bruce (since June,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. .355
6, 1859 ) , as H.M. Minister in China, was waiting for instructions,
after the defeat of the British fleet at the Peiho (June 25 ,
1859). British and French relations with China were at a
standstill . The U.S. Minister Ward had attempted (June 27,
1859 ) to get the start of the Allies and to be the first to obtain
an audience of the Emperor, but found himself treated in the
precise form of a barbarian tribute bearer and retired discomfited .
After much delay, a plan of action was agreed upon between
England and France, and by order of Lord John Russell
(November 10 , 1859) a mild form of an ultimatum was presented
to the Chinese Authorities ( December, 1859 ) . Whilst this
ultimatum was under the consideration of the Chinese Ministers,
the Viceroy of the two Kiang Provinces in Central China (Ho
Kwei-sin) , pressed by the Taiping rebellion , urged his Govern-
ment to make peace with England and France and actually asked
the Allies ( March, 1860) for military assistance against the
Taipings. But the moment this became known in Peking, an
order went forth for his arrest and he was punished as a traitor.
A defiant reply to the ultimatum of the Allies was now issued
(April 8 , 1860 ) , such as left no room for further negotiations.
The Chinese Government bluntly declared that they had never
intended to carry out the provisions of the Tientsin Treaty.
The Allies were not prepared for an immediate resumption of
the war, but the Island of Chusan was meanwhile (April 21 ,
1860) occupied by the British fleet . Happily, in spite of renewed
protests against the war policy initiated by Lord Palmerston
and regardless of the fresh denunciations of Sir J. Bowring's
action, hurled against him by Mr. Bright and Mr. Sidney Herbert
(March 16 , 1860) , Parliament decreed that the honour of Great
Britain was at stake. Lord Elgin had to return to China with
a new army to do over again the work he had botched by his
misplaced meekness. As soon as the re-inforcements arrived in
China, the Taku forts were carried by assault and Tientsin occupied
(August 26 , 1860). Finally, after a shocking demonstration
of Chinese official treachery and barbarity, Peking was taken
(October 13, 1860) , the Imperial summer palace burnt by way
356 CHAPTER XVIII.
of retribution ( October 18 , 1860 ) , and the Peking Convention
(October 24, 1860) secured at last the ratification of the long
dormant Treaty of Tientsin. In accordance with the demand
of the Allies , the conduct of international affairs was now
transferred from Canton to Peking and the Tsungli Yamen was
created (January, 1861 ) as a special department for foreign
affairs. After the death of the irreconcilably hostile Emperor
Hienfung (August 22, 1861 ), Prince Kung came to the front
and by a coup d'état (November 1 , 1861 ) made himself virtually
Prime Minister of a new regency, the heads of which were the
Empress Dowager and the Empress Mother of the infant Emperor
Tungchi. Next , Prince Kung established the Foreign Maritime
Customs Service which was ably organized by Mr. H. N. Lay
with the assistance of Mr. (subsequently Sir) Robert Hart.
During Mr. Lay's absence in England ( 1862 to 1863) to bring
out a flotilla of gunboats under Captain Sherard Osborne, R.N. ,
Sir R. Hart gained the entire confidence of the Chinese Govern-
ment. Mr. Lay was, owing to his imperious refusal to place
that flotilla under the orders of the Provincial Authorities,
dismissed by Prince Kung (July 19 , 1864) and Sir R. Hart
obtained the supreme control of the Foreign Customs Service.
With the aid of the Allied Forces (since February 21 , 1862 )
Shanghai was delivered from a threatened attack of the Taipings
and, thanks to the services of the Ever-Victorious Army under
General Ch. Gordon (January 6 , 1863, to June 1 , 1864) , the
Taiping rebellion was crushed by the capture of Nanking (July
19, 1864) and peace restored in the Empire for awhile.
During this time the relations of Hongkong with the
Chinese Government had steadily improved. As long as the
occupation of Canton by the Allied Forces continued (January
5 , 1858, to October 21 , 1861 ) , Hongkong was virtually the
port of supply for Canton city. The renewal of the war with
China, in 1860, also gave a fresh stimulus to Colonial activities
in various directions and the commissariat and transport services,
required by the Allied Forces from October, 1859, to the close
of the year 1860, caused the shipping interests of the Colony to
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 357
develop enormously for a time, whilst the war itself raged at
a distance.
The principal benefit of a lasting character that Hongkong
derived from this second war with China consists in the
acquisition of the Kowloon Peninsula. The first official sug-
gestion of the great importance attaching to Kowloon appears to
have originated with a naval officer. On 2nd March, 1858 ,
four months before the conclusion of the Tientsin Treaty,
Captain W. K. Hall, of H.M.S. Calcutta, forwarded to the local
Government copy of a letter addressed by him to the Earl of
Hardwicke. In this letter, Captain Hall represented that the
present opportunity of obtaining the cession of Kowloon Point
and Stonecutters ' Island should not be lost, especially as another
Power might occupy these vantage points to the great detriment
of Hongkong. Captain Hall argued that the Kowloon Peninsula
would afford much needed sea-frontage for commercial building
lots and additional barrack accommodation ; that the British
occupation of Kowloon would remove the danger with which
the mercantile shipping, anchored during the typhoon season in
close proximity to the settlement of lawless Chinese vagabonds
at Tsimshatsui, was threatened ; that H.M. Naval Yard ought
to be transferred to Kowloon and its present side utilized for
barracks ; and that Stonecutters' Island would be useful for a
quarantine establishment and for the strengthening of the defences
of the Colony. It seems that General Ch . van Straubenzee at
once took up Captain Hall's suggestion and reported to the War
Office (in March, 1858) that he had forwarded to Lord Elgin
a recommendation to include among the claims to be made at
the conclusion of the war the cession of Kowloon Peninsula .
Lord Elgin, who never did anything for Hongkong that he
could help and did not even take the trouble to conceal his
aversion to the Colony, refused to entertain the suggestion of
the annexation of Kowloon . He said he had no instructions
on the subject. Accordingly the Treaty of Tientsin (June 28,
1858) left Hongkong in the exact position in which it was under
the Treaty of Nanking. Sir J. Bowring, however, drew the
358 CHAPTER XVIII.
attention of the Colonial Office to the importance of Kowloon ,
and in the following year (March 29, 1859) distinctly recom-
mended its annexation by cession in the following words. The
possession of the small peninsula opposite the Island is become
of more and more importance. To say nothing of questions of
military and naval defence, it would be of great commercial and
sanatory value, while to the Chinese it is not only of no value,.
but a seat of anarchy and a source of embarrassment . I hope-
therefore that measures will be taken for obtaining a cession
of this tract of land .' In October, 1850 , the Downing Street
Authorities urged this recommendation upon the consideration
of the War Office in connection with the renewal of the war
with China, and on March 12th, 1860 , Mr. Sidney Herbert
(then Secretary of State for War) , agreeing with this proposal,
dispatched to Hongkong a memorandum on the military oc--
cupation of Kowloon . Strange to say, on the very same day
(March 12 , 1860) Sir H. Robinson forwarded to Sir F. W. Bruce,
at the urgent suggestion of Sir H. Parkes, a memorandum on
the civil occupation of Kowloon. Sir H. Parkes had been
urging the Governor to take the peninsula on a lease which he,
as Chief of the Commission in occupation of Canton, believed
he could easily obtain from the Cantonese Viceroy Lao Tsung-
Kwong. Sir Hercules was at first unwilling to ask for a lease
because the charter of the Colony made no provision for such
an arrangement . He shrank from asking the Chinese Govern-
ment to grant, as a favour, ground which at the moment was
needed for the prosecution of the war. Indeed a part of the
peninsula had, with the Governor's sanction , already been
informally utilized (since February, 1860 ) as camping ground.
Nevertheless Sir Hercules forwarded Sir H. Parkes' proposition.
to Sir F. Bruce on March 12th, 1860. The next day (March
13, 1860) a new advocate of the annexation of Kowloon, and
one who afterwards claimed to have originated the idea, arrived
in Hongkong, in the person of General Sir Hope Grant, G.C.B. ,.
the commander of the English expedition . His statement is as
6
follows. On the opposite coast, and within three-quarters of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 359
a mile, was the promontory of Kowloon , a spot of which I was
most anxious to gain immediate possession-firstly, because its
occupation was absolutely essential for the defence of Hongkong
harbour and the town of Victoria ; secondly, because it was an
open healthy spot, admirably suited for a camping ground on
the arrival of our troops ; thirdly, because at the conclusion
of the war it would be a salubrious site for the erection of
barracks required for the Hongkong garrison ; and lastly, because,
if we did not take it, the French probably would . This tract
was about two miles in breadth and was particularly healthy,
owing to its being exposed to the south- west monsoon . There
were, however, difficulties in the way. Mr. Bruce, our Plenipo-
tentiary, had sent an ultimatum to the Chinese Government
allowing them a month to reply and war had not yet been
actually declared ; so the forcible seizure of the promontory
would not have been quite legal. ' From Sir H. Parkes' journal
it appears that on March 16th, 1860, he had a consultation with
Sir H. Robinson and General Grant, and this is what he says of
it. 6 After hearing what I had to say, both Sir H. Robinson
and Sir Hope Grant came round to my way of thinking as to
the desirability of getting a lease of Kowloon , although they had
already begun to land troops... Sir H. Robinson is all eagerness
that it should be settled forthwith and that I should get back
to Canton to arrange it as speedily as possible.' As soon as it
was found that Sir F. Bruce also approved of the proposed lease,
Sir Hercules formally authorized Sir H. Parkes to arrange a
lease. Viceroy Lao made no difficulty and on March 21st , 1860 ,
signed, sealed and delivered a lease which granted the Kowloon
Peninsula in perpetuity to Harry Smith Parkes, Esquire, Com-
panion of the Bath, a Member of the Allied Commission at
Canton, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.'
On March 24th, 1860, Colonel Macmahon gave notice to the
Chinese occupants of Kowloon that no further settlers would
be allowed to come there in future but all orderly people already
located there would be protected and outlaws driven away.
When Lord Elgin arrived (June 21 , 1860), the occupation of
360 CHAPTER XVIII.
Kowloon was happily an accomplished fact which he could not
undo. Accordingly he arranged in his Peking Convention
(October 24, 1860) that the lease of Kowloon should be cancelled
and that the peninsula should with a view to the maintenance
of law and order in and about the harbour of Hongkong, be
ceded to H.M. the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Her
heirs and successors, to have and to hold as a Dependency of
Her Britannic Majesty's Colony of Hongkong.' It was further
stipulated in this Convention that Chinese claims to property on
the peninsula should be duly investigated by a Mixed Commission
and payment awarded to any Chinese (whose claims might be
established) if their removal should be deemed necessary. In
pursuance of these stipulations a Commission was appointed
( December 26 , 1860 ) and the ceremony of handing over Kowloon
Peninsula to the British Crown was solemnly performed (January
19, 1861 ) in the presence of a large assembly and some 2,000
troops . One of the Cantonese Mandarins delivered a paper full
of soil to Lord Elgin in token of the cession . Sir Hercules and
Lady Robinson and Sir H. Parkes assisted at this function
and the royal standard was hoisted amid the cheers of the
assembly and the thunders of salutes fired by the men-of-war in
the harbour and by a battery on Stonecutters ' Island . This was
the last official act performed in China by Lord Elgin who with
unfeigned relief left Hongkong forthwith (January 21 , 1861 )
for England by way of Manila and Batavia. His name was
perpetuated in Hongkong by its being given to a terrace which at
the time was a fashionable quarter of the town. Sir H. Robinson
had appointed Mr. Ch . May to act as British Commissioner in
conjunction with some Chinese deputies to adjust native claims
and to mark out the boundary, for which purpose he was assisted
by Mr. Bird of the Royal Engineers ' Department, who surveyed
and mapped out the whole peninsula . But now arose the
question how to allot the ground between the Colony, the Army
and Navy. Sir Hercules appointed for this purpose a Board in
which Mr. Ch . St. G. Cleverly represented the Civil Government,
Colonel Mann, R.E., the Army, and Captain Borlase, R.N., the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 361
Admiralty. But this Board reported (March 7 , 1861 ) their
inability to come to any agreement. The matter had to be
referred home. Sir Hope Grant claimed -that the idea of
appropriating the peninsula had originated with the Military
Authorities ; that the Colonial Office had approved of the
occupation of Kowloon for military purposes ; that the lease
had been obtained by his own authority ; that the peninsula ceded
by the Peking Convention should therefore be converted into
a purely military cantonment separate and apart from the
Government of Hongkong ; that at any rate the highest and
healthiest ground of the peninsula should immediately be utilized
for the erection of barracks. Plans for the latter were forwarded
by General Grant without delay ( April , 1861 ) and approved, with
some alterations, by the War Office (March 13 , 1862 ) . On the
other hand, Sir H. Robinson represented to the Colonial Office
(February 13, 1861 ) -that the idea of appropriating Kowloon
did not originate with the Military Authorities ; that the
Hongkong Government, in originally mooting the acquisition
of Kowloon, had in view the necessity of providing for the wants
of the general population as well as of the military garrison ;
that the lease was obtained under his own authority ; that the
Peking Convention expressly declared the peninsula to be ceded
as a Dependency of the Colony of Hongkong ; that the peninsula
is indispensable to the welfare of the Colony, it being required
to keep the Chinese population at some distance and to preserve
the European and American community from the injury and
inconvenience of intermixture with the Chinese residents ; that
the peninsula is further needed by the Colony to provide storage
accommodation , room for docks, for hospitals, for private
residences and for air and exercise ; that the site specially claimed
by the Military Authorities is indispensable for the foregoing
purposes and that, without that site, it would be almost worthless
to the Colony to have Kowloon at all. Strange to say , these
incontrovertible arguments of Sir H. Robinson, which the
subsequent history of Kowloon proved to have been based on
truth, were brushed aside by the simple fiat of the Imperial
362 CHAPTER XVIII.
Government. The wants, the welfare and the development of
the Colony were mercilessly sacrificed to Imperial military
interests which after all were soon found to be ill-served by this
unrighteous appropriation . But that, in addition to the serious
and permanent injury thus inflicted upon the Colony, an annual
military contribution was likewise demanded, can be explained
only by the assumption that Her Majesty's Government was
kept in ignorance of the serious blow which the prosperity of
Hongkong received by being deprived of the advantages which
the civil occupation of Kowloon would have afforded. The
dispute dragged on until 1864, when the Military Authorities.
got the lion's share and certain prescriptive rights over the
remainder, which was divided between the Colony and the Navy.
At a land sale, held in 1864 (July 25 to 29 ) , some 26 marine and
39 inland lots were sold, on short leases, at a premium of $4,050
and an annual rent of $ 18,793 (of which sum hardly one-fourth
was ever paid). The one portion which was of essential value
for the Colony was retained by the Military Authorities.
In spring, 1860, a novel proposition was under discussion .
The idea was mooted of appointing a Governor- General of
H.M. Insular Possessions in the East, who should combine the
civil and military government of Mauritius, Ceylon , the Straits
Settlements and Hongkong. Nothing further came of this
amalgamation scheme, however, beyond the appointment of a
Colonial Defence Commission .
The relations of the Colony with the Cantonese Authorities
were, after the evacuation of Canton (October 21 , 1861 ) , under
the care of H.M. Consul at Canton, subject to the control of the
British Minister at Peking. Nevertheless, when any pressing
case occurred, this circumlocutory process was occasionally
set aside. To give but one instance, it happened in January,
1865, that a Chinese resident of Hongkong was kidnapped from
a boat in the harbour and held for ransom in a village near
Shamtsün in the Sun-on District . The new Registrar General
(C. C. Smith), without loss of time, obtained the use of
H.M.S. Woodcock and proceeded to Deep Bay. A party of 25-
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 363
blue-jackets, under the command of Captain Boxer, of H.M.S.
Hesper, went inland with the Registrar General and captured ,
happily without resistance, both the kidnapper and his prisoner
who were brought to Hongkong .
One of the earliest subjects that engaged the attention of
Sir H. Robinson in Hongkong was Civil Service reform . Very
wisely he commenced his labours in this direction with an
attempt to revise official salaries. But when the draft of an
Ordinance ( 13 of 1860 ) for establishing a revised Civil List came
under discussion in Legislative Council ( December 26 , 1859 ) ,
the unofficial Members (J. Jardine, J. Dent and Geo. Lyall)
urged that , although the salaries of most of the Civil Servants
were inadequate, there were at present no available funds for
effecting a general increase of salaries. They recommended ,
however, to increase the salaries of four subordinate officers whom
they named. There was also thrown out a suggestion that
Hongkong officials, instead of having their salaries increased on
account of length of service, should have a chance of promotion
to other Colonies. Sir H. Robinson, though foiled to some
extent in his Civil List reforms, succeeded in establishing a
Pension Scheme (May 5, 1862 ) under Ordinance 10 of 1862
by which he definitely fixed the rate of pension payable to officers
of long and approved service.
Several new offices were established by Sir H. Robinson .
For the benefit of the mercantile marine, the Governor established
a Marine Court of Inquiry ( Ordinance 11 of 1860 ) and a Board
of Examiners for granting certificates of competency to masters
and mates (Ordinance 17 of 1860 ) . The first certificate so issued
was obtained by Mr. Samuel Ashton of the schooner Vinder
(August 31 , 1861 ) and between July, 1863 , and June, 1864 , as
many as 48 masters and 28 mates were passed by this Board of
Examiners. Sir Hercules also re-organized the Police Court
(Ordinance 6 of 1862 ) by substituting (July 23, 1862 ) two-
magistrates with equal power (Ch. May and J. Ch . Whyte)
for the former chief magistrate and his assistant . At the same
time (July 7 , 1862 ) a Court for Summary Jurisdiction, under
364 CHAPTER XVIII.
a Puisne Judge ( H. J. Ball ) was established by Ordinance 7 of
1862 as a branch of the Supreme Court.
But the principal and most beneficial addition to the Civil
Service machinery, devised by Sir H. Robinson, was undoubtedly
the series of reforms, culminating in his Cadet Scheme, which
he introduced for the better government of the Chinese
population of the Colony. Sir Hercules, who appeared to have
taken Sir Harry Parkes' dealings with the Chinese for his
model, took special pains to make sure of two things, first,
that the Chinese should be fully and correctly informed of
the nature, purport and details of every Government measure
affecting their interests, and, secondly, that in every case the
Governor should be accurately informed of what the Chinese
in any case, public or private, really wanted or needed or wished
to say . In harmony with the first part of this programme,
Sir Hercules organized a translation office and secured the
publication of correct translations of every decision he made
in Chinese affairs. He first recognized this need in connection
with the resistance offered by the Chinese pawnbrokers and
cargo boat people to firmer supervision by the Government and
had forthwith careful translations of the respective Ordinances
published (May 5 and November 24, 1860 ) . But he went
farther and established (March 1 , 1862) a separate Chinese
issue of the Hongkong Government Gazette. He not only
arranged that every Government measure affecting the Chinese
residents should be published in this Gazette, but took great
pains personally to test the fulness and correctness of the
translators' work. In pursuance of the second part of this
programme, Sir Hercules took a bold step. He deliberately
discarded the attempt to govern the Chinese directly through
their own headmen (Tipous), summarily dismissed all the Tipons
(June 30 , 1861 ) and made the Registrar General exercise,
with regard to the Chinese population , the same functions
which the Colonial Secretary performed in relation to the
European population . This measure was virtually a return to
the original bifurcation of government which Captain Elliot
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 365
aimed at when the Colony was formed in 1841. The first
number of the Chinese issue of the Hongkong Government
Gazette (March 1 , 1862 ) introduced this new policy by the
simple notification, which really constituted a revolution in the
government of the Chinese population, that thenceforth all
applications to the Government, on the part of Chinese residents,
must be made by petition (pien ) to the Registrar General.
Sir Hercules, however, clearly foresaw that for the success of
this measure it was indispensable that the Registrar General's
office should thenceforth be entrusted only to men who were
not only acquainted with the Chinese language and Chinese
modes of thought and life, but in sympathy and touch with
the Chinese people. It was, in the first instance, for this purpose
that he established his Cadet Scheme. On the model of the
system organized by Sir J. Bowring for the training of Consular
interpreters, Sir Hercules launched (March 23, 1861 ) a scheme
to provide the Colony with a staff of well-educated interpreters
who should study the Chinese language in Hongkong and be
eligible, when qualified , for promotion to the headship of several
departments. They were not intended to act as Court
interpreters but to fill eventually those of the higher offices
in the Service in which a knowledge of the Chinese mind and
character afforded some special advantage. This scheme having
met with the approval of H.M. Government, three such cadets
(C. C. Smith, W. M. Deane and M. S. Tonnochy) were appointed
(April 3 , 1862 ) student interpreters, and underwent two
probationary examinations in the year 1863. Mr. (subsequently
Sir) C. C. Smith was the first cadet who acted as Registrar
General, that is to say as Colonial Secretary for the Chinese
population (October 24 , 1864 ) , Mr. Tonnochy taking his place
in the same capacity later on (November 1 , 1865 ) .
The inquiry into the Civil Service abuses of the preceding
administration was entrusted by the Secretary of State to the
Governor in Executive Council and commenced on 13th August,
1860. As these meetings of Council were held in public and all
the records and evidence were printed and published, this terribly
-366 CHAPTER XVIII.
protracted investigation served only to stir up once more the
mud of old animosities and produced renewed mutual incrimina-
tions between the Registrar General (who resigned and withdrew
from his office) and the Superintendent of Police. Moreover,
the excessive latitude which the Governor allowed to all parties
in the case gave to the editor of the Daily Press fresh opportunity
to raise side issues and to produce even prisoners from the gaol
to aid him in hunting down the object of his hatred. The final
result of this distressing inquiry (continued until September 24,
1861 ) was that the Colony permanently lost the services of the
man who was indisputably the best Court interpreter the Colony
ever possessed, and who was never equalled in efficiency as a
detective police officer. But the rancour of the editor of the
Daily Press was not satisfied with the scope of the inquiry. He
clamoured for further investigations and desired the former
Acting Colonial Secretary to be impeached . When Sir H.
Robinson resisted any re-opening of the inquiry, the irate editor
appealed to the Secretary of State, hurling various charges
against the Governor and (in his absence) against the Adminis-
trator (W. T. Mercer). After a lengthy correspondence, the
Duke of Newcastle at last (in autumn 1862) informed the
complainant that, as he had five times been prosecuted for libel,
he was not entitled to any consideration and that the Colonial
Office would henceforth receive no more communications from
him. The same Secretary of State regulated also, by Circular of
August 20, 1863, the extent to which public officers might write
for or to the public papers. The Duke of Newcastle laid down
the rule that, whilst there is no objection to public servants
furnishing newspapers with articles signed with their names on
subjects of general interest, they are not at liberty to write
on questions which can properly be called political, nor to furnish
any articles whatever to newspapers which, in commenting on
the measures of the Government, habitually exceed the bounds of
fair and temperate discussion .
In the Legislative Council, Sir H. Robinson introduced an
important change by the inhibition now put, by order of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 367
Home Government, on the independence of vote formerly allowed
to official Members. A set of standing orders and rules had
been framed (July 12 , 1858 ) and, using these as a curb rein ,
Sir Hercules ruled his Council as with a rod of iron , confining
its functions strictly to legislation, allowing no criticism of the
acts of the Executive, and reducing public influence upon
the deliberations of the Legislative Council to the lowest possible
minimum. He acted on the principle that legislation should not
be influenced by the opinions of irresponsible parties outside the
Government . The only point in which he allowed much latitude
to the unofficial Members was the discussion of questions of
expenditure and taxation.
As to the legislative enactments of this period . the regulation
of commercial transactions received a large share of attention .
Hardly any other Governor bestowed so much care on commercial
legislation. Eleven Ordinances were passed bearing on ex-
clusively commercial matters, such as Chinese passenger ships
( 6 of 1860 ) , fees to be taken under the Merchant Shipping
Ordinance ( 10 of 1860) , exportation of military stores (3 of
1862) , protection of patents ( 14 of 1862 ) and trade marks ( 8
of 1863 ) , the law of debtor and creditor (4 of 1863 and 5 of
1864) , bills of sale ( 10 of 1864) , bills and promissory notes ( 12
of 1864) , commercial law ( 13 of 1864) and finally the incor-
poration, regulation and winding up of Trading Companies ( 1 of
1865 ) . The Ordinance empowering the Governor to prohibit
the export of military stores was caused by the abandonment of
that attitude of neutrality which the British Government had
-occupied in relation to the Manchu Government and the Taiping
Rebels until February 21 , 1862, when (as above mentioned) the
Taipings threatened Shanghai once more. The subsequent issue
of a proclamation prohibiting the export of arms and ammunition
was intended to stop the supplies which the Taipings had been
drawing from Hongkong, but was bitterly complained of as
unjust because no similar prohibition was extended to ports in
England and India. The consequence was a partial derangement
of the operations of firms hitherto connected with this trade in
368 CHAPTER XVIII.
military stores, and numerous confiscations were made by the
Harbour Master in February, 1863. In 1862 , the discovery of
an extensive system of issuing false certificates for opium deposits
(June 14th) opened the eyes of the public to the imperfect
formulation of the law of debtor and creditor. The Attorney
General (J. Smale) drafted accordingly a Bankruptcy Ordinance
(November 16 , 1863 ) specially adapted to local circumstances,
but it was set aside by the advisers of the Colonial Office who
sent out another (5 of 1864) for acceptance by the Council. In
connection with that same opium case, it was decided by a jury
(August 7 , 1863) that a delivery order, though sold and paid
for, does not free the vendor from risk in case a mishap should
occur to the article sold after the order had changed hands .
When the draft of the Companies ' Ordinance ( 1 of 1865 ) was
under the consideration of the Council (in 1864) , the question
of incorporating companies with limited liability, which measure
the Governor at the time viewed as fraught with danger for
Hongkong, gave rise to much animated discussion. The position
which the Governor took in this matter was such as to provoke
a spirited protest by one of the unofficial Members of Council
(J. Whittall) whose language the Governor censured as offensive
to the Council.
Chinese trade also received a fair share of the Governor's
attention, and Sir Hercules was the first Governor who understood
how to deal with the common practice of the Chinese of offering
seditious resistance to a weak Government by combining to
strike work in order to mark their sense of irksome or imperfect
legislation. Unaware what stuff Sir Hercules was made of, the
Chinese resorted to this practice three times within four successive
years but gave in on each occasion when they encountered, on
the part of the Governor, calm but rigidly uncompromising
firmness. The Pawnbrokers' Ordinance (3 of 1860) evoked .
a general closing of pawnshops and the Ordinance remained for
a long time a dead letter whilst the pawnbrokers agitated for
certain concessions. They submitted , however, when they found
that the Governor turned a deaf ear to all their representations.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 369
In order to provide a remedy against the habitual plundering
to which goods were subjected in transit between ship and
shore, an Ordinance ( 15 of 1860 ) was passed for the registration
and regulation of the men employed on cargo-boats. As soon as
this Ordinance came into force ( 1861 ) , a general strike ensued
on the part of cargo-boat people, but by unflinching firmness on
the part of the Governor and the community they were soon
brought to submit to registration . The chair coolies also resorted
to a strike (in 1863) when they were for the first time to be
brought under a system of regulating and licensing public
vehicles by Ordinance 6 of 1863. They also yielded , after
nearly three months ' passive resistance, and the new Ordinance
proved a great boon to the public.
An interesting trial (Moss versus Alcock) was concluded
in the Supreme Court on 27th December, 1861. A British
subject, having assaulted a Japanese officer at Kanagawa, had
been sentenced to fine and imprisonment by a British Consul
whose sentence was confirmed by Sir Rutherford Alcock, then
H.M. Minister at Tokyo. But when the prisoner was lodged
in the Hongkong Gaol, he appealed to the Supreme Court and
obtained a verdict for $2,000 damages, as the Consul had power
only to inflict either a fine or imprisonment. It was in
consequence of this case that subsequently (July 16, 1863)
letters patent were issued conferring upon the Chief Justice of
Hongkong appellate jurisdiction in respect to Consular decisions
made in Japan. In the course of the trial (Moss versus Alcock )
there occurred (December 12 , 1861 ) the first of those lively but
indecorous scenes of bickerings which for years after periodically
recurred whenever Mr. (subsequently Sir) John Smale, as
Attorney General or Chief Justice, was confronted in Court by
the leading barrister of the time (E. H. Pollard ) . A fruitless
attempt was made (April 23, 1859) by Dr. Bridges to induce
the Governor in Council to modify Sir J. Bowring's Amalgama-
tion Ordinance (12 of 1858 ) so as to permit barristers to form
partnerships with a view to enable them to recruit health in
Europe without breaking up their practice. So far from
24
370 CHAPTER XVIII .
extending the scope of this Amalgamation Ordinance, Sir
H. Robinson repealed it altogether to the infinite regret of
the public ( by Ordinance 12 of 1862 ) . It seems he was
instigated to this retrogressive act by the new Chief Justice
(W. H. Adams) and the new Attorney General (J. Smale) who,
like the Governor, knew little of the sad condition in which
the legal profession in the Colony had been before the
introduction of this Ordinance. The beneficial effects it had
produced were now considered a proof that it was no longer
needed. In vain did the community, who heard of this measure
only a few hours before it was read in Council, protest against
the repeal. In vain did the unofficial Members of Council
(F. Chomley, C. W. Murray, A. Perceval) demand that at least
an inquiry be instituted into the working of the Amalgamation
Ordinance and into the necessity for a repeal. The Governor
was going away on furlough and had made up his mind to settle
this matter before leaving, on the basis of the opinions of high
legal officers, whose credit was at stake in the utterance of their
opinions, rather than on the views of irresponsible outsiders.'
The Chief Justice (W. H. Adams) and the Attorney General
(J. Smale) thought the repeal necessary to preserve the purity
of the higher branch of the profession . The public interest
had to yield to that. But the impetuous haste with which the
Governor rushed the Bill through Council (July 3 , 1862 ) , and
the inexorable predetermination with which he brushed aside
all objections whilst refusing any inquiry or consideration, caused
the general public to stigmatise the conduct of Sir Hercules
in this case, as in some others, as marked by mulish obstinacy.'
As to other legal enactments of this period , the principal
Ordinance of permanent value was that (7 of 1860 ) which gave
authority to two Commissioners, H. J. Ball, Judge of the
Summary Jurisdiction Court, and W. H. Alexander, Registrar
of the Court, to compile an edition of the Ordinances in force
in the Colony and to consolidate particularly the criminal law.
This importaut work, by the starting of which the Governor
complied with one of the recommendations of the Parliamentary
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 371
Committee of 1847 , was satisfactorily completed in October,
1864, under the sanction which the Privy Council had given
(February 20 , 1864) to the introduction in the Colony of the
criminal law of England with such adaptations as circumstances
might render advisable...
Owing to the above-mentioned disturbances in the Canton
Province, the population of Hongkong made great strides in the
first few years of this period . In 1860 the population increased
by 8,003 persons. In 186 , when the cession of Kowloon also
contributed to swell the population, the increase amounted to
24,404 persons , having risen from 94.917 people in 1860 to
119,321 in 1861. After that year, however, the population
increased but slightly in 1862 , retrograded in 1863 and stood
in 1864 at 121,498 people.
The finances of the Colony, though severely strained by
liberal expenditure on public works, constitute one of the brightest
features of this administration. The revenue of the year 1860
exceeded that of 1859 by £ 28,958 . The expenditure of the same
period, however, increased by £ 6,281 . In consequence of the
transfer of the Hongkong Post Office to the local Government
(May 1 , 1860 ) , the Post Office receipts appeared for the first
time in the accounts for the year 1860. But the largest increase
of the revenue of that year was under the head of land revenue,
which exceeded that of 1859 by nearly £ 17,000 in consequence
of the great rise in the value of land. The revenue of 1860 was
thus the largest ever raised, up to that time, in Hongkong, and
four times greater than that of the year 1851. The Colony
had now at last become, fully self- supporting and commenced the
year 1861 with an excess of assets (over liabilities ) amounting
to nearly £4,300 . The revenue of the year 1861 (£33,058 ) was
nearly double of the revenue of 1859 , but owing to the large
public works now taken in hand and to the augmentation of
the establishment, the expenditure rose to £ 37,241 . The returns
for 1861 shewed an increase under almost every head of revenue
but particularly so the items of land rents and licences, the rapid
increase of the population, and the extensive purchases of land
372 CHAPTER XVIII.
connected with an attempt to develop the resources of Bowrington ,
having caused an enormous further increase in the value of land.
Following the example of Sir J. Bowring, Sir H. Robinson
deposited year by year all surplus funds in the local Chartered
Banks at five per cent . and £ 61,550 were thus deposited in 1861 ..
Since 1st July, 1862, the accounts of the Colony were kept in
dollars. The increase ($20,502) in the revenue of the year 1862
was ascribed chiefly to the increased yield of postage, police and
lighting rates, opium farm and pawnbrokers' licences, whilst the
increase ($ 61,400) of expenditure was caused by public works and
additions to the strength of the Police Force. The same items
caused the expenditure of the year 1863 to exceed (by $ 10,000)
the revenue which had decreased by $54,884 as compared with
the preceding year. In the year 1864, postage and profits made
on subsidiary coins (procured from England) caused the revenue
to increase by $61,471 , whilst, on the other hand, the expenditure
of the same year increased by $ 176,742 , owing to the erection of
the Mint and the investment of $250,000 in the purchase of land
and houses at Kowloon. But, owing to a commercial depression .
which now set in, the difference between receipts and expenditure
continued. On 4th March, 1865 , Sir H. Robinson stated in
Legislative Council that the total revenue for the preceding year
had come to $637,845 and the actual expenditure to $763,307, an
ominous indication of bad times in store for the Colonial finances.
As soon as the flourishing condition of the Colonial finances
became known at home, a claim was set up for a military con-
tribution. There was strictly speaking no surplus, as all available
surplus funds were urgently required to provide additional gaol
accommodation, additional water-works and most particularly a
comprehensive drainage scheme for the town , which one Colonial
Surgeon after the other urged as the indispensable preliminary
basis of sanitary reform, and which, owing to the demand for
a military contribution, Governor after Governor postponed for
want of funds. On 15th August, 1864, Sir H. Robinson stated
in Legislative Council that the Secretary of State insisted upon
payment of a military contribution of £ 20,000 per annum for
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 373
five years as a reasonable and just return for the protection of
life and property afforded by the military garrison , the amount
-charged being one-fifth of the Imperial military expenditure
incurred in the Colony. It appeared that Mr. Mercer, as
Administrator, as well as Sir Hercules had strenuously objected
to this demand when it was first mooted. Their arguments were
virtually those that thenceforth were repeated at every successive
period of Hongkong's history : that Hongkong is not a producing
Colony but a mere intermediate station of the China trade ; that
this station, being anyhow very profitable to India and to the
Imperial Exchequer, ought not to bear the burden of military
expenditure incurred for the benefit of British trade in China
and Japan ; that the settlement is a struggling one and needs
no garrison for its local protection ; that the Colony has, to
the great detriment of local revenue and commerce, been deprived
of so much building ground, appropriated for Imperial military
uses, that it ought to be considered to have paid, in land, its
quota towards a military contribution . But in this case, as on
all subsequent occasions, the Home Government confined itself
to the simple assertion that, as the Colony can afford to pay.
it must pay what is demanded. A public meeting, the largest,
it was said, that had been held yet, assembled in the Court
House (August 23, 1864) and unanimously resolved to memorialize
H.M. Government to protest against the measure. The senior
unofficial Member of Legislative Council (C. W. Murray ) acted
as chairman and the proposers and seconders of the several
resolutions to be embodied in the Memorial were- E. H. Pollard,
Th. Sutherland, A. Turing, J. Whittall, K. Brand, H. B. Lemann,
T. G. Linstead, G. J. Helland, R. S. Walker, H. Noble, C. H.
Storey and W. Schmidt. The Chamber of Commerce and the
Chinese community followed the example and likewise presented
protests in form of Memorials. When the estimates for 1865 ,
including the sum of $ 92,000 as military contribution were laid
before the Legislative Council, this item was passed only by the
Governor's casting vote, as even the Colonial Treasurer (who
was afterwards severely censured by the Secretary of State) joined
374 CHAPTER XVIII.
with the unofficial Members in voting against it. Moreover,.
with the single exception of the Chief Justice (W. H. Adams ),
all the Members of Council, both official and unofficial, agreed
forthwith in passing a resolution stating that the maintenance
of troops in Hongkong is not necessary purely for the protection
of Colonial interests or the security of the inhabitants, and
that the Colonial revenue cannot fairly be charged with any
contribution towards the Imperial military expenditure in China
and Japan .' In communicating to H.M. Government the
unanimous protest of the colonists, Sir H. Robinson ( September
7, 1864) suggested that, if there inust be a military contribution .
it had better be imposed by an Order of Her Majesty in Council.
The Secretary of State ( Mr. Cardwell) subsequently agreed to
take this course (August 11 , 1865) if the Legislative Council
should insist upon it. But when the point was discussed in
Council (November 16, 1865 ) , the Members agreed to appropriate
the amount by annual vote of the local legislature.
It has been stated above that Sir J. Bowring recommended
to the Lords Commissioners of H.M. Treasury the establishment
in Hongkong of a Mint and the issue of a British dollar. This
suggestion was publicly taken up again during Sir H. Robinson's
administration and the Governor was urged (October 4, 1860)
to remedy the embarrassing fluctuations in the value of the
Mexican dollar, and the constant complaints of the insufficiency
of small silver coins procured from England, by the local
establishment of a Mint. Sir Hercules, however, hesitated to
move in the matter, owing to the refusal which his predecessor's
recommendations had met with. Meanwhile the currency ques
tion became more pressing . In July, 1861 , clean Mexican dollars
bore a premium of 7 per cent. , above their intrinsic value as
compared with bar and sycee silver, and subsequently reached a
premium of nearly 12 per cent. which, however, fell again to
8 per cent. in spring 1863. It was felt that these excessive
fluctuations of the common medium of exchange in China and
Japan must tend to embarrass the operations of commerce. Sir
Hercules obtained , in 1862 , the sanction of the Colonial Office
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 375
for the principle on which he proposed to base a reform of the
currency of the Colony, viz. the official re-establishment of a
silver standard based on the Mexican dollar. By a Royal pro-
clamation, dated January 9, 1863, but not published until May
2 , 1863 , it was determined that, from a date thereafter to be
notified, the former currency proclamations of 1845 , 1853 and
1857 (mentioned above) should be wholly or partially cancelled;
and Mexican or other silver dollars of equal value should ,
together with those silver coins (of Mexican standard) and bronze
cents and cash (being hundredth or thousandth parts of the
Mexican dollar ) which were to be issuel by H.M. Mint, be
the only legal tender of payment in the Colony. The date here
referred to was, however, not fixed until the Hongkong Mint
was established ( 1865 ) . But meanwhile Sir Hercules did two
:
things he obtained from England a supply of subsidiary coins
(June 26, 1863 ) and set to work to move the Home Government
to sanction the immediate establishment of a Mint at Hongkong.
In April, 1863, the first consignment of subsidiary coins arrived .
They consisted of silver ten-cent pieces, bronze cents and bronze
mils (cash). The intrinsic value of the silver ten- cent pieces was
such as to make $3 face value equal to $2.987 intrinsic value.
With direct reference to the arguments previously advanced by
the Treasury Board in condemnation of Sir J. Bowring's proposal,
Sir Hercules represented to H.M. Government - that Mexican
dollars now passed current inlarge quantities even in Shanghai ;
that the dollar had already been declared the only legal tender of
payment in Hongkong ; that the supply of Mexican dollars had
become quite insufficient in consequence of the new demand for
Japan ; that even in the silk districts of Central China payments ,
formerly settled in sycee, had now to be made in undefaced
Mexican dollars which were at a high premium ; that consequently
a British dollar of a value equal to that of the Mexican was
urgently required . In consequence of these representations the
Lords Commissioners of H.M. Treasury approved (April 10,
1863) of the proposal of Sir Hercules and suggested that the
proposed Mint should be established in Hongkong by local
376 CHAPTER XVIII.
enactment to be approved by the Queen and that it should be
placed under the control and supervision of the Master of the
Royal Mint with a view to assay and verification of the coin to
be issued from it. Arrangements were accordingly made by
Sir Hercules, the site now occupied by the East Point Sugar
Refinery was appropriated for the purposes of the Mint, additional
land reclaimed from the sea at a cost of £ 9,000, a water supply
secured at a cost of $3,550, buildings commenced which cost
$25,000, and a staff ordered from home. Several Ordinances
were also issued, providing for the conversion of British currency
in all payments by or to the Government (1 of 1864) and for
the organisation of the Mint service (2 of 1864) . The former
of these two Ordinances ordained, with reference to the above-
mentioned proclamation of January 9, 1863, that, as soon as the
date referred to could be fixed, all payments due in British Sterling
to or by the Government should be made in dollars, cents or cash,
to be issued from H.M. Mint at the rate of 4s. 2d . to the dollar.
As regards public works, the principal undertaking of this
period was the so-called Victoria water-works scheme which had
been under discussion during the preceding administration . Sir
Hercules took it up with the vigour which characterized all
his doings. He commenced by offering (October 15, 1859 ) a
prize of $ 1,000 for the best plan. Several competitors entered
the lists ( S. G. Bird, J. Walker, S. B. Rawling) and sent in
elaborate plans. The Governor referred the papers to a Com-
mittee (Lieutenant- Colonel G. F. Mann, R.E. , J. J. Mackenzie,
Ch. St. G. Cleverly) and adopted on their recommendation the
scheme of Mr. Rawling, Clerk of Works to the Royal Engineers.
This scheme proposed to construct a large reservoir at Pokfulam ,
to connect it by an aqueduct with two large tanks above
Taipingshan and to provide thus, before the close of the year
1862 , a supply of water for the western and central parts of the
city at a cost of about £ 30,000. Tenders were immediately called
for and the work commenced in 1860 under Mr. Rawling's
supervision. An Ordinance ( 12 of 1860) was passed to empower
the Governor in Council to appropriate from current revenues
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 377
the sum of £ 30,000 as the works proceeded and to supply any
deficiency of funds, if necessary, by mortgaging the water rate,
which anyhow was to be levied, at the rate of 2 per cent. on
the gross annual value of house property, according to assessment.
An imperfect estimate of the cost of the materials ordered ont
from England, and the substitution of cement for mortar
(ordered by the Colonial Office) , caused an excess over the
original estimate by a considerable sum. It was not till the
close of the year 1863 that the works were completed so far
as to allow of the water rate being levied . The scheme was,
at the time, believed to have proved a great success. But the
experience of subsequent years revealed defects of construction.
Moreover, as the scheme did not provide for a sufficient quantity
of water (during the dry season) to provide for the wants of
a rapidly growing population, and left the town east of the
clocktower entirely without water, it was even at this time
foreseen that this scheme afforded but temporary relief.
The Praya works were, in public estimation , considered
unsatisfactory . These works, which had been commenced in
a desultory way by Sir J. Bowring, and in the face of
obstructions of all sorts, were energetically pushed on by Sir
H. Robinson and carried out in conjunction with the Crown
tenants under special arrangements with reference to the land
reclaimed. Landing piers for cargo boats were also provided .
The sections extending for a mile and a half west of the parade
ground and for a quarter mile east of the arsenal (there being
a break between) were completed in 1862. The construction
having, however, proceeded piecemeal, and under incompetent
(Chinese) overseers, the work was palpably deficient in solidity
and, although no typhoon had touched it yet, much of the
work had to be done over again in 1863. Sir H. Robinson
accordingly determined to rebuild the whole Praya wall and
to use this opportunity to extend the Praya seawards by
reclaiming from the sea a further strip of land 100 feet in
width. The Surveyor General (W. Wilson) addressed the holders
of marine-lots to this effect (August 15, 1864) stating the
378 CHAPTER XVIII.
necessity for re-constructing the defective and dilapidated sea-
wall and offering to the lot-holders the land to be reclaimed
in front of their respective lots free of premium, in compensation
for the reclamation expenses to be borne by them. But this
offer met with the same obstructiveness which had hampered
Sir J. Bowring's scheme. A public meeting of lot- holders,
held on 13th September, 1864, resolved to protest against the
proposal of burdening the lot-holders with the reclamation
expenses and declared the existing sea-wall to be good enough
for public purposes. A letter to this effect was addressed to the
Colonial Secretary (September 20, 1864) . Controversy ensued..
The Colonial Secretary not only contested that the sea-wall
needed rebuilding but that its original defective construction had
been caused by the obstructions which the lot-holders had placed
in the way of expenditure. This charge having been energetically
rebatted by the lot-holders (November 18 , 1864) , Sir H..
Robinson announced (November 20, 1864) that the extension
of the Praya wall would not be enforced where not desired by
the lot-holders . Meanwhile other public works had not been
neglected . A Lock Hospital was erected in 1861 , close to the
Civil Hospital . Shaukiwan was supplied with a police station
and a school-house. A new gaol was commenced, also in the
year 1861 , on Stonecutters' Island . By the year 1864 a new
Central Police Station, the reclamation and building works
connected with the Mint, a carriage road to Shankiwan, and
the construction of Stonecutters' Island Gaol were all completed .
Police and gaol management did not advance, even in this
periol of general administrative vigour, beyond the stage of
unsatisfactory experiments. At the close of the year 1860 ,
the personnel of the Police Force was considered as showing
no improvement and though no very great fault was found
with the Police as a preventive force, the whole question was
felt to be one that baffled the wits of all who were responsible
for the manifestly unsatisfactory condition of the Police..
Bombay and Madras were tentatively resorted to (February 8,
1861 ) as recruiting grounds. In January and May, 1862 ,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 379
drafts of recruits arrived from those places and the entire force
was placed under the command of Captain W. Quin who had
previously served in the Army and in the Bombay Police. For
the convenience of the Water Police a ship was bought (April
1 , 1862 ) to serve as a floating Police Station. In spring 1864,
the Colonial Secretary, while acknowledging the intelligence and
zeal of the new superintendent (W. Quin) and his assistant
(J. Jarman), stated that the men of the corps, whether European
or Indian, were wanting in most of the essentials of a Police
Force . Bribery and corruption were particularly considered
ineradicable among the Indian contingent. The right of the
Police to use fire-arms , in the case of suspects refusing to stop
when challenged, was judicially inquired into ( July 28, 1864)
when a constable, who had shot a boatman trying to escape
search, was put on his trial on a charge of murder. The verdict
of the jury, who viewed the case as one of justifiable homicide,
was satisfactory to the Police. To stimulate zeal, regulations
were made ( October 25 , 1864 ) awarding gratuities in case of
special merit. Wholesale deportation of crowds of professional
beggars was resorted to in summer 1864, to relieve the streets
from these people, who were accordingly sent back to Canton.
Before the building of the new gaol at Stonecutters ' Island
was sufficiently advanced to occupy any portion of it , it became
necessary, in 1862, owing to the inhibition now laid on
transportation to the Andaman Islands and the pressing need
of a separate debtors ' ward, to relieve the congested state of
Victoria Gaol. Some 280 long sentence prisoners were accord-
ingly lodged on board a hulk (Royal Saxon) anchored close to
Stonecutters ' Island, the quarries of which afforded occupation
for the prisoners. At the same time the rules of Victoria Gaol
were revised (Ordinance 4 of 1863 ) and an expert was obtained
from England to act as gaol superintendent (Ch. Ryall) .
Owing to repeated escapes of gangs of prisoners, principally
through the gaol drains (January 12 and March 14, 1863) ,
a Commission was appointed (May, 1863 ) to inquire into the
condition and working of Victoria Gaol. The convict hulk
-380 CHAPTER XVIII.
at Stonecutters' Island was equally unsatisfactory. Things
went on well enough so long as a gunboat and a military
guard were provided to guard the hulk, but when these were
withdrawn, frequent attempts at rescue were made by outside
associates of the prisoners . A sad accident also occurred by
the upsetting of a boat, when 38 prisoners were drowned
(July 23, 1863 ) . Later on (April 21 , 1864) a body of about
100 prisoners made good their escape in junks, after disabling
their guards. The working of Victoria Gaol, however, appeared
to improve, after the dismissal of the expert, when a new
superintendent (F. Douglas) was appointed (December 12 , 1863 ) .
The gaol was thenceforth popularly referred to as ' Douglas
Hotel.'
The criminal history of this period presents some novel
features. In January, 1860, one of the most popular compradors,
Tam Achoy, distinguished himself by collecting in Hongkong
an armed corps of Puntis, officered by some foreign seamen,
whom he dispatched by the S.S. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy to the
San-ning District, S.W: of Macao, with a considerable supply
of arms and ammunition. On arrival at San -ning, this corps
of Hongkong freebooters took an active part in the internecine
war going on at that time between the Punti and Hakka clans
of that District . When the Hongkong Police learned that two
of the foreign leaders of this buccaneering expedition had been
killed in battle, Tam Achoy was arrested and charged with
murder. It appeared, however, that, before sending off that
expedition, Tam Achoy had given formal notice to a Government
officer of his intentions and received no warning of the illegality
of his proceedings. The indictment having broken down for
want of evidence, Tam Achoy was advised to plead guilty of
misdemeanour and was discharged with a reprimand. The
peninsula of Kowloon presented for several days in August, 1862 ,
the novel aspect of an animated battle field, as the Punti
inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were engaged in a
bloody warfare with the Hakka settlers at Tsimshatsui. But
the most renowned crime of this period was the so-called
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 381
opium swindle, above referred to, which was perpetrated by an
Indian merchant who, with the assistance of an Englishman
in charge of the opium stored in the receiving-ship Tropic,
defrauded the Chartered Mercantile Bank and others of some
two million dollars (July, 1862 ) by means of forged opium
certificates. Many daring burglaries and murderous attacks were
made, during this period, by armed gangs, such as the attack
on the signal station at Victoria Peak (July 27 , 1863 ), the
assault made on some men in the Artillery Barracks (October
11, 1863 ) , the murder of an Indian and his wife (January
29, 1864) and an attack made on the offices of Holliday,
Wise & Co. (May 11 , 1864) . Hongkong was now in daily
communication with Canton by American river-steamers which
took Chinese passengers at 20 cents a head in 1863 and 1864 .
These cheap fares caused the Colony to be inundated with
Chinese ruffians who considered Hongkong, with its indulgent
laws and humane treatment of criminals, to afford a temptation
they could not resist . But the most novel feature of the
depredations resorted to by Chinese burglars at this period was
the ingenuity and engineering skill displayed by the so-called
drain gangs. The godowns of Smith, Archer & Co. (January 30,
1864), the jewellery store of Douglas Lapraik (May 16, 1864),
and the treasure vaults of the Central Bank of Western India
(February 5, 1865 ) were successively attacked by burglars who
used the subterraneous storm -water drains as the basis of their
operations and drove from there tunnels by which they under-
mined the floors of treasure stores. The Central Bank was in
this way robbed of $63,000 in notes and £ 11,000 in gold ingots,
some of which were found strewn about in the street on the
morning of February 6 , 1865 .
A most deplorable series of riots, resulting in the murder
of two soldiers, three seamen and a boarding-house clerk, took
place on three successive days in September ( 12th to 14th) , 1864,
between Malay seamen, a body of policemen, and men of the
99th Regiment. The excitement was intense and it seemed
impossible to restrain either the soldiers or the police from
382 CHAPTER XVIII.
renewing the contest. The Volunteers were called out to patrol
the streets (September 14, 1864) , and at the request of the
Governor the 99th Regiment were ordered at three hours ' notice
to move forthwith over to Kowloon (September 15 , 1864 ) where
a camp was hastily erected . This was done in the face of a
strong medical protest and the result was that a most extra-
ordinary amount of mortality decimated the troops encamped
on the site of which the Military Authorities had robbed
the Colony .
Piracy flourished throughout the administration of Sir
H. Robinson and the number of cases in which the pirates,
disdaining the less remunerative attacks on native junks,
successfully plundered foreign vessels, appears to be rather a
distinguishing feature of this period . The Taiping rebellion
was by this time extinguished in South China and the Cantonese
coastguard resumed again its former function as a preventive
force, but it was unable to make headway, without steam cruisers,
against the better equipped piratical fleets. Numbers of piracies
were reported in Hongkong in autumn (September to November)
1859, by owners of native junks. Few piracies occurred in
1860. But in May, 1861 , the brig North Star was attacked
some four miles off Hongkong. The captain, some of the officers
and crew, and a passenger were murdered . Seven months later,
the Dutch schooner Henriette Louise was plundered, just outside
the Lyee-moon, by pirates who wounded the captain and some
of the crew ( January 2 , 1862) . Three weeks after this outrage,
the British brig Imogene was plundered and burned (January
23, 1862 ) by pirates, five of whom were subsequently (March
6, 1862) convicted of murder and executed. Next, the British.
schooner Eagle was plundered near Green Island by pirates, who
were under the leadership of an Englishman (April 18 , 1862) .
The captain and some of the crew were murdered . Soon after,
the S.S. Iron Prince, when on her way to Macao, was attacked
by pirates disguised as passengers. They murdered two of the
crew. The captain, officers and European passengers were all
wounded in a protracted fight, at close quarters, for the possession
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 383
of the steamer. Happily the pirates were finally overpowered
and four of them captured, the vessel owing her safety principally
to the foresight and heroic conduct of her master, Captain
Harris . Next year (April 8 , 1863 ) the Government offered a
reward of $ 1,000 for information leading to the arrest of certain
lawless persons, English and American, employed on board of
piratical junks in the neighbourhood of Hongkong and Formosa.
This notification had no effect . The American barque Bertha
was unsuccessfully attacked by pirates near Stonecutters' Island
(July 22 , 1863 ) ; six months later (January 28 , 1864) some
pirates attacked the Danish brig Chiro and murdered some of
her crew, and on February 5th, 1865, the Spanish brig Nuevo
Lepanto was captured by pirates near Lantao.
As to the commercial history of this period, one of its
principal landmarks is the formation (May 29 , 1861 ) of the
Hongkong Chamber of Commerce. It was to be the aim of this
institution, to guard the liberties and interests of local commerce
and to procure, without any interference with the freedom of
the port, reliable commercial statistics. Various nationalities were
represented among the members of the Chamber, and the Com-
mittee elected at the first annual meeting ( April 23, 1862 ) included
American ( D. Delano ) , German ( D. Nissen) and Parsee (T. B.
Buxey) merchants. One of the first topics which occupied the
attention of the Chamber of Commerce was a subject which for
some years prèvions had been a burning question of the day,
viz . the establishment by the Chinese Government of the Imperial
Maritime Customs Service, under Mr. H. N. Lay. When this
scheme was first mooted, four Hongkong firms (Dent, Fletcher,
Turner and Birley) protested strongly against what they con-
sidered a needless superaddition upon the Consular Service and
from the working of which, under Chinese supervision but in
separation from the native Chinese Customs Service, they expected
interference with the freedom of commerce to result. Some
Canton firms joined this protest under the supposition that the
effect of the scheme would be to drive the import trade from
Canton to Hongkong and to confine the export trade to Macao.
384 CHAPTER XVIII.
When Mr. Lay commenced the operation of the new Customs.
Service at Canton ( October 14, 1859 ) , the United States Consul
(0. H. Perry) objected to Mr. Lay's regulations, or rather to
certain threats of penalties contained in their original edition,
as an illegal interference with the American river-steamers.
Those regulations were, however, at once revised, approved by
the British and American Ministers and sullenly submitted to
by the mercantile communities of Canton and Hongkong. The
seizure by the new Customs Office of the Portuguese S.S. Shamrock
(November, 1859 ) , on a charge of smuggling, renewed the
excitement. So great was the general antipathy prevailing in
Hongkong against this Chinese Customs Service (from the
control of which, however, the junk trade of Hongkong remained
exempt), that the forcible and unlawful resistance which the
captain of the barque Chin Chin offered to seizure by the foreign
Customs Officers in Swatow (March, 1860) was unhesitatingly
justified by a Hongkong jury, although a native employee of the
Customs was killed in the mêlée. Shortly after the Hongkong
Chamber of Commerce had been established, a special meeting
(August 2 , 1861 ) took the whole subject of the Tientsin Treaty
and the new Inspectorate of Customs into consideration, and
eventually memorialized H.M. Minister at Peking who soon after
(October 30, 1861 ) issued regulations regarding transit dues,
exemption certificates and coast trade, which conceded the main
points for which the Chamber of Commerce had contended.
Local Post Office regulations also attracted the watchful
eye of the Chamber. Some transitory excitement was caused by
proceedings taken (September, 1862 ) against the master of the
American S.S. Firecracker, who was fined for detaining a portion
of the mail brought on by him from Mauritius. More serious.
was the attempt made by Sir H. Robinson (early in 1863 ) to
secure the sanction of the Legislative Council for a Bill intended
to give to the Post Office the right, not only to compel vessels
of all nationalities to carry mails without compensation, but also
to search and detain any vessel on account of contraband letters.
The Chamber stoutly resisted this Bill as an interference
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 385
with the spirit of free trade and the view thus taken by the
Chamber met even with the support of the Chief Justice.
Thanks to the energetic remonstrance addressed to the Governor
in Council by the chairman of the Chamber (J. Macandrew) ,
the Bill was thrown out (February 5 , 1863) by a majority. The
introduction of postage stamps (December 8 , 1862 ) was hailed
by the community with little satisfaction . On the contrary,
serious apprehension of inconvenience and confusion , supposed
to be the inevitable consequence of the compulsory use of postage
stamps, filled the mind of the community. This first issue of
Hongkong postage stamps consisted of stamps of the respective
value of two, eight, twelve, eighteen , twenty-four, and forty-eight
cents, reckoned at twenty-four cents to the shilling . Some
confusion did arise, at first, as the previous practice of keeping
running accounts with the Post Office had to be discontinued ;
but the Postmaster-General ( F. W. Mitchell) did everything
in his power to smooth matters and the community quietly
submitted to this very unpopular innovation . As regards the
conveyance of mails, the Secretary of State gave satisfaction
to the community by making an order (October, 1862 ) that
thenceforth no contract mail packets should, under any circum-
stances, be detained, except on the authority of the Governor,
acting on his own responsibility, upon occasions of special
urgency. An attempt, made by the Superintendent of Native
Customs (Hoppo) at Canton , to induce the Foreign Customs
Service to levy duties on cargo shipped in Hongkong for England,
by vessels which, after partially loading in Hongkong, proceeded
to Whampoa to fill up, was successfully resisted by the Chamber
of Commerce (December, 1860) , through the energetic action of
II.M. Consul at Canton (Ch . A. Winchester) .
Several new commercial ventures, started during this period,
gave expression to the enterprising spirit which animated the
community, both native and foreign . The native boat- building
trade particularly, rose, during the year 1859, sevenfold over
what it was in 1858, and fishing junks increased from 2,000
to 2,500. In the year 1860 a movement was set on foot to
25
386 CHAPTER XVIII.
light the city with gas through a Company formed in London.
Next year, however, a hitch occurred in the negotiations between
the local promoters of the Gas Company and the directors in
London, and doubts were entertained of an understanding being
arrived at. The Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) subsequently
stated that interested individuals had misled the community and
caused opposition but that he set the community right on the
subject and removed all obstacles . The city was for the first
time lighted with gas on November 12, 1864. There remained,
however, a general complaint that the directors in London had
allotted an unduly small number of shares (70 only) to local
applicants, and this emphazised the regret felt by the public
that the gas works had not been started by a purely local
Company. In January, 1863 , the first strong timber pier in
Hongkong was erected, at Spring Gardens, for the godowns
of McGregor & Co. All former piers had been built of bamboo.
This timber pier, jutting out into Wantsai Bay to a distance
of 250 feet, gave at low water a depth of 26 feet. The
Aberdeen Docks, which were commenced under the preceding
administration, were kept fully at work from 1860 to 1863 .
A new Dock for the use of H.M. Navy having been approved
by the Admiralty (January 22, 1863 ) , a site was purchased
(November 16 , 1864 ) at Hunghom, on the Kowloon Peninsula,
for the nominal sum of $50, by a Union Dock Company which
was formed to work the existing and projected docks and
proved the beginning of a large establishment, growing in
importance from year to year. But there is yet another
institution , of equal importance, to be mentioned which like-
wise originated during this fruitful period . In July, 1864,
the firm of Dent & Co. issued the prospectus of the newly
formed Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Company (to be
incorporated by charter) with a capital of five million dollars.
in 20,000 shares of $250 each. The fact that this new venture
was undertaken when there were already six Banking Institutions
in the Colony , viz. the Agra and United Service Bank (Henry
Noble), the Central Bank of Western India (W. M. Davidson) ,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 387
the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (A. Hay
Anderson ) , the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London
and China (W. Ormiston) , the Commercial Bank of India (P. R.
Harper) , and the Oriental Bank Corporation (W. Lamond) ,
indicates the views then taken of the growing prosperity of
Hongkong. The broad international basis on which this new
banking enterprise was constructed is observable from the names
of the merchants who formed the provisional committee of the
Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, viz. F. Chomley, A. F. Heard ,
Thomas Sutherland, G. F. Maclean, D. Lapraik, W. Nissen,
H. B. Lemann, W. Schmidt, A. Sassoon, R. Brand, Pallanjee
Framjee, W. Adamson, G. J. Helland, and Rustomjee
Dhunjeeshaw. This new bank, whose first manager (V. Kresser)
entered upon his duties ou January 1 , 1865 , was the first to
profit by the Limited Liability provisions of the Trading
Companies' Ordinance (1 of 1865) .
During the first four years of this period ( 1859 to 1862)
the stream of Chinese emigrants, paying their own passage,
continued to flow forth from Hongkong at an average rate of
12,166 emigrants per annum. Contract emigration was, since
the year 1859 , almost entirely confined to Macao or Whampoa,
the only exception being the shipment of Chinese coolies to
British Colonies . In September, 1861 , an attempt was made.
to ship coolies under contract to some other place, but the
Police seized the ship and liberated the coolies. The emigration
agent for the British West Indies (J. Gardiner Austin) succeeded
in securing (November 15, 1859 ) , through the influence of
Protestant missionaries, numbers of Chinese families for
Demerara, whereas it had previously been asserted that Chinese
women could not be induced to emigrate. As many as 2,756
respectable Chinese women. were (with their husbands and
children) shipped from Hongkong during those four years,
and mostly to the West Indies. Unfortunately, however, San
Francisco took advantage of this new departure and sent
thenceforth for annually increasing numbers of single Chinese
women, most of whom were probably required for immoral
388 CHAPTER XVIII.
purposes. In August, 1862, the Hongkong Office of the British
West Indies' emigration agent was closed and the business
transferred to Canton, to admit of more searching supervision
of the modes in which the coolies were procured. But, owing
to this measure, the number of Chinese emigrants, annually
shipped from Hongkong, fell from 10,421 in 1862, to 7,809
in 1863, and to 6,607 in 1864. In the year 1863 the number
of emigrants leaving Hongkong was equalled by the number
of those who returned from abroad . These returning emigrants
generally brought considerable quantities of gold or gold dust
into the Colony . In the year 1861 one single ship (Minerva)
brought from Melbourne 350 Chinese coolies possessing gold
of the aggregate value of £ 43,000. In the same year as many
as 2,370 Chinese were shipped, as free emigrants, to India,
and emigration to Tahiti commenced as a new venture.
The shipping returns of the year 1861 , shewing a decrease of
217,003 tons, as compared with the returns of the preceding
year, do not indicate any real falling off of the shipping trade
of the Colony. On the contrary, those returns show an increase .
of 31,660 tons when compared with the returns of 1859. The
difference is explained by the extraordinary increase of the
shipping business occasioned, in the year 1860, by commissariat
and transport services connected with the war in North China.
It may also be noted that the American tonnage decreased
in 1861 while British shipping took a proportionate bound in
advance, owing to the effects of the Peking Convention which
extended the scope of British commerce in China. Owing
to the frequency of ships being wrecked on the Pratas Shoals,
application had been made in 1860 to the Home Government
regarding the erection of lighthouses on those rocks, but the
Board of Trade declined ( May 2 , 1861 ) to move in the matter.
The somewhat Utopian scheme of connecting Calcutta
with Canton and Kowloon by a railway, was brought under
the consideration of the Chamber of Commerce (June 30, 1859)
by Sir MacDonald Stephenson who subsequently, after the
completion of his railway undertakings in India, visited
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON, 389
Hongkong and exhibited (February 28, 1864) a wall map
illustrating his scheme of connecting Calentta, Hongkong and
Peking by a railway. The question whether such a railway would
benefit or injure the interests of the Colony was much debated .
Sir M. Stephenson's scheme was, however, entirely premature
and met with no encouragement on the part of the Chinese
Government. At the close of the year 1861 arrangements were
made to get the commerce of the Colony worthily represented
at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1862. A Committee
(Dr. Ivor Murray, J. J. Mackenzie, J. D. Gibb, W. Walkinshaw,
and Dr. W. Kane) was officially appointed and forwarded to
London a considerable number of articles fairly illustrating
the principal features of local trade . The starting of the French
Messageries Maritimes line of mail steamers (January 1 , 1863 )
caused a material increase in the facility and rapidity of
communication with Europe . The monopoly which the Penin-
sular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company had held as mail
carriers was now ended and the competition benefitted the public
in a variety of ways. Communication with Canton was also
improved, during this period, by the enterprise of two local
American firms (Russell & Co. and Augustin Heard & Co.)
which vied with each other, since 1859, in providing for the
Hongkong and Canton trade roomy palatial river-steamers which
ran both night and day (White Cloud and Kinshan).
December, 1863, Hongkong was also placed in regular steam
communication with North- Borneo and some business was done
by importing coal from Labuan. In the tea trade a new
departure was made in 1864 by forwarding, as an experiment ,
5,000 pounds of tea by the overland route to England.
The problem involved in the sanitation of the Colony was
left by Sir H. Robinson in the hopeless condition in which he
found it. The outbreak, in Hongkong, of several epidemics
and the fear of cholera invading the Colony from abroad
necessitated some action . But it led to nothing further than
the appointment, in 1862 , of a health officer of the port
(Dr. L. Richardson) , the allotment of Green Island as a
390 CHAPTER XVIII.
quarantine station, and the appointment of a Commission
productive of reports which led to nothing. In the year 1859
a mild epidemic of ophthalmia appeared in the gaol and rapidly
spread throughout the Colony, attacking both natives and
Europeans. As it also appeared at Canton, Amoy and Foochow,
it was thought that it had been caused by atmospheric rather
than local agencies . But in November, 1859, the Colony was
threatened by an epidemic of diphtheria which, however, was
happily limited to 10 cases and of these only two proved fatal.
It was noted that the summer of 1859 was unusually severe
as there was, previous to 4th June, a continuous drought of almost
eight months' duration and the thermometer was for several
weeks at an average height of 90 degrees . During the next
two years ( 1860 and 1861 ) the health of the Colony was
exceptionally good, and it is noteworthy that both years were
stated to have been conspicuous for the absence of violent
extremes of temperature. The long talked- of scheme of a medical
sanatorium, to be established on Victoria Peak, was at last
carried out but did not receive a fair trial. At the recom-
mendation of the principal medical officer of the station, the
Military Authorities opened, in spring 1862 , a well-built
sanatorium on the plateau below the flag- staff and filled it with
patients (of an unsuitable class) . But, before the close of the year,
the military doctors condemned the scheme as a manifest failure,
on the ground that nearly every case sent up had been attacked
with diarrhoea of an intractable nature and that all medical
cases had been aggravated rather than improved . The fate
which had pursued the Island as a whole, and the Kowloon
Peninsula in particular, asserted its power also as to the first
settlements on the Peak : the first occupation produced discase,
and patience and discretion were required to overcome the
difficulty. It took years before Peak residence, strongly
advocated by Mr. Granville Sharp, who took a lease of the
deserted sanatorium, rose into favour. A small epidemic of
cholera (25 cases) broke out in the gaol on October 17 , 1862 .
but did not spread farther. Owing to the outbreak of cholera
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 391
in Shanghai, the Governor appointed (December 29 , 1862 ) a
Sanitary Commission (Chief Justice Ball, Colonel Moody,
Surveyor General Cleverly, Hon. J. J. Mackenzie, Doctors
Murray, Home and Mackay, with H. Holmes as Secretary) .
This Commission was in session all through the year 1863 .
The Commissioners became the object of much ridicule when
they offered (March 9 , 1863 ) a prize of $ 100 for the best
scheme for the drainage of the town, without fixing a limit
of expenditure. It was generally considered that the paltry
reward offered was on a par with the understanding the
Commissioners appeared to have of the gigantic nature of the
problem involved . The year 1864 afforded, however, evidence,
satisfactory to the Government, of the continued healthiness
of the Colony, and it was pointed out that the Police Force,
though more exposed than any other body of men in Hongkong,
enjoyed remarkable immunity from disease.
The paralysis which, during the preceeding period , had come
over the educational movement among Protestants and Catholics ,
was succeeded, from the commencement of the administration
of Sir H. Robinson, by an extraordinary revival of energy. On
the Protestant side, Bishop Smith started (in 1859 ) the Diocesan
Native Training School, which had a prosperous career until the
close of the present period and was located ( in autumn, 1863 ) in
the newly-erected buildings on Bonham Road. St. Paul's College
also received a new lease of life under the tuition of Mr.
(subsequently Dr. ) J. Fryer and prospered as long as he remained
in charge. Quite a new branch of educational work was started
(in 1861 ) by Miss Baxter who, beside much Samaritan activity
among all classes of the community and valuable zenana-work
among Chinese women, commenced to labour for the education
of the Eurasian children in the Colony . For this purpose Miss
Baxter established, in Mosque Terrace and in Staunton Street,
schools which were subsequently amalgamated and located in
Baxter House on Bonham Road (now No. 8 Police Station) . At
the same time Miss Magrath laboured in a similar direction ,
while Miss Legge and the ladies of the Berlin Foundling House
392 CHAPTER XVIII.
were engaged in the education of Chinese girls . Taking a more
prominent position, and striking out a new path, Dr. Legge
came forward as an educational reformer. During the preceding
administration he had closed his Anglo-Chinese College as an
acknowledged failure in the line of religious Anglo -Chinese
education. He now set to work, with the support of Sir H.
Robinson, to convert all the Government Schools, which had
hitherto been conducted in the interest of religious education,
into professedly secular institutions. To begin with , the Govern-
ment Gazette announced (January 21 , 1860) the formation of
a new Board of Education for the management of the Government
Schools. Dr. Legge was thenceforth, though Bishop Smith
retained the nominal chairmanship, the presiding spirit of this
Board and ruled it with the ease and grace of a born bishop.
In the absence of Bishop Smith, and after obtaining the
resignation of the missionary Inspector of Schools ( Rev. W.
Lobscheid) , the new Board took up (July 3, 1860) Dr. Legge's
plan of merging the Inspectorate of Schools in the Headmastership
of a grand Central School, which was to become the centre of
secular education, and delivering the Government Schools from
the bondage of St. Paul's College and its Bishop . It was
essentially a non-conformist liberation scheme which preferred
secularism to episcopalianism . Sir H. Robinson approved
(January 9 , 1861 ) this plan of Dr. Legge, which Sir J. Bowring
had previously refused to take up. The Legislative Council
also endorsed the scheme (March 25, 1861 ) and sanctioned the
purchase and enlargement of premises (in Gough Street ) .
These were forthwith filled with some 200 Chinese boys, by the
amalgamation of three existing Government Schools which thus
constituted the new Government Central School. A Headmaster
and Inspector of Schools, who was to be kept for some years in
the leading strings of the Board, was procured ( February 18 , 1862 )
in the person of Mr. (subsequently Dr. ) F. Stewart , from Scotland,
with the approval of Bishop Smith . Dr. Stewart thenceforth
laboured, for the next sixteen years, as the faithful disciple of
Dr. Legge, to maintain the reign of secularism in the sphere of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 393
local education. Under his disciplinarian regime the Government
Central School gradually became a highly popular institution and
retained its hold upon public favour so long as it bore the
impress of Dr. Stewart's own personality. But the establishment
of this Central School was the ruin of the once equally popular
St. Andrew's School, latterly under the tuition of Mr. J. Kemp.
On the site of St. Andrew's School, closed in 1861 , Dr. Legge
erected his new Union Church which was removed thither from
Hollywood Road in July, 1863 .
This remarkable revival of educational zeal among the
Protestant leaders was aided , and to some extent outstripped,
since 1860, by a contemporaneous renewal of educational
energy on the Roman Catholic side. The newly arrived Father
(subsequently Bishop) T. Raimondi occupied at once among
Catholic educationists the same prominent and fruitful position
which Dr. Legge, whom he much resembled also in character
and shrewdness, occupied among the Protestants. Bishop
Raimondi, however, became the strongest opponent in the
Colony of that educational secularism which Dr. Legge had
established and to which the Protestant missionaries meekly
submitted for many years thereafter. From the time of Bishop
Raimondi's arrival, the English R. C. Schools, which had
previously commenced to supply local offices with English-
speaking Portuguese clerks, redoubled their efforts. The Italian
and French Convents also extended their operations in the line
of female education and an industrial Reformatory for vagabond
children and juvenile offenders, which the Chief Justice (January,
1863) had pointed out as one of the great wants of the Colony,
was started by Bishop Raimondi ( September, 1864 ) and removed
in the following year to more commodious premises erected on
ground granted by the Government (March 24, 1865 ) at
West Point.
The Hongkong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was felt
(in 1859 ) to be in a moribund condition . After some ineffectual
attempts made by Dr. Legge to revive a general interest
in sinological studies, the local Branch was wound up and its
394 CHAPTER XVIII.
valuable library embodied in that of the equally moribund
Morrison Education Society. Both libraries were stored at
the London Mission Printing Office . The Morrison Education
Society continued to exist for a few years longer in the form of a
Committee administering, for purposes of religious education , the
funds ($ 13,000 ) still in hand, and distinguished itself (December,
1860 ) by a narrow partisan spirit in excluding from support
the schools of a missionary (Dr. A. Happer) who had given
offence to a member of the Committee (J. Jardine) by inaccurate
statements concerning the percentage of opium smokers in China .
Dr. Legge made a last but futile effort to extend the scope of
the Society by appealing to the public (December 27 , 1861 )
for additional subscriptions.
St. John's Cathedral was enriched (in 1860) by the erection
of a good organ which was inaugurated (December 25, 1860 )
under the direction of the newly arrived organist (C. F.
A. Sangster) who soon after organized and trained an efficient
choir which has been maintained ever since. Consequent upon
the retirement of Bishop Smith, the Legislative Council voted
(September 13, 1864) for the Bishop of Victoria a pension of
£300 per annum . A suggestion was, however, embodied in
this vote to the effect that the Home Government should pay
half of the sum on the ground that the Bishop's services had
been devoted as much to Imperial as to local interests . The
charity of the community was strongly manifested (in 1862 and
1863) by a unanimous endeavour to afford all possible relief
to the Lancashire and Cheshire operatives thrown out of
employment in consequence of the cotton famine caused by the
outbreak of the American war. All classes of foreign residents
agreed to give, in addition to special donations, a regular
monthly contribution of $2 per head. Special collections were
made in all places of worship and concerts were given by
amateurs of all nationalities to swell the funds. In this manner
a sum of $ 15,000 was raised and forwarded to the Mansion
House Committee in London in September, 1862, and further
contributions amounting in the aggregate to $ 11,162 were
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 395
dispatched in January and March, 1863 , Mr. D. Lapraik
acting as Honorary Treasurer. On the other hand an official
appeal by the London Committee of the Shakespeare Memorial
Fund (October 16 , 1863) for monetary contributions met with
scant response on the part of the community, although
Sir H. Robinson strongly supported the movement . The
community of Hongkong, while holding Shakespeare's memory
as sacred as a king's , had their own ideas as to how to pay
tribute to the English King whom no time or chance or
Parliament can dethrone and how to preserve the memory of
the one who is a monument without a tomb and is alive still
while his book doth live. ' It was noteworthy, but not noticed
at the time, that this appeal to the community was signed by
Richard Graves MacDonnell, as one of the London Committee's
Secretaries, who perhaps himself did not anticipate the fact,
any more than the colonists, that he was to be their next
Governor.
Hongkong's social life was, in the early part of this period ,
more or less affected by the excitements and the influx of
strangers connected with the renewal of the war with China .
The defeat of the British fleet at the Peiho (June 25, 1859 ) ,
while it depressed the foreign community of Hongkong, appeared
to evoke no feeling of any sort among the Chinese population.
Indeed, those Chinese who gave any thought to the matter,
seemed rather to regret this temporary success of Mandarin
treachery. But the capture of Peking in 1860 and particularly
the flight of the Emperor, whose tablet has ever since been
removed from the altar of his ancestors, was felt by all but
Triad Society partisans as a national disgrace . In the early
part of the year 1860, the Kowloon camp with its military
parades, and most particularly the war games and evolutions
performed by Probyn's Horse, were an object of general
attraction for sightseers, both native and foreign. The return
of the Allied troops in November and December, 1860, gave to
Hongkong society for a while quite a martial aspect . By a grand
levée held by Lord Elgin at Government House (January 10 ,
396 CHAPTER XVIII.
1861 ) , and by the ceremony of handing over Kowloon Peninsula
to the British Crown (January 19, 1861 ), the leading spirits
of the war period bade farewell to the Colony . Before the
close of January, 1861 , the expedition had departed and
when the small force left in occupation of Canton city (until
October 21 , 1861 ) likewise left for Europe, the social life of
Hongkong resumed its ordinary aspects. Club life, however,
encountered during this period some lively disturbances. The
Hongkong Club had been established to promote the interchange
of good feeling among the representatives of the Civil Service,
the Army and Navy, and the mercantile community, and to
receive strangers visiting Hongkong. Nevertheless it happened
occasionally, and in the years 1859 and 1860 with distressing
frequency, that persons were blackballed who from their social
or official position had a claim to admission . This caused much
animated dissension. In April 1860, the Club Committee made
a rule, requiring cash payment in the case of naval officers,
which might have remained harmless, but when a public paper
indiscreetly discussed the matter and stated that this rule had
been occasioned by an enormous amount of bad debts burdening
the Club finances, a little tempest arose. The naval officers
on the station assembled in full force (April 18 , 1860 ) and
demanded of the Committee the names of naval officers, whose
bills remained unpaid, with a view to their liquidation . When
the Committee refused to give up the names , the naval officers
withdrew from the Club in a body, the military officers also
threatened to withdraw, and dissensions dragged on till the
close of the year, when the dispute was at last amicably settled
(December, 1860 ) . A fresh disturbance of Club life arose, in
1864, in connection with the riots between sailors, soldiers
and police. The Volunteer Corps was called out to take the
place of the military in patrolling the streets. It so happened,
on the evening of 14th September, 1864, that the Volunteer
Corps, on returning from patrol duty, was made to fall out
in frout of the Club. Some of the members of the Club invited
their friends among the Volunteers to join them in some
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 397
refreshments. It was a breach of the rules, which the patriotic
duties of the Volunteers might have excused , but when the
intruders from among the Volunteers were forthwith hooted
out of the Club, there ensued an extraordinary amount of
animosities which for a long time after this incident lacerated
social life within and without the Club.
Sports flourished during this period . The Victoria Regatta
Club, which had been virtually extinct, was revived (June 28,
1860) , under the leadership of Mr. T. G. Linstead. The Racing
Club was also re-animated by the interest that Sir H. Robinson
took in the annual races which , in February 1861 , closed with
a Government House Ball in addition to the usual subscription
Ball . In January, 1862, racing men were much stirred up by
the question of excluding from the annual races all professional
riders or jockeys. Renewed excitement was called forth, in
October, 1864, by a request which Sir H. Robinson addressed
to the Racing Club Committee, to rail off a box in the Grand
Stand for his own use at the next meeting. After much
discussion , this request was refused by the Committee as
unusual and out of keeping with the democratic spirit and
purpose underlying the national institution of horse racing.
Athletic sports for sailors and soldiers were first held on a
large scale on the race course on 16th March, 1860, and by
the encouragement which Lady Robinson gave to this movement
it became, like the Garrison Sports, a popular annual festival.
At the instance of some members of the German Club, which,
under the directorship of Mr. W. Nissen became a popular
factor of social life, an international Gymnasium Committee
was formed (November 24, 1862 ) and a matshed gymnasium
was erected near the racket court on military ground. A novel
and most singular sport was occasioned (February 1863 ) by
the appearance in the harbour of a stray whale which was
forthwith chased with improvised harpoons and pursued far
out to sea by crowds of amateur whalers.
Dramatic and musical pursuits were not neglected. The
Garrison Theatre was, as during the preceding period , frequently
398 CHAPTER XVIII.
utilized by the officers of the garrison for the entertainment of
the community in general. But considerable irritation arose
during the last few months of 1859 when it was found that the
issue of season tickets, though offered to the public at fixed rates,
was restricted to certain classes of society. The exclusion of
Parsee merchants gave special offence and had to be withdrawn.
The consequence was that theofficers of the garrison, after
making, during the next year's season , another attempt to
discriminate between upper and lower strata of Hongkong
society, entered, in December, 1862 , into a sort of amalgamation
with the civilian Amateur Dramatic Corps. This measure
resulted later on (June 13 , 1864) in the re-construction of the
old Royal Theatre, a humble matshed structure which by this
time had fallen into a hopeless state of dilapidation. A Choral
Society, a revival of the old Madrigal Society, was formed, in
1862 , at the impulse and under the directorship of Mr. C. F. A.
Sangster and gave its first public concert (July 10, 1863 ) in aid
of the fund then being raised for the building of a City Hall .
A curiosity, if not a nuisance, in the musical line appeared in
Hongkong in the form of a hurdy-gurdy worked by an Italian.
Among the public festivities of this period, the most note-
worthy entertainment was a Ball which the Prussian Minister
to China, Count Eulenburg, gave (November 28, 1861 ) to the
Governor and the community of Hongkong The Hon. A.
Burlingame, U. S. Minister, was also present. The starting of
the Messageries Maritimes line of mail steamers was celebrated
(December 22 , 1862) with considerable éclat by a magnificent
public Ball given on board the S.S. Impératrice. As to other
prominent incidents of the social life of this period, there may
be mentioned the gloom cast over society by the premature death
of the Prince Consort (December 14, 1861) , the arrival of the
widow of the famous Arctic explorer, Lady Franklin (April,
1862) , the vote passed in Legislative Council (February 6, 1863)
to congratulate H.M. the Queen on account of the approaching
marriage of the Prince of Wales, the presentation of a farewell
address on the occasion of the departure of Chief Justice Adams
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 399
(March 21 , 1863) , and the public rejoicing (February 29, 1864)
which the news of the birth of the Prince of Wales' first son
occasioned .
Chinese social life was, at the beginning of the year 1861 ,
much agitated by a general mania for gambling, which occasioned
grave dissensions. Clan fights even were indulged in, owing to
gambling house quarrels. The evil was so widespread that the
mass of local shopkeepers petitioned the Governor (June, 1861 )
to suppress the extensive gambling which, they said , was going
on in every part of the town with the connivance of the Police.
Chinese servants in European employ were likewise giving an
unusual amount of trouble in connection with this gambling
mania. Sir H. Robinson, shrinking from the idea of grappling
with the source of the evil in the line proposed by Sir J. Bowring,
and knowing no solution of this knotty social problem, publicly
suggested ( in 1862 ) that a remedy for the systematic dishonesty
of native domestics be sought in the establishment of a registry
of servants. An attempt was actually made in this direction ,
but, as on all subsequent occasions, registration was resisted by
the natives and failed to gain the confidence of the public. An
attempt made (March 31 , 1864) to remove the general complaints
against Chinese washermen by the establishment of a French
laundry met unfortunately with persistent opposition on the part
of Chinese dhobies and with insufficient encouragement on
the part of the public.
One of the healthiest and most useful exhibitions of public
spirit that Hongkong ever witnessed was the Volunteer movement
of the year 1862. Two years before, the idea of starting a
rifle corps had been suggested by a letter published in the
China Mail (January 31 , 1860 ) . But it was not till January,
1862, that active steps were taken, resulting in a public meeting
held at the Court House (March 1 , 1862 ). This meeting
resolved to establish a Volunteer Corps and moved the Govern-
ment to sanction by Ordinance (2 of 1862) the enrolment
of any resident of Hongkong, irrespective of nationality. Captain
(subsequently Lieutenant- Colonel) F. Brine, R.E. , was appointed
400 CHAPTER XVIII.
commandant and the first officers elected by the members of
the Corps were W. Kane, R. B. Baker, J. M. Frazer, and
J. Dodd . A battery of artillery was first organised . Later
on (December, 1862) a band was formed. In spring, 1863. a
rifle corps was added and in December, 1864 , Volunteers were
enrolled from among the foreign residents at Canton in a rifle
company attached to the Hongkong Corps. The Government
sanctioned (February 7 , 1863 ) an annual outlay of £ 195 on
condition of there being at least 75 effective Members of the
Corps . The Volunteers made their first festive appearance in
public on 16th February, 1863, on the occasion of the presenta-
tion of colours (by Mrs. W. T. Mercer) and of a silver bugle
(by Mrs. Brine), when Bishop Smith acted as Honorary Chaplain
of the Corps . The ceremony was followed by an inauguration
dinner held at St. Andrew's school-room and presided over by
the Administrator (W. T. Mercer). To keep up the enthusiasm ,
in spite of the discouragement arising from the apathy which
the heads of mercantile firms displayed towards the movement,
rifle competitions were organized (April 6 and 7 , 1863 ) , when
the first medal of the British National Rifle Association was won
by Mr. H. J. Holmes and testimonials were presented to the
Honorary Musketry Instructor, Lieutenant K. D. Tanner, and to
the Drill Instructor, Corporal Goodall, R.A. The Corps also
took part in the Queen's Birthday Parade in May, 1863. The
spirit of the Corps increased with its numbers throughout the
years 1863 and 1864. Subscription cups were frequently shot
for. A march-out to the Happy Valley, with firing practice in
the presence of the Governor and a large assembly (March 8 ,
1864) and particularly an armed expedition to Macao (November
19 to 21 , 1864) undertaken in response to a courteous invitation
by the Portuguese Governor (Isidoro F. Guimaraes), infused
fresh life into the Corps. On 5th December, 1864, Lady
Robinson distributed at the Public Gardens the prizes won at a
public rifle competition , including the National Rifle Association-
medal (won by Sergeant Moore) . At the close of this period
the strength of the Corps was as follows, viz. Band 25, Artillery
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 401
84, Rifles ( including the Cantou detachment) 91 , honorary
members 67, total 267 men . The officers of the Corps at this
time were Major Scott ( 22nd Regiment) , A. Coxon, H. J. Tripp ,
H. Cohen, H. J. Holmes, W. J. Henderson , F. I. Hazeland and
T. G. Linstead.
The erection of a Clock Tower, a City Hall and a Sailors'
Home constitutes another exhibition of the public spirit that
animated the community at this time. At the suggestion of
Mr. J. Dent, a public meeting (July 28, 1860 ) took into
consideration the proposal to erect by public subscription a
clock tower (80 feet high) with town clock and fire bell, the
tower to be connected with a drinking fountain, and arrangements
were also to be made for the dropping of a time ball. A
Committee was appointed (J. Brodersen, J. H. Beckwith,
D. Lapraik, G. Lyall, C. St. G. Cleverly) to collect subscriptions,
which at first flowed in generously. Delay in the execution
of the scheme soon caused the enthusiasm to cool down,
subscriptions stopped, the scheme had to be curtailed, all the
decorative features of the original pretty design had to be
abandoned , and the result was an ugly tower obstructing the
principal thoroughfare. Mr. D. Lapraik came generously to the
rescue of the Committee and provided, at his own cost,
the town clock, which sounded for the first time on new year's eve
(December 31 , 1862), ushering in the year 1863. Mr. J. Dent
also stepped in and erected, apart from the Clock Tower, a
drinking fountain (December 15, 1863) which now graces the
front of the City Hall. The dropping of a time ball had to be
indefinitely postponed. The Government, however, took over
(May 22 , 1863 ) the maintenance of the tower and its clock.
At the close of the year 1861 , the erection of a Theatre and
Assembly Room' was publicly discussed , a provisional Committee
was appointed to make all preliminary arrangements and plans
were exhibited at the Club in October 1862 , calculated on an
6
expenditure of $34,000 . The name of the City Hall,' and the
combination in one building of a theatre, a library and a suite
of assembly rooms, having been agreed upon, the Government
26
402 CHAPTER XVIII.
made a free grant of the site (February 23, 1864) . At a public
meeting ( May 19 , 1864 ) it was stated that a sum of $20,000
had been obtained by donations, subscriptions and concerts ;
that, a further sum of $80,000 being required, shares had been
offered at $ 100 each ; that Mr. Robert Jardine had generously I
taken up shares to the amount of $ 50,000 , and that there
remained shares of the face value of $30,000 to be taken up
by the public. As in the case of this City Hall, so in the case of
Sailors' Home, the heads of the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.
distinguished themselves by their princely liberality . Recog-
nizing the duty incumbent on those who mainly benefit by the
sailor's industry and toil, to consider and care for his welfare,
Mr. Joseph Jardine, seconded by his brother, Mr. Robert Jardine ,
started a scheme for the erection of a Sailors' Home and set aside
for the purpose at first $20,000 . The community of Hongkong
supplemented this sum by liberal donations and the Government
eventually (July 5 , 1861 ) gave a fine site at West Point. A
public meeting, held at the Club (February 4, 1861 ), elected
Trustees (A. Fletcher, C. W. Murray, J. D. Gibb, J. Heard ,
W. Walkinshaw, D. Lapraik, R. H. Reddie, H. T. Thomsett,
Rev. W. R. Beach) and called for further subscriptions. After
an attempt to obtain the site of the present Horse Repository had
failed, building operations commenced in 1862 at West Point.
Meanwhile, however, public interest slackened and subscriptions
ceased flowing in. By the time the building was opened
(January 31 , 1863 ) by Sir H. Robinson and Mr. J. Whittall, the
funds were exhausted . The Government refused (May 14, 1863)
to give a grant and difficulties multiplied . In autumn , 1864,
Mr. Robert Jardine gave a further donation of $25,000 in
aid of the fund and undertook to carry on the Home at his
own expense for three years. It was hoped that by the end
of that time the public would once more come forward and
maintain the institution by annual public subscriptions.
The successful expansion of private and public enterprise
by which this period is distinguished, and the extraordinary
prosperity which the Colony in general enjoyed at this time,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 403
resulted in a considerable extension of the city in size and beauty,
Hongkong having now no equal in China with regard to health
and comfort. Most of the vacant building lots within easy
distance of the city were now built over and, though the city did
not extend further to the eastward, the western suburbs were
considerably expanded and numerous European residences were
erected on the hill side near West Point. In 1860 and 1861
the Chinese settlement at Shaukiwan grew largely in importance
as a depot for the exportation of salt fish. Owing to the delay
in the settlement of the Kowloon land dispute, and in consequence
of the doubts entertained as to the sanitary aspects of Peak
residence, general attention was directed to Pokfulam where an
ornamental villa settlement had been started by this time ( 1862 )
around Douglas Castle, in the vain hope of securing there a
public health resort. Sir H. Robinson, however, had more
faith in the Peak. He had a path cut (December, 1859) which
led to the top of Victoria Peak and, after recovering from the
Military Authorities the site of their abandoned Sanatorium,
arrangements were made, in March 1860, for the erection on that
site of a bungalow for the use of the Governor. The laying
out of the Public Gardens, on the rising ground directly
south of Government House, was undertaken by the Surveyor
General's Department at the sole expense of the Government.
Mr. Th. Donaldson was appointed (October 7 , 1861 ) Curator,
seeds and plants were procured from Australia and England
and, on the completion of the work, the Gardens were thrown
open to the public under certain regulations (August 6, 1864) .
In October, 1864, the military band commenced giving pro-
menade concerts in the Public Gardens at stated intervals. It
was noticed, in 1864, that a general increase had taken place
in the vegetative surroundings of the town, and that the
increased attention , given to the cultivation of trees along the
public roads and around European dwellings on the hill side,
had already done very much to displace the pristine barrenness
of the site on which the city was built by patches of beautiful
shrubbery.
404 CHAPTER XVIII.
The literary activities of the Colony were manifested by
the publication, in Hongkong, of Sir T. Wade's Hsin-ching-lu,
a work on the Mandarin Dialect (June, 1859 ) , by the issue
of a Chinese edition of the Daily Press ( 1860) , and especially
by the appearance, through the liberal patronage of the firm
of Jardine, Matheson & Co. , of the first volume of Dr. Legge's
translation and commentary of the Chinese Classics (May, 1861 ) .
The botany of Hongkong was scientifically explored by
Mr. G. Bentham, who published the results (in 1861 ) in a
volume entitled Flora Hongkongensis and dedicated to Sir
H. Robinson. A few years later (in 1865) , Mr. T. W. Kingsmill
published, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, a detailed notice of the geological features
of the Island.
The administration of Sir H. Kobinson encountered a
moderate number of public disasters . A typhoon which passed
(August 15, 1859 ) to the S.E. of Hongkong, causing but slight
damage in the Colony, was succeeded two months later (October
13 , 1859 ) by another typhoon which destroyed most of the
wharves and piers, caused some collisions in the harbour, and
damaged the roofs of many houses, but it was not accompanied by
loss of life. The disappearance, about this time, of the schooner
Mazeppa, which was lost with every soul on board ( October,
1859 ) , led to a judicial inquiry, on the basis of an action for
libel preferred by the owners, into the allegation that the vessel
had left Hongkong in an unseaworthy condition . The allegation
was proved to be false, though, owing to the contradictory
nature of the evidence, not withont causing social altercations
which at the time convulsed a section of the community. A
terrible rain storm broke over the Colony in the following year
(August 18, 1860 ) and not only burst most of the drains,
but caused the collapse of some houses in the Canton Bazaar
(in Hawan) which involved the death of five persons. A
typhoon , suddenly passing the Colony on 27th July, 1862 , caused
a considerable loss of life, and by an extraordinarily heavy rain-
fall, occurring on June 6, 1864, many lives were lost through
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 405
the collapse of houses, and property was destroyed to the value of
$500,000. Fires in town were comparatively rare during this
period, which is, however, in respect of the European quarter,
distinguished by the somewhat unusual occurrence of an extensive
conflagration which destroyed (October 19 , 1859 ) the Roman
Catholic Church in Wellington Street and a number of European
business establishments in Queen's Road and Stanley Street, viz .
the stores of Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Rickomartz, the Victoria Exchange,
the Commercial Hotel and others. Among further disasters of
this period may be mentioned the fire on board the S.S. Cadiz
(January 10 , 1863 ), the drowning of four deserters from the
ship Oasis (May 1 , 1863 ) , the drowning (above referred to)
of 38 Chinese convicts at Stonecutters' Island (July 23 , 1863 ) ,
and the death by suffocation ( March 8 , 1865 ) of three soldiers
engaged in excavating the hillside at Scandal Point. The
year 1860 was distinguished by the death of four public
officers, viz. the Harbour Masters Newman and Gunthorpe, the
Assistant Surveyor General Walker, and the Crown Solicitor
Cooper Turner. To this list may be added the name of Dr.
Enscoe, Surgeon of Seamen's Hospital, who died a few years
later (September 30, 1863) .
Sir H. Robinson left Hongkong on 15th March, 1865 ,
having been promoted to the Governorship of Ceylon. His
departure was marked by two complimentary public enter-
tainments, viz . by a dinner given at the Club by the members
of the Civil Service ( March 11 , 1865 ) and by a Ball given in
the Theatre Royal by the community (March 13, 1865 ) . Among
the guests was the Duke of Brabant, then crown prince of
Belgium, a first cousin to Queen Victoria.
The verdict of public opinion on the merits of Sir H.
Robinson's administration, as expressed in the local papers, was
to this effect, that Sir Hercules was exceedingly favoured by
fortune in respect of the all-important fact that his term of
administration happened to coincide with a period of irrepressible
prosperity (not at all of his making) , such as was without a
parallel in the history of the Colony ; that the most remarkable
406 CHAPTER XVIII.
feature in this season of prosperity was the wonderful advance
in the value of building land by which many individuals, as well
as the Colony as a whole, found themselves rich in an unexpected
manner ; that Sir H. Robinson turned these adventitious
circumstances to good account for the benefit of the public weal
and of his own reputation ; that nevertheless he left the residents
heavily taxed, the town undrained , the sanitation of the place
neglected, owing to his paying more attention to laboured balance
sheets and the accumulation of a surplus than to public works
and the most vital interests of the Colony ; that his duties
carried him to the extreme verge of his abilities and that he
would certainly have been infinitely less successful as a Governor
if he had not enjoyed the assistance of Mr. W. T. Mercer who,
as Colonial Secretary, so ably assisted him in every respect and
maintained his policy, as Administrator, during the long period
of the Governor's absence ; that Sir H. Robinson, while naturally
affable and possessed of pleasing social manners, treated the
Colony, especially during his first few years, with a certain
amount of contempt ; that he habitually displayed towards the
unofficial Members of his Council much self-willed obstinacy, and
affected towards his official subordinates a tone of dignified reserve
and disciplinarian rigour which was rather humiliating to the
officials at the head of the different departments ; that the former
bitterness between officials was kept quiet, and that the amount
of social engineering required on the Governor's part to keep
matters smooth, was perhaps the most creditable feature in his
tenure of office ; that Lady Robinson exercised in private society
a most extensive and beneficial influence which went a long
way to atone for the Governor's social shortcomings ; but that,
taking all in all, Sir H. Robinson had been the most fortunate
and successful Governor the Colony was so far ever ruled by.
After leaving Hongkong, Sir H. Robinson served as
Governor of Ceylon ( 1865 to 1872) and, whilst administering
the government of New South Wales ( 1872 to 1879 ) , arranged
the cession to England of the Fiji Islands ( 1874 ) . He next
became Governor of New Zealand ( 1879 to 1880 ) , Governor
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 407
of the Cape of Good Hope and Griqualand West and H. M. High
Commissioner in South Africa ( 1880 to 1889 ) , President of
the Royal Commission for the settlement of the affairs of the
Transvaal ( 1881 ) , Governor of Bechuanaland ( 1885 ) , was sent
on a special mission to Mauritius (October, 1886 ) , resigned
office in 1889 , and acted as a Director of the London and
Westminster Bank (until March, 1895 ) when, though an
octogenarian by this time, he resumed office in South Africa
to rectify the confusion which had arisen there since his
retirement.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER AND
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL .
March 15, 1865, to April 22, 1872.
FTER the departure of Sir H. Robinson ( March 15 , 1865 )
A
there ensued an interregnum, the government of the Colony
being administered for a whole year by the former Colonial
Secretary, the Hon . W. T. Mercer, who continued, with fidelity and
ability, the policy of Sir H. Robinson . The work and events
of this year, which was commercially and financially marked
by a rapidly growing stagnation and depression, have been sum-
marized by Mr. Mercer (May 30, 1866 ) in a dispatch published
by Parliament. He statel, -that the Companies' Ordinance (1 of
1895 ) was the principal legal enactment of the year ( 1865 ) ,
next to the series of Ordinances consolidating the criminal
law for which the Colony was indebted to Judge Ball and Mr.
Alexander ; that the summer of 1865 was a specially unhealthy
season, distinguished by much sickness and serious mortality,
so much so that it attracted the attention of Parliament and
occasioned the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the
mortality of troops in China ; that the water supply of the
Colony, though materially improved, remained manifestly inade-
quate, requiring further provision to be made ; that piracy was,
in 1865, as rife as ever and likely to continue so until the
Chinese Maritime Customs Service (under Sir R. Hart) could
be induced to co-operate with the British Authorities for the
suppression of piracy in Chinese waters ; that the Indian con-
tingent of the Hongkong Police Force had proved a failure but
that the Superintendent of Police (Ch . May), who condemned
the proposal of trying once more the Chinese Force, thought.
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER. 409
that the Indian Police had not had a fair trial ; and, finally,
that a deputation of Chinese merchants had urged upon Sir
Rutherforth Alcock, H.M. Minister in China, when he passed
through Hongkong in autumn 1865 , that the support of H.M.
Government should be given to Sir M. Stephenson's railway
scheme (connecting Calcutta with Canton and Hongkong), but
that the question, whether such a scheme would eventually benefit
or injure the interests of Hongkong, was a knotty problem .
There is but one incident of this interregnum which requires
detailed mention . A native of the Poon-yü District (E. of
Canton city), carrying on business in Hongkong under the
name How Hoi-low alias How Yu-teen , was claimed (April 21 ,
1865 ) by the Viceroy of Canton, in virtue of the Treaty of
Tientsin, as having committed robberies in China. The Viceroy
addressed the usual communication to the Governor (Mr. Mercer)
and on 1st May, 1865 , the accused was brought before the
police magistrate (J. C. Whyte) under Ordinance 2, of 1852
(above mentioned ) , defended by counsel ( E. H. Pollard) and
committed to gaol pending reference to the Governor, a prima
facie case having been clearly made out. Under the advice
of the Attorney General ( H. J. Ball) , Mr. Mercer directed
(May 3, 1865 ) the rendition of the prisoner who was forth-
with handed over to the Chinese Authorities and executed in
Canton in the usual manner by decapitation. On May 30th,
1865 , the editor of the Daily Press, by his overland issue
(Trade Report) , gave currency to the allegation which had not
been made at the trial, neither by the prisoner nor by his
counsel, that the unfortunate man was neither robber nor pirate,
but a political refugee, the veritable Taiping prince known
as Mow Wang, that he was unjustly surrendered by the
British Government and executed by the Chinese in a manner
involving actual cannibalism. Although it was known at the
time, and stated by a Canton journalist, that the real Mow
Wang had, according to General Gordon's testimony, been mur-
dered by the other Taiping Wangs on November 29th, 1863 ,
previous to the surrender of Soochow, this sensational fiction
410 CHAPTER XIX.
found credence in England. The London Standard (July 22 ,
1865 ) took it up and the redoubtable Colonel Sykes, M.P. , moved
the House of Commons (February 8, 1866) to ask for the
production of documents bearing on the subject, which were
accordingly published (March 20 , 1866 ) . Although these
documents clearly shewed the unfounded character of the
allegations made against the Hongkong Government, the inquiry
served a good purpose, as it directed the attention of H.M.
Government to the fact that such renditions had all along
been conducted by direct requests addressed by the Cantonese
Authorities to the Hongkong Government and that the exclusion
of any supervision, on the part of the British Consul at Canton,
of the treatment accorded by the Chinese Mandarins to prisoners
rendited by the Hongkong Government, exposed them to
inhuman barbarities. Orders were therefore made by the
Colonial Office, that thenceforth all communications between
the Hongkong Government and the Chinese Authorities must ,
in every case, be conducted through H.M. Diplomatic Agent
in China or through H.M. Consul ( August 19 , 1865 ) , and
further that no prisoners should thenceforth be surrendered
by the Government of Hongkong to the Chinese Authorities.
unless guarantee be given that the rendited prisoner be not
subjected to any torture (September 11 , 1865 ).
But this interregnum was not merely a period of insignificant
transition . Its real character was that of a woeful reaction and
general disillusion. During Sir H. Robinson's administration ,
the Colony had taken a bound in advance, both in wealth and
population, so sudden and so great, that now, in the face of
an equally unexpected and extensive decline of its commerce.
prosperity and finances, it was generally felt that Sir Hercules'
system of administration required retrenchment and re-adaptation
to vastly altered circumstances. As the financial sky became
more and more overcast with clouds, even former admirers of
Sir Hercules ' policy admitted that he had taken too roseate a
view of the resources of the Colony. Trade and commerce were
now labouring under a heavy depression . The whole commercial
THE INTERREGNUM OF THE HON. W. T. MERCER. 411
world was passing through a crisis. Great houses were falling
on all sides. Hongkong, connected now with every great bourse
in the world, was suffering likewise and property was seriously
depreciated . Credit became instable. Men were everywhere
suspicious, unsettled in mind, getting irritable and economically
severe. Yet great public works, the Praya, the new Gaol, the
Mint, the Water-Works, the sea wall at Kowloon , commenced or
constructed in a period of unexampled prosperity, had now to
be carried on, completed or maintained , from the scanty resources
of an impoverished and well-nigh insolvent Treasury. New laws
were clearly needed for the regulation of the Chinese whose
gambling habits were filling the streets with riot and honey-
combing the Police Force with corruption. Crime was rampant
and the gaols overflowing with prisoners . Piracy, flourishing
as ever before, was believed to have not only its secret lairs
among the low class of marine-store dealers but the support of
wealthy Chinese firms and to enjoy the connivance of men in
the Police Force. A sense of insecurity as to life and property
was again, as in days gone by, taking possession of the public
mind. The cry among the colonists now was for a strong and
resolute Governor, one who would give his undivided attention
to the needs and interests of the Colony and govern it accordingly,
undeterred by what the foreign community of Hongkong now
called the vicious system of colonial administration in vogue
at home.' Sir J. Bowring, they said, had attended to everything
under the sun except the government of the Island . Sir H.
Robinson, they opined , had governed the Colony to please his
masters in Downing Street and with a view to advance himself
to a better appointment . And as to Mr. Mercer, everybody
agreed that he deliberately let well enough alone .' The sort
of man the colonists now desired for their next Governor was
a dictator rather, with a strong mind and will, than a weak
faddist or an obsequious henchman of the machine public. The
cry was for a Cæsar.
As Providence would have it, it so happened that it was just
such a man, a Caesar every inch of him, that the Colonial Office ,
412 CHAPTER XIX.
casting about for a successor to Sir Hercules, selected. The
choice of H. M. Government fell (October 4, 1865 ) on Sir
Richard Graves MacDonnell, an Irishman who had a splendid
record of varied and long services to recommend him. He had
entered Trinity College ( Dublin ) in 1830, gained honours both
in classics and in science, and graduated B.A. ( 1835 ) and M.A.
( 1838 ) , to which honours was added, later on, the degree of
Hon. LL.D. ( 1844) . Having been called to the bar both in
Ireland ( 1838 ) and at Lincoln's Inn ( 1840 ) , he was appointed
Chief Justice of the Gambia ( 1843 to 1847 ) . As Governor of
the Gambia (1847 to 1851 ) he conducted several exploring
expeditions in the interior of Africa, for which services he was
created C.B. (1852) . Sir R. G. MacDonnell next served ( 1852)
as Governor of St. Lucia and St. Vincent. In 1855 he was
created Knight Bachelor and appointed Captain-General and
Governor-in-chief of South Australia, which government he held
till March, 1862. After serving two years ( 1864 and 1865 ) as
Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Richard was promoted to the Gover-
norship of Hongkong where he took over, on 11th March, 1866,
the reins of office from the Administrator, the Hon . W. T. Mercer.
Within a few days after his arrival in the Colony, Sir
Richard found himself painfully disillusioned . By his interviews
with the officials in Downing Street, he had been led to believe
that he would find in Hongkong a full treasury, a steadily-
increasing revenue, public works of all sorts finished or so
nearly completed that little remained to be done, a Mint ready
to commence operations and sure to pay well, and a competent
official staff, purged by the labours of Sir Hercules of every taint
of corruption. To his intense surprise and disappointment,
Sir Richard found the position of affairs well-nigh reversed.
The interregnum, rapidly developing the mischief which had
secretly been brewing during the closing year of Sir H. Robinson's
administration, had wrought an astounding transformation scene,
of which the Colonial Office was as yet blissfully ignorant.
For several months after this crushing revelation which burst
upon him immediately upon his arrival, Sir Richard stayed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 413
his hand while he silently but deliberately went round, from
one department to the other, probing by the most searching
investigation the extent and nature of the mischief wrought .
The colonists wondered and groaned owing to the Governor's
seeming inactivity, whilst a wholesome fear was instilled in the
minds of all officials by the Governor's repeated and most
unexpected surprise visits, and by his minute questionings as
to every financial, executive and administrative detail, such as
had never been inquired into before . But when he once had
satisfied himself as to the real position of affairs, he set to
work as a determined reformer, launching one measure after
the other, regardless of the hostile criticisms of local public
opinion and impatient even of the restraints which successive
Secretaries of State sought to put upon his dauntless energy.
In the face of much opposition and suffering severe opprobrium
on all sides, Sir Richard went on with his labours as a reformer,
honestly and fearlessly striving to do right and content to be
judged in the future when his measures would have produced
their natural results. He had not to wait very long before
the Hongkong public, abandoning their early prejudices, frankly
recognized his worth. After four years' untiring exertions, reasons
of health compelled him to ask for a furlough, intending to
proceed only to Japan, where he had spent a few weeks in
1868 (October 29 to December 12 ) for a brief rest. But the
Colonial Office thought it expedient that he should, by a visit
to England, combine, with the object of recruiting his health ,
the pressing duty of explaining to the Secretary of State the
grounds of his divergent policy, distasteful in some respects to
the Colonial Office. When he was about to start on this trip
to Japan and England (April 13, 1870 ) , the community of
Hongkong, having by this time taken the correct measure of
their Governor's character and work, unanimously acknowledged
that he had the true interests of the Colony at heart, according
to his own views of what was best, and that he had, sincerely
and in many respects most successfully, striven to administer
the government and to legislate for the Colony's ultimate good
414 CHAPTER XIX.
and advancement, without fear or favour of the Colonial
Office or of local opinion. It was publicly stated (April 5 , 1870)
even at that time that the measures which proved the most
beneficial were precisely those on which he met (on the part
of the public) with most difficulty.' At the meeting of the
Legislative Council ( March 30, 1870) previous to his departure,
the Chief Justice (J. Smale) expressed the sentiments of the
whole community when he eulogized the Governor on the great
success obtained by his able and vigorous policy and stated
that Lady MacDonnell had, by her urbanity of manner and
kindness of heart in extending gentle courtesies to all, filled
her exalted station so that no lady, who had ever presided at
Government House, left the Colony more or more generally
regretted than Lady MacDonnell. On the same occasion, the
Hon . H. B. Gibb, speaking also on behalf of the other non - official
Members of Council, endorsed the eulogy pronounced by the
Chief Justice. During the absence of the Governor, Major-
General H. W. Whitfield, ably seconded by the Colonial Secretary
(J. Gardiner Austin) , administered the government of the Colony .
Sir Richard returned to his post on 8th October, 1871 , and
remained at it to the close of his administration .
During his whole tenure of office, Sir Richard had no
questions of a diplomatic nature to deal with, apart from those
which grew out of Hongkong's relations with China. The first
case of this class occurred immediately after the Governor's
arrival, when the S.S. Prince Albert, owned by Kwok Acheung,
the popular comprador of the P. & O. Company, was seized by the
Chinese Customs officers (May 26, 1866) on the ground of her
resorting to a port on the West Coast not opened by Treaty.
Although Sir Richard, who considered the action of the Chinese
officers to have been illegal, could do but little to obtain a
modification of the sentence of confiscation, as H.M. Consul at
Canton (D. B. Robertson) had acquiesced in that decision , yet he
obtained the release of the vessel on payment of a fine of $4000 .
But the spirit and energy which Sir Richard displayed on the
occasion gained him considerable popularity. He was more
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 415
successful in the case of the attempt made, in October, 1867 , by
the Canton cotton -dealers' guild, to remove the whole cotton
trade from Hongkong to Canton . As soon as he had the facts
before him, shewing that the Canton guild had made regulations
imposing a system of fines on any Chinese merchants who should
violate their prohibitions by buying cotton or cotton yarn in
Hongkong, Sir Richard addressed, through the Consul, such
strong remonstrances to the Viceroy of Canton, that the latter
yielded and issued a proclamation (November 29 , 1867 ) absolutely
prohibiting the measures contemplated by the guild . With the
same promptness and energy Sir Richard interfered at the close
of the year 1871 , when the Administrator of Chinese Customs
(Hoppo) at Canton openly made a rule, on which he had secretly
been acting for years, that all foreign-laden Chinese junks in South
China, intending to sail for Hongkong from any Chinese port, must
first report at Pakhoi or Canton before proceeding to Hongkong.
This hostile attempt to confine the whole native coast trade
between South China and Hongkong to dealings between Treaty
ports and Hongkong was energetically taken up and seemingly
defeated for the time by Sir Richard, before the Chamber of
Commerce made any move in the matter.
But the principal tussle Sir Richard had with the Chinese
Authorities was connected with a much more serious attempt
made by the Mandarins to ruin the native junk trade of
Hongkong. About October 15th, 1867, the steam-cruizers of
the Canton Customs, aided by native gun-boats employed by the
holders of Chinese monopolies at Canton (especially the salt and
saltpetre farmers) , commenced what was thenceforth known as
the Blockade of Hongkong. These steam-cruizers and gun-boats
patrolled day and night every outlet of the harbour and waters
of Hongkong, boarded and searched every native junk leaving
or entering, arrested every junk that had no proper papers and
levied double duty in the case of goods shipped at Pakhoi or
Canton for other Treaty ports by junks which en route touched
at Hongkong. It was a movement which pretended to aim only
at suppressing smuggling but which, in reality, operated as an
416 CHAPTER XIX.
extra tax on the legitimate junk trade of Hongkong. It served ,
indeed, to induce Chinese merchants in Hongkong to conduct
their shipping business in foreign bottoms (exempt from this
blockade) rather than by native junks, but, as foreign vessels
were excluded from all but Treaty ports, this blockade tended
to nullify the right of Chinese subjects residing in Hongkong to
trade, by native junks, with the non-Treaty ports of their own
country. In fact, this blockade served not only as an efficient.
check on smuggling, but as a simple means of compelling the
junk trade of the Colony to pay double duty unless conducted
via the two principal ports of South- China, Pakhoi and Canton.
And this was the real purport of the measure to effectually
subordinate the native commerce of Hongkong to that of Canton
for the injury of the former and the benefit of the latter port ,
and permanently to neutralise, so far as the junk trade of
Hongkong was concerned, the freedom of the port .
It was a clever scheme, this blockade of Hongkong. And
the credit (or discredit ) of having devised and suggested it,
and demonstrated its justification on the basis of international
law, to the great delectation of Viceroy Jui, belongs to the
British Consul of Canton, Mr. D. B. Robertson, on whom, as
the irony of fate would have it, H.M. Government bestowed the
honour of the knighthood. This was meant as a reward for
his subservience to the short-sighted pro-Chinese policy of the
Foreign Office, which Sir Rutherford Alcock initiated in China
but which in this case served to give to the prestige and
prosperity of Hongkong the heaviest blow it has ever received
at the hand of its enemies .
In the face of the support thus given, by H.M. repre-
sentatives in China, to the blockade of the port, Sir Richard
could not do much beyond protesting against a measure which,
at best, combined summum jus with summa injuria. He ascer-
tained, however, that the measure, as originally formulated
(July 1 , 1868 ) , aimed at levying, on Chinese shipping resorting
to Hongkong, a special war-tax, called Li-kin, which amounted in
the case of opium to taels 16 per chest, and that this Li -kin
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 417
tax was to be collected outside the harbour of Hongkong , at
Kapshuimoon in the west, at Kowloon city in the north, and
at Fattauchau , just outside the Lyeemoon in the East . When
Sir Richard discovered that these blockade stations levied , in
addition to the fixed tax on opium which he did not object to ,
also undefined duties on goods of all sort (foed stuffs excluded )
when carried by native junks, he pressed the Chinese Authorities
for a copy of their tariff. But they neither could nor would fix
a tariff, as various monopolies farmed out and sublet to individuals
were mixed up in the matter with provincial and Imperial
interests, and as it suited the interests of a corrupt system of
irregular levies better not to be tied down to a fixed tariff. Sir
Richard then strengthened his water police force and obtained
a steam launch, Blanche, to assist the Colonial junk or gun-boat,
Victoria, in patrolling the waters of Hongkong to prevent
trespass . Moreover, he refused to allow any Chinese gun-boat.
or cruizer to anchor in the harbour unless flying a recognized
official flag. The Chinese Authorities yielded this point and
adopted first a triangular flag (October, 1868 ) , then provisionally
a square (March 19 , 1869 ) , and finally a yellow triangular flag
with the emblem of a flying dragon.
The interference with the legitimate native trade in foreign
goods, resulting from the Customs Blockade of Hongkong,
aroused a considerable commotion in the Colony. A universally
signed protest, in form of a Memorial to the Secretary of State,
was presented to the Governor (July 20, 1868 ) . Fresh ex-
citement arose when it became known (July 24, 1868 ) that the
Viceroy of Canton had opened in Hongkong an opium tax station
in charge of a well-known resident (Ho A-loi) and when a salt
revenue station and other offices, opened in town by the officers
of the Li-kin stations, were discovered, disclosing a regular
organisation intended to collect in Hongkong all the various
taxes demanded at those stations and to issue passes in Hongkong
under the seal of the Chinese Government. Sir Richard im-
mediately suppressed every such office that was discovered. On
February 15th, 1869, the Assistant - Harbourmaster (A. Lister)
27
418 CHAPTER XIX.
reported that 6
certain branches of commerce had not yet
recovered from the panic into which they were thrown by the
attempt , in October and November ( 1868 ) , on the part of the
Canton Customs to stop the whole trade in foreign goods by
Chinese bottoms to any other place than Canton .' The Harbour-
master's report for 1869 shewed a falling off of 2,222 junks ,
equal to 113,252 tons, owing to the blockade . But after a few
years the Chinese merchants , recognizing the helplessness of the
case, and the retribution awaiting them if they made any
complaints , submitted to these oppressive exactions and found
it to be to their own interest and convenience to obtain passes
in town, at the secret taxing offices which continued to flourish
on the sly, rather than risk the delay and uncertainty of payments
made at the outside stations .
That this blockade scheme aimed at destroying the freedom
of the port as well as the junk-trade of the Colony, appeared very
clearly from a proposal, which originated with one of the
Commissioners of the Chinese Customs Service ( Th. Dick) , but
which was sternly rejected by Sir Richard. It was proposed,
that an export duty should be levied in Hongkong, by a Branch
of the Chinese Customs Service, upon the opium (and in course
of time, no doubt, upon all other goods) re-shipped in Hongkong
by junks, the Colony retaining a certain portion of the revenue
as commission for so collecting it . The strongest opponent of the
blockade was the Hon. Ph. Ryrie who, as chairman of the Cham-
ber of Commerce (September 12, 1871 ) , stated that there could
be no question as to the illegality of the action taken by the
Chinese officials which, in point of fact, almost amounted to an
act of armed hostility against the Colony. Mr. Ryrie strongly
protested against the inaction of the Home Authorities in this
Imperial question . He also caused the publication of a letter
addressed to the Chamber by Baron de Meritens, formerly a
Commissioner of the Chinese Customs, stating-that arresting,
on the high seas, vessels leaving Hongkong was contrary to the
law of nations, that the Viceroy was acting with reluctance under
orders sent him from Peking, that Sir Richard's objections
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 419
continued in all their force, and that the appointment of a
Chinese Customs Collector (or Consul) in Hongkong, who would
certainly act as a spy, would be subversive of the independence
of the Colony. But in spite of the Governor's opposition to the
blockade, and notwithstanding repeated Memorials presented
to H. M. Government by the community and the Chamber of
Commerce, the working of those Chinese blockade stations
continued and constituted thenceforth a chronic source of
discontent ever wrangling in the minds of both native and
foreign merchants.
Another important diplomatic question arose in connection
with those Li-kin stations. In passing through Hongkong
(December, 1869, and January, 1870) , Sir Rutherford Alcock,
then H.M. Minister in China, urged the members of the Chamber
of Commerce to submit to the appointment of a Chinese Consul
in Hongkong. This measure he declared to be the only satis-
factory solution of the difficulties standing in the way of a
fulfilment of the popular desire for an abolition of the Li-kin
stations in the immediate vicinity of Hongkong, and the only
means of bringing about a permanent arrangement of commercial
relations, between the Hongkong Authorities and the Chinese
Government, such as would rest on a solid basis of mutual respect
and reciprocal advantage. Sir R. Alcock, who was in this matter
the innocent dupe of the cunning Viceroy, and who did not
disguise his monstrous opinion that Hongkong is confessedly a
great smuggling depot,' failed to convince the colonists that 6the
appointment of a Chinese Consul in Hongkong would simply
protect that commerce in the Colony which is legitimate and
discourage that which is contraband . ' The subsequent history of
the blockade shewed that Sir R. Alcock had entirely misconceived
the policy of the Chinese Authorities, who had no intention of
withdrawing their Customs stations in response to any concession
whatsoever. Sir R. Alcock's suggestion, made by him after several
interviews with the Viceroy (December 27 and 29, 1869) , and
with the approval of the latter, that at first a foreign officer of
Sir R. Hart's staff should be appointed Consul in Hongkong,
420 CHAPTER XIX.
until Chinese officers could be educated in the duties and extent
of Consular power, did not remove the radical objections which
the colonists almost unanimously entertained against the proposed
measure. These objections, which Sir R. Alcock denominated
' fears more or less chimerical and exaggerated,' were embodied
by the Hongkong community in a Memorial addressed to Earl
Clarendon (January, 1870), and consisted principally in the
solemn conviction , entertained by Europeans and Chinese alike,
that under existing circumstances the power which a Chinese
Consul would gain over the local Chinese population would
constitute a veritable imperium in imperio and subject the native
community to an intolerable system of official espionage and to
the insatiable rapacity of a corrupt mandarindom. Although
Earl Clarendon sided with Sir R. Alcock on the main points of
the dispute, and sanctioned his concluding with the Chinese
Government a Convention providing for a Chinese Consulate in
Hongkong, Sir Richard, who strongly supported the Memorial
of the community, succeeded in convincing H. M. Government
that the fears of the community were anything but chimerical
and rested on a solid foundation. Although the blockade was
never abated, the question of a Chinese Consulate in Hongkong
remained shelved.
Another diplomatic question agitated for some time (1867 to
1870) the mind of the mercantile community. But Sir Richard
had comparatively little to do with it, as it concerned Sir
R. Alcock (and since 1870 Sir Th. Wade) and the Foreign
Office rather than the Government of Hongkong or the Colonial
Office . This was the question of Treaty Revision which arose
from a provision contained in Article XXVII. of the Tientsin
Treaty making the tariff and commercial articles of this
Treaty (confirmed by the Peking Convention of October 24,
1860) subject, after the lapse of ten years, to further revision
at the request of either of the two contracting parties. Sir
R. Alcock accordingly issued, in spring 1867 , to the British
communities of the Treaty ports in China, an invitation to
forward to him, through their respective Consuls, suggestions as
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 421
to the proposed rectification of any deficiencies of the Tientsin
Treaty. The Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, having received
a similar invitation, resolved (July 16 , 1867 ) to proceed by
memorializing the Governor rather than Sir R. Alcock whom, at'
that time already, they knew to be as unfriendly to the interests of
the Colony as Lord Elgin had been. A Committee, appointed
by the Chamber, presented accordingly to Sir Richard a Memorial
on the illegal transit duties and other exactions imposed by the
Chinese Authorities, in contravention of the Treaty, on British
goods en route in the interior of China. In addition to this
public Memorial, the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. presented
(December, 1869) a separate Memorial dealing very frankly with
the regulations of the opium traffic and other grievances . When
it became known, at the close of the year 1869 , that the Chinese
Authorities proposed to include in the revised Treaty Regulations
a provision to the effect that native produce shipped from
Hongkong to a Treaty port should not be protected by the clause
which protected goods, sent inland from Treaty ports, against
inland taxation, the Chamber of Commerce once more (January,
1870 ) memorialized H.M. Government, representing that this
measure placed Hongkong at a great disadvantage compared with
Chinese Treaty ports. However, the whole project of Treaty
Revision had eventually to be dropped.
In spite of the hostile attitude which the Chinese Govern-'
ment during this period assumed towards the Colony, the Chinese
Tartar General (Chang Shan), when visiting Hongkong (October
27, 1871 ) in one of the blockade cruizers (Ping-chau-hoi),
accompanied by two Commissioners of Customs (E. C. Bowra
and Viscomte d'Arnaux de Limoges) was inost honourably received
and most hospitably entertained, in the absence of the Governor,
by the Lieutenant-Governor (W. Whitfield). For the first time
a Chinese gun-vessel saluted, in due foreign style, the port , the
British flag and the Vice-Admiral (Sir H. Kellett) and received
the corresponding salutes in Hongkong.
In May, 1868 , Sir Richard, who had no diplomatic con-'
nection with any other foreign power, received at the hands of
422 CHAPTER XIX.
special Annamese ambassadors, sent to Hongkong for the purpose,
the thanks of the native Government of Cochin-China for his
humane intervention, made on their behalf with the Government
of Macao. In May, 1867 , it had become known in Hongkong
that a number of Cochin-Chinese junks, conveying tribute to
Annam, had been captured by Chinese pirates who sold the
tribute bearers, with their escort and junk crews, to Macao coolie
barracoons. Thanks to the intervention of Sir Richard , these
people were forthwith liberated by the Portuguese Governor
(Admiral de Souza) and the Hongkong community readily sub-
scribed the funds required to send the unfortunate captives back
to their native country.
Sir R. MacDonnell did not materially modify or augment
the organisation of the Civil Service . But, with a view to
retrenchment, he repeatedly applied, when suitable vacancies
occurred, the principle of plurality of offices. One characteristic
of his regime was the preference he invariably gave to those
Cadets whom he found serviceable for the aims of his vigorous
policy and amenable to his austere discipline which required ,
however, much patience on the part of his subordinates as he
ruthlessly sent back official reports, to be amended, again and
again, till they agreed with his views. Another feature of his
administration was the increased authority and importance with
which he invested the Registrar General's office, so long as the
first of the Cadets ( C. C. Smith), who in most things was his
right-hand man, held that office. The number of Cadets had,
before his arrival, been increased (August 9, 1865) , by the
appointment of Mr. A. Lister and Mr. J. Russell, and they were
without much delay employed by him to fill important offices,
the former being sent to the Harbour Office and the latter, who
also acted as his Private Secretary, to the Magistracy.
The first popular measure introduced by the Governor was
a revision of the constitution of the Legislative Council . The
need for such a revision had made itself felt both by the Colonial
Office and by the community when the Colonial Treasurer
(F. H. Forth) had to be censured (March, 1866 ) under the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL . 423
then already existing rules, for having seconded (September 23,
1865) a motion of an unofficial Member (Th. Sutherland) to
the effect that the item of $92,000 for the Military Contribution
be struck out of the Estimates until the profits of the Mint
are in excess of the amount required . There being only three
unofficial against seven official Members in the Council, the
community argued that, as official Members were thenceforth
compelled either to resign or to vote in favour of every
Government measure, the unofficial Members were virtually
powerless unless the constitution of the Council was modified
to suit the new rules . On the first opportunity (August 27,
1869), Sir Richard gave to Mr. Rowett a seat vacated by
Judge Ball, so that there were then on the Council six officials
and four members of the community ( H. B. Gibb, W. Keswick,
J. B. Taylor, R. Rowett) beside the Governor who had, however,
both an ordinary and a casting vote.
Sir Richard was at all times well able to keep his Council
in hand, and the Registrar General (being on the Council in
some acting capacity or other) ably seconded him in the task.
Sir Richard was an excellent speaker and keen debater, always
terribly in earnest and thoroughly master of whatever subject
he took up, and to this was added the weight of his stern
personality and a fixed determination to conquer every obstacle.
He had but one encounter with the unofficial Members when
they, led by the Hon. W. Keswick (September 30, 1869 ) , boldly
attacked the Governor's creation of a special savings and excess
account. They protested against a manipulation of the public
accounts, seemingly intended to enable the Governor to expend
public money without the knowledge and consent of the
Legislature. The Hon. C. C. Smith, then Acting Colonial
Secretary, argued, however, that so long as money voted by
the Council was applied to the same kind of object as that for
which it was originally intended, it was immaterial whether
the particular object on which it was spent had been mentioned
in the vote or not. A few years later, during the absence of
the Governor, the Hon . Ph. Ryrie entered into a positive
424 CHAPTER XIX.
conflict with the Government. Having heard that an important
document, bearing on the blockade question, had found its way
from the office of the unpopular Registrar General (C. C. Smith)
into the hands of the Chinese Customs officers, Mr. Ryrie
(September 22 , 1871 ) asked in Council for information on the
subject. Mr. C. C. Smith, then sitting as Acting Colonial
Treasurer, treated Mr. Ryrie's remarks as involving a charge
against himself and retorted with some vehemence. Mr. Keswick
supported his colleague by criticizing the plurality of the
Registrar General's functions and demanded that the duties of
his office should be defined . At the next meeting (October
18, 1871 ) the discussion was renewed and some days later the
Colonial Secretary (J. Gardiner Austin) wrote to Mr. Ryrie,
formally calling upon him to substantiate his charge against
the Registrar General. In reply, Mr. Ryrie, who had all along
contended that he preferred no charge but merely asked for
information, now demanded that at next Council meeting a
protest should be heard against the invasion of privilege involved
in requesting him to explain out of the Council room what he
had said in it . At the next meeting Mr. Ryrie gave notice
of his protest but no discussion was allowed . Seeing in the
whole affair an illustration of the old grievance of defective
representation in Council, the public now stigmatized the action
of the Lieutenant-Governor (W. Whitfield) in deferring the
debate, as an unwarrantable attempt to burke free discussion .
On November 15, 1871 , Mr. Ryrie's protest, concerning the
breach of privilege of which he complained, was read in Council
and recorded in the minutes. Mr. Ryrie justly contended that
freedom of speech in Council was absolutely necessary.
Sir Richard's financial measures were the source of both
the greatest trouble and the greatest triumph of his adminis-
tration . For some time before his arrival, the Colony had been
steadily dropping from a state of comparative affluence into
a condition of growing insolvency. At the beginning of the
year 1865 , the Treasury accounts shewed a surplus of assets
(over liabilities) amounting to $298,000 . At the commencement .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 425
of the next year ( 1866 ) this surplus was reduced to $ 184,000 ,
and in January, 1867 , there was but an imaginary surplus of
$24,000 made up in part by a stock of $60,000 in unavailable
coins (bronze cents and mils) which no creditor could have
been compelled to accept. The Colony was therefore practically .
insolvent. Moreover, the expenditure had for some time gone
on increasing in proportion as the revenues continued to
diminish. In the year 1865, during the interregnum of
Mr. Mercer, the expenditure exceeded the revenue by $ 94,361 ,
and in 1866 , when Sir Richard had just stepped in, by $ 167,877 .
But now a change came. Sir Richard at once reduced the
expenditure from $ 936,954 in the previous year ( 1866 ) to
$730,916 , though not without leaving for a while the Military
Contribution in arrear. At the same time ( 1867 ) the revenue
was permanently raised, by means of Sir Richard's Stamp
Ordinance, which came into operation at the close of the year
(October 9 , 1867 ) . Therewith the finances of the Colony began
to right themselves slowly, though at this very time the
commercial depression, which had made itself felt in 1866 ,
had been much aggravated and the tradal interests of the
Colony were passing through a crisis such as had never before
occurred in the history of the Colony. The expenditure of the
year 1867 was kept within the limits of the revenue to the
extent of $ 128,584 and next year ( 1868 ) to the extent of
$142,794, though in the latter year all the arrears of the Military
Contribution were paid off. The revenue of the year 1868
amounted to the astounding sum of $ 1,134,105 and yielded ,
as the expenditure stood at $991,811 , a surplus of $ 140,000 .
Instead of rejoicing over this result, the mercantile community,
engulfed at the time in a slough of , despond, expressed great-
dissatisfaction at the heaviness of the taxation and pointed with
groans to the yield of the Stamp Ordinance which had taken
$ 101,000 out of the pockets of the merchants in that one year.
The revenue of 1869 shewed an apparent decrease of £ 43,811
as compared with 1868, but in reality there was some increase,.
as credit was erroneously taken in 1868 for £ 55,660 gambling
426 CHAPTER XIX.
revenue which had to be refunded . In 1870 the revenue
decreased slightly (by £ 1,791 ) and somewhat more in 1871
(by £ 14,711 ). But Sir Richard could boast of having so
regulated the finances, that, during a period of unexampled
commercial disasters in China, the Colony emerged from a state
of insolvency to one of assured financial stability, without leaving
a single claim unsatisfied or borrowing a fraction from the
Special Fund which had unavoidably accrued from the gambling
licences.
It has already been shewn that this financial success was
achieved principally by means of the Stamp Ordinance ( 12 of
1866 ) . When Sir Richard first announced (August , 1866 ) his
intention of introducing a Stamp Act, the foreign community
seemed to be rather at a loss, at first, what to think of the
measure. But when the second reading of the Bill was carried in
Council (September, 1866) , one local paper (China Mail) boldly
supported the principle of the Bill, whilst another paper (Daily
Press) opposed it and complained that the Bill was hurried
through whilst the unofficial Members of Council were ignorant of
its contents and bearings. A public meeting was held (September,
1866) and, in pursuance of the resolutions passed, a Memorial
protesting against the confirmation of the proposed Ordinance
was accordingly signed by almost every firm in the Colony.
The principal objections which the foreign community had
against the Bill consisted in the following allegations. ( 1 ) that
stamps would seriously obstruct commerce, a surmise which
subsequently proved unfounded ; (2 ) that the measure was of
such an expansive character as to encourage extravagance on
the part of the Government, an imputation born of distrust
which subsequent events contradicted ; (3) that the incidence
of this form of taxation would fall principally on foreign
commerce, whilst the Chinese would manage to evade it. The
force of this latter allegation, which appears to have been a
correct forecast of the subsequent working of the Stamp
Ordinance, was enhanced by the statement, which was made in
a public paper at the time, that , as things then stood, the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 427
Chinese community were taxed $4 per head, and the British
and foreign community $250 per head. Although Sir Richard
willingly modified details of the Bill to meet minor objections.
of the community, he failed to give satisfaction, as a strong
majority of the public objected to the Bill in toto. A second
public meeting was held, resulting in the presentation of another
Memorial condemnatory of the whole measure. When it was
announced (early in March, 1867) that H. M. Government
had ratified the Bill, the temper of the community was aroused
and Sir Richard was publicly accused (March 15, 1867 ) of
having induced Lord Carnarvon to believe that the Governor's
arguments had reconciled the community to an impost which,
in reality, was all but unanimously felt to be deeply injurious
to the true interests of the Colony. However, by the time the
Stamp Ordinance came into operation (October 9, 1867) , the
feeling of the community, though maintaining strong objections
to the measure and subsequently re-iterating its condemnation
of it by another public meeting (March 17, 1868 ) , had changed,
so far as the Governor's connection with the Ordinance was
concerned. It was then generally believed that the Stamp-
Ordinance would never have been brought into operation if
the Governor had been allowed free hand in his dealing with
the gambling problem, and that the determination of H. M.
Government to insist, in spite of all arguments and remon-
strances, upon the payment of the Military Contribution, had
made the enforcement of the Stamp Ordinance a matter of
sheer necessity. By order of Sir Richard , several prosecutions
were instituted with a view to compel the Chinese population
to comply, in some measure, with the provisions of the Stamp
Ordinance. These prosecutions, however, served only to
invigorate the general dissatisfaction felt with the working of
this measure. With the exception of receipts to be given to
foreigners, Chinese tradesmen and merchants disregarded the
Ordinance and stamped commercial documents only in cases in
which they apprehended the possibility of litigation. Anxious
to improve the working of the Ordinance, Sir Richard appointed
428 CHAPTER XIX.
(March, 1868) a Commission and invited the public to bring
before that Commission their complaints against the operation
of the Ordinance and suggestions for its improvement. The
Chamber of Commerce accordingly passed (April, 1868) a series
of resolutions which were forwarded to the Commissioners. In
pursuance of their recommendations, the Stamp Ordinance was
subsequently amended (May 23, and November 21 , 1868 ) and
the community, finding eventually that the Ordinance did not
materially injure the prosperity of the trade of the Colony,
became in course of time reconciled with this measure which
has ever since proved to be one of the most important sources
of revenue.
It is necessary in this connection to refer to the measures
adopted by Sir Richard for the regulation of Chinese gambling
houses, as these measures, though originally projected rather
as a solution of an intricate social problem and as a preventive
of corruption in the Police Force, resulted in a considerable
augmentation of the Colony's temporary and special revenues.
The administration of Sir R. MacDonnell is, indeed, specially
distinguished by the fearless attempt he made, in bold defiance
of public opinion and official restraints, to solve the problem .
which had troubled all his predecessors in office, connected with
the well-known Chinese mania for gambling. This national
vice, like opium smoking and prostitution, but more wide-
spread and powerful than either, is rooted in an ineradicable,
because congenital, disease of the Chinese social organism .
Sir Richard was quite right in stating that the passion for
gambling, as observed in European nations, is nothing compared
with the same craving as it appears among all classes of Chinese,
and that in Hongkong it presents, through the corruption of
the Police Force, necessarily resulting from a legal prohibition
of it, a problem which it is easy to ignore but, for a Governor,
imperative to solve in some form or other. It has been
mentioned above that Sir J. Bowring, the first Governor who
recognized the importance of the problem, proposed to deal
with it by licensing, as , in Macao, a few gaming houses and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 429
enlisting thereby the interests of the licensees in the suppression
of all unlicensed houses. From a remark in one of Sir Richard's
dispatches, it would seem that Sir H. Robinson shared the views
of Sir J. Bowring. But neither of them succeeded in obtaining
the sanction of H. M. Government for so daring an innovation.
Sir R. MacDonnell, before resorting to this policy which he
knew to be not only repugnant to the feelings of H. M.
Government and condemned by several successive Secretaries
of State, but likely to arouse strong opposition on the part of
public opinion in England, did his very best, while sounding
the Colonial Office on the subject of licensing, to purify the
police and to suppress all gambling houses by the strongest
measures of discipline and legislation . As soon as he had,
by personal investigation , ascertained the seriousness and extent
of the evil, and the nature of the difficulties which stood in
the way of its abatement, he set to work to weed the Police
Force of its suspects and to inspire the remainder with a whole-
some terror of his determination to bring to book every defaulter.
For a time the corrupt members of the Force dared not take
bribes and the keepers of gambling houses curtailed their
operations and redoubled their precautions. Sir Richard soon
added legislative to his executive and detective measures . He
had not been many months in the Colony, before he introduced
an amended Registration Ordinance (7 of 1866 ) with many
novel and important provisions. Amongst them was the
application of the principle of vicarious responsibility, making
registered householders responsible for the payment of fines
incurred by residents or lodgers in houses for certain offences,
more especially gambling, but giving householders a remedy
over against the original offenders if they could catch them.
The Chinese householders considered this essentially Chinese
principle a great hardship, and the managers of gambling
associations were so driven into a corner that they offered the
Governor first $200,000 and then $365,000 per annum for a
licence to open a limited number of gaming houses. They
shewed thereby what an immense sum they could afford to
430 CHAPTER XIX.
spend on bribing the Police if measures of repression were con-
tinued. Sir Richard, however, continued his policy of repression
which at first seemed so effective that, on January 7, 1867, he
reported to the Earl of Carnarvon, that the Police Force was
greatly improved, that crime was more rare than it had ever
been, that a prospect was beginning to open of almost
suppressing gambling, that gambling was already diminished
to less than one-fifth of the amount at which he had found it,
that for many weeks past none of the Police had received any
regular allowances from the gambling societies, but that street
gambling still continued, and that, unless the Police continued
their vigilance, the evil would again break out as before.
But hardly had a week passed, after this roseate report was
dispatched, when circumstances came to his knowledge which
caused him to report (January 14, 1867) that the progress
made by the Police in suppressing gambling was not so great
as he had thought . Three months later (April 29 , 1867 ) ,
he had further to report that circumstances had led to a partial
renewal of the old demoralisation among the Police. On May 9,
1867 , Sir Richard found that he had come to the end of his
resources and that he had failed . On that day he informed
the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, that he now saw no
reasonable grounds for expecting that the Government could
ever succeed in suppressing gambling in Hongkong and that
the present mode of dealing with it (by prohibition) is destructive
of the morals of the Police and ineffective for the purpose sought.
Sir Richard now determined to try the system of licensing
a small number of gaming houses with a view to control gambling
and suppress it by degrees. He had thought of it before. As
early as August, 1866 , he had privately sounded the Members
of Council with regard to the draft of an Ordinance (8 of 1866)
entitled ' for the maintenance of order and cleanliness ' but con-
taining provisions for the regulation (i.e. licensing) of gaming
houses, which, he hoped, would obviate the necessity of resorting
to the Stamp Ordinance then under discussion . This was the
bait offered to the unofficial Members of Council. By their
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 431
taking it, they were deprived of their freedom of action in
relation to both Ordinances. On 28th August, 1866, Sir Richard,
in forwarding to the Earl of Carnarvon the draft of Ordinance
8 of 1866 (for the maintenance of order and cleanliness),
proposed that the Governor in Council should be authorized to
adopt a system hitherto discountenanced by H.M. Government
and derive a large revenue from the alteration.' He added that
· the Members of Council all advocate such change of system
both as a police and a revenue measure.' Instead of sending to
the Governor the reply which had been given to Sir J. Bowring
when he made the same proposal, the Earl of Carnarvon,
admitting that the case of Hongkong was peculiar and justified
exceptional measures, approved of Sir Richard's proposal of
bringing a limited number of gaming houses under the control
of the police, by licensing them, with a view to the eventual
suppression of all gambling . He added, however, one all-
important, and to Sir Richard disastrous, condition, viz. that
the licence fees must not be farmed out but treated as matters
of police and by no means as revenue. Sir Richard forthwith
set to work to remove or circumvent this condition, not
because revenue was his real object but because the Chinese
farmers of the gaming licence would, if paying a heavy
fee. be compelled by their own interests to form a detective
police for the suppression of all unlicensed gambling, and these
detectives would then co-operate with the Police Force for the
arrest and detention of dangerous characters who flock to
gambling houses as moths to the light. Accordingly he informed
the Earl of Carnarvon (January 14, 1867) that it would be
impossible to proceed by any other mode than farming the licence
for establishing gaming houses, because in no other way could
the Government secure Chinese co-operation, and he suggested
to leave to the Governor in Council a discretion to exercise his
powers under the Ordinance as circumstances might render
expedient. As regards the financial aspects of the measure,
which were so distasteful to H. M. Government, he further
stated (May 9, 1867 ) that any pecuniary advantage, which the
432 CHAPTER XIX.
Colony might derive from the change, ought not for a moment.
be regarded as his motive for introducing it, but that a sum
exceeding $200,000 per annum could easily be derived from
that source, and , if the Mint were closed, the Colony would then
be able to resume payment of its Military Contribution and also
to dispense with the Stamp Act.
Meanwhile, however, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
had succeeded to the Earl of Carnarvon, and he, while fully
concurring in his predecessor's instructions, abstained from
entering into any discussion of the Governor's arguments, gave
no discretionary power to the Governor such as he sought, and
expressly declined (April 1 , 1867) to sanction the farming system.
Subsequently he specified (July 18, 1867) that the licence fees
should be limited to an amount covering police arrangements
connected with the system. It was on this basis that the Duke
informed Sir Richard ( August 28 , 1867 ) that Her Majesty had
graciously confirmed and allowed the proposed Ordinance (8 of
1866 , now re- enacted as 9 of 1867) for the maintenance of order
and cleanliness.
Now it must be pointed out that, up to July, 1867, the
Hongkong community, though well aware that the Governor
had energetically attempted to suppress gambling and to purge
out corruption in the Police Force and that he had failed, knew
nothing of the Governor's secret discussions with his Council
nor of the sanction given by the Earl of Carnarvon and by the
Duke of Buckingham to the proposed licensing of gaming
houses. Moreover, those paragraphs of Ordinance 9 of 1867
which gave the Governor power to make regulations for the
better limitation and control of gambling ' were so worded that
the uninitiated reader would not suspect, what the Council and
the Secretary of State well knew, viz ., that gambling was to be
regulated and suppressed, by licensing it, under this Ordinance.
As soon as Sir Richard learned by telegraph that Ordinance
9 of 1867 would be confirmed, he disclosed his scheme (July 10,
1867) to the public, arranged forthwith the licensing of eleven
gaming houses (afterwards increased to sixteen) and opened
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 433
them on 15th September, 1867. The revenue from the licences,
distasteful to the Governor himself but an indispensable
concomitant of his scheme, had to be segregated , by order of
H.M. Government, in a distinct Special Fund, which amounted
to $ 155,000 on 23rd May, 1868 , to $221,733 on 28th June,
1869, and to $277,334 on 31st December, 1869. The
Government gaming houses were at first open to all except
women, but foreigners were not allowed to play. After some
time, none but Chinese and Malays were admitted (July 27 ,
1868 ) . Then it became expedient to exclude Chinese servants,
shroffs, cashiers and bill collectors (September 16, 1868 ) . Sir
Richard closely watched the returns of crime and honestly
believed that his system, of providing a vent for the irrepressible
Chinese passion for gambling, was steadily reducing crime in the
Colony. Numbers of dangerous characters, long wanted by
the police or released from gaol and deported on condition of
their never returning to the Colony, were arrested at the gaming
houses . He reported (March 6, 1869) that the good results of
the licensing system included complete extinction of improper
relations between the police and the gambling societies, extra-
ordinary diminution of theft among servants, and effectual aid
given by the licensees in apprehending dangerous characters.
He also demonstrated by statistics that a general diminution of
crime had taken place in the Colony since the opening of the
gaming houses.
The first disclosure of this remarkable scheme (July 10 ,
1867 ) took the whole Colony by surprise. The few Members of
Council, who had been initiated into the secret , had kept the
secret faithfully from the public whom they were supposed to
represent . Sir Richard reported (July 29, 1867 ) that the new
arrangement had met with the general if not unanimous concur-
rence of the community, with the exception of a few gentlemen
of the clerical profession who felt it their duty to protest. ' As
to the unofficial Members of Council, Sir Richard stated (October
15, 1867 ) that the testimony of every one of them had from the
first been in favour of the measure with the exception of one
28
434 CHAPTER XIX.
acting Member ' (F. Parry) . The principal opponent of the
measure was the Rev. F. S. Turner, of the London Mission , who
wrote some stirring letters to the papers, published a pamphlet
for distribution in England, and induced four other missionaries
(Ch . J. Warren, J. Piper, R. Lechler, J. Loercher) and the
Minister of Union Church (D. B. Morris) to join in the
•
crusade. These objectors, thenceforth known as the moral six,'
presented to the Governor (July 24, 1867) a brief Memorial ,
complaining that the measure had been introduced in an under-
hand and un- English way, and that it was calculated to lead to
a large increase of gambling. The Memorialists further alleged
that the measure was objectionable to a large section of the
Chinese community, and illegal by both British and Chinese law.
They finally averred that the Government had no right to coun-
tenance and sanction vice. The Registrar General (C. C. Smith)
had to do his best, by means of a contemptuous reply he sent
to the missionaries in the Governor's name, to refute their
arguments. He also wrote reports supporting the Governor's
contention that the system had produced good results and gained
the approval of the Chinese community. Sir Richard attributed
at first no importance to the opposition of the missionaries, and
the Duke of Buckingham also declined ( September 26, 1867)
to express any opinion on their Memorial, merely asking the
Governor to report more fully. But the moral six, undismayed
by the apathy of the community and the Secretary of State,
appealed to the home country in a manner which speedily
influenced the British press, re-echoed in Parliament and caused
Sir Richard to complain (January 30, 1868 ) that those clerical
gentlemen had elsewhere gone the length of enforcing their
reasoning by designating him Anti-Christ and accusing him
of wilful untruthfulness. Subsequently, when public opinion in
Hongkong also commenced to turn against his scheme (May 23,
1868 ) , Sir Richard at last combatted the position of the moral
six as that of a lazy and easily satisfied morality which folds its
arms and, while doing nothing to repress acknowledged evils
and nurseries of crime, cries out against the Government
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 435
attempting at least to control the evil which cannot be repressed ,
arguing that the Government is bound rather to ignore the
-existence of the vice than to control what is irrepressible. There
was much truth in this remark.
Meanwhile, however, the protest of the moral six had
aroused public opinion at home, stirred up the Social Science
Association and made itself heard in the only place where
Colonial protests, if basel on a genuine grievance, produce a
tangible effect, viz. in Parliament. As to the action of the
Social Science Association little need be said. That Society
disgraced itself in the matter by becoming the unconscious
too! of the two men who, in Sir J. Bowring's time, had poisoned
the social life of the Colony, viz . the former Attorney General
and the former editor of the Daily Press. These two men,
having learned that the victim of their animosities , the Registrar
General of Sir J. Bowring's time, was the officially recognized
agent and adviser of the licensees in Hongkong, receiving from
them a handsome salary ($20,000 during the first year) , managed
to renew their persecution by assailing Sir Richard's policy under
the aegis of the Social Science Association. At an interview
which Earl Granville granted (March 27 , 1869 ) to a deputation
of that Society, the former Attorney General, who actually
introduced the deputation, and the former editor of the Daily
Press were the principal speakers . They suggested, as if Sir
Richard had not tried this very principle and failed, that the
only way to enforce any laws against gambling houses was by
enforcing the Chinese laws of collective and mutual responsibility
by means of the tithing (Kap) and the hundred (Pao) , insti-
tutions which had been recognized by the Hongkong Legislature
in Ordinances passed between the years 1844 and 1857 , but
never put into execution. However, this interview and the
several Memorials presented by the Secretaries of the Association
(August 1 , 1868, and January 14, 1869 ) , as also Sir Richard's
official reply (October 20 , 1868) which the Secretary of State
declined to forward, as immaterial, had no effect whatever. The
remarks of the Duke of Buckingham on the subject are rather
436 CHAPTER XIX.
instructive as to the importance which the Colonial Office
generally attaches to Memorials . He told Sir Richard (December
8, 1868 ) that, though he might properly defend himself and
his Government from accusations made in Parliament , or which
have been officially made, it was hardly necessary for him to do
so in the case of a private Society.
As to the parliamentary debates on the subject of the
Hongkong gambling houses, they did not contribute any real
help towards a better solution of the important social problem
involved . For a general understanding of Sir Richard's dis-
interested effort to seek a solution of it, even at the risk of the
bitterest obloquy, it was rather helpful that the official documents,
bearing on the whole question , from the time of Sir J. Bowring
down to Sir Richard's latest dispatch, were printed and published
(June 15 , 1868 and August 9 , 1869 ) at the request of Parliament.
The only serious difficulties which Sir Richard encountered
arose out of his relations with the successive Secretaries of State.
Shortly after Sir Richard had opened licensed gaming houses,
the Duke of Buckingham expressed his surprise ( October 14,
1867 ) that reports were reaching him from several quarters to the
effect that the licence fees were being made a source of revenue .
That the Duke had imperfectly understood Sir Richard's policy.
appeared clearly from a statement which he made in the House
of Lords when he said ( December 3, 1867 ) that Sir Richard
did not propose to put gambling houses down but to obtain a
large revenue from them and to extirpate the evil in a very short
time.' Sir Richard had to explain his aims more fully, but when
the Duke, who was about to vacate his office , at last grasped
the real drift of Sir Richard's policy, he used rather strong
language (December 2 , 1868) , expressed his entire disapproval of
"
the proceedings ' and threatened to stop the licensing altogether.'
Sir Richard naturally considered himself unfairly treated and ,
in writing to the Duke's successor (Earl Granville) , referred
(March 6, 1869 ) to the Duke's dispatch as containing sweeping
comments which implied a general censure on the Hongkong
Government.' But this made matters worse. Earl Granville
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 437
now, standing up for his predecessor, censured Sir Richard (May
1 , 1869 ) for the peculiarly unbecoming tone of his remarks . The
embroglio became intensified when Earl Granville complained
(October 7 , 1869) , in view of Sir Richard's independence of
action, that the clearest instructions addressed to him seemed
insufficient to prevent misunderstanding, and actually threatened.
Sir Richard by saying ( October 8, 1869 ) that he would view very
seriously any further attempt to escape from a strict execution
of his instructions. Later on (January 7 , 1870) Earl Granville
again censured Sir Richard for unwarrantably assuming that he
(the Secretary of State) would sanction the proposal to charge
against the Special Fund all expenditure of the Colony on police
and education in excess of a fixed normal standard. The Gover-
nor was sternly ordered to repay into the Special Fund all
unauthorized appropriations, amounting to $129,701 , and was
compelled thereby to sell the Colonial gun-boat and to devise
other forms of retrenchment to the great dismay of the Colony.
The differences between Sir Richard and his superiors in
Downing Street admitted of no compromise and his whole scheme
was wrecked thereby. He had thought only of securing the
co-operation of the Chinese licensees to suppress crime and to
prevent the corruption of the police. They had been thinking
only of their inability to defend in Parliament the raising of any
revenue from vice. What Sir Richard fought for, was the farming
system. What they objected to, was the raising of a revenue.
Let the money be thrown into the sea as soon as it is paid, but
do not let the hold which it gives the Government over the
licensees be abandoned. ' These words , addressed by Sir Richard
to the Duke of Buckingham (January 30, 1868 ) , contain the true
key to an understanding of his policy. But, although in truth
the raising of a revenue and not the use of it was the backbone
of his scheme, yet the mere raising of a revenue from vice was
the exact point in which the Earl of Carnarvon, the Duke of .
Buckingham and Earl Granville saw the real gravamen of the
charges brought against Sir Richard by the opponents of his
scheme. Moreover, having once raised a revenue from the
438 CHAPTER XIX.
gaming houses, Sir Richard did not throw the money into the
sea, nor would he meekly submit, when ordered to segregate it in
the Special Fund, and keep his hands off it. On the contrary,
having deliberately deviated from his instructions by farming.
out the licences, he persistently sought to wring from the Author-
ities in Downing Street admissions which, when read in the
light of his suggestions, which often were left uncontradicted ,
seemed to sanction the application of the gambling revenne
to all sorts of purposes such as served to ameliorate the condition
of the Chinese population. It was this persistent determination.
to have his own way in dealing with the Special Fund, that
irritated his superiors and produced the above mentioned mutual
misunderstanding.
When his relations with the Colonial Office became thus
6
positively strained, Sir Richard's one desire was finality and
positive explicitness of instructions ' (March 7 , 1870 ) . His health
was worn out by the struggle. Accordingly he decided to avail
himself of the sick-leave he had obtained and returned, by way
of Japan and San Francisco, to Europe in order to make, in
personal conference with the Secretary of State, a final effort to
save his measure from failure (April 12, 1870) .
As soon as he had left the Colony, the revulsion of public
feeling which, since 1868, had gradually turned against Sir
Richard's policy , gathered strength for a general condemnation
of it . As early as April 2 , 1868, some of the leading merchants
( Ph. Ryrie, J. B. Taylor, E. A. Hitchcock, R. Rowett , J. Lapraik),
who had originally favoured the Governor's scheme, publicly
stated, at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, that the
system was working an incalculable amount of harm , and that
the principal Chinese merchants were of the same opinion.
Nothing further, however, came of this movement . But when
the Governor had departed, the Chief Justice (J. Smale) com-
menced to denounce the Governor's policy from the Bench . He
finally formulated his complaints in communications addressed'
to the Colonial Secretary (August 8, 1870, and February 10,
1871 ) , alleging that the severe enactments passed by Parliament
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 439
since 1843 had never been made law in the Colony ; that within
the years 1867 and 1868 over $ 10,674,740 had been staked and
lost at the Government gaming houses ; that , instead of decreasing
gambling, the Government measure had greatly increased the
vice ; that it caused and fostered very serious crimes and that
suicides had been traced to it ; that a tone of dishonesty had been
engendered by the gaming houses in petty tradesmen and that
this tone had demoralised the police : that as gambling is a crime
in China as well as in England, the actual licensing of it lowers
the prestige of the British Government in China. The Chief
Justice submitted also a draft Bill for the repression of gambling,
but the Attorney General (J. Pauncefote) considered it so severe
that no person in the Colony would be safe from its terrible pains
and penalties . The Lieutenant-Governor ( H. W. Whitfield )
also took sides with the opponents of Sir Richard's measure . He
was anxious to close the gambling houses and frankly told Earl
Kimberley so (August 29 , 1870 ) . He explained that , as their
maintenance failed , in his opinion, to check crime, he saw no
reason why the Colony should have all the odium of a pernicious
system attached to it, whilst it was debarred from the application
of the accruing funds which would be of lasting benefit to public
institutions generally and more especially to those connected
with the Chinese. Inferring from the tenor of the entire cor-
respondence with the Colonial Office, that no more acceptable
action could be taken in the Colony than to put a stop to the
legalisation of public gambling, Major-General Whitfield took
it upon himself, with the approval of the Executive Council, to
give notice (August 17 , 1870 ) to the licensees of his intention to
close the gaming houses on 1st January, 1871. In Hongkong
every one thought the matter settled . But the Earl of Kimberley
telegraphically countermanded this measure and informed the
gallant General that an officer in temporary administration of
the Government should not take upon himself to depart, without
express directions from the Secretary of State, from the policy
of the Governor whose place he occupies. Accordingly, the
licensing system continued for another year, the monopoly being
440 CHAPTER XIX.
sold by auction (January 12 , 1871 ) for $ 15,000 a month . But
this roused the community to make a new effort. Believing
that licensed gambling was affecting the Colony injuriously, that
none of the boasted decrease of crime was attributable to the
licensing system , and that the Police Force was quite competent
to repress gambling so far that it could only be carried on in
secret haunts, but ignoring the corruption of the police arising
from such action, the Chamber of Commerce sent in a Memorial
to the Secretary of State (January 10, 1871 ) praying that the
licensing system be discontinued. In addition to this official
document, signed by the Chairman (Ph. Ryrie) , Vice-Chairman
(A. Limeneen) and Secretary ( N. Blakeman) and endorsed by
40 Members, Dr. Legge and Mr. David Welsh presented a further
Memorial, bearing 316 signatures and representing every class of
society, to express the community's protest against Sir Richard's
scheme. Even the Chinese community, well knowing that the
Registrar General (C. C. Smith) was the strongest supporter
and defender of the system, presented him with a Memorial
strongly condemning it. These popular demonstrations were
immediately followed up by the Chief Justice with a judicial
declaration (February , 1871 ) to the effect that, in the absence
of a special Ordinance, the licensing of gaming houses in the
Colony was illegal. More effectual was a renewal of the agitation
in England, when the House of Commons, at the motion of
Mr. Bowring, asked ( March 31 , 1871 ) for the production of
further documents on the gambling house licensing system.
which were accordingly published ( July 24 , 1871 ) . To all the
Memorials of the people of Hongkong the Earl of Kimberley re-
turned the laconic reply that , on the return of Sir R. MacDonnell
to the Colony, instructions would be given him to consider the
whole matter with a view to the termination of the system of
licensing gaming houses. Sir Richard's fight was over. The
battle was lost. But, though the system was abandoned im-
mediately after the Governor's return (December 8 , 1871 ) , no
positive gain resulted from the abolition of the gaming houses .
Gambling and police corruption continued thenceforth unchecked .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 441
The Government thereafter simply ignored the problem which
is still waiting for a master hand to solve it.
Allusion has already been made to another, exclusively
financial, question which also troubled Sir Richard's adminis-
tration as a legacy of the past, viz. the Mint established by his
predecessor, Sir H. Robinson. When the Mint was first opened
(April 7 , 1866 ) , it had already cost $400,000, and an additional
annual expenditure of $70,000 was required for its maintenance,
at a time when the Colony was virtually insolvent. An unusually
low rate of exchange told at once unfavourably against the
Mint's prospects. The Chinese were prejudiced against the new
dollar by the false rumour that chopping the Queen's coin would
involve liability to criminal procedure. Hence the local demand
for minting operations was so small that it appeared to the
Governor to be incommensurate with the working expenditure
of the establishment. The Mint actually earned from May,
1866, to February, 1868, only about $20,000 in seignorage.
Sir Richard, foreseeing this unsatisfactory result and pressed by
financial difficulties, appointed a Commission (October, 1866 )
to inquire into the working of the Mint. The report presented
by the Commissioners (January 1 , 1867 ) was greatly discour-
aging, as they merely recommended to keep the Mint open
for twelve months longer on the ground that the arrangements
made with the Mint staff, regarding compensation in the event
of the establishment being broken up, would anyhow make it
just as expensive for the Colony to close the Mint at once
as to keep it at work for another year. Six months later
(Angust , 1867) when the Legislative Council considered the
estimates of the Colony, it was considered necessary to reduce
the estimate of seignorage, likely to accrue from the Mint in
1868, from $40,000 to $15,000. The Lords of the Treasury
were consulted as to the advisability of continuing the working
of the Mint under these circumstances, and in February, 1868 ,
Sir Richard received , by telegram, authority to close it . All
the Bank managers were invited to attend a meeting of the
Executive Council and to advise the Government as to the
442 CHAPTER XIX.
continuance of the Mint under some arrangement or other. But
they had neither encouragement nor advice to offer. Sir Richard
then (March, 1868 ) sought to move the local Banks to take over
the Mint and to work it for their own profit under Government
supervision. The terms proposed by one Bank, which alone
made an offer, did not come up to the Governor's expectations .
Accordingly the Mint was closed, the machinery sold (June,
1868 ) for $60,000 to the Japanese Government, and the buildings
and ground were disposed of, for the purposes of a sugar refinery,
to Jardine, Matheson & Co., for $65,000 . The Colony realized
thus a total of $ 125,000 as the result of an outlay which, even
three years before, amounted to half a million dollars.
It could not be expected that an administration so crippled
in respect of funds would do much in the sphere of public works.
Sir Richard displayed in this respect also his energy and readiness
of resource and did what was possible under the circumstances.
He secured the erection of several new police stations and had
all police establishments on the Island connected by telegraph
lines . He had hoped to be allowed to draw on the Special Fund
for this expenditure as well as for the fitting out of a steam-
gunboat, but permission was refused, and the cost of these
undertakings had to be provided from the ordinary revenue .
He had been anxious to erect a new Hospital and a new Court
House, but the funds at his disposal, over-strained by the Military
Contribution, had to be husbanded to supply the most pressing
needs of repairs of public buildings, roads and bridges, and
water-works. During the year 1869, the Governor spent £39,959
on public works, and nearly half of that sum was devoted to
water-works. On 17th September, 1869 , he stated that a further
sum of £ 19,600 was required for the extension of the Pokfulam
reservoir and for repairs of the dam, but that the work was only
half completed . He explained , that the original estimate of
the work was $ 100,000 , whereas it would now cost double, and
that the historyof these water-works shewed how heavily the
Colony may lose, when attempting the most necessary public
works, by the incompetence of its employees, and how seldom the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 443
most obvious deficiencies of such persons can restrain them from
projecting schemes beyond their strength. For these reasons.
Sir Richard had obtained from England the services of a specially
competent engineer (T. Kydd ) who acted as Superintendent of
Water-works and would have re-constructed also the Praya wall,
if the marine-lot holders had not proved so obstreperous. A
typhoon having demolished the frail Praya wall (August 8 , 1867 ) ,
Sir Richard determined to rebuild the whole Praya in a substan-
tial manner. But unfortunately he encountered, on the part of
the lot-holders, the same unflinching opposition which defeated
the efforts of his predecessors, Sir J. Bowring and Sir H. Robinson .
Sir Richard nevertheless renewed the combat . As the Military
Contribution absorbed available funds, he informed the lot- holders
concerned in the ruins of the Praya, that they must contribute
a fair and reasonable proportion towards the cost of rebuilding
the sea-wall of their respective lots . When they refused this
request, he invited them to a conference with the Colonial
Secretary (C. C. Smith), who informed them (November 2,
1867 ) that the Attorney General had given an opinion to the
effect that each lot-holder was, by virtue of the wording of his
lease, under a legal liability to provide for the maintenance of
the sea-wall. The lot-holders, who previous to the conference
had agreed (October 29 , 1867 ) to resist the demand and came
armed with legal opinions, contended that the clause in question
had reference to roads , drains, & c. within their respective lots and
not to the Praya wall ; that, when the first sea -wall was built,
they had paid the expenses on the distinct understanding that
the subsequent maintenance was to be a burden on the Colony ;
that they were not answerable for the defective condition of the
wall nor bound to repair it. The conference broke up in con-
fusion . Sir Richard sent the lot-holders a letter (November 19 ,
1867) arguing that it was their fault that the former wall was
badly built and that the construction of an insufficient wall had
not relieved them of their original obligation. When this proved
fruitless, he ordered legal proceedings to be instituted . A test
case was selected and a marine-lot holder (R. G. Webster) was
444 CHAPTER XIX.
sued in Court for the cost of rebuilding his part of the Praya
wall. The great Praya case,' as it was called. was tried before
a special jury ( R. Lyall, G. F. Weller, A. Coxon, E. Mellish ,
J. Arnold , J. M. Vickers, C. Mackintosh) and the verdict was
given for the defendant (February 7 , 1868) to the great discom-
fiture of the Governor. The decision was based on the view
taken by the Chief Justice that, under the terms of his lease,
the defendant was bound to repair all public quays piers and
roadways in or requisite to the premises, ' but that the sea-wall
was not requisite to the defendant's premises.
The legislative work of this period was largely occupied
with matters affecting police and crime, commerce and emigration,
and the government of the Chinese population, all of which
are referred to elsewhere . A few ordinances of general interest
were introduced by Sir Richard such as regulated the Fire
Brigade ( 4 of 1868 ) , the preservation of birds ( 1 of 1870 ) ,
and the Public Gardens ( 8 of 1870) . Improvements in the
administration of justice received a large share of Sir Richard's
attention . Ordinances were passed modifying the law of jurors
and juries ( 7 of 1868 ) , criminal law procedure (2 of 1869
and 3 of 1872), promissory oaths (4 of 1869) , the administration
of the estates of deceased persons ( 9 of 1870 ) , the enrolment
of barristers and attornies ( 3 of 1871 ) , Court vacation ( 1 of
1869 ) , and so forth. But the most important measure, yet
one that was two years later repealed by Sir Richard's successor,
was Ordinance 1 of 1871 , which regulated the procedure of the
Summary Jurisdiction Court by providing that cases, involving
sums over $500 and under $2000 , might be heard, with a
jury, by the Chief Justice sitting in Supreme Court in Summary
Jurisdiction. Two interesting decisions were given during this
period. In the case Regina v. Souza, Sir J. Smale laid it down
(July, 1869 ) that no criminal action can be instituted in Hong-
kong for the publication of a libel against an undistinguished
foreigner resident out of the Colony. And in the case of the
Nouvelle Penelope, a French coolie ship which, having sailed
from Macao, was seized by the coolies under the leadership
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 445
of one Kwok Asing, who murdered the captain and crew and
fled to Hongkong, Sir J. Smale ruled that the offence was
committed against France, that the ship was a slave ship, and
that the murders committed with the object of regaining liberty
were no crime. The administration of justice was, during this
period, frequently disfigured by unseemly disputes between the
Chief Justice (J. Smale) and the senior Queen's Counsel (E. H.
Pollard) . These disputes culminated in a painful scene (July 2,
1867 ) when Mr. Pollard was lectured and pronounced guilty of
six distinct contempts of court, fined $200 and suspended from
practice for fourteen days. The tone and manner in which
the Chief Justice on this occasion addressed the troublesome but
highly popular barrister, whom he kept standing before him
while he lectured him, aroused the indignation of the whole
community. The fine was forthwith provided for by a public-
subscription list, signed by more than a hundred persons of al !
classes of local society . Mr. Pollard appealed to the Governor
who declined to interfere and advised him to petition Her
Majesty the Queen. In August , 1868 , the decision of the Privy
Council was received , indicating a complete defeat of the Chief
Justice, as not one of the six acts charged against Mr. Pollard
was held to amount to contempt of court. The fine was remitted
and the sentence reversed, but the Chief Justice was not silenced
but continued the legal warfare in a more subdued form.
The Police Force was during this period subjected to the
closest scrutiny it ever received and to severe criticisms on the
part of both the Governor and Chief Justice, and by the
community. It has been mentioned above that Sir Richard,.
after satisfying himself by personal investigations of the
inefficiency and corrupt character of the Force, attempted , in
1866 and 1867 , to purify and reform the corps by disciplinarian
measures and failed . On 29th October, 1867 , he assured the
Secretary of State that he did not remember to have seen in
any Colony a body of men so ineffective in proportion to the
number, or so corrupt generally, as the Police Force which he
found in Hongkong, and which then consisted of 89 Europeans,
446 CHAPTER XIX.
377 Indians (chiefly Bombay sepoys ) and 182 Chinese. But,
after introducing the system of licensing gaming houses, Sir
Richard reported, in 1869 , that the Police Force had been
greatly reformed by virtue of this measure. No doubt, there
was a marked improvement, noticeable in 1868 and 1869 .
But it seems probable that this improvement was not so much
due to the licensing of gaming houses, which of course vastly
diminished bribery, as to Sir Richard's searching surveillance
of the personal affairs of the police officers and his daily
vigilance in ascertaining the steps taken in all special cases
for the detection of crime, and in the second instance to the
several measures he introduced with a view to police reform .
These measures consisted of the substitution of Scotch for
English and Sikh for Bombay constables ; the appointment
of a Deputy Superintendent of Police conversant with Hindo-
stanee (C. V. Creagh) ; the allowance, out of the Special Fund,
of $20,000 per annum for good conduct pay ; the classification
of the Chinese contingent, opening up to Chinese constables
the prospect of promotion (March 1 , 1870) ; the increase of
police stations and their interconnection by telegraph ; the
establishment of the Police School ( 1869 ) and the encouragement
thereby given to Sikhs and Chinese to learn English . The
establishment of a separate Naval Yard Police under the
exclusive control of the Admiralty (by Ordinances 2 and 13
of 1867 ) was also an improvement. Up to March 30, 1870,
when Sir Richard produced statistics shewing increased efficiency
of the Police Force, the public were satisfied that great
improvements had been made, and sided with the Captain
Superintendent of Police (W. M. Deane) when he energetically
rebutted (September 15 , 1869 ) , as wanton distortion of statistics,
the disparaging remarks, as to the inferiority of the Hongkong
Police to that of Shanghai, made by the Secretary of the
Municipal Council of Shanghai (A. J. Johnston) in a letter
to the London & China Express (July 8 , 1869 ) . But that the
reform of the Hongkong Police was principally due to
Sir Richard's personal vigilance, may be inferred from the fact
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 447
that as soon as he left the Colony on furlough (April 12, 1870)
complaints of the demoralisation of the police recommenced ,
both on the part of the Chief Justice and on the part of the
public. When the Police Report for 1869 was published
(April 11 , 1870) , declaring the establishment of a detective force
to be impracticable, public opinion read it as indicating that
bribery rather than any other difficulty stood in the way of
detecting crime. The action of the Chief Justice also incited
public dissatisfaction with the organisation of the police. By his
remonstrances, addressed to the Government, he secured the
offer of substantial encouragement to police officers willing to
acquire a knowledge of the Chinese language ( May, 1879 ) , but
he failed in his crusade against the separate control exercised
by the Registrar General over a distinct force of 69 district
watchmen. The unofficial Members of Council also expressed
their dissatisfaction with the police and asked that a Commission
of Inquiry be appointed, whereupon the Chief Justice laid on
the table of the Legislative Council (November, 1870 ) a
memorandum inveighing against the inefficiency and corruption.
of the Force and suggesting that, to avoid the constant friction
between the Superintendent of Police and the Registrar General,
the district watchmen be embodied in the Police Force under
one head. The Chief Justice continued his adverse criticisms of
the Police in 1871 , and the community sided with him in the
matter. The general dissatisfaction with the organisation of the
Police Force rose to the highest pitch when a greatly popular
public officer (G. L. Tomlin) was robbed and knocked down on
a public road close to the Central Police Station ( Angust 28,
1871 ) . A deputation of unofficial Justices of the Peace waited
forthwith on the Lieutenant- Governor ( H. W. Whitfield) and
urged him to take immediate steps to improve the Police Force.
Major-General Whitfield's reply, referring to 40 additional
constables having been ordered from Glasgow and promising
that Sir Richard would, on his return, deal with the question
of police reforms, was viewed by the public as a mere evasion
of the points insisted on by the whole community, viz . that an
448 CHAPTER XIX.
efficient head should be provided for the Police Force which
they considered to be in a disorganized state and that a
Commission should be appointed without delay to inquire into
he real causes of the defective state of the Force . A public
meeting (September, 1871 ) , attended by upwards of 350 residents ,
gave expression to the general sense of insecurity under which
the community laboured, and to their strong disapprobation
of the neglect which, it was alleged, had characterized the
action of the Executive with regard to the police. A Memorial
was forwarded to the Colonial Office, praying for the appointment
of a Commission of. Inquiry. Before Earl Kimberley's reply,
negativing this request, reached the Colony, Sir Richard had,
immediately upon his return, appointed (December, 1871 ) a Com-
mission according to the wishes of the community (T. C. Hayllar,
W. Keswick, F. W. Mitchell, F. Stewart, H. Lowcock ,
W. Lemann, George Falconer, and A. Lister) . One of the
principal subjects of inquiry was the question whether the plan
of divided authority, by leaving the district watchmen under
the separate control of the Registrar General, should be
continued. It was principally on this point that the views
of the Commission and of the Governor were divided, and the
bifurcation had to continue. Whilst leaving a reform of the
police to his successor, Sir Richard started, before leaving the
Colony, what was virtually a new department for the suppression
of gambling, by relieving the Police Force from this duty and
handing it over to personal efforts to be made by two former
Cadets, the Registrar General and the Superintendent of Police.
This appointment of two gentlemen detectives, with which was
connected a handsome remuneration, was viewed by the
community as a mere excuse for filling the pockets of the
Governor's boys.'
Sir Richard's energy and severity as a disciplinarian was
bound to exercise a deterrent influence as regards crime. There
never was any Governor in Hongkong who inspired the criminal
classes with such a genuine dread of his personal vigilance and of
his measures. They soon found that the licensed gaming houses
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 449
were a trap set to catch them and it became quickly known
that confinement in gaol was now a real punishment . But the
most marked effect attached to those measures of Sir Richard's
administration by which he applied whipping and solitary con-
finement to cases of armed or violent assault, kidnapping and
child-stealing (Ordinances 12 of 1865 and 3 of 1868 ) and to
criminals returning from deportation (Ordinance 7 of 1870 ) .
Compelled by financial considerations to abandon the newly
built gaol on Stonecutters ' Island, he brought all prisoners under
a uniformly rigorous system of discipline in Victoria Gaol, reduced
the dietary scale, made gaol labour more severe, and ordered
gaol offences to be punished with the cat instead of the rattan.
By these measures he made imprisonment a real deterrent . He
was so determined to keep the number of prisoners within the
limits of the accommodation afforded by the old gaol, that he
resorted to and, when checked by the Colonial Office, persevered
in the application of other measures which were evidently illegal.
In autumn 1866, he introduced a system under which prisoners.
were induced to petition, that they might be liberated on.
condition of their voluntarily submitting to be branded and
deported with the understanding that, if they were thereafter
again found in the Colony, they would be liable to be flogged by
order of a Magistrate and remitted to their original sentence. He
sought to give to this system a colour of legality by that Or-
dinance S of 1866 (for the maintenance of order and cleanliness)
which has been referred to above, in connection with the equally.
illegal system of licensing gaming houses. When this Ordinance
(in its original form) was disapproved by H.M. Government ,
Sir Richard abandoned the system of bringing branded and
deported criminals, who returned to the Colony, before a
Magistrate, but continued the original system of branding and
deporting prisoners, before the expiration of their sentences,
in accordance with those illegal engagements voluntarily entered
into by prisoners and ratified in each case by the Executive
Council. Criminals thus liberated and deported were, on being
found again in the Colony, remitted to their original sentences
29
1
450 CHAPTER XIX.
and then flogged in gaol as a matter of gaol discipline. This
system was continued until 25th May, 1870. It has been
alleged that this rigorous system of branding, deporting and
flogging was applied also to hundreds of prisoners convicted
merely of being suspicious characters , rogues and vagabonds, and
that the Colony was thus delivered of the very class of men whose
habitual occupation, as professional touts, trainers, aidors and
abettors of criminals, formed the hotbed of prospective crime.
This severely deterrent treatment of Chinese criminals met
with the unqualified approval of the community. The Chinese
and European residents as well as the unofficial Members of
Council (September 11 , 1871 ) gave at sundry times expression
to their conviction of the absolute necessity of such measures
in order to make Hongkong and its humane gaol less attractive
and comfortable for the gaol birds of Canton . That experienced
police officer and magistrate, Ch. May, gave it as his opinion
that corporal punishment is absolutely requisite for the well-
being of the Colony.'
That these measures, initiated by Sir Richard, served to
diminish crime for the time, seems incontrovertible. An imme-
diate decrease in kidnapping offences was specially noticeable,
as 68 such cases occurred in 1867 , 53 cases in 1868 and only
7 cases in 1869. Comparing the six months ending on December
31st, 1865 , with the six months ending December 31st , 1869 ,
it is seen that serious offences decreased by 51 per cent. and
minor offences by 45 per cent . during these four years. In
comparison with the year 1868 , the criminal statistics of 1869
show a decrease of 22.6 per cent. in serious and of 18.4 per cent.
in minor offences, or a decrease altogether of 1,104 cases, the
total having been 5,705 cases in 1868 , and 4,601 cases in 1869 .
The number of prisoners committed to gaol was steadily reduced,
year by year, from 6,246 in 1865, to 3,059 in 1869. The Chief
Justice (J. Smale) who did not approve of the Governor's illegal
measures, made, on 19th March, 1870 , the following remarks
6
in addressing a jury. Some years since, the calendar was on
an average very large. Life and property were insecure.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 451
Robbery with violence on land, piracies on the sea, were frequent.
They are now more rare. Something is due to the firmness
and good sense of juries ; but more is due to the energy of the
Executive of which, constituted as the Colouy is, the Governor
is the life and the soul.'
With regard to the repression of piracy, also, Sir Richard
scored an undoubted success. By the time of his arrival in the
Colony, piracy was a matter of almost weekly occurrence, not
only interfering with the native junk trade and small European
coasting vessels, but frequently also causing the loss of many
lives. The measures taken by the British Naval Authorities,
for whom Sir Richard secured the co-operation of the steam-
eruizers of the Chinese Customs, were viewed by the public
as inefficient or, when successful, as suspicious. Individual naval
officers, as for instance the commander of H.M.S. Bouncer
who captured, with the assistance of Chinese revenue cruizers,
over 30 piratical junks in the gulf of Tungking (June 9 to
July 27 , 1869 ) , were much applauded . Nevertheless the
impression gained ground, that frequently British gunboats were
induced by Chinese officials to treat, as pirates, vessels and
men whose guilt amounted at the worst only to attempts at
smuggling or resisting the illegal exactions of the rapacious
revenue officers of China. This allegation was particularly made,
but without clear proof, with regard to the proceedings of
H.M.S. Algerine (June, 1868 ) . The most effective measure that
was ever launched against piracy in South-China was that
(Ordinance 9 of 1866 and 12 of 1867 ) by which Sir Richard
brought under surveillance and severe restrictions the haunts
and stores established in the Colony by the aidors and abettors
of piracy, and particularly the native dealers in marine stores.
Next in effectiveness ranks Sir Richard's Junk Ordinance ( 1 of
1868) which amalgamated, with the preceding measure, some
stringent regulations providing that all native vessels (junks)
should report arrival at the Harbour Office, take out an anchor-
age permit by payment of a fee (subsequently remitted) and
obtain clearance papers before sailing. For the same purpose
452 CHAPTER XIX.
of repressing piracy, measures were taken by the Governor
(Ordinance 2 of 1868 and 2 of 1870) , to provide, in conjunction
with similar measures to be enacted in Canton by the Chinese
Authorities, the disarmament of all Chinese trading and fishing
junks. But as the Viceroy of Canton, who at first had promised
to issue the same order, failed to do so and, when questioned ,
declared it impossible to enforce such a law, the measure was.
abandoned. Another measure devised by Sir Richard proved
a great help towards suppressing piracy, viz. the establishment
of a combination of Harbour Office and Police Office duties,
entrusted to the Police Inspectors at Yaumati, Aberdeen, Stanley,
Shaukiwan and at East Point (Whitfield Station) .
The good results of the foregoing measures were obvious.
From September, 1866, to October 1867 not one piratical attack
on European vessels occurred and out of 18 cases of piracy
reported by Chinese junk owners, most were comparatively trivial.
During the two years immediately preceding 1st January, 1867 ,
no fewer than 92 men were tried for piracy, attended in most
cases with violence or murder, whereas during the two years ( 1867
and 1868 ) , immediately following, only 15 men were tried for
that crime, and not one single trial for piracy took place during
the years 1869 and 1870.
Commerce in the Far East had, at the beginning of this
period, received an extraordinary impetus through the opening
of the Suez Canal (April 19, 1865 ) , which filled the godowns
of Hongkong and the Treaty ports to overflowing, increased the
volume and revolutionized the methods of trade, without however
increasing its profitableness. In the year 1866 , the foreign
trade with China amounted to nearly £ 95,000,000 . The share of
Great Britain in that trade amounted to no less than £ 71,518,723
or nearly 63 per cent. of the whole, and for this colossal trade, to
which must be added the Colony's trade with Japan, amounting
in 1867 to £ 6,000,000, Hongkong now served as the principal
emporium.
The history of local commerce during this period commenced
indeed with good omens for the future. The spirit of enterprise
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 453
and competition was still lively and inapprehensive of the ap-
proaching commercial depression. The formation of the Union
Dock Company, the first that was registered (July 31 , 1865 )
under the new Companies' Ordinance, with a capital of $500,000,
consisting of 500 shares of $ 1,000 each, was speedily followed
up ( October 11 , 1866 ) by the formation of the Hongkong and
Whampoa Dock Company, which purchased the dock properties
of Messrs . Douglas Lapraik and Th. Sutherland, with a capital
of $750,000 in 1,500 shares of $500 each, the Hon . J. Whittall
acting as chairman of the directors and Mr. J. Lapraik as
secretary. The new dock at Aberdeen, named after Admiral
Hope, was opened on June 15th, 1867. A third new enterprise
was started bythe formation (October 19 , 1865 ) of the Hongkong,
Canton and Macao Steamboat Company, with a capital of
$750,000 divided into 7,500 shares of $ 100 each. The principal
promoter of this association, which purchased the popular
American river-steamers Kinshan, White Cloud and Fire Dart,
was Mr. Douglas Lapraik by his attorney J. Lapraik. The
other directors of the new Company were Messrs. J. J. dos
Remedios, A. E. Vaucher, A. Sassoon, R. Solomon , D. Ruttunjee,
and Bapoorjee Pallunjee Ranjee. The new Company met indeed
with competitors but succeeded (August, 1866) in buying them
out, and as the river-steamers had been allowed (since April,
1866 ) by the Chinese Authorities to land and take in cargo and
passengers at Chuenpi (below Whampoa), it was thought that a
new important outlet for trade had been secured . The share-
holders of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank felt confident of
coming prosperity when they resolved (February, 1866 ) to convert
the new Bank into a corporation by charter. The new Royal
Mint of Hongkong was also opened with some hope of success
(May 1 , 1866 ) . Trade with Japan received a real and permanent
stimulus by the establishment in Japan of bonded warehouses
and a liberal tariff (July, 1866) . The old Californian trade
likewise expanded through arrangements made about this time
by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in San Francisco to
connect that port with Hongkong by a regular line of large
454 CHAPTER ΧΙΧ.
and fast steamers, the first of which, the Colorado, arrived in
Hongkong on January 31st , 1867. A Hotel Company was
formed in January and commenced operations in July, 1867.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the year 1866 .
complaints were heard of increasing commercial depression in
some branches of business . It was felt by many, that a serious
financial crisis was approaching from abroad . In April, 1866 ,
it was further stated that British vessels sailing from Hongkong
had practically lost their hold on the trade along the coast of
China, as among 20 European vessels engaged in this trade
only 3 were British . The general gloom was intensified when
the Agra Bank and the Commercial Bank suspended payment
(June, 1866 ) . In November, 1866, dulness was reported to
reign in most branches of local trade and in December great
anxiety prevailed in the Colony as to the stability of a number
of local firms. The old and popular firm of Dent & Co.
suspended payment on 1st January, 1867. The failure of Lyall,
Still & Co. and some smaller firms followed soon after. In
March, 1867, a panic seemed to be impending. There was a
general lack of confidence in all mercantile branches. Even
the scrip of the prosperous Hongkong & Shanghai Bank began
and continued for some time to droop, although the directors
denied (March 15, 1867 ) under threat of prosecution the reports
current as to the cause of it, and declared (August 28 , 1867 ) ,
after providing for the losses entailed by the failure of
Dent & Co. , a dividend of 6 per cent. for the half year. This
period of commercial stagnation was extraordinarily prolonged
as it continued from 1866 until the fall of the year 1869 .
Meanwhile the temper of the community vented itself in
complaints. In 1867 people commenced to lay the blame for
the depression of trade on Sir Richard's legislative measures ,
ignoring the fact that a contemporaneous depression existed
elsewhere and in places which were not in any way affected
by local legislation. Various causes, however, added fuel to
the irritation which naturally increased as the commercial
atmosphere became more and more enveloped in gloom.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 455
Complaints were made as to the mode of levying local rates and
taxes in advance and on the tenants themselves instead of the
landlords (January, 1867 ) . The Formosan camphor trade was
seriously interfered with by illegal exactions and by monopolies
claimed by the Chinese Mandarins, and Sir Richard's remon-
strances proved fruitless. The Canton Customs Blockade was
hampering many branches of local trade (since October, 1867 ) and
Sir Richard appeared to be powerless to do anything more than
writing protests. The Stamp Ordinance was considered to press
unfairly on the European merchants and the doubts entertained
at first, owing to the intricacies of its provisions and penalties,
as to the question what stamps were to be affixed to or impressed
upon certain documents, operated as a source of frequent
perplexity and worry (November, 1867 ) . As things went from
bad to worse in 1868 , merchants began to talk of the impending
ruin of Hongkong and to blame Sir Richard for it. It was
seriously proposed to demand the appointment of a Commission
to inquire into the working of certain Ordinances injurious to
the commerce of Hongkong. In the piece goods trade there
were also special complaints of that mildew in cotton goods
which, for many years thereafter, caused much trouble and
irritation, and which was believed to be caused by fraudulent
sizing (March, 1869) . Sir Richard himself also had as much
to worry him, as the merchants. The covert hostility of the
Cantonese Authorities, encouraged by H. M. Minister in Peking,
the growing displeasure with which successive Secretaries of State
in Downing Street viewed his attempt at solving the gambling
problem, and the local unpopularity of all his best measures ,
must have had a depressing effect upon Sir Richard's nervous
temperament. It was tantalizing to have in the Special Fund
a remedy at hand for the distressed state of the Colonial finances
and yet to be forbidden to touch it. On 7th July, 1869 , seeing
no sigus yet of the better times that were coming for Hongkong,
he wrote to Earl Granville saying that the circumstances of
the Colony in the present decline of commercial prosperity,
following on the serious depression which had prevailed for
456 CHAPTER XIX.
several years, rendered it extremely unlikely that the Executive,
without aid from some unusual source, could increase or maintain
an increased expenditure.'
However, towards the close of the year 1869, a gradual
improvement, which had set in for some time, became visible.
That the shipping trade of the Colony greatly increased in 1869,
is clear from the excess, over 1868, of 45 British ships, measuring
41,615 tons and of 135 foreign vessels (Chinese excepted)
measuring 95,230 tons. This large increase of shipping business
was evidently due to extended traffic between the Colony and
Australia, the United States, the Philippine Islands and Japan,
while trade with British India remained about the same as
before. Of a daily average of 107 vessels in port in 1869, fully
18 per cent. were steamers. The doubling of the number of
the steamers of the Messageries Impériales and the Pacific Mail
Company, and the formation of two additional local Steamship
Companies, left no doubt of the undiminished importance of the
Colony in connection with the trade of China and Japan.
With the commencement of the year 1870, the long
continued commercial crisis was felt to be over, and the pent
up energies of local enterprise burst forth anew. The Chamber
of Commerce interested itself in Baron von Richthofen's explo-
ration of Western China ( December, 1869 ) and sent (February,
1870 ) a commercial explorer of their own ( M. Moss ) to ascertain
the commercial capabilities of the West River (Canton to
Nanningfu) . Mr. Moss travelled through Kwangtung and
Kwangsi into Yunnan, but his report was not encouraging.
The Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, under the
direction of Mr. W. Keswick, amalgamated with itself the older
Union Dock Company under the direction of Captain J. B.
Endicott (March 8, 1870) , and increased its capital to one million
dollars. The Indo-Chinese Sugar Company was formed (April
28, 1870 ) to purchase a crushing factory at Saigon and to erect
mills at various places in Cochin-China and in China. Two
new Insurance Companies having been started in February,
1870, Chinese merchants established, in April, 1870, an Insurance
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 457
Company of their own, the shares of which could be held only
by Chinese. The shipping returns of the year 1870 shewed an
increase of 2,433 vessels with a carrying capacity of 311,025
tons. Nevertheless there were, at the close of the year 1870,
many who took a despondent view of the future of Hongkong
as compared with that of Shanghai . The general China trade,
it was said, was now developing in magnitude corresponding
to the diminution of profits in the case of individuals . Having
no power of expansion , the Hongkong trade was more keenly
affected by this reduction in profitableness, caused by the natural
working of increased competition. With so few outlets to trade
and these obstructed, as to the junk trade, by the Chinese
Customs Blockade, Hongkong now possessed but small oppor-
tunities of extending its trade with regard to imports into
China. Hence the inference was drawn that the commercial
importance of the Colony must thereafter decline very materially
in comparison with that of Shanghai.
Commercial enterprise, however, continued to develop . The
Hongkong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company once more
bought out competing interlopers in the river trade by the
purchase of the steamships Spec and Spark (June 1 , 1871 ) . Great
improvements were made in telegraphic communication with
other countries. Direct communication was established with
Shanghai (May 26 , 1871 ) , with New York and London (June 9 ,
1871 ) , and with Saigon and Singapore (August 1 , 1871 ) . Το
utilize pier and godown properties at Wantsai, the Hongkong
Wharf and Godown Company was formed (August 1, 1871)
ignoring the fact that the increased facilities of telegraphic
communication with Europe tended to diminish the need for
godown storage.
The emigration question, viewed in the light of the Macao
coolie trade, occupied the minds of the residents off and on through-
out the term of this administration. This question took a definite
shape on the passing of the Hongkong Emigration Ordinance
(6 of 1867 ) , when the Chief Justice (J. Smale) conjointly with
one of the unofficial Members of Council (J. Whittall) pleaded
458 CHAPTER XIX.
in Council and memorialized the Secretary of State (July 27 ,
1867) to the effect that contract emigration from Hongkong
should be entirely prohibited, on the ground that the Macao
coolie trade, conducted under emigration laws similar to those
of Hongkong, had developed into a veritable slave trade . Sir
Richard opposed the two enthusiasts, and stated that the
Hongkong Council could not run counter to Imperial legislation
( 18 & 19 Vict . ch. 104) under which the local Chinese Passengers
Act of 1855 had been framed. The whole mercantile community
considered this agitation against the local coolie trade extremely
ill-judged, as no one pretended that coolie emigration from
Hongkong was conducted in any sense on slave-trading principles.
Fresh discussions arose when Sir Richard published (July 4 ,
1867 ) a refutation of the arguments advanced by those two
Members of Council, and especially when the horrors connected
with numerous mutinies on Macao coolie ships filled the public
papers and engaged, in a few instances, also the attention of
the Government and the Supreme Court of Hongkong in
connection with the ships Marie Therese (March 21 , 1868 ) ,
Frederic (October 19 , 1869) , and especially in connection with
the above mentioned Kwok Asing case ( February 15, to April
5, 1871 ) . The net result of all these discussions was the general
conviction that the methods by which coolies are collected in
the interior and brought to Hongkong for shipment , though
free from the evils attaching to the crimping system of the
Macao coolie trade, necessitated the strictest surveillance of all
contract emigration, and some thought that even the new
Hongkong Emigration Ordinance ( 12 of 1868 ) was insufficient,
· though it provided for the punishment of persons improperly
obtaining emigrants, as long as contract emigration to non-
British ports was allowed. More stringent regulations were
made by the Governor in Council (July 6, 1869) , but on 19th
October, 1859, Earl Granville informed the Governor that he
concurred with Earl Clarendon and the Emigration Commis-
sioners, that contract emigration from Hongkong should be
strictly confined to emigration to British Colonies . Sir Richard
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 459
accordingly passed through Legislative Council (March 30, 1870)
a Bill giving the Governor power to make such regulations
with regard to emigration as he may think proper under
instructions from the Colonial Office. Sir Richard stated on
this occasion that he personally deprecated the entire abolition
of contract emigration to foreign countries which under existing
instructions he would be obliged to effect, but that his instruc-
tions were peremptory . Later on, difficulties were made by
the Colonial Secretary (in the absence of Sir Richard) even as
to shipping coolies by the Pacific mail steamers, as it was stated
(October 15 , 1871 ) that the Colonial Office instructions prohibited
emigration, whether under actual or merely implied contract ,
to any non-British country. The U.S. Minister, the Hon ..
W. H. Seward, passing through Hongkong in January, 1871 ,
held a reception at the U.S. Consulate, when he gave it as
his opinion that Chinese emigration to the United States is
desirable as tending to the advancement of western civilization in
China, and that by this means enterprises , such as railways and
mining operations, will be introduced into China , and excessive
emigration to America stopped, so soon as the Chinese labourers
will be able to find in their own country that employment which
now induces them to go abroad. Mr. Seward's influence caused
emigration from Hongkong to California to expand considerably
during the next few years.
The Chinese commerce of Hongkong rapidly expanded at
the beginning ( 1865 to 1868 ) of this period at the expense of
the Canton trade which then laboured under illegal exactions,
made by the Mandarins and their favoured monopolists, which
caused even the manufacture of vermilion and the clarifying
of ginseng to be removed from Canton to Hongkong. Even
in the piece goods trade, a very large business was now done
in Hongkong, particularly in cotton fabrics, the goods being
sent into the interior of the Canton Province without passing
through or near Canton, and at Canton itself the import of
piece goods fell entirely into the hands of Chinese who came
down to Hongkong to buy. The rice trade also was driven
460 CHAPTER XIX.
away from Canton by the exaction of tonnage dues and
thenceforth entirely conducted in Hongkong whence the rice
was sent to Canton in junks. Opium was at this time shipped
less to Canton , and chiefly to Kongmoon, Samshui and Sheklung,
where lower duties were levied than in Canton. Likewise also
the numerous small ports between Swatow and Hongkong were
supplied from Hongkong with opium by junks which had to
pay a duty of 20 taels at those intermediate ports, whilst at
Swatow 30 taels import duty and 10 taels Li-kin had to be
paid. This was not a smuggling trade but a judicious avoidance
of a port (Canton ) where extra charges were made. But it was
the resultant expansion of the Hongkong junk trade, coupled
with the simultaneous decline of the Canton trade, that induced
the Cantonese Authorities to establish the Customs Blockade
of Hongkong in order to levy here those extra charges and
thus to force the junk trade back into its former channel for
the benefit of Canton.
The result was striking. At the close of the year 1868 ,
a sudden depression, which reached its height in 1869, came
over the native trade of Hongkong. The cotton dealers of
Hongkong exported in 1869 only 110,000 bales in place of
200,000 exported in 1868. No more than 335,000 piculs
of rice passed through the Colony in 1869. The sugar trade
also shewed a considerable decline. The market compradors
reported sales amounting, in 1869 , to $ 146,000 against $ 165,000
in the previous year. The salt fish trade continued on the
decline which had set in from the moment when the Customs
Blockade commenced . The rent of Chinese houses fell in 1869
about 25 per cent. and some 250 business houses in the principal
streets stood empty and unoccupied . Nevertheless the reviving
energies of foreign commerce in 1870 appeared to stimulate also
the native trade of Hongkong, which recovered slowly from
the injuries inflicted upon it by the Chinese Customs Blockade.
In the government of the Chinese population, Sir Richard
systematically gave to the Registrar General the most extensive
powers. But he took a personal interest in every detail, probed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 461
the correctness of translations of petitions and notifications,
watched with eagle's eye the editing of the Chinese issue of
the Government Gazette and inquired into the ins and outs of
every complaint made by the Chinese. He occasionally, but
sparingly, received Chinese deputations, argued with them in
a stately way and took infinite pains in controverting their
arguments, both orally and in print, and repeatedly made
semi-mutinous deputations confess that their objections to his
measures were based on misunderstanding or imperfect translation
and invariably sent them away crestfallen . It was by these
methods that he averted serious impending strikes in connection
with the new Registration and Junk Ordinances (6 and 7 of
1866) in September, 1866 and in January, 1867. It has been
mentioned above that the Junk Ordinance did excellent service
towards the repression of piracy. The Registration Ordinance
also worked satisfactorily and 663 householders were speedily
registered under it, but the provisions regarding the registration
of Chinese servants were viewed by European employers as
useless and irksome and soon became a dead letter. In 1869 ,
the Chinese inhabitants of several districts in town, acting on
the provisions of the Registration Ordinance, recommended a
body of men as district watchmen to be paid for by themselves.
The duties of these special Chinese constables, under the sole
direction of the Registrar General, were connected exclusively
with the Chinese portion of the city. The Registrar General
reported, year by year, favourably on the working of this special
body of police. But the system caused friction between the
Registrar General and the Superintendent of Police, particularly
in connection with the permits issued for religious ceremonies,
which, by their accompanying noise, created a nuisance , at night-
time, to European residents and caused objections disregarded by
the district watchmen but upheld by the police.
The absence of a mortuary for Chinese and of a hospital
conducted in consonance with Chinese ideas of therapeutics,
caused the local compradors, merchants and shopkeepers to
establish (in 1867) what they called the I-tsze . Their aim was
462 CHAPTER XIX.
not charitable, but rather to have a place where dying business- „
employees might be deposited, to avoid the tronblous rites and
ceremonies connected with death, and where encoffined bodies
might be stored awaiting removal to the mainland . This institu-
tion was established , in the centre of Taipingshan, unbeknown to
the Government. In May, 1869 , accident led to the discovery
that sick persons were dumped there and left to die like dogs,
untended and uncared for, except that there were coffins ready
for them. When the foreign community raised an outcry, the
Chinese came forward with liberal subscriptions towards the
erection of a Chinese Hospital, and, as it was a clear case for the
application of the Special Fund, Sir Richard at once offered a
grant of $ 15,000 in addition to a free site near Possession Point.
The I -tsze was forthwith converted into a temporary hospital
conducted on Chinese principles, as nearly all Chinese in the
Colony would rather die like dogs than enter the Government
Civil Hospital. It was originally proposed that the piece of land
granted by Government should be vested in trustees and that
the permanent hospital, to be built there, should be carried
on under a trustdeed. But the Attorney General (J. Pauncefote )
wisely suggested to form a corporation which would build and
manage the hospital through a board of Chinese directors
under proper supervision by the Government . Thus the Tungwa
Hospital was established by Ordinance (3 of 1870 ) as an
eleemosynary corporation . By the special order of Sir Richard ,
a provision was included in this Ordinance to make sure that,
if the corporation should fail to carry out in a satisfactory manner
the objects and purposes of the Ordinance, the incorporation
should be repealed and the property of the hospital, subject
to the payment of debts, should then vest in the Crown . The
new hospital was speedily erected and opened by Sir Richard
on February 14, 1872, when he announced that the Government
had voted (out of the Special Fund) a further sum of $ 115,000
for the purposes of the hospital . He also praised the Chinese
for their liberality in guaranteeing annual subscriptions to the
extent of $7,000, but warned them that, if any abuses should
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 463
creep in, the Government would take the management of the
hospital out of their hands. This was a fair specimen of
Sir Richard's way of dealing with the Chinese community. He
invariably treated them with unwearied consideration but with
rigid strictness. The result was that, by the time of Sir
Richard's departure, his administration left upon the Chinese
people rather a favourable impression . Though they dreaded
him at first as a stern disciplinarian, they always respected him
and finally he became rather a popular hero in their eyes.
The population of Hongkong increased , during this admini-
stration, from 117,471 souls in the year 1866 to 124,198 in
the year 1871. But this is no progress when it is compared
with the state of the population ( 125,504) in the year 1865 ,
and indicates that the general influence of Sir Richard's
administration did not tend to encourage Chinese to settle in
Hongkong.
The sanitation of the Colony was at a low ebb in January,
1866, when the mortality among the troops reached an extra-
ordinary rate, supposed to be caused by the severe night duties
thrown upon European soldiers in consequence of the withdrawal
of Indian regiments. Hongkong, once more, gained an unenviable
notoriety through exaggerative descriptions of the insalubrity
of its climate published in home papers in 1866 and 1867 , and
particularly in the Times and in the Army & Navy Gazette.
In April, 1869 , it was locally reported that the sanitary conditions
had been steadily improving and that, with the exception of
the case of the troops, the rate of mortality among European
residents had steadily decreased since 1863. Indeed a table
of the mortality of Hongkong inhabitants from 1858 to 1868
shewed that in no year registered had the mortality been so
low ( 2 per cent. ) among Europeans as during the year 1869.
The Colonial Surgeon, in his report for 1869, reported a rise
in the death rate, which he ascribed to the longer duration
of the summer heat, but declared Hongkong to be remarkably
healthy for the tropics. Great importance was now attached to
the extension of afforestation coupled with the unsparing removal
464 CHAPTER XIX.
of all undergrowth . Carbolic acid was freely used to disinfect
drains. The sudden and startling death of a number of
prominent members of the foreign community, gave to the
year 1870 the aspect of a specially unhealthy year. It was
pointed out that in the early part of summer and up to 3rd
August, 1870, there was an unusually small rainfall, and an
unusual increase of fever, accompanied by a tendency to relapse
which caused great prostration and in some cases assumed the
character of typhus . Most practitioners attributed the cause
to earth cutting on the hill sides. Dr. J. I. Murray, however,
persisted in tracing the disease to the pancity of rain but he
also complained that the drains of the town remained what
they ever had been (in the absence of rain) , the source of disease,
and urged that they be run out into deep water and frequently
flushed. An epidemic of smallpox having broken out in
December 1870, and the temporary matsheds erected near the
Civil Hospital being overcrowded (January, 1871 ) , the deserted
Gaol-buildings on Stonecutters ' Island were converted into a
smallpox hospital which answered all expectations. Among 101
cases treated (73 civilians and 28 soldiers), there were only
9 deaths .
The subject of contagious disease engaged Sir Richard's
attention soon after his arrival. He found fault with the C.D.
Ordinance of 1858, as its penal provisions were directed
exclusively against indoor prostitution , also against the keepers
of illicit establishments only and not against the inmates.
Believing that the existing system failed to check disease, Sir
Richard forthwith inaugurated a more vigorous policy. A new
Ordinance, passed on 23rd July, 1867, subjected accordingly
both the keepers and the inmates of unlicensed houses to fine and
imprisonment, prohibited solicitation in the streets, extended the
application of medical examination and detention in the Lock
Hospital, gave the Police power to break into suspected houses
without a warrant, and conferred upon the Registrar General
judicial as well as executive powers, in order to remove
prosecutions under the Ordinance from the publicity of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 465
Police Court. It was, however, again found impracticable to
bring the inmates, of establishments intended for the use of
Chinese only, under periodical medical examination . Moreover,
it was now found impossible to carry out this vigorous policy
effectively without extensive employment of paid informers,
and this proved in after years to be a serious flaw in the system .
Public feeling on the subject of C. D. Acts was by this time
undergoing a change in England, where the conviction of the
necessity of extending the powers of the Imperial Act, on which
the Hongkong Ordinance of 1867 had been founded, was steadily
gaining ground. In Hongkong there was at this time, amongst
those who interested themselves in public affairs, no general
feeling for or against the working of Sir Richard's new Ordinance,
but the magisterial functions now exercised, as it were in secret,
by the Registrar General, were looked upon by some of the
unofficial Members of Council as a source of mischief. Dr.
R. Young, in charge of the Lock Hospital with a daily average
of 34 in-patients, reported favourably on the working of the
Ordinance ( 10 of 1867 ) . That the type of disease had gradually
become more amenable to treatment, appeared from the fact that
the average number of days, during which patients were detained
in hospital, was reduced in 1871 to a shorter period than had
ever been reached during the 14 years of the hospital's existence .
Surgeons, well qualified to give an opinion, testified in 1871 that
at this time there was no place in the East so free from syphilitic
disease as Hongkong.
During the interregnum of the Hon . W. T. Mercer some
important events took place in the sphere of education. The
premature death of Miss Baxter (June 30 , 1865 ) was a great
loss for Hongkong, but the Baxter Schools were continued ,
first by Miss Oxlad and then by Miss Johnstone, on whom
Miss Baxter's mantle had evidently fallen . The establishment ,
by Bishop Raimondi , of a large and distinctly commercial School
(St. Saviour's College) brought into play a healthy emulation
between the principal local schools, and this competition acted
thenceforth as a prominent factor in the educational movement
30
466 CHAPTER XIX.
of the Colony . Another important event of the interregnum
.
was the extinction of the Board of Education and the
appointment (June 24, 1865 ) , at the suggestion of Dr. Legge,
of Dr. Stewart as Head of the Education Department,
having under is direction both the Central School and the
outside Government Schools, then 14 in number, but increased
to 25 schools by the end of this period . Dr. Stewart urged
upon the Government (in 1865 and in 1871 ) the introduction
of an education tax and a compulsory school- attendance law,
but neither Mr. Mercer nor Sir Richard would consent to such
a measure. The Central School, which had hitherto received
only Chinese boys, was thrown open by Sir Richard (in 1866 )
to boys of all nationalities. The new Bishop, Dr. Alford,
engaged in a controversy with Dr. Stewart by opposing the
system of secular or, as he called it, godless education in
Government Schools, but without avail. St. Paul's College,
having lost its funds by the failure of Dent & Co. , had to be
closed in 1867 , and, when an attempt to re- open it in 1868
failed , the College was absorbed (in 1869 ) in the Diocesan
Orphanage. The Morrison Education Society was also deprived
of its funds by the failure of Dent & Co. and handed over its
library, together with a painting of Chinnery's (representing
Dr. Morrison) and a bust of the Hon. H. R. Morrison, to the
City Hall Library as a free gift for the use of the public
(March 30, 1869 ) .
Bishop Smith having resigned, the Rev. Ch . R. Alford,
M.A., was appointed by Letters Patent (January 14, 1867 ) Lord
Bishop of the See of Victoria and Warden (for the Church
Missionary Society) of St. Paul's College. The new Bishop
appointed the Colonial Chaplain ( W. R. Beach ) as residentiary
Canon of St. John's Cathedral. Bishop Alford did much to cement
good understanding between the clergy and the missionaries of
all persuasions and exercisel upon the general community a
powerful influence for gool. For the benefit of the funds of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, he organised a local Auxiliary
( H. Laurence, Hon . Se retary) . Sir Richard MacDonnell, who
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 467
withal was a religious character; repeatedly presided at the
meetings of this Society and occasionally gave, as for instance
on 1st February, 1869, a powerful address in support of its aims.
On the other hand, the Bishop, though in friendly relations
with Sir Richard, did not shrink from passing the very next
day (February 2 , 1869 ) the strongest public condemnation on
the Governor's system of licensing gaming houses and on the
provisions of his Contagious Diseases Ordinance. The principal
relic of Bishop Alford's work in the Colony is St. Peter's
Church. At the suggestion of one of the Trustees of Sailors'
Home (Captain Thomsett), weekly services for seamen had been
organized at the Home in 1866. Soon after his arrival, Bishop
Alford proposed the erection of a church for seamen, and
secured from the Trustees the grant of a portion of their ground
for the purpose . During a visit to England in 1870 , Bishop
Alford further secured from some Society a donation of £500
and the promise of an annual contribution towards the salary
of a seamen's chaplain. On his return to Hongkong (March,
1871 ), he appealed to the public for subscriptions . The family
of the late Mr. Margesson (lost at sea) donated £ 300, the
Governor made a grant of $2,500 , the community subscribed
liberally, the Trustees of St. John's Cathedral gave a spare
bell, and the building was rapidly pushed on. On 22nd March,
1871 , the foundation stone was laid by Bishop Alford and on
14th January , 1872 , the new church, dedicated to St. Peter,
was opened (in the absence of the Bishop) by the Rev. J.
Piper. Bishop Alford was equally successful in his efforts
to arouse public interest in the improvement of St. John's
Cathedral. The Hon . F. Parry donated a peal of bells which
were rung for the first time on the new-year's eve of 31st
December, 1869. By a public subscription, yielding $3,500 and
forthwith doubled by the Government, Bishop Alford secured
also the erection of a new chancel (November 29, 1870), which
was enriched by the erection of a memorial window by the
executors of the late Douglas Lapraik. But the tower of St.
John's Cathedral was left as before waiting for its spire. Sir
468 CHAPTER XIX.
Richard made, shortly before he left the Colony, an order
(February, 1872) to the effect that no fees whatever should be-
charged for any ecclesiastical service connected with St. John's
Cathedral.
The principal events of the social life of this period were the
festivities connected with the visit to Hongkong of H.R.H.
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and particularly the opening
of the new City Hall, the foundation stone of which had been
laid on 23rd February, 1867, by Sir R. MacDonnell. For weeks,
preparations had been made for the Duke's reception , on the basis
of a programme devised by Sir Richard and published in the
Government Gazette. From the moment when H.M.S. Galatea
arrived (October 31 , 1869 ) with the Duke on board, until 16th
November, when he finally left the Colony, Hongkong society,
both foreign and Chinese, was revelling in incessant festivities.
Immediately on his arrival, the Duke landed privately and dined
at Government House with the Governor and Admiral Keppel,
his former chief. Next evening he privately attended a dinner
given by the Hon . W. Keswick at the mansion of Jardine.
Matheson & Co., and then inspected incognito the illuminations,
fire works and dragon processions, which kept the whole town in
a blaze of light till the early morning . On 2nd November, three
hours before the time fixed for the official landing of the Duke..
Admiral the Hon . Sir H. Keppel , K.C.B., whom the Colony had
honoured with a farewell-banquet as the embodiment of the
true British policy in China, having to leave for England, came
down at 8 a.m. to embark at Murray Pier, when, to his surprise,
he found there a barge manned by the officers of the Galatea who
rowed him to the mail steamer, the Duke himself at the stroke
oar and Commodore Oliver J. Jones acting as coxswain. At 11
a.m. the Duke landed with due ceremony at Pedder's Wharf¸
attended by Sir H. Kellett and his two equerries. Sir Richard.
having formally bid him welcome, conducted him in great
state to the City Hall which the Duke opened and inspected.
Some 300 gentlemen were then introduced to the Duke, who
graciously replied also to four addresses presented to him, viz. by
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 469
Mr. Th. Pyke for the general community, by Mr. D. Ruttunjee
for the Parsee merchants, and by Chinese deputies of the native
merchants and Government schoolmasters, whose gorgeous uni-
forms and elaborate kotou's gave to the scene a picturesque Oriental
colouring. In the evening the Duke was present at a banquet
given at Government House and followed by a reception held by
Lady MacDonnell. On 3rd November, the Duke drove out with
the Governor to the Happy Valley, and attended in the evening
the first performances given , at the new City Hall Theatre, by
the Amateur Dramatic Corps and by the members of the German
Club Concordia. A grand ball held next day at the City Hall,
and a magnificent performance given, on the following day, by
Chinese actors at the Tunghing theatre and followed by a Chinese
dinner, concluded the first part of the programme. Whilst the Duke
paid a visit to Canton and Macao, by means of the river-steamer
Kinshan which the H. C. & M. Steamboat Company had placed
at his disposal, the Chinese festivities and dragon processions
continued in Hongkong. After his return (9th November) , the
Duke visited Major- General Whitfield who was laid up with
sickness, dined with Colonel Milles and the officers of the 75th
Regiment and subsequently with Commodore Jones. He further
attended two more banquets and public receptions at Government
House, received two additional addresses (by the clergy and the
masters of the mercantile marine) , attended a cricket match, took
part in a game at bowls at the Oriental Bowling Alley, acted
as conductor of the orchestra at a theatrical performance given
by the officers of the Galatea in the City Hall Theatre,
entertained the Governor and Lady MacDonnell on board his
ship, and finally laid, immediately before his departure, the
first stone of the new chancel of St. John's Cathedral (November,
16th). The Duke's courtesy and gracious bearing on every
occasion won for him the greatest popularity, whilst the success
which attended all the festivities given in his honour was a
source of much pride and pleasure to the whole community.
Among the many signs of healthy social life and progress
manifested during this period stands out prominently the
470 CHAPTER XIX.
formation (November 12, 1867) of the Association for securing
parliamentary influence on behalf of the Colony. It was hoped
that relief might by this means, rather than by appeals to the
Colonial Office, be obtained for the most pressing grievances.
under which the community laboured . Mr. A. P. Sinnett acted
as secretary for the society until July, 1868. On 23rd Decem-
ber, 1867 , a meeting of the Association adopted a Memorial-
to be presented to the House of Commons. It was a forcible
protest against the levy of the Military Contribution . During the
following year the influence of the Association was strengthened
by the formation in London (April, 1868) of a corresponding
Association of former colonists, and the Hongkong Association
received some recognition by a Committee of the Legislative
Council, consulting the Association in the matter of the Building.
Ordinance then under discussion . However, the Petition to
the House of Commons fell to the ground owing to the inaction
of the London branch of the Association . Moreover, the action
of the local Association was paralysed for the time (July 8,
1869) by internal dissensions as to the question whether the
scope of the Association was confined to local grievances or
included the general tenor of British policy in China and Japan .
Another semi-political but less aspiring association was that
formed by Mr. W. N. Middleton, and supported by other talented
local artists (Mr. J. B. Coughtrie and Mr. E. Beart), who
humorously but most effectively criticized and caricatured, to
the intense amusement of the community, local politics and
manners, celebrities and oddities, by means of the China Punch,
published at irregular intervals from 28th May, 1867 , until
28th May, 1868. In the Public Gardens, where the Parsee
community erected a handsome Bandstand, great improvements
were made by the new Curator (Ch . Ford) and public interest
was enlisted for the time in the management of the Gardens
(January 19, 1872 ) by withdrawing the Gardens and Afforestation
Department from the supervision of the Surveyor General and
placing it under a representative Advisory Committee . The re-
opening of the Seamen's Hospital which Jardine, Matheson & Co.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 471
(May, 1866) had rebuilt at a cost of $30,000 , the transformation of
the old Victoria Library and Reading Rooms into a Club (August
15 , 1871 ) thenceforth known as Victoria Club, and the short-lived
attempt to establish a public refuge for the destitute and for
discharged prisoners (May, 1871 ) , were also indications of a
healthy public spirit. On the other hand, the collapse of the
Volunteer Corps, which had to be disbanded (June 1 , 1866 )
owing to the non-attendance of its members, has also to be
recorded, but had perhaps a deeper source in the commercial
crisis which just then paralysed local activities.
The establishment of a Swimming Bath (June, 1866) , of
ocean yacht races (December, 1868 ) and of bicycle races
(February 15 , 1870) , provided new incentives an1 facilities for
public recreation . Complaints were made at the Wongnaichung
races of March, 1869, that the Americans present forsook the
Grand Stand for the superior attractions of a private shed
belonging to the leading American firms (Russell & Co. and
A. Heard & Co.). But harmony was soon restored. On
28th February, 1870 , an address signed by the entire community
was presented to Admiral Rowan in command of the U. S.
Asiatic Squadron, to express the sympathy universally felt in the
Colony with the sufferers from the shipwreck of the U. S.
Corvette Oneida in the gulf of Yeddo, caused by collision with
the P. & O. S. S. Bombay on 24th January, 1870. The departure
of the U. S. flagship Delaware (June 19, 1870), the officers
of which had been general favourites in local society, was much
regretted. The anniversary of Washington's birthday was
celebrated (March, 1871 ) by the whole foreign community as the
guests of the officers of the U. S. S. Colorado who enlivened
their entertainment by an improvised regatta .
The German community was, in 1870 and 1871 , much
exercised by the successive events of the Franco-German war.
Large sums were collected in Hongkong and forwarded for the
relief of the sick and wounded of both belligerents. At one
single concert ( December, 1870) a sum of $2,000 was raised .
The China Mail was for some time ostracized by the German
472 CHAPTER ΧΙΧ.
residents who saw unfairness in the unfriendly criticisms which
the editor passed on the measures taken by Germany after the
battle of Sedan . The restoration of peace was celebrated (March,
1871 ) by a public banquet. In November, 1871 , the German
Club raised, by a concert, a considerable sum in aid of the relief
fund which was organized in Hongkong as soon as the news
of the great conflagration at Chicago was received. The new
building erected for the German Club in Wyndham Street, a
fine structure of Gothic design, was opened on 2nd February,
1872. About the same time, a collection was organized for
the foundation of a new library at Strassburg (February 8,
1872) and a considerable number of Chinese works, including
some rare manuscripts from Formosa, were secured for the
new library.
Among the minor events of the social life of this period
may be chronicled the dedication of the new Masonic Hall
(December 27, 1865), a public farewell dinner given to Dr.
Kane (May, 1867), the opening of the new Hongkong Hotel
building (February 29, 1868 ) , the arrival of the Austro-
Hungarian expedition under Admiral Baron Petz, with Professor
Scherzer (June, 1869 ) , the public dinner given to Commodore
Jones (April, 1870), the arrival of Mr. George Francis Train
( September 3, 1870) , a series of public lectures given by Dr.
Legge on Confucianism and by Dr. Eitel on Buddhism ( Decem-
ber, 1870 to February, 1871 ), the celebration of Beethoven's
centenary by a concert given in the City Hall ( December 20,
1870 ) , the arrival of the Hon . Mrs. Yelverton (Lady Avanmore)
from San Francisco ( September 15, 1871 ) , and a public lecture
on Knox by Dr. Legge ( December, 1871 ).
Fifteen different countries were by this time represented
in Hongkong by officially recognized Consuls, viz .: Austria by
G. von Overbeck (March 19, 1867 ) ; Belgium by H. Nicaise
(August 29 , 1871 ) ; Denmark, Sweden and Norway by G. J.
Helland (December 26 , 1865 ) ; France by H. du Chesne (January
14, 1865) ; Germany by A. Eimbke (August 7 , 1869) ; Italy and
Hawaii by W. Keswick (April 28, 1868, and April 10, 1869) ;
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 473
the Netherlands by L. Beyer (June 4, 1870) ; Portugal by J. J.
dos Remedios (January 19 , 1872) ; Russia by J. Heard (April 16,
1862) ; Siam by J. Fraser (May 26 , 1868) ; Spain by F. Ortuño
(February 11 , 1867 ) ; the United States by Lieutenant-Colonel
Goulding, succeeded by D) . H. Bailey ( October 21 , 1870) .
As regards public calamities, the period of Sir Richard's
administration is characterized by an extraordinary frequency
of serious typhoons . On 30th June, 1865, a typhoon, which
did comparatively little damage in the Colony, engulfed two
Hongkong steamers, Corea and Chanticleer, which had left Swatow
on that day for Hongkong in company and disappeared , leaving
no trace behind. The edge of a typhoon touched Hongkong on
7th July, 1866, and did considerable damage. During the next
year ( 1867 ), three successive typhoons ( 8th August, 8th September,
and 1st October) caused serious disasters both ashore and afloat,
particularly the first of them, by which four large vessels in
harbour were driven on shore, two sunk, and innumerable junks
wrecked. On 26th September, 1870, great damage to life and
property was occasioned by a typhoon, the Praya Wall was
broken up in places, the S.S. Walter and a yacht were sunk,
and on board the junks whose wrecks covered the Praya hundreds
of lives were lost . The same scenes were enacted on 2nd Septem-
ber, 1871 , when, beside the injuries caused to houses in town,
many vessels in harbour were damaged or stranded, and the
French barque Nancy and the German barque Hans became
total wrecks. Few conflagrations occurred during this period,
but one of them (November 28, 1867 ) was of extraordinary
magnitude, as nearly 500 houses were destroyed. The year
(1867) in which this disaster occurred, and which is also marked
by the occurrence of three serious typhoons, is further distin-
guished by a gunpowder explosion and by two serious landslips .
On 17th January, 1867. the barque Themis was lying near
Stonecutters' Island alongside the powder-hulk Zephyr, which had
200,000 pounds of gunpowder on board, and a gang of coolies was
at work moving barrels of powder, when suddenly an explosion
occurred which blew both vessels to pieces, caused the death
474 CHAPTER XIX..
of some forty persons, and shook most houses in town. In the
month of October, two landslips took place, one destroying the
gas mains at Westpoint and leaving the whole Colony in
darkness for one night, while the other converted a row of
eight Chinese houses at Taipingshan into a heap of ruins,
involving also the loss of some lives, whereupon a jury blamed
the Surveyor General for not having foreseen the accident .
On 8th May, 1870, the singular spectacle occurred of a vessel,
the Dunmail, sailing into harbour and being wrecked in the
act of anchoring within a few hundred yards from the Docks,
on the rocks near Hunghom.
The obituary of this period is particularly distinguished
by the death. at Headquarter House, of Mrs. Brunker (July 1 ,
1868) and Major- General Brunker (March 23 , 1869 ) , and further
includes the names of Mrs. Sinale (October, 1868 ) , Assistant
Surveyor-General Clark (October, 1868 ) , Mr. Margesson (July,
1869) ; G. J. Barber, R.N. (December 28, 1869), Dr. A Cochran
(March 7 , 1870) , H. P. Austin (September 14, 1870 ) , Mrs.
Kresser (September, 1870 ) , Captain J. B. Endicott (November
6, 1870), Th . Donaldson (November, 1870) , J. Donoval, Elec-
trician of the Telegraph Company (February 9, 1871 ) , F. T.
Hazeland, Crown Solicitor ( February 21 , 1871 ) , Bishop Smith ,
who died in England (December 14, 1871 ) , and Mrs. Hugh
Hughes (January 5 , 1872 ) .
By the time when Sir Richard's term of administration
came to an end, in April 1872 , the whole community of
Hongkong sincerely regretted his departure. Besides a farewell-
dinner given in his honour by the members of the Civil Service
(April 5 ), the foreign community gave him a magnificent banquet
(April 9 ) , and the Chinese merchants presented a graudiloquent
but genuine laudatory address (April 11 ) together with a
Memorial against the coolie trade. Sir Richard left the Colony
on 11th April, 1872 , by French mail-steamer, having for his
fellow-passengers the Portuguese Governor of Macao and the
Spanish Governor-General of the Philippine Islands. After his
return to England, he retired from the service, occupied himself
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL . 475
for some years with various literary studies and died on 5th
February, 1881 .
That Sir R. MacDonnell had understood the real position
and needs of the Colony better than most of its Governors,
appears clearly from the following extracts taken from one of his
published dispatches (October 29 , 1867 ) . The circumstances
of the Colony of Hongkong are so entirely exceptional and
peculiar, that it is difficult for the Executive to derive from the
experience of other Colonies, or the precedents established by
the practice and traditions of Europe, any adequate system for
its government and legislation...I would advocate the policy of
leaving the Colony as far as possible the liberty to expend, on
local improvements and works, all the available public income
that can be raised from the community for these purposes,
because the prestige and the preference given to it, as a depot,
depends greatly on the advantages, as a residence and as a
convenient depot , which it may continue to offer... I should
gladly see more activity in making sanitary improvements and
in rendering the loading and discharge of vessels more easy and
less expensive than at present.'
The general feeling of the community, at the time of Sir
Richard's final departure, was -that he was an emphatically
sincere and, though a stern character, by no means an acrid man ;
that he was an able ruler, one of the most able, if not the best,
of Hongkong's Governors ; that he failed to please everybody.
because he, on principle, strove to do only what he himself
thought best in the interests of the Colony, without fear or favour
of any man ; that he improved the police , the roads and the water-
works of the Colony ; that he was not only careful in the man-
agement of the Colonial finances but established prosperity in
place of positive insolvency ; that he succeeded where every
preceding Governor had failed, viz., in suppressing the local
haunts and resources of piracy ; that he knew how to govern the
Chinese and gave them their proper subordinate place ; that the
best and most popular trait of his administration was the true
English jealousy with which he guarded the honour and position
476 CHAPTER XIX.
of the Colony, the freedom of the port and its tradal interests,
against Hongkong's enemies, both Chinese and British. In short,
the verdict of the community on the value of Sir R. MacDonnell's
administration may be summed up in the words of Shakespeare :
Here goes a Caesar ! When comes such an other ?·
CHAPTER XX .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR ARTHUR E. KENNEDY.
April 16, 1872, to March 1, 1877.
IR Arthur E. Kennedy, K.C.M.G. , C.B., who had previously
S¹
acted as Governor of several Colonial Possessions (West-
const of Africa, Western Australia, Vancouver's Island, and
West African Settlements) , arrived in Hongkong, as Governor
and Commander-in-chief of the Colony and its Dependencies,
on 16th April, 1872. During his tenure of office, Sir Arthur
was absent from the Colony but twice. On 15th October, 1874,
he left for England but, hearing in Singapore of Lady Kennedy's
death, he immediately returned to Hongkong (November 5,
1874) . Again, on 11th March, 1875, Sir Arthur left the Colony
on furlough and returned on 2nd December, 1875. On both
occasions the Government was administered during his absence
by the Colonial Secretary, the Hon. J. Gardiner Austin .
When Sir Arthur was sworn in as Governor and Commander-
in- chief, an error was made in the oath tendered to him by the
Acting Chief Justice ( H. J. Ball ) and consequently he had to
be sworn in again as to the part in which the wrong oath had
before been administered. Major-General Whitfield, who had
administered the Government previous to Sir Arthur's arrival,
remained in command of Her Majesty's Forces in China and
the Straits until April 1874. A public address was presented
to him, on his departure from the Colony, testifying to the
respect in which he was held among the community, on
account of the conscientiousness and the unassuming geniality
he displayed in the discharge of his several offices.
Sir A. Kennedy had hardly anything to do in the way of
diplomatic negotiations with foreign Governments, but a great
478 CHAPTER XX.
deal by way of hospitable entertainment of the representatives of
foreign Powers. The only diplomatic note the Governor was
called upon to write was a mild remonstrance addressed to the
Governor of Macao when Mr. W. H. Forbes' yacht had been fired
upon (April 27 , 1876 ) by Portuguese soldiers . The Macao Govern-
ment forthwith tendered a satisfactory apology. Another Macao
Governor, Senhor C. C. da Silva, visited Hongkong (December
29, 1876) and received quite an ovation from the local Portuguese
residents and the friendliest reception from the Governor.
As regards the Imperial Government of China, Sir Arthur
was indeed for many years occupied with an international diplo-
matic question, in the shape of the Hongkong Customs Blockade,
but he discussed it exclusively with the Colonial Office in Downing
Street and not with the Authorities at Peking. The Governor's
communications with Chinese officials were therefore confined
to visits he received from the Canton Hoppo, Tsun Kai (August
11 , 1876 ) and from Kwoh Sung- tao (December 6, 1876 ) , China's
first Ambassador to London, and to the publication in the
Government Gazette (May 24, 1872 ) of a Dispatch from the
Tsungli Yamen at Peking to the Viceroy of Canton, requesting
the latter to order the issue of proclamations calling upon the
Chinese people to treat foreigners with politeness because it was
necessary for China that the friendly relations with foreigners
should be firmly and closely knit. When the Emperor of China,
reigning under the style Tungchi, died of smallpox (January 12,
1875 ) and was succeeded by the infant Tsai Tien , placed under
a regency formed by the two Empresses under the style Kwongsui
(February 23, 1875 ) , Sir Arthur took no official notice of either
of these events, although H. M. Minister at Peking sent him
telegraphic information on both occasions. The Chinese popu-
lation of Hongkong likewise evinced no interest whatever in
those events, although they consider themselves to be still subjects
of the Empire of China, whilst enjoying in Hongkong all the
essential privileges of British subjects .
Among the representatives of foreign Powers to whom Sir
Arthur had the honour of shewing hospitality on behalf of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 479
Colony, there was the King of Cambodja, who arrived (July 16 ,
1872 ) in the French Corvette Bourayne and was entertained by
the Governor with royal honours. There was further H.I.H.
the Grand Duke Alexis, third son of the Czar, who arrived
(September 13, 1872) as an officer of the Russian Corvette
Svetlana. He held a levée on board (September 16 , 1872 ) ,
followed by a reception given in his honour, on the same evening,
at Government House. After a visit to Japan, he returned
to Hongkong (January 15, 1873) and attended various enter-
tainments given in his honour, visiting also the race- course on
every race day ( 20th to 22nd February, 1873 ) . Finally there
were two German Princes, Philip and Augustus of Sachse- Coburg
Gotha, cousins of Her Majesty, who stayed at Government
House for some days ( 21st to 25th December, 1872) en route
to Shanghai.
The constitution of the Colonial Government was amended
during Sir Arthur's administration by the issue of Letters Patent
(June 8, 1875 ) granting a Supplementary Charter, by which
the administration of the Government, in the case of the
Governor's death, incapacity or absence, was vested in the
Lieutenant-Governor or Colonial Secretary for the time being.
The same document enlarged also the Governor's power of
granting pardons to criminals.
Sir Arthur continued the work of his predecessors in
perfecting the organisation of the various Departments of the
Civil Service. In the Colonial Secretary's Department he
amalgamated the office of Auditor General with that of Colonial
Secretary (December 10, 1872 ), a measure against which the
Hon . Ph . Ryrie made a protest in Legislative Council, but ,
as the motion was left unsupported, it fell to the ground .
Sir Arthur created also the post of Assistant Colonial Secretary
(February 10, 1875 ) , appointing Mr. A. Lister to the post,
but when the latter was soon after removed to another office,
this new post was not continued . The Supreme Court organi-
zation was modified during this period ( Ordinance 12 of 1873 ) .
A code of civil procedure was establishel (Ordinance 13 of 1873)
480 CHAPTER XX.
and the Summary Court was abolished by conferring upon the
Supreme Court, under a Judge and Puisne Judge, a summary
jurisdiction at law and in equity (Ordinance 14 of 1873 ) . The
effect of this reconstitution of the Hongkong Supreme Court
was to assimilate it to that which had been established in
Shanghai for British subjects in China and Japan under an
Order in Council. The Registrar General's Department also
underwent some changes. The establishment of a system of
registering all births and deaths (Ordinance 7 of 1872 )
necessitated the addition of a new registration branch, whilst
by another measure (Ordinance 2 of 1876 ) the Registrar General
was divested of the judicial functions he had hitherto exercised
in connection with the working of the Contagious Diseases
Ordinance. But the powers of the Registrar General to order
persons to undergo periodical medical examinations and to be
subsequently detained in hospital were still reserved to that officer.
The Survey Department was not considered to work satisfactorily
for some time previous to the resignation of Mr. L. H. Moorsom
(October 5, 1872), provisionally succeeded by Lieutenant
McHardy, R.E., who was succeeded (July 21 , 1873) by Mr.
J. M. Price, as Surveyor General. This Department was now
enlarged by constituting the Public Gardens and Afforestation
office as a Sub-Department (December 15 , 1873 ) under the
Surveyor General, assisted by that Advisory Committee (thence-
forth known as the Public Gardens Committee) which had
been appointed in January, 1872 , and by the appointment
of an Assistant Surveyor General ( September 9 , 1874) in the
person of Mr. E. Bowdler. The office of the Head of the
Survey Department, the principal spending branch of the Civil
Service, was enhanced in importance by appointing the Surveyor
General (by warrant of 17th February, 1877 ) a member of
both the Legislative and Executive Councils. In the Medical
Department under Dr. R. W. McCoy (since May 30 , 1872 ) ,
succeeded, after his death, by Dr. G. Dods (April 10 , 1873 )
and subsequently by Dr. Ph. Ayres (since November 4, 1873 ) ,
there was at first some friction which culminated in the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 481
resignation (September 6, 1872 ) of the Superintendent of the
Civil Hospital, Dr. R. Young, whose place was temporarily
taken by Dr. Scanlan and Dr. Drew and permanently ( February
22 , 1873 ) by Dr. C. J. Wharry. When the Hon. Ph . Ryrie
asked, according to previous notice, a question in Legislative
Council concerning that resignation, the reasons for which had
been stated in a pamphlet circulated by Dr. Young among
his friends in the Colony, the question was ruled out of order
on the ground that it was not within the functions of the
Legislative Council to constitute itself a Court of Appeal. To
encourage and direct the study of the Chinese Language on
the part of Government officers, Sir Arthur established (in 1872 )
a Board of Examiners, charged with the duty of examining
Government officers drawing Chinese teachers ' allowance, and
issuing certificates of proficiency in Chinese Colloquial to
European or Indian police constables. Sir Arthur connected
also with this Board an office of Superintendent of Chinese
Studies ( A. Lister, succeeded by E. J. Eitel) , but the names of
the members of this Board ( F. Stewart, E. J. Eitel, J. Kussell,
Wong Shing, A. Lister) were not published till four years after
its establishment (March 17, 1876). At the suggestion of
this Board, proper Chinese titles were fixed for all the various
Government offices and buildings and published in Government
Gazette (December 28, 1874) , and the Regulations for Cadetships
were also revised (September 3 , 1872 ) . Even questions of
precedence and etiquette occupied the Governor's attention.
occasionally and it was formally decided that the Commodore
on the Station should take precedence next after the Chief
Justice (September 3, 1872) , the Puisne Judge immediately
after the Colonial Secretary (October 10, 1873), and that
official Members of Council only are entitled to wear the civil
uniform (April 16 , 1873 ) .
The constitution of the Legislative Council was not modified
by this administration , during which the unofficial element in
the Council was represented by the Hon . Ph. Ryrie, R. Rowett ,
W. Keswick, H. Lowcock, J. Greig and J. Whittall, of whom,
31
482 CHAPTER XX.
however, no more than three officiated at any one time. The
Governor amended, however, the standing orders and rules for
the guidance of the Council (July 2, 1873 ), which had not been
revised since 12th July, 1858. An important rule was also
made, in connection with a protest which the Hon . Ph. Ryrie
had made (August 26, 1873), complaining of the short time
allowed to Members of Council to consider the Estimates before
they were to be discussed in Council, when it was stated (April
16 , 1874 ) , that the Secretary of State had acknowledged that
protest as reasonable.
One of the features of this administration was the attention
bestowed on legislative measures. Among the many new Or-
dinances passed during this period, the following deserve special
mention, as dealing with Relief for Trustees ( 7 of 1873) ,
Dangerous Goods (8 of 1873 ) , Emigration (5 of 1874 and 5
of 1876 ) , Steam Launches ( 8 of 1875), Rates ( 12 of 1875 ) ,
Magistrates (16 of 1875), Contagious Diseases (2 of 1876 ) ,
Gambling ( 9 of 1876 ) , Post Office (10 of 1876 ) and River-
Steamers ( 11 of 1876 ) . But whilst thus multiplying legislative
enactments, Sir Arthur aimed also at reducing the chaos of local
Ordinances by several efforts at consolidation and especially by
the appointment of a Commission ( September 11 , 1876 ) for
the purpose of preparing a new edition of the Ordinances of
Hongkong.
In this quiet legislative activity the unofficial Members of
Council, though generally in a minority, took an active share.
In June 1873 , the Chief Justice, Mr. (subsequently, since March
17 , 1874 , Sir ) John Smale, having appointed the Judge of the
Summary Court, who was in feeble health, to try some criminal
cases, the unofficial Members of Council, together with other
leading residents and lawyers, addressed to the Governor a request
that the power of appointing persons to preside at the Supreme
Court should be taken out of the hands of the Chief Justice
and placed in the hands of the Governor. This was accordingly
done in connection with the reconstitution of the Supreme Court,
which was then under consideration. On 19th August, 1873,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR À. E. KENNEDY. 483
the Hon. R. Rowett , supported by the Hon. Ph. Ryrie, and by
a letter (August 7 , 1873 ) signed by various merchants and
bankers, moved, that for the convenience and in the interest of
the public, it was desirable that all Barristers at Law, admitted to
practise as Advocates of the Supreme Court in this Colony, should
be permitted to take business from clients personally without
the intervention of attornies in all cases except those in which
litigation has actually commenced in the Supreme Court. The
Attorney General, however, supported by the Hon. J. Whittall
and all the official Members of Council, objected to this revival
of the old amalgamation question . Accordingly a compromise
was resorted to in the shape of Ordinance 15 of 1873 (confirmed
January 31 , 1874) , which slightly modified the existing practice
but did not go far enough to satisfy the community. In
November 1873, the Coroner took to selecting three out of five
jurors instead of leaving the selection to be decided by ballot.
This measure caused the burden of Coroner's juries to fall on the
more intelligent portion of them. The unofficial Members of
Council took the matter up and in consequence of their represen-
tations (made privately) the ballot was thenceforth resorted to,
but doubts were freely and generally expressed as to the utility of
Coroner's juries altogether. There is yet another case on record
in which the influence of unofficial Members of Council mani-
fested itself. On 22nd April, 1876 , a Bill, to allow the China
'Traders' Insurance Company to subdivide its shares, was under
the discussion of the Council. The three unofficial Members
(Ryrie, Keswick and Lowcock) strongly objected to the principle
of the Bill . But the Bill was passed and all they could do
was to lodge a formal protest against the confirmation of this
Ordinance (4 of 1876) . The result was that the Secretary of
State disallowed the Ordinance (July 25, 1876) on the ground
that it would be better that any measure dealing with the
question of subdivision of shares should have a general application .
As the Secretary of State, however, approved of the general
principle of the Ordinance which he disallowed, the Legislative
Council (September 21 , 1876) substituted for it an amendment
484 CHAPTER XX.
of the Companies' Ordinance of 1865 by introducing into it the
principle of allowing subdivision of shares. But now the Chief
Justice joined with the unofficial Members in their opposition to
the Bill, and it was accordingly withdrawn by the Government .
Among the cases tried in Court, during the period under
review, there are a few which call for record. On 4th April,
1872, the French mail-steamer Ava, having collided with the
British S.S. Rona, was detained under a warrant, issued by the
Registrar of the Vice-Admiralty Court, and executed by an armed
detachment of police. The French Consul forthwith protested
against the arrest, which he declared to be a violation of the
Postal Treaty concluded between Great Britain and France.
The matter was brought before the Acting Chief Justice Ball
who heard the case at his own residence at 9 o'clock at night
and ordered the warrant to be cancelled. The following year,
when the same ship was sued for damages caused by collision,
the Admiralty Court ( February, 1873) decided that the ship
was not amenable to the jurisdiction of the Court, because she
had the status of a man-of-war. Previous to this case, the
local Agents of the French mail-steamers had always waived
their privileges as mail-steamers under such circumstances. In
October, 1872 , the Judge of the Summary Court refused to
allow the managing Clerks of Solicitors to plead, although it
had been the practice of the Court for over six years, and refused
to give leave to appeal. Application was made to the Supreme
Court, when the Acting Chief Justice, the Hon. (subsequently
Sir) Julian Pauncefote, who had lately been appointed to the
post by order of the Secretary of State (October 7 , 1872 ) , refused
to grant a formal judgment but expressed an opinion adverse
to the ruling of the Court below. About the same time the
French Consul (October, 1872 ) charged the Superintendent of
Sailors' Home, in the Police Court, with harbouring deserters.
The case was dismissed by the Magistrate, but it called attention
to the fact that the Government claims a right to prohibit
the commanders of foreign vessels, whilst in Hongkong waters,
from putting men in irons for breaches of ship's discipline .
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 485
In November, 1874, the question was raised, in connection
with the finding of the Marine Court in the case of the
S.S. White Cloud, lost in the typhoon of 1874 by negligence
of the Master, whether the Governor has power to alter or
add to the finding of the Marine Court of Inquiry. No decision
was however obtained to solve the question.
Turning now to the subject of the local population, it
appears that, during the first year of Sir Arthur's administration,
there was a slight falling off, as the population of Hongkong
decreased, from 124,198 people in 1871 , to 121,985 people in
1872. During the next four years, however, the population
increased by 17,159 people, as the Census of 1876 proved the
population to amount to 139,144 souls. It is noteworthy that
the foreign population received proportionately the greatest
increase, as, after the typhoon of 1874, which destroyed so many
houses at Macao, hundreds of Portuguese families removed from
Macao to Hongkong.
The revenues of the Colony did not advance during this
period. The revenue of 1872 rose indeed to £ 192,714, constitu-
ting an increase of £ 16,752 as compared with the revenue of the
preceding year, but during the following years it fell off again
and amounted in 1876 to no more than £ 184,405 . Nor did
the expenditure vary much from year to year, that of 1871 being
£ 186,675, while that of 1876 amounted to £ 187,569 . In fact
a small deficit in any one year was succeeded during this
administration by a small surplus in the next year. The same
sluggishness is observed in the annual produce of the stamp tax
and of rates, the former decreasing from £ 24,574 in 1872 to
£21,634 in 1876, and the latter increasing from £ 38,002 in 1872,
Lo no more than £38,439 in 1876. Special pains were taken by
Sir Arthur to stimulate the revenue from opium. He appointed
(June 8, 1872 ) a Commission (Ph. Ryrie and Ch. May) to
inquire into the working of the opium monopoly, because there
was very good reason to suppose that the amount received from
this farm was far short of what it ought to have realized . The
Commissioners, however, failed to ascertain the real value of the
486 CHAPTER XX.
monopoly, as they could not obtain satisfactory information ; but
they recommended (November 9, 1872) , that the farm should
thenceforth be let by public auction for three years at a time.
This was done, but, owing to combinations among the competitors
for the farm, the opium revenue, which stood at £25,500 in 1872 ,
increased but slightly, as it amounted in 1876 to £ 27,708 . The
same standstill occurred in the yield of the land leases, which
realized £24,602 in 1872 and £ 24,512 in 1876. Land sales
were frequent during this period, and the value of land gradually
increased in the central districts, especially since 1876. But
while the value of land was steadily rising in the most populous
parts of the town, most suburban lots, and especially those in
the neighbourhood of Eastpoint , had become so reduced in value
that many lease-holders could not afford to pay the crown rents
and consequently wholesale re-entries by the Crown took place
from time to time. Land at Kowloon began to rise steadily
into importance since 1874, and by the year 1876 great plans
were entertained for creating a new town, with public park,
churches and schools, at Tsimshatsui. The limitation of Kowloon
garden leaseholds to 14 years (August 9 , 1873) , and of the com-
pensation for lots built upon and then resumed, before expiry
of the lease, for public purposes, at $ 1,000 per lot, caused much
dissatisfaction among the holders of Kowloon garden lots. As
to marine lots, a special Commission (Ch . May, E. Sharp, M. S.
Tonnochy) was appointed (November 1 , 1873) to investigate the
title of all claimants to foreshore reclamations and to define
the boundaries. Eighteen months later another Commission (J.
Bramston, Ch . May, Ph. Ryrie, H. Lowcock, J. M. Price) was
appointed (May 31 , 1875 ) to inquire into complaints made that
crown rents on lands , situated in the less populous parts of the
Colony, were out of proportion to the real value of such lands,
and to investigate the scale of rents properly chargeable. The
report of this Commission (published November 27, 1875 ) stated
that at Wantsai and Bowrington the tenants of the Crown were
suffering from a general depreciation of property, that from 1865
to 1875 rents had fallen there 40 or 50 per cent. , that this
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 487
depreciation was caused by the withdrawal of business houses
from the east, and by their concentration in the central and
western parts of the town , and by the silting up of the harbour
to the eastward. But, owing to the great and constant fluctua-
tion of Colonial values, the Commissioners did not see their
way to recommend any general remission of rents either there
or in the case of numerous speculative purchases of land made
on Robinson Road and other high levels .
With the exception of the completion of the works con-
nected with the Pokfulam reservoir and dam ( commenced in
1871 ) , the new Harbour Master's Office ( 1872 ) and the new
Civil Hospital (commenced in 1874) , no public works of any
magnitude were undertaken during this administration. Sir
Arthur had under consideration two great projects , the Taitam
Reservoir and the re-construction of the Praya, both of which
he left to his successors to undertake. On 1st November 1873 ,
the Surveyor General (J. M. Price) proposed to secure, at the
cost of £300,000 , an efficient supply of water ( 18 to 30 gallons
per head) to be brought into the city by an aqueduct (with a
tunnel) from a large reservoir to be constructed at Taitam . As
objections were raised to the costliness of this plan, a reduced
scheme was proposed (March 4, 1874) to supply daily 15 gallons
per head at a cost of £230,000 . This reduced plan was con-
sidered in Legislative Council (March 5, 1874 ) , when a sum of
$5,000 was voted to make a detailed survey and borings which
were entrusted to Mr. W. Danby. On the basis of this survey,
Mr. Price proposed a new plan (July 10, 1875 ) , consisting of
an alternative scheme, viz. a high level project to cost £39,085 ,
and a low level project at an estimated cost of £ 122,596 . But
nothing further was done in this matter for the present. Another
great undertaking, the proposal to substitute a new and more
durable Praya wall for the one destroyed by the typhoon of 1874,
was reported upon (May 20, 1875) by a Commission (C. C.
Smith, Ch. May, Ph. Ryrie, H. Lowcock, J. M. Price), which
recommended that the Government should, at an outlay of
$212,000, build a new and stronger wall from White's Lane
488 CHAPTER XX.
(near Fire Brigade Station) to Murray Pier, repair the old wall
from the Gasworks to White's Lane and from the Arsenal to
East Point, but increase the width of the Praya all along. This
work was also left to the next administration to consider. But
the minor typhoon repairs were executed in 1874 and 1875 at
a total cost of £ 15,625.
As regards crime, the annual Police Reports of this period
give proof positive that from 1872 down to 1875 (inclusive)
there was a steady annual decrease in crime, and especially
as regards burglaries and piracies. It is specially pointed out
that, since the cessation of coolie emigration from Macao ( 1874),
even kidnapping diminished sensibly. But in the year 1876 crime
commenced again to increase slightly, and piracies began to
multiply. A change in the law was suggested so as to bring
marine hawkers under it, and the transfer, from the Registrar
General's office to the Police Department, of the licensing of
hawkers and chair-coolies, was also suggested. At the criminal
session of 18th January, 1877, the Chief Justice was presented
with a pair of white gloves, emblem of a session, the first since
1866, free from crime . On this occasion the Chief Justice
stated that during the past ten years crime had wonderfully
decreased ; that in 1866 there were 384 persons convicted of
highway robbery, and in 1876 only 24 ; that in 1866 there
were 24 murders and in 1876 only 3 ; that in 1866 there
were 26 piracies and in 1876 only 5.
The Gaol Department, which (since August 4, 1863) was
for so many years under the management of Mr. F. Douglas,
was, after the death of the latter, entrusted (June 8, 1874)
to Mr. M. S. Tonnochy and subsequently (March 11 , 1875 ) to
Mr. G. L. Tomlin . Now in 1872 there was re-introduced Sir R.
MacDonnell's system of legalizing the branding and deportation
to China of Chinese criminals, on their applying for conditional
pardons with the understanding that if they returned to Hong-
kong, after being branded and deported , they should be flogged.
The new Ordinance (4 of 1872) stated in its preamble that
crime had been found to increase after the discontinuance of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 489
practice of branding, deporting, and flogging (on return to the
Colony) . At the same time when this Ordinance became law,
the rules and regulations of the Gaol were made more severe
(September, 1872 ) . It is noteworthy that the above-mentioned
steady decrease in crime from 1872 to 1876 commenced when
severer measures, calculated to make prison discipline strongly
deterrent, were introduced. It is only to be regretted that
another measure, largely discussed in December, 1874, was not
attended to, viz. the segregation in Gaol of youthful offenders.
It was urged at the time that influences of hardened professional
criminals on youthful offenders was greater in China than in
Europe.
The condition and proper organization of the Police Force
had been a burning public question even before Sir A. Kennedy's
arrival . The Commission appointed ( December 22 , 1871 ) by Sir
R. McDonnell, advised Sir A. Kennedy in their report (July,
1872 ) , to increase the pay of the men, to form a detective staff,
and to give due encouragement to European and Indian constables
to study the Cantonese dialect, but as to the question of largely
increasing the number of Chinese constables, the members of the
Commission were equally divided . Sir Arthur at once telegraphed
(August, 1872 ) for an additional relay of Edinburgh constables
and altogether 45 Scotch policemen were enlisted in 1872. No
attention was paid to the strange suggestion, made by the
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr. Th. F. Rice (who soon
after resigned, 30th September, 1872 , and joined the Japanese
Police Department) , to fuse all nationalities in the Police Force,
even if such a measure should occasionally place Westindians
or Chinese in command of Europeans. The Governor resolved,
contrary to the views of unofficial Members of Council, to increase
the Chinese contingent of the Police Force, and when the Hon.
Ph. Ryrie protested against this measure ( September 5 , 1872) ,
the Governor took the occasion to state that he was satisfied
with the general results of the Police administration and con-
tended that the Colony was in as good a condition of peace and
order as any of Her Majesty's dominions. After the resignation
490 CHAPTER XX.
of Mr. Rice, the office of Assistant Superintendent was abolished
and replaced ( 1873 ) by the post of Chief Inspector (G. Horspool)
who acted under the orders of the Deputy Superintendent (C. V.
Creagh) and Captain Superintendent (W. M. Deane), whilst the
Chinese portion of the Force was placed (January 14, 1873)
under a special Superintendent (H. E. Wodehouse) . The action
taken by Captain Deane during the height of the typhoon of
1874, in keeping those of the men, who were to go on duty next
morning, indoors during the night, and in not repeating the
alarm of fire which had been raised, aroused a strong feeling
among a section of the community. A petition for an inquiry
was addressed to the Governor, and when he refused the request ,
the three unofficial Members of Council (Ph. Ryrie, R. Rowett,
and J. Whittall) went so far as to protest at the next Estimates
Meeting (November 13, 1874) against any provision being made
in the Estimates for the salary of the Captain Superintendent .
Referring to these proceedings, Lord Carnarvon stated in a
dispatch (published in July, 1875) that the action of the
Superintendent constituted a case which only local experience
could decide, and that the Superintendent had evidently adopted,
from the best motives, that course which to him seemed , most
expedient.
The most flourishing corporation in Hongkong, the Hong-
kong and Shanghai Bank, acted like a thermometer indicating
the periodic condition of the commercial atmosphere of Hongkong
throughout Sir Arthur's administration. In February, 1872,
the Bank declared a dividend equal to 12 per cent. for the
year upon the paid up capital, and so also, with a little hesitation,
in February, 1873, but in August, 1874, the Directors declared
themselves unable to pay any dividend at all, and complained
of heavy losses and failures all round, and in March, 1875 ,
the Bank, though carefully managed in the face of adverse
surroundings, was still in the same position, so much so that a
Commission of Inquiry was suggested. But in September, 1876,
the Bank had fully recovered lost ground, changed its Manager,
rid itself of encumbered estates, and paid £ 1 dividend per share,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 491
and on 15th February, 1877 , whilst continuing to pay the same-
dividend, the Bank increased its reserve fund to half a million
dollars, which called forth, in favour of the Chairman of the
Directors (E. Belilios) and the new Manager (Th . Jackson) ,
votes of thanks, with acclamation by the very men who stated
at the time that, 18 months previous, they had thought very
hard things about the prospects of the Bank. The history of
most local mercantile houses, and even of joint-stock enterprises
like the H. & W. Dock Company and the H. C. & M. Steamboat
Company, would be found, if examined, to run parallel with
the experiences of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and to
furnish the same report concerning commercial affairs during
this period, viz. that a change, amounting to a complete
subversion of former conditions, came over the commerce of
Hongkong from 1872 down to the spring of 1876 , when the
general depression had passed its nadir, and commerce began
to emerge out of the gloom that had enveloped it for years.
and to enter upon a sunny period of prosperity under altered
conditions. The collapse of the Indo-Chinese Sugar Company,.
the failure of Norton and Lyall (August 8, 1873) , the liquidation
of the Distillery Company (August 3, 1873) , the closing of the
Pier and Godown Company (September 17 , 1873 ) , the failure-
of Augustine Heard & Co. (April, 1875) , the winding up of
the Victoria Fire Insurance Company (May 25, 1875), form
the most conspicuous milestones of the period of commercial
decline which commenced in 1872, but reigned particularly from
1873 to 1875. The annual amounts of liabilities set forth in
Bankrupts ' Schedules filed in Supreme Court tell the same tale,.
for in the successive years from 1873 to 1876 these amounts were
respectively as follows, in 1873 $ 108,396 , in 1874 $ 121,707 ,
in 1875 $ 1,996,391 , and in 1876 $ 75,676 . The only puzzle is
that in 1872 the respective amount was $ 110,743, which would
indicate that the depression had already commenced in 1872 .
Proceeding now to mention particular questions which
agitated commercial circles during the period under review,
precedence is claimed by the brokers who came largely to the
492 CHAPTER XX.
front all through the year 1872. The system of doing business
through foreign brokers had for many years quietly made its
way, cutting out the Chinese compradors who formerly were the
only medium of settling transactions between foreign houses and
native buyers. Yet, even in 1872 , there were still influential
foreign merchants in Hongkong who saw no need for European
brokers except for bullion and exchange operations, and who
stubbornly adhered to the comprador system. In January, 1872 ,
it was publicly urged that the system of foreign brokers, having
now obtained a recognized footing, should be subjected to
Government control, or that the brokers should themselves
establish an exchange and frame their own regulations. As
nothing was done in the matter, the Chamber of Commerce
(April 25 , 1872) fixed a scale of brokerage charges, but the
brokers, not having been consulted, defiantly resolved to adhere
to their former rates. At last a Bill was framed, which met the
views of the leading foreign brokers, and it was read a first
time in Legislative Council (July 9, 1872) . The Bill was then
referred to a Select Committee (Th . C. Hayllar, H. Lowcock,
J. Greig), published in Government Gazette (July 13, 1872),
and the brokers received an invitation to communicate their
views to the Committee. This Bill proposed to enact a rule
that no person should act as a broker without having obtained
a licence ; that licences, subject to an annual fee, be granted by
the Governor in Council ; that brokers, in taking out a licence,
should file a declaration not to trade, buy or sell, on their own
account, and that any one committing a fraud or acting in con-
travention of that declaration , should be disqualified acting as
broker. Whilst the Bill was under the consideration of the
Committee, the brokers held a meeting (August, 1872 ) , condemned
the Government measure, resolved to incorporate themselves as
a Brokers' Association, and appointed a Committee to frame
by-laws. When the Bill came up in Council for its second
reading, the Select Committee reported that there was a difficulty
in applying the Ordinance to Chinese brokers (who in most of
their transactions are both principals and partners ), that the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 493-
Ordinance was favourably regarded by a majority of bill and
bullion brokers, but that the proposed Ordinance would not affect
exchange brokers in any way, and that therefore the object
of the Government would be better fulfilled by means of an
Association invested with certain powers of regulation over its
members. Legislation was accordingly postponed, in order to
give the brokers time and opportunity to form such an Association,
and the Bill was withdrawn . This was virtually the end of the
whole movement, for the proposed Association was not formed ,
and although a spasmodic effort was made a year later ( December
18, 1873 ) to start an open stock exchange, where shares were
to be sold by public auction, the attempt was a conspicuous
failure.
Another set of questions, which troubled the mind of the
commercial community off and on, from 1872 down to 1876,
was connected with the systematic adulteration of grey shirtings
in England and of tea leaves in China and in England. What , in
the history of British manufactures, is known as the sizing
question, troubled the minds of Hongkong merchants , particularly
since 1872 , under the name of the mildew question , sizing and
mildew being related as cause and effect. During the American
War, the British manufacturers of cotton goods had to use bad
and short-fibred cotton, which required proportionately more
sizing with flour and tallow. But when the Russian War raised
the price of tallow, the practice arose of substituting, for tallow,
the cheaper China clay which increased the weight of the fabrics
considerably. Now to counteract the destructive effects of the
clay on the fibre of the cotton stuffs, it became necessary to use
certain deliquescent salts which, while invisible in the fabrics
before shipment in England, developed mildew whilst in the
hold of steamers in transit through the Suez Canal. But what
irritated Hongkong merchants in the matter was further this,
that, whilst they looked upon this system of sizing as a fraud
practiced by the manufacturers, the advocates of the latter repre-
sented sizing as a practice resorted to by order of British merchants
in China, who asked for cheap and inferior goods , necessarily
494 CHAPTER XX.
requiring more sizing than superior qualities . The use of steam
in the manufacture of the yarns and the imperfect ventilation
of steamers' holds and of godowns in China were also named
as subordinate causes of mildew. Mr. (subsequently Sir) John
Pender, of Manchester, recommended (October 30, 1872 ) a formal
investigation and a Committee, representing both China merchants
and Manchester manufacturers, was appointed to inquire into the
matter with a view to remove all cause of complaint. The
problem was, however, too complicated to admit of a ready
solution . Strange to say, it was also found (February, 1873)
that goods which, on arrival in Hongkong, were found, by official
inspection , to be badly mildewed, condemned and returned to
England, were, on arrival there, when inspected by official
surveyors, found perfectly free of mildew. The mildew had
evidently been developed by the tropical temperature and re-
absorbed on return to a temperate climate. On 27th January,
1873 , the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce resolved to co-operate
with the Shanghai Chamber in making representations to Mr.
Pender's Committee, both Chambers being convinced that the
remedy must be found at Manchester. No tangible solution of
the difficulty was, however, found and it appeared to all concerned ,
that the evil had to be left to work its own cure. Oversizing
and dressing was continued by Lancashire manufacturers with
little abatement, and in consequence Hongkong merchants en-
countered occasionally losses which kept up the irritation , whilst
Chinese buyers began to take up Indian cotton goods in place of
the Manchester fabrics. The same process went on in the tea
trade, especially since 1874, when the import duties on tea were
reduced in England by about one half, and when increased
exports from China were accompanied by increasing complaints
of the admixture of strange leaves and other materials and an
undue proportion of tea dust. It was the mildew question over
again, only in another form. The complaints were the same and
the evidence equally conflicting, the blame being laid by one
party upon the other, by the consumers in England on the retail
dealers, by the retail dealers on the merchants, and by the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 495
merchants on the Chinese packers who in turn blamed all
the others . But the results of this practice of adulterating tea
were curiously like the consequences of oversizing. As the
mildew in Manchester goods caused the Chinese buyers to take
up with Indian fabrics, so the systematic adulteration of Chinese
tea leaves induced the English consumer to give the preference
to Indian teas . India reaped the advantage in both cases .
Two minor questions were much discussed during the year
1873 , viz . different forms of bills of lading and ocean racing.
On 27th January, 1873, the Chamber of Commerce adopted
the homeward bill of lading known as No. 4, drawn up, after
much public discussion, by a Committee of London merchants ,
and resolved that shippers should , whenever practicable, give
preference to steamers agreeing to make use of this form .
Subsequently, however, much discussion and dissension arose in
the Colony as to the comparative position of shippers under the
so -called eastern bill of lading and that of Holt's line of steamers
which at the time (April, 1873) commenced running on the
Yangtsze also . Another subject, connected with rates of freight
rather than bills of lading, but equally the subject of public
attention in 1872 and 1873, was the practice of ocean racing,
frequently indulged in between fast tea steamers. The loss of
the S.S. Drummond Castle (May 31 , 1873 ) having been attributed
to this previously rather popular practice, the Hongkong Insurance
Company addressed (July, 1873 ) a letter to Lloyds, pointing
out the tendency which the system of graduating rates of freight,
in proportion to the speed of the vessel, had towards encouraging
ocean racing at dangerous speed, and thus needlessly adding
to the risks of the underwriters. In consequence of this action,
the P. & O. Company gave up the system of a differential scale
of rates for freight, in order to avoid even the appearance of
encouraging the practice of preferring speed to safety.
The currency question engaged the attention of the mercantile
community and of the Government frequently during this period.
The dollar had practically been the unit of value for the
European community from the earliest days of the Colony and
496 CHAPTER XX.
the Mexican dollar had been made (January 9, 1869) a legal
tender. But, side by side with the dollar, the local Chinese
community had all along employed the national Chinese tael
standard (0.717 taels' weight of sycee silver being counted equal
to one dollar), and European merchants, in dealing with Chinese
in Hongkong or with any merchants in the open ports of China,
had likewise to use the tael standard, side by side with the dollar
standard in which they kept their own accounts. The Chinese,
having no faith in foreign dollars, bored and cut them for
purposes of testing and stamped or, as it is locally called, chopped
them for purposes of identification . Every dollar became thus
after a short time terribly defaced and mutilated or, as it was
called , a chopped or chop dollar. Moroever, as the Chinese
looked upon every coin , even when known to be genuine, only
as so much sycee silver, they took dollars, clean or chopped ,
only by weight, broke chopped dollars into pieces, and used
broken particles of dollars in place of small coins. Chop dollars,
in different stages of laceration, and broken pieces of silver,
weighed out from hand to hand and re-assayed (shroffed ) by
experts in every transaction, were thus the medium of business.
Undefaced dollars, fancied for special purposes, were always at
a premium. For small transactions, the Chinese used their
national copper cash, but these cash had likewise a fluctuating
value and the proportion of clean and defaced, whole and broken
cash, intermixed in every hundred , also affected the value of
every string of cash. At the beginning of this period there was
thus, apart from banknotes, virtually no fixed money currency
in the Colony, and it is one of the merits of his administration
that it partially remedied this defect.
The annual circulation of local banknotes (from five dollars
upwards) averaged , from 1864 down to 1872, about two and a
half million dollars. But although these notes were popular
among the Chinese, the experience of the past had shewn that
the Chinese mercantile community are liable to sudden panics .
For twelve months after the collapse of the Agra and Commercial
Banks, which was followed by a run upon the Oriental and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY, 497
Chartered Banks, the circulation of banknotes in Hongkong
averaged only one and a half million dollars. Now in June
1872, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank obtained the Governor's
permission to issue one dollar notes and thus to supply a much
felt want. The Bank accordingly issued (October, 1872 ) such
notes, of which there were, twelve months later, about $ 175,000
in circulation . This raised the total of banknotes in circulation
in 1873 to three and one fourth million dollars, and in 1874
the circulation of banknotes reached three and a half millions.
But in December, 1873 , the Governor received an intimation
that the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury
disapproved of the issue of one dollar notes on the ground that
these notes would be largely in the hands of the poorest Chinese
who might be even more subject to panics than the mercantile
classes. The Governor was instructed to order the withdrawal
of these notes unless serious public inconvenience should result
from such a course . When the Governor accordingly called
upon the Bank ( February, 1874 ) to show cause why the one
dollar notes should not be called in, the whole community took
up the matter and a numerously signed Memorial, supported
by a special resolution of the Chamber of Commerce, was
forwarded to H.M. Government ( March, 1874) in favour of
the retention of these one dollar notes .
There were, at the beginning of this period, three new silver
dollars competing for public favour, viz ., a new Mexican dollar,
the American trade dollar and a Japanese dollar (yen) . The
Chinese shroffs and traders of Hongkong and Canton having
formed a combination, with a view to reject the new Mexican
dollar, the Viceroy of Canton had it assayed (March 13 , 1872 )
and issued (November 30, 1872 ) a proclamation which was
published in the Hongkong Government Gazette ( December 7 ,
1872 ) . It was thus officially announced, that the new Mexican
dollar consisted of 9 parts pure silver and 1 part alloy ; that to
pay 100 taels' weight of pure sycee, it would be necessary to pay
11111 in new Mexican dollars ; that 100 new Mexican dollars
are equal to 10141 old Mexican dollars, the new Mexican dollar
32
498 CHAPTER XX.
being, within a fraction of 1.5 per cent ., better than the old .
Next year the Chinese Government likewise had the American
trade dollar assayed (September 27, 1873) , when it was found to
consist of 8,961 parts of pure silver and 1,039 alloy, and
it was stated that to pay 100 taels' weight of pure sycee, it
would be necessary to pay 1116 taels' weight of American
trade dollars, and that 100 American trade dollars are worth
100:07 new Mexican dollars or 10148 old Mexican dollars,
the American trade dollar being, within a fraction of 15
per cent., better than the old Mexican dollar. In consequence
of the publication of these assays, the new Mexican dollar
passed into favour with the Chinese of Hongkong. The
foreign mercantile community, though practically accepting
the new Mexican dollar, was anxious to obtain an English
dollar which should be guarded, by special prohibition, against
defacement by stamping. At a meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce ( January 16, 1874) a strong feeling was manifested
in favour of doing away with chopped dollars altogether. A
desire was expressed to obtain the necessary coins from England ,
instead of being dependent upon two foreign countries for them.
An adjourned meeting of the Chamber ( February 2 , 1874)
expressed an almost unanimous opinion against introducing the
American trade dollar and the Japanese yen as legal tenders
in the Colony, and a decided preference for a suitable dollar to
he coined by the Royal Mint in London. Later on, the
Chamber of Commerce advised the Colonial Secretary to com-
municate with the Authorities of the Mint as to the coinage
of a suitable dollar for the Colony. In reply, the Governor
informed the Chamber (July 31 , 1875 ) that Mr. Fremantle,
the Deputy Master of the Mint, was of opinion that the
Japanese yen might be accepted as a legal tender in Hong-
kong, that the American trade dollar, not being a dollar of an
equivalent value, should be rejected, but that the proposal to
coin in England a special dollar for Hongkong was impracti-
cable, as it would cost two per cent . for coinage and one per
cent. for freight to lay it down in Hongkong. This brought
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 499
the movement to a standstill. But when, next year, the Shanghai
Chamber of Commerce invited the Hongkong Chamber to join
in an address advocating the establishment by the Chinese
Government of a Mint, the Hongkong Chamber resolved
(November 2 , 1876 ) not to make any recommendation of that
sort, but expressed itself in favour of the dollar being made
the uniform standard of value in China. Whilst thus the
general desire for a special Hongkong dollar remained unfulfilled ,
the Government obtained from the Mint in London a new supply
of subsidiary coins for use in the Colony. A quantity of bronze
cents was obtained first (July 19, 1875 ) and subsequently a
large supply of silver five cent pieces, ten cent pieces and twenty
cent pieces (June 20, 1876 ) , which has been kept up ever since.
On 27th January, 1873 , the Chamber of Commerce resolved
to memorialize each of the Naval Commanders -in-chief on the
Station, requesting them to assist in obtaining a new, complete
and reliable survey of the coast from Hongkong all the way to
Woosung. The local Government also joined in this movement,
when the mail-steamer Bokhara struck (June 21 , 1873 ) on a
previously unknown rock in the fairway just outside Lycemoon
pass, and a reward of ten dollars was offered to fishermen for
pointing out any hitherto unknown rock in the neighbourhood
of Hongkong. The Chamber, having received favourable replies
from the British and American Admirals, proceeded (August 27,
1873) to memorialize both the British and the United States
Governments, to move them to take concerted action in com-
pleting the surveys required . In January, 1874, the Chamber
was informed by Vice- Admiral Shadwell, that the Admiralty was
going to send out at once a suitable surveying vessel to complete
the survey of the coast of China.
In the matter of lighthouses, the Chamber requested the
Governor (January 27 , 1873 ) to obtain from the Secretary of
State a grant from the Special Fund, to cover the cost of erecting
several lighthouses. This application was indeed negatived
(June, 1878) , but on 27th August, 1873, the Chamber was
informed that the Government had resolved to erect lighthouses
500 CHAPTER XX.
at Cape D'Aguilar, Cape Collinson and Green Island. An
Ordinance ( 17 of 1873) was passed ( December 9, 1873) giving
the Government power to advance, for the purpose, out of the
Colonial Treasury, funds to be subsequently repaid out of the light.
dues. At Cape D'Aguilar, a round stone tower was erected ,
200 feet above the sea, and measuring from base to vane 57 feet .
It was furnished with a fixed dioptric white light of the first
order, which was lit for the first time on 16th April, 1875, and
found to be visible at a distance of 21 nautical miles . The
position of the lighthouse was calculated to be in 22° 12' 14"
Lat. N. and 114° 15 ' 44" Long. E. The lighthouse erected (July
1 , 1875 ) on Green Island was furnished with a fixed dioptric-
red light of the fourth order, visible at a distance of 14 miles .
The third lighthouse, that on Cape Collinson (between Cape
D'Aguilar and the Lyeemoon) , was completed eight months later
(March 1 , 1876 ) . It was supplied with a fixed dioptric apparatus
of the sixth order, shewing a white light visible at a distance of
8 miles. Light dues were forthwith (March 30, 1875 ) levied
on every ship, entering the waters of the Colony, at the rate of
one cent per ton ; men-of-war, Chinese junks, and river-steamers
entering the harbour in daytime only, were exempt, and river-
steamers entering by night had (since September 1 , 1875) to pay
only one third of a cent per ton.
It appears that, previous to Sir Arthur's arrival, the British
Cabinet addressed some remonstrance to the Lisbon Government
with reference to the undeniable horrors of the Macao coolie
trade, whereupon the Portuguese Government replied, that the
coolie emigration referred to, whether slave trade or not ,
flourished as much in Hongkong as in Macao. This was rather
a home thrust. But whilst one unofficial Member of Council
(J. Whittall) denied this insinuation and stated in Council
(February 11 , 1873 ) that English merchants in Hongkong had
no interest in the Macao coolie trade, another unofficial Member
( R. Rowett) subsequently alleged that London commercial
houses and banks of the highest standing, as well as certain
men and firms in Hongkong, had derived large profits from
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 501
the Macao coolie trade. The Chief Justice (J. Smale) , now
took occasion to announce from the Bench (April, 1873) , that
he held the coolie trade to be a slave trade, and that any one in
Hongkong taking part in it, either directly or indirectly, would
be liable to be punished for felony under the Imperial Act
for the suppression of slavery. The result of all this agitation
was that, with special reference to the fact that two Spanish
ships (the Buena Ventura and Yrurac Bat) had been fitted
up in Hongkong before proceeding to Macao to load coolies,
an Emigrant-ship Fittings Ordinance (3 of 1873) was passed
(April 24, 1873 ) and came into force a few months later
(August 2, 1878 ) . The effect of this Ordinance was to prevent
any person in the Colony in any way supplying stores or fittings
to vessels in the harbour destined to carry emigrants from any
place outside of Hongkong . Not content with this Ordinance,
the Governor brought before the Council ( April 17 , 1873) , with
special reference to the ship Fatchoy, which had taken emigrants
to Cuba, another Bill for the repression of abuses in relation
to Chinese Emigration . Messrs . Ph. Ryrie and J. Whittall
strongly opposed this Bill (April 28, 1873 ) , on the ground
that the Fittings Ordinance was perfectly sufficient to rectify
and prevent all abuses connected with coolie emigration, and
that the present Bill was too sweeping. The protest of the
two unofficial Members having been disregarded, they absented
themselves from the meetings of Council until the Bill, after
many alterations and additions, had passed as Ordinance 5 of
1873. When the Macao coolie trade had been entirely closed
(March 27 , 1874), both Ordinances were repealed (September 7,
1874) by the consolidated Emigration Ordinance (5 of 1874) .
This Ordinance, once more, placed the issue of warrants in
connection with emigrant ships exclusively in the hands of the
Governor, who was instructed to allow contract emigration only
to countries where a British Magistrate could control the
enforcement of the contracts. To stop abuses connected with
emigration, the Committee of the Tungwa Hospital applied
for and received permission from the Governor to employ special
502 CHAPTER XX.
detectives to discover kidnappers, and in May, 1873 , whilst
the Macao coolie trade was still going on, these detectives .
brought almost every day some two or three cases into Court .
Two years later a deputation of Chinese merchants agreed
(August 9, 1875) with the U.S. Consul, D. H. Bailey, to form
a Committee to assist him in ascertaining the moral character
of women wishing to emigrate to America, with a view to stop
the manifest abuses connected with voluntary emigration from
Hongkong to San Francisco. The Dutch Government at Batavia
also made an attempt to start Chinese emigration, under Dutch
official management, from Hongkong to Acheen (August 20 ,
1875) , but the Governor refused to sign a warrant or to sanction
such emigration, although it was eventually proposed to do away
with contracts altogether.
In the old question of the Customs Blockade of Hongkong,
the mercantile community had a fertile source of constant irri-
tation. A report of the Chamber of Commerce, published (Aprib
30, 1872 ) within a fortnight after Sir A. Kennedy's arrival,
stated that a Memorial to the Secretary of State, in course of
preparation, had not yet been completed, because the Chinese
were afraid to give evidence, but that a system of espionage
within and a blockade outside the Colony existed . The Chamber
also expressed a hope that Sir A. Kennedy would institute a
strict inquiry with a view to prevent Chinese in the Government
Service from rendering assistance to the Chinese Blockade officers..
It was an open secret at the time that these remarks pointed
again at the Registrar General's Office, a Chinese clerk of which
resigned soon after (June, 1872 ) . What gave the blockade
question special importance in the eyes of Hongkong merchants ,
was the general belief that Sir R. Hart encouraged the Chinese
to believe that eventually the English Government might be
brought to consent to the surrender of all ex-territoriality rights
over Hongkong and to include the Colony in the list of Chinese-
Treaty ports. Sir Arthur was very slow in taking up this grievance
of Hongkong merchants, but at last (December 15, 1873 ) he
appointed a Commission (Ph. Ryrie, H. G. Thomsett, M. S.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY, 503
Tounochy) to inquire into abuses connected with the action of
the Chinese Maritime Customs in the neighbourhood of Hong-
kong. Whilst this Commission was sitting, the Harbour Master
(H. G. Thomsett) stated, in his official report for the year 1873 ,
that the junk trade of Hongkong had diminished in consequence
of the interference of Chinese cruisers. Moreover the latter,
seizing a junk bound for Hongkong, the Kamhopsing, in the
Lyeemoon pass (January 19, 1874), aptly illustrated the truth of
the Harbour Master's statement . The report of the Commission
(April 28, 1874 ) entirely confirmed the views of the community,
but the Governor refused to publish it until the decision of the
Secretary of State on the report was received ( May 10, 1875) .
Meanwhile a fresh outrage occurred. A Chinese revenue junk
was arrested near Cape D'Aguilar (May, 1874 ) in the act of
firing into some fishing boats in British waters. The crew
of the junk were tried in the Supreme Court on a charge of
piracy, but the Viceroy of Canton wrote to the Governor claiming
the vessel as a Government cruiser, acknowledging that she had
no right to fire in British waters and promising to punish the
men. Thereupon the Attorney General was ordered by the
Governor to enter a nolle prosequi. The men were accordingly
discharged to the great regret of the Chief Justice and the whole
community. The Chinese community also presented (June 24 ,
1874) a petition to the Queen, and this petition was followed
up by a decision of the Chamber of Commerce (August 3, 1874)
to memorialize the Secretary of State, and by a public meeting
(September 14, 1874) which condemned the blockade as an
organized invasion of the freedom and sanctuary of the port and
harbour of Hongkong . In reply to a Memorial agreed to at this
meeting, Lord Carnarvon, in a dispatch published 11th May,
1875, admitted that abuses and excesses had occurred in con-
nection with the action of the Chinese revenue cruisers, but
pleaded that the exercise of the right of search, in close proximity
to Hongkong, for the purpose of defeating attempts on the part
of Chinese subjects to defraud the revenue of their country, did
not affect the freedom of the port, and afforded no valid ground
504 CHAPTER XX.
for diplomatic remonstrance. As a remedy of the existing state
of things, Lord Carnarvon revived (March 22, 1875 ) the old .
suggestion of Sir R. Alcock, to entrust to a Chinese Consul in
Hongkong the privilege of collecting from junkmasters the
receipts for export duty levied in China and issuing to them
in the Colony similar receipts for duty payable on account of
importation into China. Lord Carnarvon's reply caused much
discontent in Hongkong, as the position taken by him was
honestly believed by Hongkong merchants to impair British
prestige in China . Considerable excitement was caused soon after
by the news that the British steamer Carisbrook had been fired
into (June 13 , 1875 ) when crowded with Chinese passengers and
captured by the Chinese Customs cruiser Pengchauhoi (officered
by Englishmen in the Hoppo's pay) for landing passengers
at Hainan when that island was not yet opened to foreign
trade. Great rejoicing, however, took place in Hongkong, when
a dispatch from Mr. Herbert, the Under- Secretary of State,
was read in Council (January 7 , 1876 ) announcing that Lord
Carnarvon had formally renounced the views of Sir Brooke
Robertson and come round to see that the community of
Hongkong really had a grievance and were entitled to protection
and relief. Sir Arthur now at last took up the matter and
recommended three proposals, intended to solve the knotty
problem, viz. ( 1 ) that all Chinese revenue cruisers should be
prohibited interfering with Hongkong junks with the exception
of those of the Hoppo ; (2 ) that a definite Chinese tariff of
import and export duties, applicable to Hongkong junks, and
fixed regulations for the Hoppo's dealings with Hongkong junk-
masters be published and adhered to ; (3 ) that a joint Board
should be appointed to investigate all complaints of illegal
seizure. The Chamber of Commerce endorsed these proposals
(February 3 , 1876 ) and addressed Lord Carnarvon accordingly
(February 10 , 1876 ) . The matter now passed into the hands of
the Foreign Office and became the subject of negotiations between
H.M. Minister at Peking (Sir Thomas Wade) and the Tsungli
Yamên. The latter, of course, denounced the first and second
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 505
of Sir Arthur's proposals as utterly impracticable, but adopted
a shadow of the third by including in the Chefoo Convention
(September 17 , 1876 ) a stipulation providing that a Mixed
Commission, consisting of a British Consul, a Hongkong Officer
and a Chinese Official, should arrange a set of regulations
calculated to benefit the revenue collection of China without
interfering with the commercial interests of Hongkong. When
it was rumoured later on, that Sir Brooke Robertson was to
be appointed a Member of the proposed Commission, the
Chamber of Commerce at once passed a unanimous resolution
(February 12 , 1877) , protesting against such a measure as
defeating the ends of justice and common fairness.
Besides harassing the junk masters and subjecting the local
junk trade to severe exactions, the Customs Blockade caused a
portion of the Chinese trade, formerly confined to junks, to be
conducted by means of foreign-owned steamers and sailing
vessels. The Hoppo at Canton, whose revenues accrue ex-
clusively from the junk trade, found his monopoly seriously
impaired by the preference which Chinese merchants now gave
to the employment of foreign vessels. Accordingly he did
everything in his power to counteract this movement and sought
even to draw away from foreign steamers goods which for years
past had always been conveyed by them. It was discovered
(July, 1874) , that the Hoppo had for some time charged
differential duties on cotton imported in Chinese junks, lowering
the duty so far below the tariff rate levied by the Foreign
Maritime Customs that, even if foreign steamers had offered to
carry cotton gratis, it would still have paid Chinese importers
better to import the cotton by junks charging heavy freight .
But the movement in favour of foreign vessels continued to
spread among the Chinese. This movement , however, did not
stop at giving business to foreign steamers, but Chinese
merchants gradually took to purchasing steamers and working
them on their own account. The starting of the first merchant
steamer, Aden, under the Chinese flag (December, 1872 ) , by a
Chinese Company which would not allow foreigners to hold
506 CHAPTER XX.
any of its shares and which sought to obtain admission for
its steamers to ports in China not open to foreign trade,
heralded a change in the share which foreign merchants had
hitherto enjoyed in the coasting trade, and the movement was
viewed by many with serious apprehensions. This Company,
which (in 1874) developed into the well-known China Merchants
Steam Navigation Company, failed indeed to obtain the privilege
of trading, by means of steamers, with ports not opened to
foreign commerce, but instead of that monopoly the Company
received official recognition and organization and the privilege
of carrying 627,000 out of a total of 1,800,000 piculs of the
annual tribute rice . There was at the bottom of this movement
the vain hope of developing this Chinese Company to such an
extent as to drive foreign-owned steamers entirely out of the
coasting trade. But although the Company was well supplied
with funds, strongly supported by Chinese officials and merchants
in every port, and purchased (January 15, 1877) the whole of
the steamers, real estate, wharves and plant of the Shanghai
Union Steam Navigation Company, it only proved how un-
founded was the fear that the whole coasting trade would pass
into native hands. This Chinese Company obtained no more
than that share in the coasting trade which naturally belongs
to the Chinese, and its history demonstrated the truth that it
is in the matter of money where the strength of the foreign
trade in China lies, and that the greater the share which the
Chinese take in the minor portions of the trade, the greater
will be the growth of the more important portions of the
foreign trade with China, loss in one direction being directly
compensated by gain in another.
Sir A. Kennedy was the first Governor of Hongkong who
invited prominent Chinese merchants, although they were mostly
the servants (compradors) of the principal English firms , to
social gatherings and public receptions at Government House .
This practice, which was rather distasteful to most English
merchants, Sir Arthur stoutly adhered to . He also for some
time encouraged the Chinese to bring any public grievances,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 507
they might have, before him. Shortly after his arrival, a
Chinese deputation waited on him (April 4, 1872 ) , when he
told them that the Chinese could always see him when they
had matters to lay before him , if they gave notice before hand
and brought an interpreter with them. The Chinese were not
slow in availing themselves of this offer which rescinded sans
façon the policy initiated by Sir H. Robinson. The outgoing
and incoming Directors of the Tungwa Hospital now made
it a rule to wait on the Governor ouce a year. The first thing
they asked of the Governor (December, 1872) was that he
should pass an Ordinance punishing adultery in the case of
Chinese women . Considering that nearly every man in the
deputation had formally married several wives and was, if
English law had been applied , liable to be punished for bigamy,
it was rather naive of these Chinamen to ask that their runaway
concubines should be punished under English law for adultery.
The next thing they asked (July, 1873 ) was that the Governor
should grant the Chinese community some form of municipal
government, and, to begin with, authorize the election, by the
people, of a Chinese Municipal Board, consisting of two Chinese
residents from each district , to assist the Registrar General with
their advice in all Chinese municipal matters . In December
1874, they urged the Governor to pass an Ordinance making
it compulsory for all Chinese shops and firms to register the
names of all their active and sleeping partners. In the following
year they solicited an improved Bankruptcy Law, the erection
of a harbour of refuge to be used by small craft in case of a
typhoon, the grant of a site for the erection of a Chinese
townhall, and the opening of a lepers' asylum on some small
island . It is only to be regretted that Sir Arthur could not
see his way to take up any of these suggestions, with the
exception of a site for a public meeting hall which he promised
to give them, and that he failed to make good the promise he
had hastily given. Towards the close of his administration ,
when he knew the Chinese character better, Sir Arthur changed
his attitude towards the Chinese and made an order (January 8,
508 CHAPTER XX.
1876 ) , couched in language of extraordinary circumlocution, the
effect of which briefly was, that the Chinese, whenever they
had any grievance or petition to present, should communicate
with the Government through the Registrar General.
How little hold the Government really had on the Chinese
population , was shewn by several incidents during this period .
In August, 1872 , the Executive ordered a small tax to be levied
on coolie lodging houses, with a view to bring these, generally
overcrowded, places under sanitary surveillance. But small as
the fee was, the Chinese at once resisted and the whole com-
munity was put to great inconvenience by a general strike of all
carrying coolies, kept up for three days. The coolies did not
resume work until they were given to understand that, as soon as
they returned to their work, the Government would entertain their
petition and repeal the tax. Another case in point is the Servants
Registration Ordinance (7 of 1866) . Efforts were made during
Sir A. Kennedy's administration, and especially in August, 1874,
to prevent this Ordinance continuing to be a dead letter, but
it was found impossible to enforce its provisions. The Chinese
managed to evade the law or persisted in disregarding it . The
same was the case with the measures taken by the Government
to repress public gambling. The Registrar General and the
Captain Superintendent of Police, having been appointed special
commissioners to see to the suppression of public gambling,
caused prosecutions to be instituted (May, 1872 ) against land-
lords owning houses in which secret gambling establishments
were kept, but the prosecutions broke down and whatever the
Government did in the matter proved fruitless. Public gambling
continued as before by means of pretended clubs and other
arrangements which proved to be entirely beyond the reach
of the law.
As regards sanitation, Dr. Dods, in his report for 1872 ,
formulated the theory that fever is most prevalent in Hongkong
when the rainfall is below the average and the range of the
thermometer is small, and Dr. Ayres added , in 1873, the axiom
that the heavier the rainfall, the better is the health of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 509
community. One hundred men of H.M.S. Barossa were attacked
with fever in 1872 , whilst the ship was in dock at Aberdeen.
Genuine typhoid fever was not noticed in the Colony until 1874.
when some cases were imported by ships. Dengue fever occurred
in Hongkong for the first time in September, 1872 , imported
from the North . It was officially declared an infections disease
(October 4, 1872 ) . In 1874. many cases of phthisis occurred
both among the European and Chinese communities. But on
the whole there was no extraordinary outbreak of serious disease
during this period . The attention of the Government was drawn
by Dr. Ayres, in spring 1874, to the extraordinary defects of
scavenging and domestic sanitation in the Chinese quarters
of Taipingshan and Saiyingpun, where it had become customary
to keep, under Government licences, pigs on the upper floors of
densely crowded houses. The scavenging arrangements of the
town were somewhat improved in consequence (October 2 , 1874 ) .
but otherwise the sanitation of the Colony remained as it was .
The annual death rate of Hongkong per 1,000 of the whole
population was 22:57 in 1873 , 32-23 (owing to the many deaths
caused by the typhoon) in 1874, and 24:29 in 1875, but Dr.
Ayres remarked, in his report for 1876, that, considering the
defective sanitation of the town, it was a wonder to him that
the mortality was so small. Mount Davis and the hill side above
Kennedy Road were covered with fir trees in 1876 and a large
number of eucalyptus trees, imported from Australia, were planted
in different localities. Building operations on the Peak multi-
plied in summer 1876 and residence on the Peak now commenced
to be widely popular as a summer resort. The Civil Hospital
having been demolished by the typhoon of 1874, the patients were
accommodated in the former Hotel de l'Univers in Hollywood
Road whilst a new and larger hospital was erected . The private
Seamen's Hospital, erected by Jardine, Matheson & Co. on the
hill above Wantsai, having for years been carried on at a loss ,
was closed in March 1873. The Small-pox Hospital, which
from 1871 to 1873 had been located on Stonecutters ' Island ,
was also closed in April, 1873, and the patients were thenceforth
510 CHAPTER XX.
accommodated in town at the Civil Hospital. A new Lock
Hospital was established, in connection with the new Civil
Hospital, and a series of regulations for it published in the
Gazette (November 2, 1875) . The Chinese also started what
was at first intended to be a branch of the Tungwa Hospital
at Wantsai ( December, 1872 ) but subsequently developed into
a separate public dispensary at the Wato Temple.
In the educational problem of the Colony Sir A. Kennedy
took much interest, but only as an uncompromising secularist .
The Hon . Ph. Ryrie having mentioned in Council (April 29,
1872) the need of a Public School for the education of the
children of middle-class Europeans, the Governor stated at the
next meeting of Council (May 16 , 1872 ) that in his opinion
the Government should not move in the matter until the views
and requirements of the community upon the subject had been
fully ascertained . Accordingly a public meeting was held at
the City Hall (June 25 , 1872 ) and attended by the Governor
himself, who spoke strongly in favour of a non-denominational
scheme, and the general feeling of the majority of those present
appeared to be in favour of that view. A Committee was
appointed to report upon the suggestion, made at this meeting,
to resuscitate St. Paul's College, to turn it into a secular
European middle- class school and to work it as a feeder of the
Government Central School. Eventually a Grant-in-Aid school,
under the management of the Hon . Ph. Ryrie, was established
by Mr. and Mrs. Hanlon, called the Victoria English School,
but it failed to fulfil its purpose and soon became a Portuguese
school under the management of the Roman Catholic Mission.
For the better promotion of elementary education in the Colony,
Dr. Stewart recommended to the Government ( February 14,
1873 ) the introduction in the Colony of an adaptation of Forster's
Education Act of 1st August, 1870. But in adapting Forster's
Scheme to the peculiarities of Hongkong. Dr. Stewart stripped
it of the concessions which the Education Act of 1870 made to the
recognized needs of a religious education . Instead of adopting
Forster's conscience clause, Dr. Stewart made the Hongkong
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 511
Grant-in-Aid Scheme an absolutely secular measure, offering to
all schools, willing to devote four consecutive hours a day to
exclusively secular teaching, annual grants, on the basis of
definite results in secular instruction , ascertained by examining
each individual scholar. This Scheme having been approved by
the Legislative Council (April 24, 1873 ) and provisionally
accepted by the Protestant and Catholic Missionaries, was at
once put in operation, 5 Protestant and 1 Catholic school being
placed under the Scheme. To conciliate objections raised by
some of the Missionaries (Dr. Eitel and Bishop Raimondi)
to the absolutely secular teaching demanded of Grant-in-Aid
schools, whilst the Government schools used Chinese school
#
books containing Confucian and Buddhist religious teachings,
a compromise (refused by the Catholics) was made, allowing
the Grant-in-Aid schools to use Chinese reading books containing
an admixture of religious teaching . To compile these reading
books, the Governor appointed ( April 17, 1873 ) Dr. Eitel as
chairman of a Schoolbook Committee which produced without
delay a set of three graduated readers after the pattern of the
Irish National Schoolbook Society's publications . By the end
of the year 1876 there were 11 Protestant schools under the
Grant-in-Aid Scheme, but the Roman Catholics withdrew entirely,
being dissatisfied with the rigid exclusion of religion from every
one of the four hours of daily instruction required by the Scheme.
The attendance in schools under Government supervision rose
during Sir Arthur's administration from 1,480 scholars in 1872
to 2,922 scholars in 1876. There was similar progress made,
during this period , in the sphere of religious education. Bishop
Burdon resuscitated St. Paul's College, in 1876, by opening a
Church of England school for Chinese and European scholars
under an English Headmaster (A. J. May) and two Chinese
Assistant Masters. Most striking, however, was the manner in
which the Roman Catholic schools now came to the front under
the direction of Bishop Raimondi. When the latter first arrived
in the Colony, in 1858, there was only one Catholic school
in existence, numbering eight boys, but in 1874 there were
512 CHAPTER XX.
18 Roman Catholic schools at work with 723 scholars under
instruction, and in the following year (November 15, 1875)
the Christian Brothers re-organized the former St. Saviour's
School as a College dedicated to St. Joseph which, by the end
of the year 1876 , numbered 165 boys. The establishment of
a Morrison Scholarship in connection with the Government
Central School (January, 1874) , the selection and clearing of a
costly site for new and extensive buildings for the use of the
Central School (May 30, 1876) , and the collection of funds in
the Colony in aid of the new Chinese Professorship at Oxford
(September 15 , 1876 ) , indicate the interest taken during this
time in matters educational.
The religious history of the period under review is
characterized by the opening of St. Joseph's Church (November
30, 1872 ) , by the installation of two Bishops, Bishop Burdon
(December 31 , 1874) and Bishop Raimondi (January 19 , 1875) ,
and by the passing of two Ordinances, a Marriage Ordinance
and a St. Paul's College Ordinance. The former Ordinance
(4 of 1875 ) was passed (April 8 , 1875 ) to secure more accurate
registration of Christian marriages (Chinese non- Christian
marriages being left out of consideration) and to give equality
in privileges to the various religious denominations . In deference
to objections raised by Bishop Raimondi, this Ordinance was
subsequently repealed and another (14of 1875) substituted
and passed (January 7, 1876 ) after a most acrimonious debate
in Council concerning the objectionable attitude taken by the
Roman Catholic clergy. That attitude was described by the
Governor in very strong terms which were afterwards deliberately
recorded in the Gazette (March 4 , 1876) . As regards St. Paul's
College the revocation , in consequence of the resignation of
Bishop Alford (November 1 , 1872 ) , of the original Letters
Patent (of May 11 , 1849 , and January 14, 1867 ) , having
abolished the See and Bishopric of Hongkong, a Missionary
Bishop ( J. S. Burdon) was appointed Warden of the College
whilst the lease and site vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury
(Ordinance 7 of 1875 ) . The Chinese community also had some
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 513
religious excitement during this periol by the appearance in
the harbour (January 22, 1874) of a large junk fitted up as
a floating temple for the worship of three large idols . The
vessel, known as the spiritual junk,' was visited daily by
thousands of worshippers admitted on payment of a fee.
Finding the business extremely profitable, the proprietors hired
the Tunghing Theatre where the idols were exhibited and
worshippers admitted on payment of 15 cash a person. As the
matter was thus plainly a financial speculation, the Registrar
General (C. C. Smith) , with the approval of the leading Chinese
merchants, interfered on the ground that the theatre was not
licensed for religious purposes and the proprietors were fined
$15 in the Police Court.
There was annually during this period the usual number
of conflagrations in the town, but since 1875 their frequency
appeared to increase. Yet none of these conflagrations extended
beyond the destruction of two, or at the utmost six, houses at a
time. But quite a number of vessels were on fire within two
years. The Peruvian ship Columbia was burned in the harbour
( February 15, 1874) and the Pacific mail-steamer Japan was
destroyed by fire at sca, in close proximity to Hongkong
(December 18, 1874), causing the death of a large number of
Chinese passengers. The S.S. Panay (August 30, 1875) , the
coalship Pilgrim ( September 20 , 1875) and a Chinese junk laden
with hay (November, 3, 1875 ) were on fire in the harbour
in one and the same year. In the one year 1874, three ships
were wrecked at or near Hongkong . The S.S. Wanlung, built
in Hongkong, capsized (February 13, 1874) on her first trip
with passengers to Canton, within a few minutes after leaving
the wharf, when some 30 lives were lost in the harbour. The
S.S. Mongol was lost on a rock near Cape D'Aguilar when 17
persons were drowned (December 12, 1874) , and the S.S. Japan
ran on a rock, near Wantsai, in the harbour (December 17,
1874) . Several collisions occurred during this period. The
barque Glimt was sunk in harbour in consequence of a collision
with the S.S. Geelong but was successfully raised again (March,
33
514 CHAPTER XX.
1872) . The steamship Glendarrock and the barque Parame also
collided in the harbour (December 7, 1876 ) . In consequence of
the explosion of the superheater of the river-steamer Kinshan
(June, 1876 ), by which a passenger was killed, two engineers
of the steamer were charged with manslaughter and tried in
Supreme Court, but they were found not guilty.
The severest disaster that ever befell the Colony of Hongkong
(since July, 1841 ) was caused by a typhoon of unprecedented
suddenness and power. It commenced on the evening of 22nd
September, 1874, when small boats were still plying on the
harbour, and was at its height shortly after midnight. The tide
was exceptionally high at the time and an earthquake appears
to have occurred whilst the typhoon was raging. On the
morning of 23rd September, 1874, the town looked as if it had
undergone a terrific bombardment . Thousands of houses were
unroofed, hundreds of European and Chinese dwellings were in
ruins, large trees had been torn out by the roots and hurled to a
distance, most of the streets were impassable, being obstructed
with fallen trees, roof timber, window frames and mounds of
soil thrown up by the bursting of drains. Business was at a
complete standstill for several days . The Praya was covered with
wrecked sampans and the debris of junks and ships, whilst in
every direction dead bodies were seen floating about or scattered
along the ruins of what was once the Praya wall. Thirty-five
foreign vessels, trusting in their anchors, were wrecked or badly
injured. Over 2,000 lives were lost in the harbour within the
space of about six hours, during which time the screams of
Chinese in distress on the water were heard by residents, on
the upper levels of the town , to rise above the terrific din of the
storm . The Hospital-ship Meanee, the only ship in harbour
which held on to her anchors, had her four anchors twisted into
one mass of tangled iron , the photograph of which is a curious.
sight. Special attraction for sightseers, who came out in thou-
sands to view the havoc which had been wrought, was afforded by
two steamers, the Leonore and the Albay, wrecked on the Praya
wall near Victoria wharf, and the Pacific mail-steamer Alaska,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 515
blown ashore and left high and dry on the beach at Aberdeen.
The loss of the river-steamer White Cloud near Macao also
attracted much attention. The amount of property destroyed
in Hongkong within those six terrible hours was estimated at
five million dollars. A fire that broke out while the typhoon
was at its height was actually put out by the force of the wind.
Her Majesty sent (November 18, 1874) a message expressing
her sincere regret for the suffering which this sad calamity
occasioned. ' The brothers Tauffer, who had specially distin-
guished themselves by daring and successful efforts to save lives,
were presented (January 7 , 1876 ), at the hands of the Governor,
with a testimonial by the Royal Humane Society. But very
little was done to utilize the lessons taught by this typhoon.
Meanwhile another typhoon swept over the Colony (May 31 ,
1875) . It did little damage, however, though Macao and
Canton suffered severely, as evidenced by the wreck of the river-
steamer Poyang, on her way from Canton to Macao, when some
100 lives were lost. A Humane Society was now formed in
Hongkong (July 26 , 1875) for the special purpose of preventing
the frequent loss of life in the harbour and particularly to give
assistance during typhoons. This Society, under the presidency
of the Hon . Ph. Ryrie, entered upon its labours with great
enthusiasm , officers were appointed and stations fixed , funds were
raised and left, after the purchase of the needful apparatus, a
large sum in hand (June 6, 1876 ) . A life-boat was talked of,
additional funds were voted by Legislative Council (December
11 , 1876 ) , and after that the whole scheme was allowed to drop.
The social life of the period under review is notable for
two sensational incidents. In March, 1872 , Mr. D. Welsh, a
highly talented and respected English merchant, head of the
firm MacGregor & Co., having freely commented , in a local
paper, on the public conduct of the Acting Chief Justice Ball,
was sentenced, without the option of a fine, to fourteen days'
confinement for contempt of Court. The whole foreign com-
munity, filled with indignation, petitioned the Governor to remit
the sentence. The Acting Chief Justice, having thereupon
516 CHAPTER XX.
suggested that the petition to the Governor should first be
withdrawn and an application for clemency made to the Court
by prisoner's Counsel, released Mr. Welsh as soon as these
conditions were complied with. To mark its sense of the
proceedings, the Chamber of Commerce, at its next meeting.
elected Mr. Welsh as Member of the Chamber. Another
sensational event of the same year was a duel fought with pistols
(July 29 , 1872 ) , on Kowloon Peninsula, on account of some-
card debt dispute between the Consuls for Spain and Peru,
the latter being wounded in the arm . Warrants for the arrest
of every person present at the affair were issued, but bail was
allowed . The two duellists were tried in Supreme Court (August
25, 1872) and, having pleaded guilty, were fined each in the
sum of $200 .
Quite a number of new institutions brightened social
life in the Colony during this period, the year 1872 being
specially productive in this respect. The Philharmonic Society
(Choral Society) which had been established in July 1872 .
gave concerts every winter, including also a choral festival held
at the Cathedral ( April 18 , 1876 ) . A Debating Society was
established in July 1872 but came to an end in the following:
year. A series of lectures given at the City Hall found
considerable favour with the public. The undertaking was
inaugurated in the presence of the Governor (November 5 ,
1872 ) by a lecture on Hongkong reminiscences by Dr. Legge,
and followed by four other lectures, by Dr. Dennys on Folklore
(November 19 , 1872 ) , by Dr. Eitel on Fengshui (December 6,
1872 ) , by Mr. J. J. Francis on Jesuitism (December 19, 1872)
and by Mr. J. W. Torrey on American Humourists (February
4 , 1873 ) . Another institution of the year 1872 is the Victoria
Recreation Club which was formed (May, 1872) by the
amalgamation of the Boat Club, Gymnasium and Swimming
Bath, and opened in its new form on 30th November, 1872-
The , publication of the China Punch was resumed on 5th
November, 1872, and continued at irregular intervals until
22nd November, 1876, when its talented editor (Middleton) left
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 517
the Colony. Subsequent years produced a few additional new
institutions. The Horticultural Society, which for many years
thereafter held an annual flower and vegetable show at the
Public Gardens, was established ( February 13, 1873 ) by the
official Garden Committee. Three years later (November 23 ,
1876) the Government formally withdrew its control of the Hor-
ticultural Society which, under unofficial management, continued
to exist for some years longer. The membersof the German
Liedertafel gave their first performance on 4th November,
1873, and continued to enliven winter evenings under the
direction of Dr. Clouth, whose departure from the Colony (April,
1874) was felt as a public loss . Another institution of the
year 1873 was the opening of the first Good Templars' Lodge in
Hongkong (September 25, 1873) , which was followed by a steady
spread of the Temperance movement in the Colony and led
eventually to the opening of a Temperance Hall in Stanley Street
(April 17 , 1876) , subsequently removed to Queen's Road East.
During the time of Sir Arthur's administration the relations,
always friendly, which existed between the American and English
sections of the foreign community, were particularly cordial.
This was specially evidenced by the success of a reception given
by Admiral Jenkins, in 1872, on board the U. S. Flagship
Colorado, when the Governor and all leading residents attended ,
and especially by a grand promenade concert and supper, given,
at the City Hall , by the American residents (July 4, 1876 ) on
the occasion of the centennial celebration of American Indepen-
dence . The Yacht Club attracted special attention in 1875 by
an ocean yacht race (January 27 , 1875) from Hongkong to
Macao and back, won by the Wave, by the yacht race for the
American cup ( December 4, 1875) won by Naomi, and by
the enthusiastic farewell demonstration made on the occasion of
the departure (January 27 , 1876 ) of the Yacht Club's Commodore
(W. H. Forbes ) when the whole of the Club's yachts escorted
the mail steamer as far as Long Island.
The annual regattas and races were largely patronised during
this period. The Amateur Dramatic Corps gave very frequent
518 CHAPTER XX.
performances between 26th January, 1872 , and 19th February,
The District Grand Lodge of Freemasons invaded, in
1875, the Cathedral when a Masonic sermon was preached (De-
cember 23, 1875) by the Grand Chaplain , the Rev. H. H. Kidd .
The arrival of the Flying Squadron (April 7 , 1876 ) , consisting
of four frigates, gave a new zest to social life in 1876. The
latter year is also distinguished by the first loan exhibition of
works of art, held in the City Hall (July 18, 1876 ) . This
exhibition became eventually the parent of the Sketching Club.
In addition to the foregoing general description of the
progress made by the Colony during Sir A. Kennedy's adminis-
tration, the following particulars have yet to be mentioned . The
sphere of Hongkong's commercial operations was considerably
extended during this period by the opening up of new countries
and ports and by the starting of new lines of communication .
The famous expedition, under M. Dupuis and M. Millot , which
eventually led to the opening of Tungking (the North-east
of Annam) to foreign trade, started from Hongkong on 25th
October, 1872. The direct object of the expedition was to
convey, on behalf of the Chinese Government, munitions of war
to the Chinese army operating in the South of Yunnan against
the Mahomedan rebels. But the personal aim of M. Dupuis was
to demonstrate, in the eyes of France, the importance of northern
Annam as possessing, in the Red River, an artery of trade by
which the commerce of South-western China might conveniently
be tapped and directed to the Gulf of Tonquin. The expedition
returned to Hongkong (July 2 , 1873 ) , having successfully pushed
its way by the Red River route from Hanoi by way of Laokai to
Talifoo in Yunnan . That the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce
also looked to the opening up of South -western China is evidenced
by the above mentioned exploration of the commercial capabilities
of the West River, undertaken by Mr. Moss in 1872. Quite a
number of ports in different countries were opened to Hongkong
commerce during this period. The commercial ports of Legasbi
in Albay (Island of Luzon) and Tacloban (Island of Leyte) were
opened by the Spaniards (December 3, 1873 ) and so also the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 519
Tungking ports of Hanoi and Haiphong (September 15, 1875).
under French protection, the Chinese port of Hoihow (on Hainan
Island) forming the harbour of Kiungchow (April 1 , 1876 ) , and
the Annamese port of Quinhon (November 1 , 1876 ) . New
steamship lines also were established during this time. The
China Trans- Pacific Steamship Company (December 30, 1873)
brought Hongkong and San Francisco still nearer together.
and was succeeded on this line by the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company (March 25, 1875 ) and the Oriental and Occidental
Steamship Company (May 27 , 1875) . On the Canton River,
Messrs. Butterfield and Swire started (July 20, 1875) a new
line of large river-steamers to run side by side with the older
Company's steamers between Canton and Hongkong . The
progress made by the Colony in the direction of ship-building,
is indicated by the completion (October, 1875 ) of the Cosmo-
politan Docks, where forthwith a small steamer (Fookien) of 200
tons was constructed and by the launching of two gunboats
(January, 1877) which were built for the Chinese Customs
Service, one by Messrs. Inglis & Co., at Spring Gardens, and
one at Captain G. U. Sands' Patent Slip at Westpoint. The
invention by Dr. Dennys, of a hydraulic cofferdam, for the
purpose of facilitating repairs to the hulls of ships (June 12 ,
1873 ) , must also be mentioned in this connection .
Further indications of progress are the establishment ( Feb-
ruary, 1872 ) of a new Bank, the Comptoir d'Escompte, the
formation of a Volunteer Fire Brigade (April 11 , 1873) under
the auspices of the Hongkong Fire Insurance Company, the
establishment of the exchange of Post Office money orders
between Hongkong and India (August 28, 1875 ), the reduction
of postal rates on letters to England (July 1 , 1876 ) and the entry
of Hongkong into the Postal Union on payment of £ 3,150 per
annum (September 21 , 1876 ), and finally the establishment of
a steam laundry (January, 1877) . The Rev. J. Lamont , pastor
of Union Church, collected in Hongkong and forwarded to the
British Museum (April 25 , 1874) a collection of 1,100 different
Hongkong plants, among which there were as many as 90 different
520 CHAPTER XX.
species of Hongkong ferns. The Government also published
(January, 1877) a complete alphabetical catalogue, compiled by
Mr. C. Ford, of the plants in the Public Gardens.
The Chinese community shared in the general progress of
the Colony. Whilst previously the Chinese newspapers of the
Colony were exclusively under foreign management, the Chinese
started (March, 1873 ) a Company, in which no foreigner was
allowed a share, for the purchase of the London Mission type
foundry, and published forthwith in Chinese a newspaper of
their own (Universal Circulating Herald). Another instance of
Chinese enterprise is the attempt made, in July 1873, to run
steam - ferries between Hongkong and Kowloon city, though the
movement was stopped at the time through the action of the
British Consul in Canton , who represented to the Viceroy that
the ferry -boats were merely intended to bring customers from
Hongkong to the Kowloon gambling houses. That Hongkong
had risen in the estimation of China, is evidenced by the fact that
the Imperial Government of China condescended, in December,
1874, to contract a loan of £ 600,000 at 8 per cent. with the
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and pledged as security for
the loan the whole of the revenues of the Imperial Maritime
Customs.
The obituary of this period includes, among many, the
following most promiment names :-Lady Kennedy, who died in
England (October 1874) highly revered by Hongkong residents
as she had always given a tone of gentleness to the sterner
rule of even the least severe Governor of Hongkong ; F. Douglas
(June, 1874) , for over 12 years Superintendent of the Gaol ;
G. B. Falconer (died in London , August 5, 1875 ) , the founder
of the jewellers' firm of the same name ; D. R. Caldwell ( October
2, 1875 ) , formerly Registrar General and latterly agent and
general adviser to the leading members of the Chinese community
by whom he was greatly trusted and respected ; the Hon .
W. H. Alexander, Registrar of Supreme Court, who died in
Chefoo (February 22 , 1876 ) ; Inspector O'Brien (July 21 , 1876 ) ;
Thomas Green, of the P. & O. Company (August 4, 1876 ) ;
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR A. E. KENNEDY. 521
A. Dalgarno, of the Ordnance Store Department (September
14, 1876 ) .
When the time came for Sir A. Kennedy's departure,
enthusiastically laudatory addresses were presented to him by
the Protestant Missionaries, by the Members of Council, and
by the Chinese residents. The whole community testified to
the regard in which they held their Governor by a public dinner
given ( February 27 , 1877 ) in his honour at the City Hall.
Sir Arthur started from Hongkong (March 1 , 1877) to take
up the Governorship of Queensland, leaving behind a kindly
message to the Police Force and a farewell address to the whole
community, published in the Gazette. When the news of his
death (June 3, 1883 ) , on board the mail- steamer in the Red
Sea, reached the Colony, a public meeting resolved (July 14 ,
1883 ) to erect in his memory the statue which now decorates
the Public Gardens. Sir A. Kennedy indeed was in the
estimation of the Colony one of those few men who deserve a
statue because they do not need one. It was acknowledged that
he had not done much, but he had made himself pleasant to
all and his memory was cherished by the Colonists who looked
upon him as the Governor who ruled them always with their
own consent.'
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JOHN POPE HENNESSY.
April 22, 1877, to March 7, 1882.
R. (subsequently Sir) John Pope Hennessy, C.M.G. , arrived
in Hongkong on 22nd April, 1877 , too late in the
evening to take the oaths of office on the same day. He was
welcomed on board by Major-General Sir F. Colborne, and by
the Administrator, the Hon . J. G. Austin, and on landing, at
Murray Pier, by the Heads of Departments, Members of Council,
Bishop Raimondi, and a number of the leading residents.
Mr. Hennessy's reception in Hongkong was not an enthusiastic
one, but it could not be said that public prejudice welcomed
him . There was, indeed , a presentiment that troublous times
might ensue, but there was also, on the part of the European
community, the honest determination to judge of his adminis-
tration as they might find it. Mr. Hennessy had enjoyed
various opportunities of gathering experience. He had sat, as
Member for King's County, in the House of Commons ( 1859
to 1865 ) , and he had served as Governor of Labuan and
Consul-General for Borneo ( 1867 ) , as Governor of the West
African Settlements ( 1872) , of the Bahamas ( 1873 ) , and of the
Windward Islands ( 1875 ) . Pending the issue of Letters Patent,
Mr. Hennessy had now been appointed provisionally (March 12 ,
1877) as Lieutenant - Governor of Hongkong, and accordingly
he was sworn in as such (April 23 , 1877 ) , on the day after
his arrival. On this occasion, Mr. Hennessy volunteered the
announcement that he would endeavour to follow the footsteps
of his distinguished predecessor, Sir A. Kennedy, and that the
main policy of his administration would be to protect the
mercantile interests of this Colony which, he said, rivalled in-
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 523
its transactions the greatest Colonies of the world. Six weeks
later, the Letters Patent (dated April 10, 1877) having arrived,
Mr. Hennessy was sworn in, with the usual solemnities, as
Governor and Commander-in- Chief of Hongkong and its
Dependencies (June 6, 1877).
With the exception of a visit to Japan ( May 31 , to Sep-
tember 6, 1877) and a trip to Peking (September 11 , to October
24. 1881 ) , the Governor spent his whole term of office in
Hongkong. During his absence in Japan, the Hon. W. H.
Marsh, and, during his trip to Peking, the Hon. M. S. Tonnochy
administered the Government temporarily. On 22nd April,
1880, Her Majesty was pleased to confer on Mr. Hennessy the
honour of knighthood, which fact was published in the Hongkong
Government Gazette by anticipation on 21st April , 1880 .
Apart from private correspondence with a few distinguished
diplomatists in China and Japan , Sir John Pope Hennessy had,.
like his predecessor, no diplomatic correspondence with the
representatives of other Governments, beyond one brief exchange
of notes with the Governor of Macao. A Chinese junk having
properly cleared from Hongkong (November 29 , 1877 ) with a
cargo of gunpowder for Macao, was stopped by the officers
of the Chinese Customs Blockade on issuing from the harbour
and forced to return to Hongkong. When the owners of the
junk complained to the Governor, they were informed ( June
29, 1878 ) that the Governor could not interfere, because the
Cantonese Authorities considered Macao to be a part of China.
This reply having been noticed in the public papers, the Go-
vernor of Macao forthwith addressed an official protest to Sir
John, asserting the sovereignty of the King of Portugal over
Macao and pointing to the fact that all the nations of Europe
had hitherto recognized it, and so also the Chinese officials,
while the flag of Portugal had waved over the peninsula for 300-
years. Sir John replied that he did not lend any countenance
to the Chinese pretensions to the sovereignty of Macao.
During this administration, the Colony had unfortunately
repeated occasions of expressing sympathy with the inroad which
524 CHAPTER XXI.
death made among the Courts of European nations. The flags
of the Colony were at half-mast, and minute guns were fired ,
on the decease of the Queen of the Netherlands (January 13,
1877 ) , the King of Italy (January 15, 1878), Princess Alice
(December 18, 1878) , Czar Alexander II (March 14, 1881 ) and
President Garfield ( September 20 , 1881 ) . In striking contrast
with his predecessor, who took no notice of the death of the
Emperor of China, Sir John ordered the flags of the Colony to
be lowered and 21 minute guns to be fired (April 23, 1881 ) on
the death of the Chinese Empress Dowager, the event being
solemnly announced in the Gazette. Sir John also attended
officially at celebrations, in honour of the birthday of the King
of Portugal (October 31 , 1878 ) and of the second anniversary
of the coronation of Pope Leo XIII (March 3 , 1880 ) , held at
the Roman Catholic Cathedral.
In the way of hospitable entertainment of the representatives
of foreign Powers, Sir John had even more to do than his prede-
cessors. Of Chinese officials, there came the Hoppo Tsun Kai
(May 11 , 1878 ) ; Chen Lan-pin, Minister to the United States,
Spain and Cuba ( June 5 , 1878 ) ; Chung How, the Ambassador
to St. Petersburg (November 11 , 1878 and November 26 , 1879 ) :
Liu Wan-shung, Minister to Germany (November 11 , 1878 ) ; the
Canton Viceroy, Liu Kwan-yih (January 25, 1880) : finally, the
new Hoppo Chung Kwan ( April 10, 1881 ) . There were also a
good many foreign dignitaries whom Sir John had the honour to
entertain in one way or other. General U. S. Grant, the hero
of the American Civil War, arrived in Hongkong (April 30,
1879 ), was entertained at a state dinner at Government House
(May 3 , 1879 ) , spent a few days in Canton and Macao (5th to
10th May) , was presented with an address by the Chinese (May
12 , 1879 ) , but had to leave Hongkong before the garden party,
with illuminations and fire-works, which the foreign community
had arranged in his honour, could come off. The next visitor
was Prince Thomas of Savoy (Duke of Genoa ) who arrived
in the Frigate Vittore Pessani (June 23, 1879, and again in
1880) . Prince Heinrich of Prussia arrived in the Frigate Prinz
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 525-
Adalbert (May 1 , 1880) , assisted at the unveiling of the portrait
of the Prince Consort at Government House ( May 7 , 1883 ) and
acted as joint host with the Governor in receiving the Duke of
Genoa and the community of Hongkong at Government House
on the occasion of Her Majesty's birthday ( May 24 , 1880) .
Next year King Kalakau, of the Hawaiian Islands, arrived in
Hongkong (April 12, 1881 ) , and stayed at Government House..
Mr. C. P. Chater gave a public banquet in his honour (April 18,
1881 ) at Kowloon, and a public reception was held on the same
evening at Government House. The King left for Bangkok a
few days later (April 21 , 1881 ) , not without having had a taste
of the bitter feeling existing at the time between the Governor
and the British community. The greatest event, however, was
the arrival (December 20, 1881 ) of the Detached Squadron with
the Princes Albert Victor and George of Wales on board the
Bacchante. A ball was given in honour of the Royal visitors
at Government House (December 22, 1881 ) and the town was
festively illumined ( December 24 , 1881 ) , but the public had no
opportunity of seeing the Princes, until December 30 , 1881 ,
when, after calling at Government House, and taking lunch there,
the Princes attended in the evening a public subscription ball
given at the City Hall . The Princes, having previously visited
Canton (26th to 29th December), left Hongkong on the last day
of the year. The visits of the ex-Governor, Viscount de Paco
d'Arcos, of Macao (October 31 , 1879 ) , of his successor Senhor
da Graça (November 26, 1879 ) , and of the Brazilian Embassy
to Peking (May 28, 1880) conclude the list of foreign represen-
tatives entertained at Hongkong during this period.
A new Charter, issued by Letters Patent (April 9, 1877 ) ,
revoked the Supplementary Charter of June 8, 1875 , and
defined the constitution, power and authorities of the office
of Governor, stated that Members of Executive Council may
be appointed by Warrant or by Instructions, and added to
the power of granting pardons also that of remitting fines.
The new Charter further revoked Article XI. of the Charter
of 1843 and stated that, in case of death, incapacity or absence
526 CHAPTER XXI.
of the Governor, the Government should be administered by
the Lieutenant-Governor or by an Administrator appointed for
the purpose, or by the Colonial Secretary for the time being.
One new Sub-Department, that was much needed and did
good work thereafter, was established by Sir John (February
1 , 1881 ) , viz . that of the Government Marine Surveyor
(J. S. Brewer) , under the Merchant Shipping Consolidation
Ordinance (8 of 1879 ) . The attempt (November 16 , 1878 )
to form a new office of Chinese Secretary to the Governor and
Translator to the Colonial Secretary ( E. J. Eitel ) failed to gain
the approval of the Secretary of State, and the office which
the latter substituted for it, viz . that of Supervisor of Interpreters
and Translator for the Supreme Court (November 25, 1881 )
hardly outlasted this administration . To the management of
the Government Gazette, Sir John gave much painstaking
attention. He combined the separate editions of the English
and Chinese issues of the Gazette into one (January 1 , 1879 )
and had every document, that could be of any interest to the
Chinese, translated in the Gazette, the English and Chinese
texts being placed side by side in parallel columns . In the
Police Department, the vacant office of Assistant Superintendent
of Police was abolished by the Secretary of State (January 30,
1879 ) . A more important change was made by Sir John
(March 17 , 1879) by ordering two-thirds of the Police Force
to be always placed on night duty. The Superintendent of
Police himself reported three months later (July 1 , 1879) that
this measure had a decidedly beneficial effect in diminishing the
amount of crime. The employment of steam-launches ( 1879) ,
the removal of the Water Police from the rotten hulk in the
harbour to the new Tsimshatsui Station ( 1881 ) , together with
the numerical increase of the Force, were steps of progress
which the Governor reluctantly conceded to the demands of
the Superintendent. The subject of competitive examinations
was a favourite topic with Sir John, who announced (May 28,
1877) , shortly after his arrival, that, as a general rule, all
appointments at his disposal in the Civil Service of this Colony
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 527
would be given by a system of competitive examinations,
similar to that which had been established for the Civil Service
of the United Kingdom by Her Majesty's Order in Council
of June 4, 1870. To stimulate the study of the Chinese
language, Sir John published (February 4, 1881 ) an extract
from an old dispatch by Sir George Grey (April 28 , 1855)
stating that, as a rule, subject only to very special exceptions,
no application for increase of salary in the Civil Service of
Hongkong was to be made for any person who had not learnt
Chinese. He also published a notification issued (July 2 , 1855 )
by order of Sir J. Bowring to the effect that, in claims for
promotion, a knowledge of Chinese would be considered a
recommendation. But the Board of Examiners, specially
appointed by Sir A. Kennedy, was quietly shelved by Sir J.
Pope Hennessy. At first, indeed , he recognized the existence of
the Board, by publishing (April 27 , 1877 ) the names of the
Members (C. C. Smith, F. Stewart, J. Russell, E. J. Eitel and
A. Lister), but a month later he ignored the existence of the
Board by appointing, without apparent reason, for the first of the
new competitive examinations ( June 2 , 1877 ) a separate Board
(Bishop Burdon, C. C. Smith , and Ng Choy) , and did so again
for the next examination (June 19, 1877) when three examiners
(Bishop Burdon, Ch . May, and Ng Choy) were appointed .
When the original Board thereupon sent in their resignation
(July 18, 1877 ) , it was not accepted, but a separate Board was
thenceforth appointed for every competitive examination.
The Gardens and Afforestation Department, which in 1872 had
been treated as a separate Department, but in 1873 placed
under the joint control of the Surveyor General and a Garden
Committee, was ( February 3, 1877) , before Governor Hennessy's
arrival, again made a branch of the Survey Department by the
dissolution of the Garden Committee. The result was considerable
friction, which continued until the management of the Gardens
and Plantations was once more constituted a separate Department
(March 15, 1879) . A report , giving a history of the former
dissensions, was published in the Gazette (October 16 , 1879 )
528 CHAPTER XXI
but subsequently ( February 5, 1881 ) cancelled by order of the
Secretary of State. An Order of the Privy Council (October 23,
1877) directed that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
should include crimes and offences committed by, or disputes
existing between, British subjects at any place on land being
within 10 miles of any part of the Colony. The defalcations
of the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, discovered in
October 1878, gave a sudden and painful shock to the com-
munity, because the investigation revealed a total absence
of control and audit in the Supreme Court Department, for
which the latter blamed the Executive, while the Executive
sought to lay the blame on the Court. Sir John appointed
(September 14 , 1878 ) a Commission (Ch. May, G. Philippo,
A. Lind, W. Wotton) to inquire into the management of all
monies or securities coming into the hands of any officers attached
to the Supreme Court, but substituted, for this Commission,
later on (November 7 , 1878 ) another (Ch. May, G. Philippo ,
Th. Jackson, W. Wotton) , instructed to inquire whether or
not greater precautions may be adopted for the security and
distribution of moneys or securities received by the Supreme
Court. In accordance with some of the recommendations made
by this Commission (May 25, 1879) , theoffice arrangements
of the Supreme Court were remodelled and a new Registrar
(H. Gibbons) was sent out (April 14, 1880 ) by the Secretary
of State. But internal friction now arose in the Court, through
continuous misunderstandings between the Chief Justice and the
new Registrar, which culminated in a lamentable public scene
(July 26, 1880) , and put a stop to the business of the Court
until the Registrar was interdicted (July 30, 1880 ) from the
performance of his duties. After the great fire of 25th and
26th December, 1878 , which destroyed 361 houses in the centre
of the town, and which, in the opinion of the community
demonstrated the absence of all system in the management of
the Fire Brigade, Sir John promised (January 18 , 1879) various
reforms. But nothing of any moment having been done, the
foreign community deputed a Committee (W. Keswick, Ph . Ryrie,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 529
Th. Jackson, W. H. Forbes, H. Hoppius, W. Reiners, J. B.
Coughtrie and E. F. Alford) to urge upon the Governor the
appointment of a skilled firemaster, the employment of paid fire-
men, and the desirability of an adequate supply of water. Sir
John promised to get a skilled firemaster from England and to
provide, if possible, high level tanks and fire brigade mains.
The question of the water supply was, however, a financial one,
and pending the consideration of the two alternative schemes
thus put forward, viz. the Taitam reservoir scheme and this new
project of tanks for fire brigade mains, the re-organization of
the Fire Brigade was suspended, and meanwhile neither of the
two water supply projects was carried out . Beyond the purchase
of a new fire-bell for the Clock Tower (July 12 , 1880 ) , the
supply of new uniforms for the brigades in town and villages
(July 19 , 1880 ) , and the publication , in English and Chinese,
of the old Fire Brigade Ordinance (4 of 1868) and a series of
regulations issued under that Ordinance (October 5, 1880) , the
Fire Brigade question was left in statu quo. There were other
Departments of the Public Service, between the Heads of which
and the Governor there was said to be constant friction, but
the disputes did not force themselves upon public attention ,
though as early as October 7 , 1880 , one of the resolutions of
the public meeting of that date specially desired a Commission
from outside the Colony to be appointed , in order to inquire,
among other things, into the relations between the Governor
and his officials .'
The Legislative Council Chamber was the arena of almost
perpetual strife. In several cases even the election , by the
Governor, of new Members of Council impressed the British
community as an intended affront. In October, 1878, when the
Surveyor General (J. M. Price) applied for leave of absence, and
the Registrar General (C. C. Smith) proceeded (October 17 , 1878)
to Singapore to take up the appointment of Colonial Secretary
of the Straits Settlements, the foreign community of Hongkong,
whilst wondering how Sir John would reply to the damnatory
resolutions of the public meeting of 7th October, 1878 , were
34
530 CHAPTER XXI.
startled by the news that Mr. J. A. da Carvalho, a worthy
Portuguese clerk in the Treasury, had been appointed Acting
Colonial Treasurer with a seat on the Council. The appointment
had, however, to be revoked, as it was found that Mr. Carvalho,
being an alien, could not take the oath of allegiance. A similar
surprise was sprung upon the Colony on 22nd January, 1880.
The Hon . H. B. Gibb left the Colony on that day and, in the
ordinary course of events, his seat in the Council would have
been given again to Mr. H. Lowcock, who had returned from
England ; but, to the surprise of the community, Sir John gave
the appointment to a Chinese barrister, Mr. Ng Choy (January
22, 1880 ) . These two appointments were interpreted by the
English community as attempts to gain the favour of the Portu-
guese and Chinese sections of the community, to create an
anti- English party feeling, and to strengthen personal government.
Some years later another vacancy in the Council was filled, in an
unobjectionable manner. by giving a seat in the Council to Mr.
E. R. Belilios, one of the two leading Indian opium merchants
of the Colony, who had favourably distinguished himself as a
Director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.
A proviso was added (May 23 , 1877) to the Companies'
Ordinance of 1865, that the amount to which shares may be
reduced by subdivision shall in no case be less than one-fourth
of the original share. With the approval of Lord Carnarvon
the Bill ( 1 of 1877) was passed (June 21 , 1877 ) . This was the
only legislative measure of the year 1877. Next year three very
brief Ordinances were passed, viz. a Chinese Emigration (Special
Licenses) Ordinance ( 1 of 1878 ) , a Gaol Amendment Ordinance
consisting of one paragraph ( 2 of 1878) and a Markets' Ordinance
(3 of 1878). More work was done in the year 1879. Two
Opium Excise Ordinances ( 1 of 1879 and 7 of 1879 ) , an Amend-
ment of the Emigration Ordinance (6 of 1879 ) and a bulky
Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance (8 of 1879) were
passed in 1879 , but had to be further amended in the year 1880.
In the latter year a short Ordinance (6 of 1880) , giving the
French mail-steamers the status of men- of-war for twelve months,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 531
was passed and thenceforth annually re-enacted. A Naturali-
zation Ordinance (4 of 1880) , giving a European resident ( E. J.
Eitel) the privileges of a British subject within the Colony
but not elsewhere, having been approved by the Queen, was in
subsequent years followed by an annual batch of such Ordinances,
as Chinese residents now began to attribute great value to such
naturalization, limited as it is. A few more Ordinances were
passed in the year 1881 , dealing with Macao Extradition ( 1 of
1881 ) , the Census (2 of 1881 ) , the naturalization of Chinese
(5 to 10 of 1881 ) , banishment and conditional pardons (12 of
1881 ) and a fresh Amendment of the Companies ' Ordinance
( 14 of 1881 ) . Finally, in January, 1882 , a Tramway Ordinance
( 1 of 1882 ) provided for liberty to establish tramways all along
from Westpoint to Shaukiwan and from St. John's Place to
Victoria Gap.
But although the legislative work done by the Council
during this period produced comparatively little fruit, there
was much in the way of leves and the leaves were prickly .
The Council meetings were not frequent but lengthy, the
attention of the Members being largely occupied by Sir John
with exhaustive laudations of the financial, commercial and
industrial progress of the Colony. Frequently also the time.
of the Council was monopolized by polemical debates on
assumed local race prejudices, on the proper treatment of
Chinese criminals and on the general principles of Sir John's
policy. Instead of making the most of those points on which
all were agreed, these discussions only served to bring into
prominence, and to widen year by year, the breach which
the Governor had created in the relations existing between
him and the European community. As to the constitution
of the Council, the Hon. Ph. Ryrie (February 26, 1880 ) brought
forward the question whether the Governor would recommend
an addition to the number of unofficial Members, on the
ground that the proportion of three unofficial to five official
Members (beside the Governor) was unsatisfactory. Sir John
stated that he had already made the same recommendation to
532 CHAPTER XXI.
the Secretary of State, suggesting that the number of unofficial
Members be raised to four or five. Next year (August 8, 1881 )
another unofficial Member was accordingly added ( E. R. Belilios) .
The old complaint of insufficient time being allowed to unofficial
Members, to examine the Estimates, was once more brought
forward (August 31 , 1880) , and it was further arranged that,
if any general discussion were thought desirable, it might be
raised on the motion to go into Committee. The question
of a proper system for reporting the debates in Council was
also raised (August 23, 1881 ) by the unofficial Members
who suggested the employment of an official short-hand reporter.
Sir John promised to take the matter into consideration, but
no such appointment was made. Another much needed
suggestion was made by the Acting Chief Justice who moved
(June 13, 1881 ) that the repeal, amendment and consolidation
of a large number of the Ordinances in force in the Colony
had become a work of urgent necessity. Sir John stated that
he had placed the matter some time ago into the hands of
the Attorney General, and steps would soon be taken to revise
and consolidate the Ordinances.
As regards judicial matters, the admission to the local bar
(May 18, 1877 ) of the first Chiraman (Ng Choy ) who had
adopted the law as his profession, deserves special mention.
The admission to the bar of Mr. J. J. Francis ( April 16 , 1877)
added new zest to the local displays of forensic eloquence . On
the other hand, the departure from the Colony of the Chief
Justice. Sir John Smale (April 11 , 1881 ) , and of the Queen's
Counsel, Mr. Th . C. Hayllar (January 23, 1882 ) who had
repeatedly served as Attorney General and Puisne Judge, deprived
the Colony of two of its brightest legal luminaries . Among the
cases tried in Court during this period , the interest of the
community was specially attracted by the trial of two engineers
of the coast steamer Yesso who were convicted (January 29,
1878) of manslaughter on account of the explosion of a boiler ;
by the Kate Waters case, in which three Malays were convicted
and sentenced to death (May 13, 1879) having murdered their
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 533
captain, mates and Chinese crew on the high sea ; and by a Club
case (April 8, 1881 ) testing the right of the Committee of the
Hongkong Club to expel members . In May, 1879 , the Chief
Justice decided a question of considerable importance to com-
mercial men, by laying down, in the strongest terms, that a
comprador, receiving no wages directly from his employer but
remunerating himself out of commissions paid by customers, is
essentially a servant, no matter how he may receive an equivalent
of wages. For the benefit of journalists, the Chief Justice defined.
(December 12 , 1879 ) the rights and liabilities of newspaper
proprietors. As to the exceptional status claimed by the French
mail-steamers, an important decision was given (January 7 , 1880)
by the Chief Justice, when the local Opium Farmer applied for
a search warrant against the S.S. Anadyr. The Chief Justice
ruled that the French mail -steamer was not a vessel within the
meaning of the Convention concluded ( September 24, 1856 )
between England and France, but the property of a private
Company ; that even if she was a national vessel, no legislative
sanction had been given to the terms of the Convention , and
that it was not competent for the Crown to deprive a subject
of his right as against any vessel without legislative sanction ;
that, assuming the vessel was within the terms of the Convention .
that Convention only applied to vessels carrying the mails
between the ports of England and France, and Shanghai being
neither a French nor an English port, a vessel on a voyage
between Shanghai and Hongkong did not come under the terms
of the Convention until the mails were put on board in Hong-
kong ; that, finally, the vessel covered a breach of a fiscal
Ordinance, that is, covered smuggling which is contrary to the
comity of nations and an abuse of international immunities.
A search warrant against the Anadyr was accordingly issued ,
but the French Consul declined to give any assistance, and the
vessel sailed for Singapore without any search having been made.
The population of Hongkong increased, during this period ,
from 130,168 Chinese in 1877 , to 150,690 Chinese in 1881 ,
whilst the non-Chinese population increased during those same
534 CHAPTER XXI.
years from 8,976 to 9,622 . The total population of the Colony
increased therefore during those five years by 21,258 souls .
The revenue of the Colony increased proportionately. The
revenues of 1877 amounted to $ 1,005,312, and those of 1880 to
$1,069,947, while the revenue of 1881 , owing to particular and
exceptional causes, rose to $ 1,324,455. Going into particulars.
we find that the revenues of the Colony, which in 1876 had stood
at $919,088 increased in 1877 by $86,224. But in 1878 the
revenue fell off again by $57,674. Another increase, amounting
to $ 16,457 , occurred in 1879, followed in 1880 by an increase
amounting to $ 105,852 , and in 1881 by a further, most extra-
ordinary, increase of $254,508, so that the revenue of 1881
totalled up to the above-mentioned respectable sum of $ 1,324,455 .
The difference which this rapid development of the financial
resources of the Colony, during this administration , presents
when compared with the sluggishness of the revenues during the
preceding five years, is very striking. The only question is how
this enormous increase accrued .
The annual variations of the revenue derived from the
working of the Stamp Ordinance naturally depend on the state of
the share market . There was in 1877, through the establishment
of a Chinese Stamp Agency and through prosecutions instituted
against Chinese evading the Stamp Ordinance, an increase .
amounting to $24,951 , in the yield of the stamp tax as compared
with 1876. A further small increase, amounting to $8,584 was
obtained in 1878 , followed in 1879 by a decrease of $ 12,307
which the Blue Book explains as caused by a decrease in the
transfer of shares . In 1880 there was a small increase of $5,913 .
We see therefore that during the first four years of this admini-
stration the annual yield of the stamp tax varied very little.
being $ 120,956 in 1877 and $ 120,678 in 1880. But in 1881 , the
precise year during which an extraordinary mania for gambling
in land and house property seized the Chinese, the stamp tax
suddenly produced $ 165,340, constituting an increase of $ 44,661 .
In 1882 the yield of the stamp tax fell again by $ 18,360 and
the Blue Book of that year states that this large decrease-
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 535
is entirely due to the collapse of the land speculations of
last year.'
The yield of the police, lighting, water and fire brigade
rates rose in 1877 to $ 194,838 , constituting an increase of
$ 14,945 as compared with the year 1876. This increase is
explained in the Blue Book as caused by an increase in the
number of tenements . In 1878 there was a further small
increase amounting to $ 7,060, followed in the year 1879 by a
large decrease amounting to $26,583 which Sir John accounted
for by a lower valuation having been fixed by the valuators for
the year. Next year, in 1880 , the yield of the rates rose again
by $59,215 , explained by the restoration of the former higher
valuation. In 1881 , the rates fell off slightly, there being a
decrease of $8,761 . There was therefore little development in
respect of rates on tenements, as the yield of the rates, which in
1881 produced $221,796, was only $26,958 above the produce
of the same rates in 1877.
As to the land revenue, the produce of land leases was
$ 123,064 in 1877 , constituting an increase of only $2,950 as
compared with the results of the preceding year. Nor was
there any more variation in subsequent years, for the yield of
land leases in 1881 was $ 123,115 , shewing an increase of $51 .
But as to the yield of premia on leases newly granted, the case
is very different. From this source there was, in 1877 , through
extensive land sales arranged by order of the Governor, an
increase amounting to $72,158 . But in 1878 there followed
a decrease amounting to $73,958, another decrease of $9,624 in
1879, and again a slight increase of $ 4,590 in 1880. Now
considering that the premia on land newly granted amounted in
1878 to $ 11,031 , in 1879 to $ 1,407 and in 1880 to $5,998 , it is
rather startling to find that these premia suddenly rose in 1881
to $203,659 . Sir John, in his speeches and official documents ,
laboured hard to shew that this extraordinary increase of revenue
was the sober result of the natural and healthy progress of the
Colony. The mania for gambling in land, which was the rage
all through the year 1881 , is the real solution of the puzzle.
536 CHAPTER XXI.
The revenue derived from the opium monopoly amounted
in 1877 and 1878 to $ 132,000 a year, which was less, by $1,500,
than the amount derived from the same source in 1876. This
monopoly, which had all along been held by a Chinese syndicate
in Hongkong at an unfairly low rate, was sold by public tenders ,
in 1879, to a partner of the Singapore Syndicate (Tan King-
sing) , in a manner with which the public was not satisfied ,
at an increase of no more than $77,916 . At the next sale
(February 11 , 1882 ) , the farm was sold, for one year, for the
sum of $210,000 , being virtually the same amount as that
obtained in 1879.
It appears from the foregoing analysis of the principal
sources of local revenue, that, whilst there was as regards rates
on tenements and opium a moderate increase of revenue spread
over the whole period and commensurate with the natural
increase of the population, there was in respect of stamp duties
and premia on leases newly granted an unnatural sudden increase,
derived from the one and the same source, viz. dealings in land,
and confined to one and the same year, 1881 . Early in the year
1881 , the Chinese residents of Hongkong were scized by a mania
for speculating in land and in house properties . This frenzy
lasted until October, 1881 , when the bubble burst and a general
panic ensued . The value of the properties, which had been
unduly inflated by the Chinese speculators, then fell suddenly
some 45 per cent . and great depression followed . The Chinese,
and principally those among them whom Sir John had looked
upon as the leading men of the Chinese community, were the
principal sufferers by this collapse of the land speculations,
the Government and British and foreign residents having been
in most cases the original sellers, after which the properties
changed hands rapidly at ever-increasing rates, until at last a
deadlock ensued from want of funds. The collapse of the bubble
was followed in 1882 by numerous bankruptcies and endless
litigation. On the whole, however, the results were far less
disastrous than might have been anticipated, the depreciation in
real values being comparatively slight . Still, all through the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 537
year 1882, the property market was encumbered with the estates
of embarrassed owners. What the original cause of this sudden
mania for gambling in land and in house property was, is difficult
to say with certainty. Foreign residents generally attributed
it to Sir John's inflated periodical laudations of the general
prosperity of the Colony, and to his personal influence with the
so-called leading Chinese traders, whom he constantly urged to
take the position occupied by foreign merchants in the Colony
and to purchase dwelling houses and offices in the European
quarter of the town. But whatever may have caused this
gambling mania, this much is clear, that the greatest gainer in
the matter was the Government which derived, at the expense
of Chinese gamblers, a net increase of its revenue, amounting,
in one year, to the sum of $242,322.
Such was the result of Sir John's financial policy in the
year 1881 : profit from gambling in land $ 197,661 , profit from
gambling in house property $ 44,661 , total $242,322 . So marked
was this success, that the unofficial Members of Council, before
they had had time to realize the true character and cause of the
increase of revenue, complimented the Governor (August 23,
1881 ) on the success of his financial policy. They added ,
however, to their rash eulogy the modest request that , in the
face of such a large reserve and annual surplus, a reduction of
taxation should now be made. Sir John replied that he would ,
indeed, like to reduce the house tax from 12 to 6 per cent. , and
he thought if larger powers were given to the opium farmer,
the monopoly would yield $ 400,000 , in which case a reduction
of the taxation might be allowed.
Turning now to the question of expenditure, we find that
there was in 1877 a decrease in the expenditure of the
Colony, amounting to $29,008, caused chiefly by a reduction
of expenses for public works. In 1878 there was an increase of
expenditure, amounting to $37,315, caused by the payment
of the Colony's share in the Postal Convention ($20,023) ,
increased Police expenses ($ 10,051 ), and laying of submarine.
cable to Green Island ($5,211 ) ; but expenditure on public
538 CHAPTER XXI.
works decreased from $83,409 in 1877 to $68,633 in 1878.
In 1879 the expenditure further increased, but only by $ 16,344,
the outlay on public works was reduced to $62,571 , the increase
of the expenditure of 1879 being chiefly caused by orders
for Police recruits and steam-launches ($ 10,839) and new
furniture for Government House ($ 5,107) . In 1880, when
the revenues were calculated to amount to over a million
dollars, the Governor ventured to increase the expenditure
by $ 21,146 , and in 1881 , with a still rising revenue, the
expenditure was further increased by the modest sum of
$33,567. This was certainly economic management and the
result was showy. For there was , throughout this administration ,
an annual surplus of revenue, over expenditure, left in hand .
This annual surplus amounted, in the successive years from
1877 to 1881 , to the following sums respectively, viz. $ 132,105 ,
$37,114, $37,227, $ 121,933 and finally (in 1881 ) to $342,873.
With the exception of the re-construction of the Praya
wall, which had been demolished by the typhoon of 1874, hardly
any public works of any importance were undertaken during
this administration . On the day after Sir A. Kennedy's
departure, the Legislative Council agreed (March 2 , 1877 ) to a
vote of $200,000 which sum was to be taken from the Special
Fund, and the sum of $50,000 was at once appropriated for the
purposes of the re-construction of the Praya wall. Nevertheless
the work was delayed until the autumn of 1879 when it was
commenced in earnest, and, as happily no typhoon intervened,
the work, which cost altogether $ 244,254, was completed in 1880.
The new Civil Hospital was completed in 1877 , a small market
at Yaumati and a Lunatic Asylum at Saiyingpun were built in
1879 , a new Lock Hospital was erected in 1880 and in 1881
work was commenced at the Causeway Bay Breakwater. The
construction of this Breakwater had been urgently recommended
in 1877 by a Commission ( H. G. Thomsett, R.N., J. M. Price,
J. Dixon , R.N., S. Ashton, J. P. McEuen, R.N., R. McMurdo) and
their scheme had been strongly supported (November 4, 1877)
by Admiral Ryder, but it was not until the end of 1881 that
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 539
the work was commenced and the sum of $3,090 spent on it .
The main burden of the work fell therefore upon the next
administration. As regards public works, Sir John's term of
office is chiefly remarkable for the number of important works
discussed, declared urgent and rejected or postponed . On 12th
November, 1878 , the foreign property owners of Hongkong
memorialized the Governor, asking that the Praya road be
widened 20 feet, by proportionate reclamation of the foreshore,
in connection with the reconstruction of the Praya wall. This
proposal, a sensible and modest anticipation of the more
ambitious reclamation scheme started ten years later, was rejected
on the ground that it would delay the re-construction of the
Praya wall. Again, after the fire of 25th December, 1878 ,
which laid a large area of houses in the overcrowded central'
portion of the town in ashes, it was strongly urged upon Sir
John that he should use this opportunity for widening, and
improving the direction of, the streets of that district, but the
suggestion was rejected as too costly. The erection of a new
Gaol on the separate system, though indispensable for the-
effectiveness of the Governor's scheme of repressing crime
without flogging, was indefinitely postponed by Sir John for
financial reasons . The construction of new Central School
buildings, for which a costly site had been purchased and
cleared of houses, was postponed from year to year under
various pretexts, and left untouched . The Taitam waterworks..
the plans for which had been elaborated and approved under
the previous administration, Sir John fought shy of for years,
and when at last the Colonial Office sent out peremptory orders
that the work should be commenced at once, Sir John , for
purely financial reasons, took it upon himself to disregard the
commands he received from Downing Street, and the work
was not commenced until 1882 , on the eve of his departure.
The same was the case with the Kowloon Observatory . This
scheme was first mooted in spring 1877 , when some shipmasters
and the manager of the P. & O. Company circulated for signature
a petition requesting the Government to arrange for the daily
540 CHAPTER XXI.
dropping of a time ball. The movement was taken up by
the Surveyor General (J. M. Price) who elaborated the very
plan on which the Observatory was subsequently established
and suggested the construction, on mount Elgin at Kowloon,
of an Observatory, which should be placed under the charge
of a professional man to be recommended by the Astronomer
Royal, and, whilst procuring storm warnings and meteorolo-
gical observations, secure the daily dropping of a time ball in
front of the Water Police Station . Apart from the subsequent
demand for astronomical observations , every essential feature
of the present Observatory scheme was proposed in detail by
Mr. Price. On 30th October, 1877 , Admiral Ryder wrote a
letter, warmly supporting Mr. Price's suggestions and adding
the recommendation that the observation of tides and currents
should also be included in the scheme. Both papers were
published in the Government Gazette of 17th November, 1877 ,
and in his Estimates for the year 1878 Sir John included
the sum of $5,000 for the construction of an Observatory .
Nothing was, however, done in the matter until some three
years later, when another series of papers was published in
the Gazette (September 2 , 1881 ) , propounding a seemingly
new scheme, which, though being merely an expansion of the
details of Mr. Price's scheme by Major H. S. Palmer, R.E. ,
with the superaddition of some recommendations concerning
astronomical observations to be taken, not only omitted all
mention of Mr. Price, but gave the credit of the scheme to
Sir J. Pope Hennessy. Nevertheless the construction of the
Observatory was left to the next administration , though Major
Palmer took great pains in making stellar observations (published
in the Gazette of March 4 , 1882 ) , by means of which he
determined the site of the Observatory to be in Lat. 22 degr.
18 min . 11.91 sec . North.
Statistics of crime, and theories as to the best treatment
of Chinese criminals, were a very prominent topic of debate in
Council and in the public press during this period . Sir John
arrived in the Colony with the determination to apply to the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 541
treatment of Chinese criminals the humanitarian views as to
prison discipline and the objections to corporal punishment
which, after centuries of progressive civilization, had lately gained
ground in Europe as applicable to European prisoners . Shortly
after the Governor's arrival, flogging was practically abolished.
Only a few whippings, privately administered within the walls
of the Gaol, took place. This change, and the attempt Sir John
made to establish a Chinese Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society,
although it proved a complete failure, made a great impression
upon the Chinese criminal classes, among which Sir J. Pope
6
Hennessy was thenceforth spoken of as the merciful man.' ' If
we have a gaol on the separate system,' said Sir John (September
17, 1877 ) , ' where the prisoners must do some useful hard
work, and where they know there is not the slightest chance of
their release before the end of the Judge's sentence, except by
steady good conduct ; if we provide reformatory and industrial
training for juvenile criminals, and if we let it be clearly under-
stood that second offences will be punished with a long sentence,
that will do more to check the growth of crime than anything
else we can devise. ' An excellent theory this, but considering
that Sir John established no prison on the separate system nor
any reformatory for the reception of juvenile offenders, the
theory could hardly be expected to check crime in Hongkong.
The community differed from their Governor not merely because
they thought that his mode of treating prisoners would be
ineffective in the absence of flogging, but chiefly because they
considered the immediate introduction of the separate system
a practical impossibility, and meanwhile they looked to the
branding, deporting and flogging system as having been found
practically an effective deterrent during two preceding adminis-
trations.
In order to make his theories as to the treatment of prisoners
and the abolition of flogging acceptable to the Council and
people of Hongkong, Sir John laboured assiduously to produce
criminal statistics, calculated to show that the re- introduction
of the branding, deporting and flogging system, at the beginning
542 CHAPTER XXI.
of Sir A. Kennedy's administration, had not only failed to
reduce crime, but that on the contrary crime had been rapidly
increasing in Hongkong since that time. In spite of voluminous
arrays of figures, and notwithstanding the most dexterous
handling of plausible deductions from them, placed before the
Council and the public with the consummate skill of the orator
and the special pleader, the community stoutly maintained that,
whatever might be logically deduced from Sir John's statistics,
their own personal and practical experience was, that life and
property had been more secure in Hongkong all the time before
the arrival of Sir A. Kennedy's successor, than it had been
ever since. The more Sir John insisted upon the accuracy of
his statistics and the correctness of his analysis of his figures,
the more was the distrust of both, on the part of the community,
converted into positive irritation . Now it so happened, whether
in consequence of the Governor's treatment of criminals or
otherwise, that the year 1878 was extraordinarily fruitful in
serious crimes. On 1st February, an armed attack was made
by a large gang of Chinese burglars on the village of Aplichau.
On 19th May, the Superintendent of Police and several constables
were wounded in the streets by armed burglars whom they had
intended to intercept. On 30th May a woman was murdered
in town . On 31st May again a woman was murdered at Sheko.
On 14th July a third woman was murdered at Taipingshan. On
8th August a Portuguese was murdered by a European. Then,
on 25th September, from 40 to 80 armed burglars attacked
a shop in Winglok Street, when these marauders took forcible
possession of the thoroughfare, held it for some time against
armed Police and finally escaped with their booty in a steam-
launch. When the news of this night attack spread in town
next morning, public indignation, which had been gathering
for some time, owing to the palpable increase of serious crime,
burst out into strong condemnation of the Governor's systematic
lenity to criminals and of the encouragement thus given to
crime. A public indignation meeting was called for. Before
it could be held, another crime occurred which added fuel
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 543
to the flame, for a European house in Seymour Terrace was
attacked (October 3, 1878 ) by armed burglars.
On 7th October, 1878, the great public meeting of this
period was held on the cricket ground . The following
resolutions were, with hardly any opposition, passed. It was
resolved, ( 1 ) that life and property had been jeopardized by
a policy of undue leniency towards the criminal classes ;
(2) that flogging in public had been found the only really
deterring punishment, and that to its suspension was due
the daring boldness which had lately characterized crime ;
(3) that a Commission of medical men should be appointed
to inquire into the alleged injurious effects of flogging on the
back ; (4 ) that the almost total abolition of deportation was
injurious and would cause the criminal population of South
China to overcrowd the Hongkong Gaol ; (5 ) that a Commission
from outside the Colony should be appointed to inquire into
the application of criminal laws, the carrying out of sentences
of the Courts, and the relation between the Governor and
his officials, and finally ( 6 ) that a copy of these resolutions
should be forwarded to the Secretary of State through the
Governor. Mr. H. B. Gibb was in the chair, and the movers
and seconders of the foregoing resolutions were Messrs. W.
Keswick, W. Reiners, W. H. Forbes, G. Sharp, D. Ruttonjee,
W. S. Young, H. H. Nelson, A. MacClymont, H. Lowcock,
N. J. Ede, A. P. McEwen and C. D. Bottomley. The senior
unofficial Member of Council (Ph. Ryrie) was conspicuous by
his absence. Strong as the indictment contained in the above
resolutions was, both in argument and in the support it received
from the British and foreign community of Hongkong, the
Secretary of State left the Memorial embodying those resolutions
unanswered for nearly a year. Meanwhile the Chinese Committee
of the Wato Dispensary at Wantsai canvassed the lower classes
of Chinese shopkeepers in the interest of Sir John, whose
impeachment at the bar of public opinion was resented by them
as an attack on a Governor whose policy was characteristically
pro-Chinese. Accordingly they produced an address to the
544 CHAPTER XXI.
Queen (October 29, 1878) signed by 2,218 shop-keepers. It
was practically an expression of confidence in the Governor.
intended as a set- off against the views of the British and foreign
community, and couched in the usual inflated style of exaggerated
flattery, common in China. After some significant hesitation .
the Committee of the Tungwa Hospital, representing most of
the Chinese merchants, also presented (November 13 , 1878 ) a
Memorial, deprecatory of the resolutions passed at the public
meeting. On 5th May, 1879, the Chinese were informed that
Her Majesty was pleased to receive their address. On the same
day Sir John re-appointed the gentleman ( H. B. Gibb) , who-
had acted as chairman of the great indignation meeting, to a
seat in the Council. On 31st May, 1879, the movers and
seconders of the resolutions of that meeting addressed to the
Secretary of State (Sir Michael Hicks- Beach) a complaint on
account of their Memorial having been left unanswered. A
few months later (September 17, 1879 ) , Sir John, deeming
himself to have scored a victory, had the satisfaction of publish-
ing in the Gazette the resolutions of the public meeting and
a series of documents connected with it, including the reply
of Sir Michael (dated July 17, 1879) to the Memorial of the
European community. In this reply the Secretary of State
quoted statistics showing a great increase of serious crime having
taken place in 1877 and 1878 , admitted also that during those
two years the criminal classes of Hongkong had advanced in
audacity, combination and the habit of carrying arms, and
acknowledged the reasonableness of the alarm felt by residents
in the Colony, but declined sending out a special Commission ,
believing that meanwhile all cause for fear had been removedi
by the action of the Governor. Nevertheless crime had continued
to flourish for a little longer. On 22nd October, 1878, a coolic
was beaten to death in High Street and on 17th January, 1879 ,
an armed attack was made on Hunghom. In January, 1879,
the general sense of insecurity was such that a rumour spread
among the Chinese and gained credence that preparations were-
being made by a fleet of pirates to descend upon Hongkong
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 545
and to sack the whole town . The rumour was so strong that
the Police took accordingly precautions. However, with the year
1879 Sir John commenced a system of increased strictness of
gaol discipline . The system of deportation also was resumed
in 1879 and a rule was made that all old offenders should be
tried in Supreme Court, where they might receive sentences
commensurate with habitual indulgence in crime, instead of
the frequent short sentences inflicted by the Police Magistrates.
These measures served to disperse the illusions which Chinese
offenders had entertained concerning the regime of the merciful
man ' and crimes began to decrease, both as regards their type
and their frequency. Unfortunately the annual reports of the
Superintendent of Police for the four years from 1878 to 1881
were suppressed and for them were substituted, by order of the
Governor, bare statistics of crimes committed. But even these
tables show that there was in 1877 an increase of serious crimes,
amounting to 12.86 per cent ., which the Superintendent ascribed
to famine and floods in China and to the unusually high price
of rice in Hongkong . In 1878 there followed a further enormous
increase of serious crimes amounting to 32.31 per cent. The
year 1879 brought a decrease of 8.19 per cent . but, whilst in
1880 there was a further decrease of 14.43 per cent ., there was
a fresh increase of serious crimes in 1881 , amounting to 13.55
per cent.
Whether successful or not in the reduction of crime, Sir John
gained his main points in the treatment of Chinese criminals.
Almost all that he had been seeking in this respect since he made
the first declaration of his philanthropic policy in the Legislative
Council in 1877, he obtained in November, 1880, when Lord
Kimberley sanctioned the final abolition of all branding of
criminals, permanent discontinuance of public flogging, repeal of
all Ordinances providing for the flogging of Chinese, prohibition
of all flogging except in cases where it would be inflicted in the
United Kingdom, and finally an order that flogging of Asiatics
should in all cases be on the breach and not on the back. In
September, 1881 , notice was given that the Prison Amendment
35
546 CHAPTER XXI.
Regulation Ordinance (7 of 1880) was disallowed , whereby the
old law (2 of 1878 and 4 of 1863 ) , which this Ordinance had
been intended to modify, revived .
In May and July, 1878 , the attention of the Government
was directed to the custom prevailing among the Chinese com-
munity of Hongkong, as throughout the whole Empire of China,
of buying and selling girls for the purpose of domestic servitude.
This custom was generally practised in Hongkong by means of
nominal adoption connected with the payment of money to the
parents in return for the privilege of using the child's services.
The Attorney General (G. Phillippo) distinctly declared (June
21 , 1878 ) , in contradiction of the Governor's original views,
that this practice did not constitute a criminal offence ( May
30, 1878 ) ; that parties entering into a transaction of this
nature in England would in no way bring themselves within the
operation of the criminal law (June 21 , 1878 ) , and that the
Police Magistrates had no jurisdiction in the matter. At the same
time the Chinese community observed that, since the abolition
of the Macao coolie trade, the practice of kidnapping young
Chinese girls for exportation to the Straits Settlements, California
and Australia, had enormously increased . As the kidnappers
were believed to be chiefly people of the Tungkoon District , a
Committee of Tungkoon merchants, headed by Mr. Fung Ming-
shan, was appointed by the Chinese community to devise some
means to stop these kidnapping practices. Mr. Fung Ming-shan
and others accordingly petitioned the Governor (November 9 ,
1878 ) for permission to form an Anti-kidnapping Association
with power to employ detectives. Sir John appointed an official
Committee (C. V. Creagh, J. J. Francis, W. M. Deane, E. J. Eitel)
to investigate the matter, and this Committee recommended that
the sanction of the Government be given to the constitution of
the proposed Association on the basis of definite statutes (Gazette
of February 4 , 1880 ) drafted by Mr. J. J. Francis. The Asso-
ciation, which adopted the name Poleung Kuk, was accordingly
formed and received (June 24, 1880) the formal approval of the
Secretary of State. Later on (Gazette of August 5, 1882 ) rules
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 547
for the working of the Poleung Kuk were published, differing
from the statutes framed by Mr. Francis in that they did not
require the Association to be incorporated under the Companies'
Ordinance of 1865, nor did the new rules give to the Government
that tight hold on, and constant insight into, the working of
the Poleung Kuk which Mr. Francis' draft scheme had devised.
Meanwhile, however, the Chief Justice also noticed that the
practice of kidnapping, for purposes other than the coolie traffic,
was alarmingly on the increase, and, making no distinction
between the sale of girls in connection with domestic servitude
and in connection with exportation (for immoral purposes),
repeatedly denounced from the Bench, in summer 1879 , the
system of purchasing or adopting girls for employment as
domestic servants as a form of slavery. The Chief Justice alleged
that there were from ten to twenty thousand female slaves in the
Colony, and that this form of slavery flourished only through
the failure of Government officers to enforce the existing laws.
This action of the Chief Justice caused at first great alarm and
excitement among the Chinese. A deputation called on the
Governor ( September 24, 1879 ) , and, while asking for permis-
sion to form the above mentioned Anti-kidnapping Association,
suggested to regulate Chinese domestic servitude by means of
registering all purchased servant girls . The fears of the Chinese
community were, however, considerably allayed, when the Gover-
nor, who had previously been anxious to institute prosecutions
against the purchasers of servant girls, now assured them that he
would not allow of any harsh measures dealing with an established
Chinese national custom . But on 6th October, 1879 , the Chief
Justice again denounced the female servitude system of Hongkong
as strongly as ever, called it down-right slavery, and addressed
a few weeks later (October 20, 1879) a letter to the Governor.
in which he requested that the Police should be instructed to
bring every person, known to have a purchased servant, before
the Magistrate, to be dealt with mildly. The Chief Justice at the
same time alleged that kidnapping was encouraged by the social
habits of foreigners in Hongkong, that a class of mean whites
548 CHAPTER XXI.
was springing up in Hongkong and living in abject misery, and
he claimed that it was the duty of the Government to put down
a system which, by debasing all moral tone, tended to crime .
To rebut the arguments of Sir John Smale, Dr. Eitel wrote
(October 25, 1879) an exhaustive report on the origin and charac-
teristics of Chinese slavery and domestic servitude in Hongkong .
The whole dispute was thereupon referred to the Secretary of
State, and reviewed in a debate in the House of Lords (June
21 , 1880) , when Lord Stanley of Alderley, favourably criticizing
Dr. Eitel's report, stated that the Attorney General had been
wrong in his exposition of the law, but that , on the other hand ,
the Chief Justice had rushed into wild exaggerations . Lord
Kimberley remarked, on the same occasion, that the custom of
adoption was deeply interwoven with the forms of Chinese society,
and that care must be taken not to confound the habits and
institutions of the Chinese with what prevailed in other parts of
the world. After this, the brief turmoil caused by the local
slavery question disappeared as quickly as it had arisen. The
Poleung Kuk, however, did good work in bringing kidnappers to
justice, and on 24th March. 1881 , the Chief Justice, having
observed a steady decrease in kidnapping crimes, complacently
ascribed it to his own efforts. He stated from the Bench that
Chinese public opinion now appeared to have been educated to
a great sense of the evils of kidnapping and the worst of the evils
arising out of domestic servitude, that his denunciations of these
crimes had produced an awakening of the Chinese conscience, and
that a large proportion of the Chinese community now desired to-
•
improve the tone of social thought in China . Slavery of every
kind,' he said, ' is doomed in China ; it is merely a question of
education through discussion and time."
The question of Colonial defence was agitated for several
years during this administration . All through summer 1878 .
rumours of war with Russia were current . Whilst this war fever
lasted, the Volunteer Ordinance ( 2 of 1862 ) was re-published
(May 4 , 1878 ) and a new Volunteer Corps was formed and
placed (May 16 , 1878) under the command of Captain Dempster,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 549
subsequently succeeded by Captain A. Coxon , under whom
Mr. W. Danby served as Lieutenant. By 1st June, 1878 , the
names of 142 gentlemen, who had been enrolled in the Volunteer
Force, were published in the Government Gazette. Torpedoes
were constructed at the Naval Yard and torpedo practices
were held in the Lyeemoon . The batteries also were put in a
temporary state of defence and guns were mounted in some.
In January, 1879, the Governor received instructions to proceed
with the necessary works in order to place several batteries,
thrown up during the preceding year, in a condition of per-
manent defence, and operations were immediately commenced
at North Point. The Home Government, having at last woke
up to a recognition of the need of a comprehensive system of
Colonial defence, appointed (September 8, 1879 ) a Royal
Commission, headed by the Earl of Carnarvon, to inquire into
the state of the defences of the Colonies. The instructions of
this Commission were published in Hongkong (December 17,
1879) and, at the request of the Commission , a local Committee
set at once to work to report on questions connected with
the defences, armament and provisioning of Hongkong. The
rumours of an impending war between Russia and China gained
in probability in spring 1880 and thus kept up public interest
in the matter of Colonial defences. In summer, General Gordon,
known as Gordon Pasha, spent a week in Hongkong and Canton
(3rd to 9th July, 1880 ) and made various suggestions as to
the defences of Hongkong, advising especially the removal of
the Naval Yard, Barracks and Military Stores, to Causeway
Bay. On his return from a visit to Li Hung-chang in Tientsin,
he published in the China Mail the main part of the advice
he had given to the Chinese Government, and made a brief,
but fruitless, attempt to interest the leading Chinese merchants
of Hongkong in a proposal to concert measures towards the
expulsion from China of the Manchus and the restoration of
a Chinese Dynasty. The war fever was now dying out and
dissensions arose in the Volunteer Corps. The Commandant,
Captain A. Coxon , and Lieutenant W. Danby resigned (July
550 CHAPTER XXI.
13, 1880) and were succeeded by Captain J. J. Francis and'
Lieutenant J. McCallum. A turret ironclad, the Wivern, with
whose seagoing qualities fault had been found in England, was
sent out to Hongkong (June 2 , 1880 ) at the suggestion of the
Governor, to be permanently stationed here for harbour defence.
The last flickering up of the dying war spirit was observed
on the occasion of a grand naval review held at Tsimshatsui
(December 30, 1880 ) , but by the beginning of the year 1881 the
war cloud had passed away, by the consent of Russia to restore
Kuldja to the Chinese, and the whole question of Colonial
defences was shelved.
The year 1877 was on the whole a fairly good one for
mercantile men. Business, although rather restricted in extent,
was of a healthy character. Shares were steadily rising, though
there was little speculation, and real property became more
valuable. But a change took place in 1878. Freights now
commenced to fall, profits on goods of all descriptions became
smaller and smaller, and wild speculation took possession of
the share market, with the usual result of inflation followed
by subsequent depreciation . Still, there were no bubble companies
kept afloat merely by the credulity of the public, and stocks
were in a sound condition . But a general depression crept
into all commercial branches, locally as well as in China and
Japan, and several local firms of very old standing failed . At
the beginning of the year 1879 freights were 30 low that the
carrying trade ceased to be remunerative. Shipowners began
to think of laying up their vessels rather than run them at
a loss. Accordingly a Conference of London steamship owners
formed ( September, 1879) a combination to regulate the tonnage
on the berth, to prevent the accumulation of cargoes, and to
protect each other from loss . Through want of coherence
among the signatories of these Conference rules, rather than
through outside competition, the combination failed and the
rules were cancelled (January 5 , 1880 ) so far as Hongkong
was concerned. But apart from freights, the year 1879 was
in other respects also a year of great depression . Arrivals of
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 551
foreign ships declined to the extent of 5.28 per cent. , the greatest
decline being on the part of vessels under Continental flags.
Money was scarce in the Colony and quotations for most stocks
continued to fall, though known to offer good investment for
capital. Sterling exchange declined until the dollar touched
38. 6d. and the tael fell below 5 shillings. Never, it was said ,
was trade less profitable in Hongkong. However, with the
year 1880 , a general improvement set in. Trade now shewed
a disposition to be more brisk and remunerative, than it had
been for years before. Speculation was kept within reasonable
limits, time bargains, owing to the bitter lessons of 1878 , were
now regarded as dangerously hazardous ventures, and stocks
accordingly kept on a sounder footing. The H.C. & M. Steamboat
Company received a new lease of life by a friendly arrangement
with the opposition line of Messrs. Butterfield and Swire. In the
year 1880 the sugar refining industry of Hongkong commenced
to be a great source of wealth to Hongkong, and the East
Point Company solidified for the time all the local sugar interests
by purchasing the concerns of dangerous competitors . Neverthe-
less there was room for yet another large sugar factory, and
next year (July 6, 1881 ) ground was purchased at Quarry Bay
by Mr. E. Mackintosh for Messrs. Butterfield and Swire , who
immediately commenced the erection of new and extensive sugar
works . The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank attained in 1880
to a commanding position in the China Trade, being content
to mind its own legitimate business. Year after year, throughout
this period , the Bank made a substantial addition to its reserve
fund, it being the intention of the Directors to raise the reserve
fund to a level with half the amount of the paid up capital .
Most noticeable was, by the end of the year 1881 , the growing
favour in which the Bank was held by investors . Its shares
continued to rise and stood at 116 per cent . premium at
the beginning of 1882. The announcement in the London
Gazette (November 14, 1881 ) of the charter of incorporation of
the British North Borneo Company, was hailed in Hongkong
with great satisfaction. It was generally considered that the
552 CHAPTER XXI.
new territory, though thinly peopled, was capable of great
development, that labour could be readily supplied from China
and that the situation of North Borneo, midway between
Hongkong and Singapore, was even of political and strategical
importance.
The old problem of the Customs blockade, the only point
regarding which Sir John might have usefully redeemed his
promise to protect local commercial interests, was not brought
a single step nearer solution during his administration . In 1877 ,
Sir A. Kennedy, before leaving the Colony, forwarded to the
Secretary of State his recommendations with reference to that
clause of the Chefoo Convention which referred to the Mixed
Commission that was to settle the blockade question , and the
Legislative Council recorded (February 26, 1877 ) its sense of
obligation to the efforts of Sir Arthur to remove the impediments
to commercial intercourse between Hongkong and China. But
for more than two years nothing further was done in the matter,
except by the blockade officers who became more audacious than
ever in their interference with the trade of the Colony, and
by mild remonstrances forwarded by Sir J. Pope Hennessy to
the British Consul in Canton whenever Chinese petitioners
presented a specially strong grievance. For the blockade officers
now attempted to levy their exactions on non-dutiable articles
of daily consumption , and although this was resisted and even-
tually, owing to the representations made by the Consul to the
Viceroy of Canton , abandoned , the blockade officers succeeded
in confining the exemption from duties to positively fresh
provisions, and then went further and excluded even cattle
from the catalogue of non-dutiable articles . When Sir Thomas
Wade passed through Hongkong (April 7 , 1879), on his way
to England, the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce told
him that they considered the Convention as a retrograde measure.
needing careful revision, and that, although five new ports
(Wuhu, Wenchow, Ichang, Pakhoi and Hoihow ) had been
opened under its provisions, it was their earnest hope that Lord
Salisbury would refuse to ratify it. Great was the surprise of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 553
community, when it was reported that, in a debate in the House
of Lords ( May 9, 1879 ) , Lord Salisbury had stated that the
Governor of Hongkong had reported that the grievance, which
a certain clause of the Chefoo Convention intended to remove
by the appointment of a Mixed Commission , had ceased to exist
and that therefore there was no further reason to appoint the
Commission . This was the more puzzling as , a few weeks before
this news arrived in the Colony, Sir John had admitted in
Legislative Council ( May 29, 1879) , in speaking of the blockade,
•
that there is something pressing on the junk trade of the
Colony that prevents its expansion . ' When Sir Th. Wade again
passed through Hongkong ( December, 1879) , he suggested to a
Committee of the Chamber that the blockade stations would not
be removed by the Chinese until the Colony devised some scheme
by which the Chinese Government could collect the revenue
fairly due to them . Sir John , taking the same view, now gave
some hints of the plan by which he proposed to remove the
blockade. He stated in Legislative Council (December 30, 1879 )
that, if the trade in salt were put down and an undertaking
entered into for the collection of duty on opium, the Chinese
Government would be willing to remove the taxing stations.
Practically, therefore, the question was whether the Colony was
willing to sacrifice the freedom of the port in order to gain
the removal of the blockade, or, in other words, whether the
Colony would prefer to have Chinese Customs offices in town
or Chinese blockade stations outside the harbour. Such was
Sir John's plan, so far as he unfolded it. The determination
shown by him, on all occasions, to court the good-will of the
Chinese Authorities, combined with his habitual disregard of
•
the views of the British trader,' as he called the mercantile
community of Hongkong, caused the community to mistrust any
scheme for the abolition of the blockade emanating from Sir
J. Pope Hennessy . Hence there ensued now the general apathy
of hopelessness, which Sir John was careful not to disturb, and
thus it happened that the blockade question was allowed to
slumber all through the year 1880. On 10th March, 1881 , the
554 CHAPTER XXI.
Chamber of Commerce, once more appealed to the Secretary of
State for the abolition of the blockade and invited the principal
Chambers of Commerce in the United Kingdom to support their
petition, but this movement did not produce any results during
Governor Hennessy's term of office.
The currency question entered upon a retrograde movement
now, owing to the greater influence the Chinese gained at this
time. Seeing that it had become an established custom in Hong-
kong to prefer a clean currency and to accept broken silver or
chopped dollars only at a discount of one per cent., the Canton
Cotton and Yarn Guild passed a resolution (April, 1877) that
Chinese dealers in Hongkong should suspend trade with any
foreign firm refusing to accept broken silver at par value of
currency. At first the European merchants made joint resistance
to this attempt to force broken silver and chopped dollars upon
their acceptance . But the local Chinese dealers supported the
movement initiated by the Canton Cotton Guild and presented a
petition to the Registrar General asking the Governor to make
broken silver a legal tender. Sir John hesitated . Unfortunately,
however, individual foreign merchants yielded (May 5, 1877) to
the pressure brought to bear upon them by the Chinese, and
by 19th May, 1877 , the demands of the guild, through want
of unanimity among the European merchants, were generally
accepted . The latter now confined themselves to memorialize the
Government against the Chinese proposal to make broken silver
(including chopped dollars) a legal tender. The memorialists.
did not propose to prohibit the practice of chopping dollars,
but earnestly deprecated an compulsion to be brought upon
merchants unwilling to accept chopped dollars as currency .
A year later ( March 7 , 1878 ) the Chamber of Commerce,
recognizing that there was no prospect of the proposed British
dollar being coined in England by the Imperial Government,
pronounced now in favour of reviving the Hongkong Mint.
It was alleged that the former closing of the Hongkong establish-
ment was a premature and ill - advised measure, that there were
now excellent guarantees for the success of the undertaking, and
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 555
that the profits derivable from the subsidiary coins alone would
pay the expenses of the Mint . It was also stated that if the
Government objected to undertake the management of the Mint,
it might be started by a private Company under Government
supervision. Sir John , however, shelved the whole question .
Meanwhile attention was drawn to the manufacture in the
Colony, at the village of Tokwawan, of immense quantities of
Annamese cash for exportation to Annam and Tungking, where
no State Mint existed . Some of the manufacturers of these
cash were tried in the Police Court ( Hon . C. B. Plunket ) but
discharged, as no offence against English law was brought home
to them . But thereupon the Colony itself was flooded with these
cash, until a notification was published in the Gazette (October
29, 1879) warning the people that the circulation of these cash
in the Colony was illegal . On 23rd February, 1880 , the Chamber
of Commerce resolved to memorialize the Government, requesting
that action be taken with a view to make the Japanese yen
current in Hongkong, the Chinese community having (February
5, 1880 ) petitioned the Government to the same effect . Although
this was in entire accordance with Sir John's own wishes,
no action appears to have been taken in the matter by this
administration.
In the sphere of emigration, considerable irritation was
caused in January, 1878, by the case of two ships which took
emigrants under the belief that permission would be granted.
but at the last moment Sir John refused to sign the warrant .
The S.S. Perusia, the first steamer of the new China- Peru line,
had thus to sail (January 13, 1878 ) without her cargo of
emigrants, and the charterers of the American ship Charter
Oak were put to serious loss, having filled the ship with
emigrants for Honolulu, but being met, at the moment of her
intended departure (January 15, 1878), with a refusal on the
part of the Governor to sign the warrant, because the Tungwa
Hospital Committee had represented to him that the emigrants
would be lured into slavery. The consequence was that trade
with Honolulu was for several years afterwards conducted from
556 CHAPTER XXI.
Whampoa and taken up by the China Merchants S. N. Co. ,
which sent one of their steamers, Hochung (October 20, 1879) ,
to Honolulu with a large number of emigrants, and endeavoured,
through Captain C. C. Moreno, to negotiate a treaty between
China and Hawaii. The only emigration that Sir John sanc-
tioned was emigration to Demerara ( December 23 , 1878 ) and
subsequently to Antigua. Emigration to the Australian Colonies
the Governor was specially averse to and he discouraged it (in
1881 ) in a manner which caused strained relations between Sir
John and the Harbour Master's Department. The reason was
that the labouring classes of several Australian Colonies began
(since 1878) to agitate for the total exclusion of Chinese labourers
and artisans. In this connection, Sir John took special credit
to himself for having stopped what he called deportation of
criminals to Australia (November 22 , 1879) . It appears that for
several years the practice had obtained in Hongkong of allowing
Chinese prisoners under sentence of deportation to elect the
country, China or otherwise, to which they wished to go, and
in case any one preferred to go to Australia, he was allowed to
do so, the Police seeing him on board, to make sure that he left
the Colony. Thus it happened that in several cases men left
the Gaol to emigrate to Australia, and this was the practice Sir
John stopped. A few years later, there was a debate in Council
(August 23, 1881 ) which brought out the difference of opinion.
that separated the community from the Governor on the question
of emigration, as on almost every other subject. The Hon.
F. B. Johnson drew attention to the unrestricted right which
persons of any nationality in Hongkong had, to go to another
country, and stated that Chinese profited greatly by their sojourn
in foreign countries, that trade follows wherever they go, and that
Hongkong benefits largely from the passenger traffic and from
the trade which that traffic gives rise to. On the other hand
Sir John declared that Chinese emigration was not desired by
foreign countries and that the Chinese Government was opposed
to it because it took the bone and sinew out of the country.
However, in spite of Sir John's opposition to Chinese emigration,
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 557
the natural outflow of the Chinese population continued, though
in a diminished degree, to utilize the facilities for emigration
offered by Hongkong in some form or other.
Apart from the foregoing subjects, there were but few
minor questions of commercial interest agitating the mind of
the community during this period . In June, 1878 , the Gunger
case aroused some transient indignation against the Spanish
authorities at Manila, the S.S. Gunga having, after striking
ou a reef on her way from Hongkong to Australia, put into
Manila in distress for coal, when the Spaniards seized her
on account of some informality in declaring the ship's cargo.
Another matter of transient interest was the proposal made
at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce (March 4, 1879 ) ,
to establish a general exchange and commercial sales-rooms
where merchants might meet on a common platform, membership-
being open to all classes and nationalities. A few months later
(May 28, 1879) the promoters of the Hongkong Commercial
Exchange secured offices at the Marine House, and at a meeting
held at the City Hall rules were drawn up and a Secretary
(E. George) appointed to work this institution , which collapsed
almost as soon as it was started .
The junk trade of the Colony did not develop, but shewed
rather a steady decrease, during the first four years of this
period. A slight increase took place in 1881 , as compared
with the preceding year, but whilst in 1877 as many as
26,500 junks with 1,798,788 tons entered and cleared in
Hongkong, the corresponding figures for 1881 are 24,339
junks with 1,680,025 tons, and this in spite of a considerable
increase of the Chinese population . The rise and fall of the
commerce of Great Britain appears to exercise very little
influence on the junk trade of the Colony which is more
affected by the increase of the Chinese population of Hongkong,
by the varying degrees of strictness exercised at the blockade
stations and the variations of the policy of the Canton Provincial
Authorities, than by the commercial movements of London or
Manchester. As regards the import and export trade of
558 CHAPTER XXI.
Chinese merchants in Hongkong, the development of the
China Merchants S. N. Co. was of great moment. This
Company, in which Chinese merchants of Hongkong hold
a large share, and which was practically the creation of
Li Hung-chang, the Viceroy of Chihli , succeeded , after many
mistakes and losses, in making good reports and paying fair
dividends ( 10 per cent. in 1881 ) , besides writing off a liberal
sum for depreciation of its fleet . After establishing a Chinese
Insurance Company, Li Hung-chang's next step was to
run steamers to Honolulu (October, 1879 ) , and when this
measure was found unremunerative, a new departure was taken
(October 11 , 1881 ) , by putting a steamer on the berth for
London, with a view to commence direct trading between
England and China and to to establish a firm of Chinese
establish a
merchants in the City of London. An association was formed
for the purpose in Shanghai and Hongkong with a capital
of £ 150,000. The avowed object was to wrest the China
Trade from foreign hands and to carry the struggle into the
enemy's camp. Sir J. Pope Hennessy encouraged this enterprise
on the ground that the interests of the Imperial trade would
be furthered by bringing the English manufacturer and the
Chinese consumer nearer together, though it might be to the
detriment of the British intermediaries of the trade in
the Colony . But, as the Company had no experienced men
to start the business in London , and as it naturally met with
uncompromising opposition from British merchants and shippers,
the attempt proved a conspicuons failure. Even more short-
lived was another project, which Sir John did his utmost to
encourage and which, in his farewell summary of the condition
of the Colony, he triumphantly pointed to as a sign of
progress, viz. a proposal to start, at Belcher's Bay, a Dock
to be worked with exclusively Chinese capital for the purpose
of docking the steamers owned by the China Merchants
S. N. Co. and other Chinese firms. It was merely a paper
scheme, and as Li Hung-chang naturally declined to benefit
the Colony in any way, it fell to the ground. There was at
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 559
one time a third gigantic scheme on foot . Li Hung-chang
memorialized the Throne on the subject of opium and
dispatched (August 8 , 1881 ) the Taotai Ma Kien-chung on a
secret mission to the Viceroy of India, to ascertain how far
the Indian Government would be willing to meet his proposal
that India should year by year gradually reduce its opium
production , whilst China would make good from year to year
the deficit of Indian opium revenue, on a sliding scale which
was to terminate after a certain period, when the whole area,
originally devoted to opium plantations, would have been
gradually brought under cereal cultivation, thus preventing
any serious injury to the revenues of India . In direct
connection with this scheme of the Viceroy, there was a
further project, devised in Hongkong by Mr. Ho Amei, but
contemptuously rejected by Sir John . Mr. Ho Amei proposed
to start in Hongkong, under the sanction and control of the
Chinese Government, a Company with a capital of twenty
million dollars, for the purpose of purchasing all the opium
required for Chinese consumption sent from India and then
distributing it to the various ports. It was supposed that
this scheme would make smuggling impossible, do away with
the necessity for the numerous existing Li-kin stations and
put a stop to the prevailing evasion and misappropriation
of Li-kin duties in China. But the whole scheme failed
because the Indian Government declined the Viceroy's proposal.
An equally unsatisfactory result had the project of Mr. Ho Amei,
to start at Aberdeen salt-pans to manufacture sea salt for
exclusive consumption in the Colony. Ignoring the fact that
salt is an Imperial monopoly in China, and that therefore
the manufacture of salt in Hongkong would give an immense
stimulus to the existing forced contraband trade in salt, to
the injury of Chinese revenue and in violation of the
friendly relations between the two countries, the Chamber
of Commerce (March 10, 1881 ) viewed the proposed manufacture
of salt in opposition to the Governor's views as an enterprise
as legitimate as that of refining sugar. Sir John would not
560 CHAPTER XXI.
entertain the scheme for a moment. A fifth project of the
Chinese community was the establishment of a Chinese
Chamber of Commerce, which was to take over all the extraneous
functions of the Tung-wa Hospital Committee. Sir John
encouraged this project and suggested to combine with the
Chamber of Commerce a Chinese Industrial Museum. The
plan was often discussed, petitions and deputations pressed it
upon the Government , year after year, but although the
Governor finally ( February 20, 1880 ) promised to recommend
a Government grant of $ 10,000 , in addition to the grant of
a piece of ground, nothing was really done.
The sanitation of Hongkong was, during this administration,
a subject fruitful of bitter strife, as it brought the Surveyor
General, the Colonial Surgeon and the Military Medical Authorities
into direct opposition against the views of the Governor. The
annual reports of the Colonial Surgeon for the years 1879 and 1880
having been suppressed by the Governor, our records are incom-
plete. However, the Registrar General's statistics of the annual
death-rate per 1,000 of the whole population (being 26.81 for
1877, 29.60 for 1878 , and 32.14 for 1879 ) show a steady increase
for the first three years of this administration, followed by a
considerable decrease in 1880 (28.71 ) and 1881 (24.07 ) . As no
material changes were made in the system of sanitation, it seems
that the rise and fall of mortality during those years had nothing
to do with the Governor's attitude towards, or inactivity in,
matters of sanitation. The increase of sickness in 1877 is
accounted for by meteorological conditions, the heat registered
during that year having been in excess of anything experienced
during the preceding eight years, while the rainfall (77.24) was
below that of previous years ( 104.02 in 1876) . As to the year
1878 shewing a rise in the mortality tables, the Colonial Surgeon
reported that the health of the Colony was exceptionally good in
1878, and during the year 1879, when the mortality among the
Chinese population rose to 33.11 per 1,000, the health of the
troops was even better than in 1878. The common practice
during this period was, when things sanitary were found fault
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 561
with in Hongkong, to lay the blame on the Governor. Owing
partly to the annual philippica of the Colonial Surgeon, who
asserted that large numbers of Chinese houses in Hongkong had
been rebuilt on plans wanting in all sanitary principles, as they
drained mostly into the subsoil, and principally on account of the
trenchant representations, regarding the alleged mismanagement
of sanitary affairs in Hongkong, made by Deputy Surgeon General
McKinnon to the War Office, the Secretary of State sent (June,
1881 ) Mr. O. Chadwick, C.B. , at the expense of the Colony, to
inquire into and report to the Colonial Office on the sanitary
condition of Hongkong . Apart from the prejudice in favour of
the dry carth system which the Governor had, the only branch
of sanitation , in which he positively interfered , was the working
of the C.D. Ordinance, and in this respect also the Governor's-
action ran counter to the views of the local sanitary authorities.
Sir John appointed (November 12 , 1877 ) a Commission (T. C.
Hayllar, W. Keswick, E. J. Eitel ) to inquire into the working
of Ordinance 19 of 1867. But beyond abolishing the most
glaring abuses which had connected themselves with the local
system, and bringing together a mass of information as to
the local history of this branch of sanitation, the Commission
produced no result.
In educational matters, the real good, which Sir John did
for the education of the youths of the Colony by a reform of the
Grant-in-Aid Scheme, escaped public attention almost entirely.
As regards the Government Central School, then the most popular
educational institution of Hongkong, there appeared (December
1, 1877) a pamphlet questioning the raison d'être of this School.
The anonymous author argued that the Government should
confine its operations to promoting elementary education, leaving
all higher education to be organized on the voluntary principle
and to be paid for by those who value it . The pamphlet was
believed to express the Governor's views and caused accordingly
disquieting apprehensions. The Central School, however, con-
tinued as before. What the Governor did for, or against, the
School, had practically no effect at all, except that the erection
36
562 CHAPTER XXI.
of new buildings was stopped. On the ground that political and
commercial interests rendered the study of English of primary
importance in all Government Schools in the Colony, a principle
which an Educational Conference (February 25, 1878 ) , appointed
by the Governor, strongly enunciated, the Governor urged (but
without effect ) that more attention should be paid in the Central
School to promoting the speaking of English, that attendance
at Chinese lessons should be made optional, and that smaller
classes and a larger staff should be organized . An attempt
which the Governor made, by the appointment (August 27 ,
1880 ) of an Education Commission (F. Stewart, E. L. O'Malley,
J. M. Price, Ph . Ryrie, W. Keswick, E. J. Eitel , E. R. Belilios),
to substitute five elementary district schools for the preparatory
classes of the Central School, and to convert the latter into a
Collegiate Institution, miscarried entirely. A Normal School,
for the training of Chinese teachers of English, was established
(September 1 , 1881 ) but was condemned by the Education
Commission. The separation of the offices of Headmaster of the
Central School and Inspector of Schools, the appointment (March
7, 1878 ) of a separate Inspector as Head of the Education
Department (E. J. Eitel) , and the revision of the Grant-in-Aid
Scheme ( 1879 ) met with no opposition. The latter measure
revolutionized the educational system of the Colony. By a
few verbal alterations in the Grant-in-Aid Code, approved by
the Secretary of State, the secular system was confined to the
Government Schools, whilst all the Grant-in-Aid Schools were
set absolutely free to devote their whole time to education
(whether secular or religious) in both primary and secondary
subjects. The consequence was that, whilst Sir J. Pope Hennessy
on his first arrival in Hongkong (in 1877 ) found 41 schools
reported as existing in the Colony, with 2,922 scholars, he left
behind him, on his departure from Hongkong (in 1882 ), 5,182
scholars enrolled in 80 schools under Government supervision .
The Roman Catholic community had St. Joseph's Church
re-opened for services (June 3, 1877 ) and a new Church, of the
Sacred Heart, at Westpoint, built for them (March 22, 1879)
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 563
on ground granted by the Government . The German community
erected a Lutheran Church (March 12 , 1879 ) in connection with
the Berlin Foundling House. The first Chinese civil marriage
was solemnized at the Registrar General's Office on 7th June,
1877. The Sunday labour question was brought before the
Government (May 1 , 1879 ) by the joint action of the Protestant
and Catholic clergy. A Memorial presented by them requested ,
that on Sundays all labour should cease in the Colony and that
Statute 29th of Charles II . should be put in force. The question
was referred to the Secretary of State, but Sunday labour con-
tinued in Hongkong unchecked.
Such was the mutual incompatibility of temperament , views
and ways, between Sir John and the European community, that
he deliberately assumed a position of eutire isolation, whilst the
European community felt, year by year, less and less disposed
to disturb his insularity. Apart from Sir John's general policy.
there were special causes which irritated the community . Such
were, for instance, his interference (October 24, 1879 , and
February 5, 1881 ) with the rules of admission to the City Hall
Museum, his attempt to confiscate the steam-tug Fame (October
28, 1879 ) , and his prohibition of the sale of refreshments at the
City Hall Theatre ( February 25 , 1880 ) . As regards amusements,
however, the community was, during this period , well provided
for. In addition to the established periodical treats provided
by the Amateur Dramatic Corps, the Choral Society, the Hor-
ticultural Society, the Victoria Recreation and Regatta Clubs ,
the Liedertafel of the Club Germania, and the Race Club, this
period is distinguished by some specially successful celebrations,
among which mention is due to St. Patrick's festival ( March 17,
1879 ) , the centenary of the birth of the Irish poet Tom Moore
(May 28 , 1879 ), the Masonic Ball of 15th January, 1880, the
anniversary of Washington's birthday ( February 23, 1880 ) , and
the tercentenary of Camoens (June 10, 1880). As to other
social events those deserving mention are the semi -extinction
of the Humane Society (May 13, 1878) , the formation of St.
John's Lodge under the Scottish Constitution ( November 30,
564 CHAPTER XXI.
1878), a banquet and presentation of an address in honour of
Professor Nordenskjold (November 3, 1879 ), the starting of
jinrikshas in the Colony (April 22 , 1880) , the establishment
of a Polo Club (April 27, 1880), the presentation of an address
and testimonial to the Hon. W. Keswick (May 14, 1881 ), the
arrest of Messrs. Rapp and Schmidt by a Customs cruiser while
on a shooting expedition (November 26, 1881 ) , and the
appointment of Mr. C. P. Chater as Masonic District Grand.
Master of South China ( February 2 , 1882 ) .
The charity of the Hongkong community was, during this
period , called forth and exercised to an extraordinary degree .
To the relief of the famine in North China the Hongkong
community contributed (from April, 1877 , until August, 1878 , )
an aggregate sum of $ 132,000 . Floods in Canton necessitated
(in May, 1877 ) a separate appeal which in a day or two produced
$5,000 . The Freemasons raised separately funds (October, 1877 )
for the relief of sufferers from famine in India, and in January,
1878, a subscription was started for the sufferers from the Yesso
explosion, when Messrs. Douglas Lapraik & Co. headed the list
with a subscription of $ 10,000 . An Amateur Concert was given
(December 12 , 1878 ) on behalf of sufferers by the failure of the
City of Glasgow Bank. An Irish Famine Relief Committee was
started (March 8, 1880) and collected $36,000 . The Hon. E. R.
Belilios having (October 15, 1878) placed in the Governor's
hands the sum of £ 1,000 for the erection of a statue of Lord
Beaconsfield, used this sum, when Disraeli deprecated the honour,
to establish a Medical Scholarship Fund ( October 7 , 1879 ) ,
subsequently changed (November 29, 1883 ) into the Belilios
Scholarship Fund, and gave to a row of houses opposite the
City Hall, which he erected at the time, the name Beaconsfield
Arcade. A Medical Mission Committee (J. C. Edge, Dr. Young,
and H. W. Davis ) , having. since October 1871 , established a
public dispensary in Taipingshan, made (January 13, 1872 ) an
appeal to the community and commenced taking steps which
ultimately resulted in the establishment of Alice Memorial
Hospital.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 565
Several gales passed over Hongkong in 1879 ( 10th July,
13th July, 10th October), one in 1880 ( 23rd September) and
two in 1881 (21st August, and 14th October) , but with the
-exception of the last gale, by which many small craft were
wrecked and some lives lost, these gales did no serious damage.
Besides the case of the China Merchants' Steamer Haishin, which
went ashore in Fat-tau-moon , opposite Sheko, there was but
one extraordinary disaster. The S.S. Yesso was being moored
alongside the wharf, when one of her boilers burst (November
22, 1877) and 87 persons were scalded to death. There was no
unusual number of conflagrations during this period, but the
average number of houses destroyed on the occasion of fires was
much greater than anything previously experienced, indicating
a defective condition of the Fire Brigade.
The history of the ship-building movement during this
period is characterized by keen competition , ending in the
triumph of the H. & W. Dock Company. The most prominent
landmarks in this struggle were the launch of the Customs
Cruizer Li Chi from Captain Sands ' slip at Westpoint (March
5, 1878 ) ; the launch of the S.S. Kiungchow, built by W. B.
Spratt & Co. (July 28, 1878 ) at Spring Gardens ; the launch
of the S.S. Zephyr from Captain Sands' slip (November 23,
1878) ; the purchase of the late Captain Sands' slips by the H.
& W. Dock Company (September 1 , 1879) ; the starting of
opposition Docks at Shamshuipou by the Cosmopolitan Dock
Company (February 3 , 1880) , and the purchase of these Docks
by the H. & W. Dock Company (December 31 , 1880 ) . As to
other local industries, there is to be recorded the establishment
of an iron foundry at Shaukiwan ( June 6 , 1878 ) , the attempt
made by the Kaiming Company to start a match factory at
Yaumati (June 15, 1880 ) and the registration (December 31 ,
1880 ) of a new Ice Company. On 1st April, 1877 , postal rates
were reduced (to 16 cents for a letter to England) and local
rates lowered by one half. A further reduction in postal rates
(to 10 cents for a letter to any country of the Postal Union)
was made in 1879, when an almost uniform postal tariff was
566 CHAPTER XXI.
introduced, and an exchange of money orders arranged with
India and most of the Australian Colonies. Telegraphic cable
connection was extended to Manila ( May 1 , 1880) and to Canton
(March, 1882 ) , whilst the town was provided with telephones ,
there being on one occasion (June 24, 188 ! ) three Telephone ·
Companies applying for permission to establish lines in the
Colony. A short-lived line of steamers was started (January 13 ,
1878) to connect Hongkong with Peru ; the S.S. Washi com-
menced to run regularly between Hongkong and North Borneo
(June 13 , 1878 ) ; the Mitsu Bishu Company started a new line
of connection with Japan (October 12 , 1879 ) , and the Austro-
Hungarian Lloyds extended their steamship traffic by bringing :
Hongkong into regular monthly connection with Triest (Aprik
1 , 1881 ) . To the foregoing evidences of prosperity may be
added the establishment of an Anglo-Chinese Debating Society
(March 4, 1880) and the starting of a third daily newspaper, the
Hongkong Telegraph (June 15, 1881 ) , by Mr. R. Frazer Smith .;
The obituary of this period includes an extraordinary number
of prominent citizens :-H. Thorburn , Acting Manager of the
Chartered Bank (April 19 , 1877) ; W. H. Bell , lessee of the
Daily Press (May 16 , 1877 ) ; Captain G. U. Sands, founder of
the Patent Slip and Dock Company ( October 28 , 1877 ) ; J. J.
dos Remedios , Consul General for Portugal (July 30, 1878 ) :
John Jack, proprietor of the Hongkong Distillery ( August 15 ,
1878 ) ; Hon. Ch . May, Colonial Treasurer (April 23 , 1879 ) ; ·
Captain E. Punchard, commander of coast steamers (July 12,
1879) ; Rev. H. H. Kidd, Colonial Chaplain (July 31 , 1879)
Hon . C. B. Plunket, Police Magistrate (December 21 , 1880 ) ;
Captain R. W. Hutchinson, commander and owner of several
steamers (January 30, 1881 ) ; Mrs. McIver, wife of Superinten-
dent P. & O. Company (February 11 , 1881 ) ; Sir Richard Graves
McDonnell (March, 1881 ) ; T. G. Lindstead, Masonic District
Grand Master (April , 30, 1881 ) ; W. R. , Landstein, merchant
(June 21 , 1881 ) ; Pastor Klitzke of the Berlin Foundling House :
(July 3, 1881 ) ; Rev. C. G. Booth, Military Chaplain (January .
14, 1882) . 4 i +
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR J. P. HENNESSY. 567
In October, 1881 , it was stated that the question of the
Governor's rule or misrule would shortly be brought before
Parliament. This was not done, but in February, 1882, it was
generally understood that the Governor was about to leave the
Colony for good. The Tungwa Hospital Committee gave the
Governor a farewell banquet (February 27 , 1882 ) , and when Sir
John, after a stormy debate in Legislative Council, announced
(March 1 , 1882 ) his approaching departure, the Hon . Ph. Ryrie,
expressing his own views, praisel the Governor as having been
a longer time at his post than any of his predecessors . Two
complimentary addresses were presented to Sir John on the eve
of his departure, one by a Chinese deputation and the other by
the Portuguese community (March 6, 1882 ). On 7th March,
1882 , Sir John left Hongkong ostensibly on leave for six months,
but it was understood at the time that his return was beyond
the bounds of probability. Later on, when a contrary rumour
reached the Colony, the strongest remonstrances were addressed
by the leading British merchants to the Authorities at Downing
Street and thereupon all doubts as to the permanent severance of
the tie between Hongkong and Sir J. Pope Hennessy (beyond the
payment of a pension ) were removed, and the Colony entered,
after five years of incessant turmoil, upon a season of quiet
and steady work. Sir John himself carried with him to another
Governorship ( Mauritius ) the same odd perverse antipathies, and
roused there also, among the British community, the whirlwind
and the storm which it required the interference of Sir Hercules
Robinson to assuage. The abrupt termination of Sir John's
official career was rendered tragic through its being followed
by his premature death (October 7 , 1890) at a moment
when re-entrance upon the scenes of Parliamentary life seemed
open to him and to offer a vista of success in the sphere of
Irish politics . Requiescat in pace.
CHAPTER XXII.
A SHORT SUMMARY.
1854 to 1882.
HE epoch in Hongkong's history which opens with
TH
the administration of Sir John Bowring (1854) and
closes with that of Sir J. P. Hennessy ( 1882 ) is characterized
by the severance (since March, 1857 ) of the ties which had
united the interests of the Colony with the Imperial policy
of Her Majesty's Government in China. When the successive
Governors of Hongkong ceased to act as Her Majesty's
diplomatic agents in China, it was not merely that the
connection of the Colony and its Governors with the Foreign
Office ceased and determined. The change involved the
subordination of Hongkong's interests to the desire, always
uppermost in the mind of H.M. Minister in Peking, to keep
on good terms with Hongkong's implacable enemies, the
Chinese Mandarins. The first Governor of this period,
Sir J. Bowring, was not only deprived of the office of H.M.
Representative in China, but found his successors in that
office to sacrifice the welfare of the Colony to a maudlin
policy of cringing subservience to China as a fancied equal
of Europe and a supposed great and mighty Empire. And the
last Governor of this period, Sir J. P. Hennessy, whose one
desire was to obtain that same post, exhibits the strange spectacle
of a Governor of Hongkong deliberately acting on the false
assumption that the Imperial interests of Great Britain and
of peaceful relations with China are irreconcilably hostile to
the local interests of the Colony.
The earliest portion of this narrative is occupied with the
story of that struggle between China and Europe, in which,
A SHORT SUMMARY. 569
for two long centuries, Manchu arrogance and tyranny has,
thanks to the apathy of the East-India Company's Directors,
the upper hand over the representatives of European commerce
and civilization, and keeps them locked up within the narrow
limits of the Canton Factories. The latest portion of this
volume exhibits that same Manchu tyranny, undeterred by
repeated defeats and humiliations, because aided and abetted
by H.M. Ministers and Consuls in China, surrounding the
hated Free Trade Colony of Hongkong by a narrow circle of
Customs stations and maintaining an effective blockade which
to the present day disgraces British relations with China. All
honour to Great Britain's magnanimous forbearance in the
interest of what her Crown lawyers consider to be the just
demands of international law. Covered by that law, Mandarindom
still seeks to strangle the Free Trade movement of the Colony
and still slanders the fair name of the Colony by regarding
that amount of smuggling, which everywhere in the world
naturally results from oppressive and irregular taxation and
peculation, as an inherent vice of the native population of
Hongkong. But a divine Nemesis is watching over all these
things and Mandarindom will eventually discover its mistake
when British patience is exhausted . An effective solution of
the problem can, however, hardly be expected so long as the
present division between the Colonial and Foreign Offices
continues. This division which, in its practical working in
the Far East, bristles with unavoidable jealousies and irrecon-
cilable antagonisms, impedes the natural process of bringing
China into subordination to Europe. The furtherance of that
process demands a special Ministry charged with the direction
of all Her Majesty's possessions and interests in the East and
bringing British Colonial and Imperial policy into a working
and effective unity.
Historically speaking it seems undeniable that, as in the days
of the East- India Company at Canton, so in the more recent
history of Hongkong, European merchants have ever been the
leaders and the Chinese merchants the indispensable hangers -on
570 CHAPTER XXII.
and go-betweens of the China Trade, and that this twofold
commerce made immense strides for the benefit of both parties
from the moment when it came under the impulse of the mighty
spirit of free trade, which fused the interests of European and
Chinese merchants into indissoluble unity. If we view the
history of the China Trade from the standpoint of Europe's
relations with China, it is clear that the tendency, which God
put into the movement that commenced at Canton two centuries
ago and which resulted in the establishment of this British
Colony, was the inchoative union of Europe and China, by the
subordination of the latter to the former, and this by means
of free trade coupled with enlightened and humane local
government. The genius of British free trade and political ;
liberty constitutes unmistakeably the vital element in the historie :
evolution of Hongkong. Hence it is that co-operation with
this divine tendency of things is the unalterable condition of
success. Every measure, every event in the history of Hongkong,
that is in harmony with this general innate tendency, is in
part a fulfilment of Hongkong's mission in the history of the
universe.
That this view is correct, may be inferred from the historic
fact that nothing ever seriously endangered the existence of
this Colony but tampering with the free trade palladium of
Hongkong. Few of the Governors of this epoch recognized
the importance of this truth, and among the merchants
even there was often entire forgetfulness of this principle.
Sir A. Kennedy, no doubt, thought he was doing the right
thing when he introduced lighthouse dues, and the mercantile
community submitted to the measure without a murmur.
Sir R. MacDonnell came near the truth when he saw the
essential importance of Hongkong in its convenience as a .
commercial depot and recommended that the shipping interests
be better looked after. The only Governor of this period
whose eyes were fully open on this point, was Sir J. Bowring .
The following words, taken from one of his published :
dispatches, are worth remembering... Believing that . the .
A SHORT SUMMARY. 571
satisfactory development of our prosperity is mainly due to the .
emancipation of all shipping and trade from fiscal vexations
and exactions, I trust no custom-house machinery will ever be
introduced, either for the collection of tariff or harbour dues or
for any purpose which may check the free ingress and egress
of all shipping to and from the port nor the free transfer of
commodities from hand to hand. Hongkong presents another
example of the elasticity and potency of unrestricted commerce
which has more than counterbalanced the barrenness of the soil,
the absence of agricultural and manufacturing industry, the
disadvantages of its climate and every impediment which would
clog its progress .'
The greatest revolution that ever upheaved the affairs of
Hongkong came from a purely commercial source, from the
sphere of its shipping interests. I refer to the opening of the
Suez Canal. For several years after that momentous event ,
Hongkong commerce seemingly followed its old impetus in much
the same lines as before. But step by step it was seen that a
change had come over Hongkong's dream, amounting to a com-
plete revolution . The markets in England for silk, tea and other
Chinese exports had been entirely ruled by the prices paid in
China. Now the price realised in England became the norm
and guide of all purchases to be made in China. As to imports
iuto China, the change wrought, by bringing the English
manufacturer into closer connection with the Chinese consumer,
was equally formidable. The China Trade now drifted into the
hands of home capitalists. Successful trading on credit , formerly
so common in Hongkong, became year by year rarer and large
monied firms only appeared to profit in the long run.
But the remarkable thing is that even the political and
strategical importance of Hongkong was immensely enhanced
by that same commercial event. It was the opening of the
Suez Canal which placed Hongkong in line with Gibraltar
and Malta and made it combine their functions as applied
to the Far East . Hongkong now dominates the China Sea
as Malta dominates the Mediterranean and strategically closes .
572 CHAPTER XXII
the road to India from the East as Gibraltar opens the
gateway from the West. As the opening of the Suez Canal,
with its consequent increase of European trade with China,
enhanced the importance of Hongkong as a commercial em-
porium, so the universal employment of steamers in the navies
of all the great Maritime Powers, which likewise followed from
the opening of the Suez Canal, gave Hongkong a new important
function to fulfil as the only coaling station of the British navy
in the Far East . But, as it took Hongkong merchants several
years to realize how much nearer, to London, Hongkong now
was, so it took Her Majesty's Government and the British public
several decades of years to realize the increased political and
strategical importance Hongkong had assumed, by that same
commercial event, in the general scheme of British Colonial
defence, and its consequent need of first class fortifications.
As to the individual Governors of this epoch, one feels
tempted to say that apparently each man begins the world afresh
and the last man repeats the blunders of the first .' However,
it is remarkable how little really depended upon the character,
wisdom or energy, of any of these exalted individuals . Sir J.
Bowring, the man of ideas, had rare capabilities and was brim-
ming over with fruitful schemes, but, to use Lord Clarendon's
6
words, events which could not be foreseen and which got (or
rather all along were) beyond his control ' left him stranded
powerless. Sir H. Robinson, Fortune's favourite, was apparently
the most successful Governor of Hongkong, thanks to an
adventitious prosperity of commerce, but if his administration
had fallen into his successor's time of financial insolvency, he
would have been deprived of all the means of success and left
as helpless as his successor. Sir R. MacDonnell, the autocrat,
was perhaps the greatest, most energetic and powerful, Governor
that ever ruled over this much-ruled Colony, but adverse circum-
stances, bad times, opposition on the part of the colonists and
dissensions with the Colonial Office rulers, clipped the wings
of his usefulness and success. Sir A. Kennedy, the amiable,
is the model of a successful and most popular Governor who
A SHORT SUMMARY. 573-
achieved local immortality by doing as little as possible whilst
making himself personally pleasant to the Colony as well to the
Downing Street officials. As to Sir J. P. Hennessy, the less
said the better. His acts speak powerfully enough. The centre
of his world was he himself. But with all the crowd of dark
and bright powers that were wrestling within him , he could
not help doing some good and the Colony emerged out of the
ordeal of his administration practically unscathed . No, what
makes or mars the fortunes of Hongkong is not the wisdom
or foolishness, the goodness or badness of its Governors. There
is an indomitable vitality within and a Supreme Governor
above this British Colony, and these powers irresistibly push
on and control the evolution of Hongkong until its destiny
be fulfilled in accordance with a plan which is not of man's
making.
Several important social problems were taken up during
this period. In the case of the gambling question , first investi-
gated by Sir J. Bowring, worked out by Sir R. MacDonnell in
a spirited but unsuccessful manner, and religiously eschewed
by his successors who, however, did not escape the curse of this
rampant evil, all that can be said is that the Sphinx will have-
to solve its own riddle, for no one seems able or courageous
enough to deal with the problem. As to the Contagious Diseases
question, a solution was sought , in a more or less half-hearted
manner, by several Governors of this epoch, but, as no great
results were expected, public expectation was not seriously
disappointed . Strange to say, the problem of municipal govern-
ment, raised by the Parliamentary Committee of 1817 , and
diplomatically handled by Sir G. Bonham, was allowed by the
mercantile community to remain dormant through the whole
of this epoch. Stranger still, the only Governor who alluded
to the subject was autocratic Sir R. MacDonnell who suggested
to H.M. Government that the Colony should be allowed, as
far as possible, the liberty to expend, on local improvements
and works, all the available public income that can be raised from
the community for these purposes ." But the strangest thing
574 CHAPTER XXII.
was that, while the foreign community remained silent on the
subject, the Chinese residents came forward of their own accord
and requested the organisation of a distinctly Chinese Municipal
Council for their own particular benefit, and obtained a Police
of their own and a consultative voice as to the management , by the
Registrar General, of Chinese affairs. As to a British Municipal
Council, it has to be noted, that the history of this period
emphatically contradicts one great objection to it, which Sir
G. Bonham formulated by asserting that out here in the East
there is no leisured class and that men of standing possess neither
time nor inclination to devote to the interests of the public .
The long continued and varied activity in purely public affairs,
displayed during this period by individuals like J. Dent, Ph.
Ryrie, J. Whittall, W. Keswick and others, and most particularly
the large share of attention and time which the Hongkong
Chamber of Commerce devoted to questions of general policy,
gives the lie to the assertion that the commercial men of this
Colony are unwilling to sacrifice their time and their strength
to the management of communal affairs.
As regards the general attitude of the Chinese community,
it seems that, in proportion as the leading Chinese residents
learned, towards the end of this epoch, to understand the
principles of British communal liberty, there appeared among
them a tendency to retire into their own shell, deliberately
refusing any identification with the European community. The
persistent refusal to adopt European costume or English ways
of living, the uniform aversion to participation in local politics
coupled with a deep-seated anxiety to keep on good terms with
Chinese Mandarindom even when it blockaded the port to
throttle their trade, the steady increase of Chinese joint-stock
companies from which foreign investors were jealously excluded,
the readiness of secret combination to retaliate against unpopular
Government measures by a general strike,-all these symptoms
of Chinese clannish exclusivism , natural enough in people whose
just liberties have for centuries been invaded by despotic rulers,
clearly indicate that on the Chinese side there is, as yet, no
A SHORT SUMMARY. 575
desire to see the chasm that still separates Chinese and European
life in this Colony, bridged over.
The educational history of this period is characterized by
the continued subordination of English to Chinese teaching and
by the deliberate abandonment, on the part of the Government,
the foreign community and some of the missionaries, of the
principle of religious education . Half-hearted religionism had
clearly failed during the preceding period , but secular education
now tentatively pursued was likewise bound to fail so long as
insufficient attention was bestowed on a general promotion of
the English language. There was, during this period, hardly a
thought of aiming at that regeneration of the Chinese community
which would raise them to the level of the Europeans. The
regeneration of a community can only come from the education
of the individual and until English education is fostered and
honoured in Hongkong more than it has been hitherto, the
Colony will lag behind its full measure of unity and strength .
So far, however, the history of Hongkong has on the whole
been the gentle dawning of a bright success . Our hope of
the future is but the memory of the past reversed . Hongkong
has clearly fulfilled, up to this point, the purpose of its establish-
ment as the guardian of the interests of Europe in China.
Notwithstanding all its faults and shortcomings , this British
Colony has set before the people and Mandarins of China a
praiseworthy example of free trade principles and humane govern-
ment. Floreat semper!
END
INDEX .
Abel. F. A., 311.
Aberdeen Docks, 350, 386. Bailey, D. H., 473, 502.
Baker , R. B., 400.
Aberdeen Island ( Aplichau). 127 , Ball, Dr.
133, 190. , 180.
Aberdeen Village ( Shekpaiwan), 130 , Ball, H. J., 364, 370, 391 , 408, 409 .
133, 337. 423, 515.
Adams, W. H. , 370, 374, 398. Banknotes, 244, 496.
Barbarians, 12, 33, 34, 35.
Adamson, W., 387. Barber, G. J., 474 .
Ah-lum, 311-313. Barracks, 185, 221, 245.
Agra Bank, 386, 454. Battles- First at the Bogue ( Chuen-
Alabaster, Ch., 317.
Alcock, R., 304, 416, 419, 504. pi). 109 : Second, 121 ; Third,
Alexander , W. H., 370, 408, 520, 137 ; Battle of Samyueuli, 145.
Baxter, Miss , 391, 465.
Alford, Bishop, 466, 467.
Alford, E. F., 529. Bea ch, W. R., 402, 466.
Alice Memorial Hospital. 564. Beart, E., 470.
Almada, J. M., 182. Beckwith, J. H., 401 .
Almada, L., 182, 189. Belcher, Sir E., 124 , 125 , 142 .
Amalgamation Ordinance, 333, 370, Belilios , E. R., 491 , 530, 532, 564 .
Amaral, J. M. F.. 219, 230, 255. Belilios Fund, 564.
102, 119, 226.
Amateur D. C. , 247, 283, 398, 469, Bell, W., 68
517. Bell, W. H. , 566.
Anderson, Dr., 32, 72, 177, 189. Bentham, G., 404.
Anderson, A. H., 387. Bentinck, Lord W .. 17.
Anglo - Chinese College , 191 , 280, 347. Berlin Foundling House, 393, 563.
Annals, Chinese, 78, 82, 111 , 144, 151 . Beyer, L., 473.
Anson, Commodore, 13, Bibby Adam & Co., 68.
Bifurcation (of government ). 164,
Anstey, Ch., 330, 338. 166, 171, 364.
Antrobus, B. C., 347.
Arbitration, 195, 206. Bingham, J. E., 166.
Arnold, J., 444. Bird, J. R., 177.
Arrow War, 306–318. Bird , S. G., 360, 376.
Ashton, S., 363. 538. Birley & Co. , 383.
Association, 470. Bishopric of Hongkong, 279, 466.
Astell , J. W., 32, 42, 48, 70, 102. 512.
Austin, H. P., 474. Blake, Captain, 89.
Austin, J. G., 273, 387, 522. Blakeman, N., 440.
Australia, 9, 273 , 274, 556. Blockade (of Canton River), 106,
Austro- Hungarian- Expedition, 472 ; Bloc117, 181 , 303, 304, 316.
kade (of the Factories), 88, 92.
Lloyds, 566. Blockade of Hongkong, 415, 460,
Ayres, Ph. 480, 508.
502, 552, 569.
ii INDEX.
Board of Examiners (Marine) , 363 , Cadet Scheme, 300, 365, 422, 481.
481 . Caine, W., 170, 186 , 188, 189, 220,
Board of Examiners (Chinese) , 481 . 229, 233, 241 , 297, 338.
Boggs, E. M., 339. Calamities, 175, 177, 281 , 350 , 404,
Bogue, 4 , 5, 106, 121 , 137, 160. 473 , 513, 565.
Bonham, Sir S. G., 253-287, 291-294, Caldwell, D. R., 189, 270, 271 , 337,
342. 339, 520.
Bonham Strand, 285, 287. Campbell, A., 243, 276.
Booth, C. G., 566. Campbell, P., 321,
Borlase, Captain, 360. Canton, 1-95, 216 , 302 , 304, 305, 306,
Borneo Company, 557. 316, 459.
Bottomley, C. D., 543. Canton Cotton Guild, 415, 554.
Bourbillon, M. de , 258, 301. Canton, Occupation of, 317, 356, 362.
Bowdler, E., 480. Canton Railway, 388, 409.
Bowra, E. C., 421 . Canton Register, 22, 35 , 60, 196,
Bowring, Mr., 440. 209.
Bowring, Lady, 311. Canton Rifle Corps, 400.
Bowring, Sir J., 213, 238 , 254, 284, Cape Collinson, 131 , 500.
295-392 , 411 , 428, 527. Cape D'Aguilar, 131 , 500.
Boyd, W., 35 , 45. Cardazo, S., 255.
Brabant, Duke of, 405. Cardwell, Mr., 374.
Braine, G. T., 102, 106, 159, 189, Carnarvon. Earl, 427 , 431 ,
241. Carpenter, F. S., 277,
Bramston, J., 486 . Carter, A., 223, 225.
Brand , R., 373 , 387. Carvalho, J. A. da, 530.
Branding, 228, 449, 450 , 488, 545. Catchpoole, Mr., 3, 27, 30.
Breakwater, 538. Cay, R. D. , 220.
Bremer, J. J. Gordon, 114, 116-119, Cemeteries, 175 , 246, 332.
123, 135, 146, 165, 176 . Census, 171 , 226, 485.
Brewer, J. S., 526. Central Bank, 381 , 386.
Bridges, W. T., 312, 331 , 334, 338 , Central School, 392, 466, 561, 562.
348, 369. Cession of Hongkong, 122-126, 155–
Brine, F., 399, 400. 157, 163.
Brodersen, J. , 401 . Chablaye , M. de, 151 .
Brokers, 492 , Chadwick, O., 561.
Brooke, G. T., 189. Chaldecott, Dr., 341 .
Brooke, Sir J., 299. Chamber of Commerce- British, 35,
Brown, Mr., 186 . 45, 101, 102 ; General, 67 ; Hong-
Bruce, M. , 189. kong, 383 , 384, 421 , 428, 440,
Bruce, Sir F. W., 220 , 354, 358. 503 ; Chinese, 560.
Brunker, Mr. & Mrs., 474 . Chartered Bank of India, 387.
Buckingham, Duke of, 430, 432, 434, Chartered Mercantile Bank, 381 ,
436. 387.
Burd, J., 245. Charter of Hongkong, 188, 479, 525.
Burdon, Bishop.511, 512, 527. Chater, C. P., 564.
Burgass , R., 189, 194. Chefoo Convention , 505, 552.
Burlinghame, A., 398, Chenez , M. des, 317.
Burn, D. L., 159, 189. Chesne, H. du. 472 ,
Burrell, Major-General, 142 , 151 , 180. China Mail, 247, 426, 471 , 549.
Burrows, Silas E., 349. China Merchants S. N. Co., 505, 506,
Bush, F. T., 244, 276. 556, 558.
Butterfield & Swire, 519, 551. China Punch, 470 , 516.
Buxey, T. B. , 383 . Chinese, Government of the, 164,
Bythesea, Captain, 337. 222, 333, 364, 368, 460, 461 , 574.
INDEX .
iii
Chinese Hatred of Foreigners, 305.
Chinese Perfidy, 148, 153 , 199, 256 , Coolie Trade , 273, 344, 458, 500. ·
355. Cooper- Turner, Mr., 334, 405.
-Chinnerey, Mr., 285, 466. Coroner, 180, 221 , 483,
Chomley, F., 370, 387. Coughtrie, J. B., 470, 529,
Chopped Dollars, 496, 498, 554. Cowasjee, P. 174.
Choral Society, 398, 516. Coxon, A., 401 , 444, 549.
Chuenpi, 4, 106, 453. Cragg & Co. , 68.
Chusan, 3, 55, 56, 59, 117, 118, 122, Creag Cricket 446, 490, 546.
C. V.,, 283.
h, Club
148, 170, 204, 236, 355. Crime , Statistics of, 450, 488, 540,
City Hall, 401 , 468, 563.
Civil Hospital , 283 , 462 , 487 , 510. 545.
Civil Service Abuses, 321-326, 365, Crimes, 269, 337, 380, 381 , 542.
366, 529. Crooke, N., 35, 45 ,
Clarendon, Earl, 258 , 296, 300 , 305 , Cunha, P. A. da, 255.
314, 342. Curr ency, 184 , 244, 275, 345, 375, 376,
Clark, Mr., 474. 495, 554.
Clarke, H. M. , 70. Cust oms, Chinese Imperial Maritime ,
Cleverly, Ch. St. G. , 189, 279, 324, 356, 383, 384, 408.
329, 330, 360, 376, 391.
Clock Tower, 401 .
Clouth, Dr., 517. D'Aguilar, G. C., 189 , 207, 214, 216 ,
Club Right, 533. 217, 233, 238, 245, 248, 249.
Coast Survey, 499. Daily Press, 321, 323, 329, 366, 404,
Coast Trade , 243, 454, 506. 409.
Cochran, Dr., 474. Dalgarno , A., 521 .
Cochrane , Sir Th., 151 , 207. Danby, W., 487, 549.
Cohen, H., 401 . Daniell, & Co., 68.
Co- Hong , -8 . Davidson, W. M., 386.
Colborne , Sir F., 522. Davidson, W. S. , 21.
Coley, R., 233. Davies, H. T., 321 , 323, 324, 330.
College, T. R., 32, 37, 72. Davi es, J. W., 256.
Collier, Sir F. A., 285. Davis, H. W. , 564.
Colonial Chaplain, 189, 190. Day, J., 329, 334, 350.
Colonial Defence Commission, 362, Deane, Dr., 180.
549. Deane, W. M., 365, 446 , 546.
Colonial Ships ' Register, 303 , 332. Death Rate , 192, 245, 278, 463, 509 ,
Colonial Surgeon , 180, 189. 560.
Commerce, 197, 205, 219, 242, 271, Debating Society, 516, 566,
342-346, 383, 410, 452-460, 490- Defences , 298.
506, 550-560. Delano, D. , 383 .
Commercial Bank, 287, 454. Dempster, Captain, 548.
Commission, Mixed, 360, 553. Dennys, N. B., 516, 519.
Compradors, 533. Dent & Co., 21 , 68, 119, 173, 174,
Comptoir d'escompte, 519. 197, 203, 220, 329, 383 , 386,
Compton, Ch. Sp. , 230. Dent , J., 189, 323 , 324 , 328, 329, 363,
Consolidation of Laws, 370, 408 , 532 . 401.
Consoo , 8. Dent. L., 35, 70, 90 .
Consul (Chinese) , 419, 504. Dent , W., 106 , 246, 286.
Consular Student Interpreters, 300. Deportation, 239, 312 , 379 449 , 488,
Consuls. Foreign, 244, 472. 556.
Contagious Diseases Acts, 331 , 464, Derby, Lord, 313.
Detective Force, 271, 447, 489 .
Costa, Captain da. 269. Devereux, Subaltern, 144.
Convoying, 243, 272, 303 ,
Dhunjeeshaw, R., 387.
iv INDEX.
Dick, Th., 418. Elliot, Rear-Admiral G., 81 , 116-119.
Differential Duties, 175 , 201 , 240,346 , Elliot's Vale, 178 , 220.
505. Elmslie, A. W., 182.
Diocesan School, 391, 466 , Elmslie, E., 48, 72, 182.
Dirom & Co., 68, 119, 174. Elphinstone, Mr., 53,
District Watchmen, 203 , 238, 447, Emigration, 259, 344, 387, 501, 555.
Distillery Company, 491 , 566. Endicott, J. B., 456, 474.
Dixon, J., 538 . Enscoe, Dr.. 405.
Docks, 196 , 350, 386, 453, 519, 558, Eulenburg, Count, 398.
565. Executive Council, 189, 221 , 365.
Dodd, J., 400 , 525.
Dods, G., 480, 508. Exhibition, International, 277, 389.
Dollar, 184, 185, 244, 275, 345. 374. Exodus - from Canton, 95 ; from
497.554. Macao. 103 ; from Hongkong.
Donaldson, Th., 403, 474. 223. 319.
Donoval, J.. 474. Extradition, 160, 213 , 229, 230, 409,
Douglas Castle, 403. 410, 531.
Douglas, F., 380, 488, 520. Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, 16, 27,
Douglas Mackenzie & Co.. 35. 28, 101, 109.
Drainage, 391 .
Drain Gangs, 381.
Drake, Mr., 281. Factories (Canton) , 8, 9, 23, 36, 67.
Drew, Dr., 481. 88, 92, 139, 159, 217, 230 ,
Drinker, S., 311. Falconer, G. B., 448, 520.
Drinking Fountain, 401. Farncomb, E., 221. 233 .
Drummond. F. C., 189. Fatshan, 140, 150, 302 , 315, 318.
Drury, Admiral, 16. Fearon, Mr., 91.
Duddell, G., 315. Fearon, S., 180, 221.
Dudgeon, P., 189, 223. Feliciani, Fra A., 190.
Duelling, 516. Field , Mr.. 140.
Duipuis, M., 518. Fire Brigade, 444, 528, 529.
Dwyer, Lieut.. 269. Fitz -Gibbon, Mr., 185.
Fletcher & Co., 383.
Eastern Globe, 196. Fletcher, A., 189 , 321 , 402.
East India Company, 1-25, 26, 45, Flint. Mr., 6, 7.
46, 63 , 289, 290. Flogging, 171 , 238 , 267, 449 , 450.
Ede , N. J. , 543. 541, 545.
Edge, J. C., 564. Flora, 404, 519.
Edger, J. F. , 189, 261. 347. Forbes, W. H., 517, 529, 545 ,
Edinburgh, Duke of, 468, 469. Ford, Ch.,470, 520,
Education, 247, 247, 280, 396, 465 , Foreigner (Meaning of the term).
510, 561, 575. 248.
Eglinton Maclean & Co., 68. Foreign Devil, 13.
Eimbke, A., 472. Formosa, 1 , 56, 59, 349,
Eitel, E. J., 472. 481 , 511 , 516, 526, Forth, F. H., 329, 422.
527, 531 , 546, 548, 561, 562. Fox Rawson & Co., 68, 174.
Eleepoo, 118, 120, 141, 154 , 159, Fox, T.. 35.
Eliang, 139, 176. Framjee, N., 68.
Elgin, Lord, 314, 315, 355 , 357, 359, Framjee. P., 387.
360, 395. Francis, J. J., 516 , 532 , 546, 550 ,
Elliot, Captain Ch., 32 , 48 , 49, 52, 63, Franklin, Lady, 398.
69-74, 79, 84-126 , 135–146, 291. Fraser, J., 473.
Elliot, Commodore Ch. G. J. B., 298. Frazer, J. M., 400.
315. Frazer Smith. R., 566.
INDEX . V
Freedom of the Port, 125, 156, 166,
171 , 182, 202, 569. Greig, J., 481 , 492.
Free Trade t. Monopoly, 19-25 , 47, Grey, Earl, 28, 217, 261 , 297, 325,
527.
212, 293, 294. Gribble, Hughes & Co. , 119, 174.
Fremantle, Mr., 499,
French Mail Steamers, 484, 530, Gros, Baron , 316.
533. Guimaraes , T. F. , 255, 338 , 400.
Freemasonry, 247, 283 , 284, 472, Gully, R., 174.
518. Gunthorpe, Mr. , 405.
Friend of China, 183 , 187 , 196 , 200, Gutzlaff, Ch., 72., 189, 241. 254, 281 ,
223, 313, 321 , 324. 284, 285.
Fryer, J., 391. Gymnasium, 397.
Fung Ming- Shan, 546. Hadfield, Lieut., 144.
Furdonjee, D., 102.
Haiphong, 519.
Hall,
Gambling, 337, 338, 399, 428-441 , HanloW. 510 . 357.
K., 138,
n , Mr.,
508, 531. 536, 573.
Hanoi, A., 394.
Gaol, 171 , 378, 379, 380, 449, 450, Happer, 519.
488, 541.
Gas Company, 386. Happy Valley (Wongnaichung ) , 167,
Gaskell, W. , 233 , 350. 245, 247.
Gazette, 148, 170, 183, 364, Harbour Office, 177, 451 ,
Gemmell & Co., 68, 174. Harland, Dr. , 245, 350.
Genoa, Duke of, 524 . Harper, P. R. , 387.
Geology , 404. Harrison , Mr. , 6.
German Club, 397, 469, 372, 517, Hart, Ch., 174
Hart, 356, 408, 502.
Gibb, H. B. , 414, 423, 530, 543, 544. Havil Sir R.,
Gibb, J. D., 324, 389, 402. land, De, 194.
Gibb, T. A. , 189, 223, 225. Hay, J. C. D., 270.
Gibb Livingston & Co., 68, 174. Hayllar, Th. C. , 448, 492, 532, 561.
Gibbons, H., 528. Hazeland, F. I., 334, 401, 474.
George II., 14 ; III., 15 ; IV., 17. Headmoney, 115, 309, 319.
George, E., 557. Heard & Co., 389, 471 , 491 .
Gillespie & Co., 203. Hear d, A. F. 387.
Ginger and Coffee Plantations, 350 . Heard, J., 402, 473.
Gladstone, Mr. , 313 . Heinr ich, Prince, 524.
Glenealy, 178 , 220 . Helland, G. J., 373, 387, 472.
Gold Standard, 244, 275. Henderson & Co., 68.
Henderson , W. J., 401.
Goodall, Corporal. 400.
Gordon , A. T., 189 , 194. Hennessy, Sir J. P., 522-567, 568,
Gordon, General, 356, 409 , 549. 573.
Gough, Sir H., 137, 147, 159. Herbert, Captain, 138.
Goulding, Mr., 473. Herbert, Sidney, 355, 358, 504.
Governor General of H. M. Insular Hewa Hicksrt, Ch.h,E.,
- Beac Sir194.
M., 544.
Possessions , 362 .
Graca, Senhor da, 525. Hillie r, C. B., 188, 189, 229, 338.
Grant, Ch., 22. Hingtai, 67, 68.
Grant, Sir Hope, 358, 359, 361. Hitchcock, E. A., 438.
Grant, U. S., 524. Ho A-mei, 559.
Granville, Earl, 435 , 436 , 437 . Hobson, Dr. , 181 , 191.
Gray, W., 189. Hoihow, 519.
Green, F. W., 329, 347, 520. Hold ermann, Mr., 280.
Green, Th., 520. Holgate, H., 180.
Green Island, 127, 500 . Holliday, J., 189.
Holliday, Wise & Co., 174, 381.
vi INDEX.
Holloway, Colonel, 317. Japan, 343 , 452.
Holmes, H. J., 391 , 400, 401 . Jardine, A., 188 :
Home, Dr. , 391. Jardine, D., 261 , 286.
Hongkong-Island of, 51 , 56, 60, Jardine, J., 363, 394, 402.
100, 103 , 107 , 123 , 124, 127-134 ; Jardine , R., 402.
its name, 133 , 188 ; purport, 156, Jardine, W. , 21 , 23, 37 , 70.
157, 185 , 234, 251 , 288, 290 ; pro- Jardine, Matheson & Co., 21 , 35, 45,.
gramme of success, 252, 260 , 285, 62, 167, 174, 191 , 197, 203, 283 ,
291 , 475,570 ; strategical position, 323, 337, 402 , 404, 421 , 442 , 470,
571 ; status, 354. 509.
Hongkong Association, 470. Jenkins, Admiral, 517.
Hongkong, Canton & Macao Steam- Jervois, Major-General, 254 , 282 ,
packet Company, 243 , 276, 346. 285.
Hongkong, Canton & Macao Steam- Jinrikshas, 564.
boat Company, 453 , 457, 469, 551 . Johnson, F. B. , 556.
Hongkong Dispensary. 174, 191 . Johnston, A. J., 446.
Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, 386, Johnston, A. R., 32, 45 , 48 , 63, 72 ,
453, 454, 490, 497, 520, 551. 93, 147, 174, 179, 181 , 182 , 186 ,
Hongkong Telegraph, 566. 186, 188 , 189, 233 .
Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Co., Johnstone, Miss, 465.
453, 456, 565. Jones, O. J., 468, 469, 472.
Hongkong Wharf & Godown Co., Journal des Débats, 199.
457. Jui, Viceroy, 416.
Hong Merchants, 8, 27, 33 , 39, 47, Junk Trade, 169, 170, 197, 204 , 237 ,
67, 71 , 86, 153. 242, 344, 415-418, 451 , 557.
Hooker and Lane, 174. Jury, 220, 267.
Hoppius, H., 529. Justices of the Peace, 188, 282, 321 ,
Hoppo, 2-7, 24 , 90 , 161 , 257, 385, 322.
415, 504, 505.
Horspool, G., 490 .
Horticultural Society, 517. Kalakau, King, 525.
Hotels, 208, 454, 472, 509. Kane, W., 389, 400, 472.
Howqua, 37, 90. Keating, A. S., 35, 45, 47.
Hugh Hughes, Mrs., 474. Keenan, J., 334.
Hulme, J. W., 220, 229-233 , 268. Kellett. H., 421, 458.
Humane Society, 515 , 563. Kennedy, Sir A. E., 477-521 , 572.
Hutchinson, R. W. , 566. Kent and Babes, 196.
Keppel, Sir H., 255, 315, 468.
Kerr, C., 189, 241.
Ice House Company, 247, 565. Keswick, W., 423 , 424, 448, 468, 472 ..
Indemnities, 143, 155, 335. 481 , 528, 543, 561 , 562.
Inglis & Co., 519.
Key, Sir A. K., 306.
Inglis, R. , 21 , 90. Kidd., H. H., 518, 566.
Innes, J., 35 , 45. 47, 85. Kikung, 140, 143 , 158, 159, 176.
Innes Fletcher & Co., 174.
Inspector of Schools, 348 , 392, 562. Kimberley, Earl, 439, 440,
Irwin, Mrs., 350. Kingsley & Co., 68.
Kingsmill, H., 334.
Kingsmill, T. W., 404.
Jack, J., 566. Kishen, 117-123, 135-138 , 149.
Jackson, Th., 491 , 528, 529, Kiukitchi, K., 182.
James, Dr., 285. Kiying, 150, 151 , 154, 160, 201 , 212..
Jamieson How & Co., 68 , 174. 214, 216.
Jamsetjee, F., 174. Klitzke, Pastor, 566.
Jancigny, Colonel de, 151 , 152, 181. Knowles, Major, 159, 207.
INDEX. vii
Kowloon-British, 357, 380, 384,
Lin , Commissioner, 87-115, 118, 140,
395, 396, City, 104, 128, 302, 303, 152.
417, 520 ; Peninsula, 60, 127, 134, Lind A., 528.
166, 486. Lindsay & Co., 167, 174, 329.
Kresser, V., 387, 474.
Kublai Khan, 129. Lindsay, H. H., 9, 58, 68.
Linstead, T. G. , 373, 397, 401 , 56 .
Kung, Prince, 356. Lintin, 10. 24, 46, 48, 64, 72, 74, 77.
Kwan, Admiral, 108 , 121 , 137. 84.
Kydd, T., 443. Lister, A., 417, 422, 448, 479, 481,
Little Hongkong ( Heungkongtsai),
Labouchere , H., 327, 328, 338. 132, 133, 186, 247 .
Livingston, W. P., 159, 189.
Ladrones, 131. Loan Exhibition , 518.
Lamma Channel, 60, 139.
Lamma Island , 60. Loan , Imperial Chinese, 520.
Lobscheid, W. , 348, 392.
Lamond, W., 387. Lock Hospital, 331 , 378, 510.
Lamont, J., 196, 350. Loercher, J., 434.
Lamont, J., 519. Lond on Mission, 191 , 281.
Land Committee, 183. 184, 266.
Land, Gambling in. 193, 206. Lopes, Mr.. 208 .
Lowcock, H., 448, 481, 486, 487, 492,
Land Policy, 172-174, 192–194, 265. 530, 543.
Land Revenue, 173, 265, 371, 486, Luke
535. e, 203.
Land Sales, 172–174, 193, 204, 362, Lyall, G., 286, 324, 348, 363, 401 ,
Landstein. W. R., 566. 444.
Lantao, 51, 56, 60, 117, 118 , 123. Lyall Still & Co., 454.
Lyeemo 60, 129, 417.
Lapraik, Douglas , 347, 350, 381, 387, Lyndhuron, st, Lord, 313.
395, 401-403 , 453, 467. Lytton, Sir E. B., 325, 338.
Lapraik, J. 438, 453.
Larkins, Captain , 174.
Laundry, 399, 519. Macandrew, J., 385.
Laurence, H., 466. Macao, 159, 65, 99, 208, 219, 229.
Lawrence, Sir T., 17. 255, 387. 400, 523, 531.
Law Society , 350. Macao, British Occupation of 15,
Lay, G. T., 59. 16.
Lay, H. N., 356, 383. Macao Coolie Trade , 273 , 422, 500.
Layton & Co., 68.
Lechler, R., 434. Macartney, Lord, 15 .
MacC
Legge, J. , 190, 191, 280, 285, 347,392, Macdolymo nt, A., 543.
nald & Co., 68.
404, 440, 466, 472, 516. Mac Donnell, Sir R. G., 395 , 412-476,
Legge, Miss, 391.
Le Geyt, 189. 566, 570, 572.
Legislative Council, 189, 195, 221 , Macdo ugall, Captain, 216.
Macgregor, Consul, 216, 230.
261 , 326, 327, 366, 367, 422, 433, Macgregor & Co. , 386, 515.
482, 531. Machow Wong, 324, 339 ,
Leighton & Co., 174.
Lemann, H. B., 373, 387. Mackay, Dr., 391.
Lemann , W., 448. Mackean, T. W., L., 189.
Mackenzie , J. J., 376, 389, 391.
Lena, A., 177, 189, 221 . Mackintosh, C., 444.
Leslie, W., 226. Mackintosh, E. , 551 .
Lighthouses, 499. Maclean, G. F., 387.
Lighting of the City, 238, 350 386. Maclehose, Mr., 208.
Limeneen, A. , 440. MacMahon, Colonel , 359.
Limoges, A. de, 421. MacQuhae, Captain, 249.
viii INDEX.
Madrigal Society, 207. Memorials, 68, 98, 105. 124. 223,
Magrath, Miss, 391 . 224, 241 , 266, 298, 373, 417, 420,
Mail Steamers. Detention of, 385. 421. 426, 434, 440, 448, 470, 497,
Maitland, Admiral, 73 . 502, 503, 543, 544.
Ma Kien-chung. 559. Menzies, Dr., 341.
Malcolm, G. A.. 147, 154 , 160, 170 , Mercer. J. A., 189.
184. 189. Mercer, W. T. , 220, 275 , 297, 329,
Manchester Chamber, 257. 342, 354, 366, 373 , 386, 406, 408-
Manchus, 2, 7. 227, 259 , 296, 305, 411, 400-425.
367. Meritens, Baron de, 418 .
Mann, G. F., 360, 376 . Messageries Maritimes, 389, 398,
Margesson, Mr., 467, 474 . Michaeloff, Prince, 299.
Marine Court of Inquiry, 363, 485. Middle Island, 127.
Marine Magistrate, 177, 221. Middleton, W. N., 470, 516.
Marine Surveyor, 526. Mildew Question, 493 .
Markets, 180, 186 , 220, 328, 350. Milles, Col., 469.
Markwick, Ch. , 337. Military Contribution , 372 , 373, 470.
Marriage Law, 268, 512. Millot, M., 518.
Marsh, W. H., 523. Mint, 372, 374, 441. 442, 498, 554,
Marsh & Co., 405. 555.
Martial Law, 227. Mitchell, F. W. , 385, 448.
Martin, R. M.. 193 , 220 , 250. 347. Mitchell, Miss , 281.
Massacre (Hongkong) , 150. Mitsu Bishu Co., 566,
Matheson, A. , 22. 159, 168, 169, 170 , Mixed Commission, 317.
173, 188, 192 , 241 , 250. Monopolies, 19-25, 212, 234, 235,
Matheson, Donald, 223, 225 , 243, 293.
276. Moody, Colonel, 391.
Matheson, J., 35 , 57, 102 , 116, 177. Moore, Sergeant, 400.
Matshed Church, 190. Moorsom, L. H., 480.
Maxwell, Captain. 14. Moreno, C. C., 556.
May, Ch. , 237, 336 , 338, 360 , 363 , Morgan , W. , 174, 188.
408, 485, 486, 487, 527, 528 , 566 . Morris, D. B., 434.
May, A. J.. 511. Morrison, R. , 32, 466.
McAdam Gladstone & Co., 35, 45, Morrison, J. R., 32, 72, 108, 175,
McCallum, J., 550. 177, 182 , 189, 207, 466.
McClannon, Mrs., 19. Morrison, W., 24 .
McCoy, R. W. , 480. Morrison Education Society, 181 ,
McEuen, J. P. , 538. 186, 190, 281 , 394, 466.
McEwen, A. P. , 543. Morrison Hill, 124, 186.
McHardy, Lieut.. 480. Morrison Scholarship, 512.
Melver, Mrs., 566. Mortuary, 246.
McKinnon, Dr., 561 . Moss, M., 102, 143 , 369.
McLane, Mr., 301. Mosque, 190.
McMurdo, R., 538. Mountain Lodge. 279, 390.
McSwyney, P. C., 233. Mowqua, 37, 90.
McVicar & Co. , 119, 174. Mow Wang, 409.
Meadows, T. T. , 302. Mullaly, Mr , 185.
Medhurst, W. H., 182, 258. Municipal Government, 205, 225,
Medical Missions, 181 , 191 , 564. 260-263 , 322, 507, 574.
Medico Chirurgical Society, 247, Murray, J. I., 389, 391 , 464.
248. Murray, C. W., 370, 373 , 402.
Meik, Captain, 184. Mylius, G. F., 180, 184.
Mellish, E., 444.
INDEX. ix
Nanking, 154. Parker, N. D'E. , 233.
Napier, Lord, 26-41 , 56. Parker, P., 191 .
Naval Review, 550. Parker, Sir W., 147, 159, 188.
Naval Yard, 184, 335 , 446. Parkes, Sir H., 258, 299, 300, 308,
Neave, T. D., 246, 276 . 317, 358, 359.
Nelson, H. H., 543. Parliamentary Acts, 331 , 439.
Newman, Mr. , 405. Parliamentary Grants, 264, 265, 335.
Ng Choy, 527, 530, 532. Parry, F. 434, 467.
Nicaise, H., 472. Parsees, 196, 470.
Ningpo, 55, 56, 59. Parsons, Mr., 334.
Nissen, D., 383. Pascoe, J., 184.
Nissen, W., 387, 397. Pauncefote, Sir J.. 439, 462 , 484.
Noble, H., 373 , 386. Peace Society, 296, 302, 314,
Nordenskjöld, Prof., 564. Peak Residences, 279, 390, 403, 509.
Notary Public, 180. Pedder, W., 177, 189, 221.
Notley, W. H., Pedder's Hill, 177.
Peel, Sir R., 178, 182, 274.
Pender, Sir., J. , 494.
Oaths, Chinese, 268. Peninsular & Oriental S. X. Co. , 248,
O'Brien, T. , 520. 276, 346.
Observatory, 539, 540. Pension Scheme, 363.
Ocean Racing, 495. Perceval, A., 370.
O'Malley, E. L., 562. Perkis, Mr., 337.
Opium Revenue, 236 , 265, 336, 485, Perry, Commodore, 283, 349.
536. Perry, O. H., 384.
Opium Trade, 197, 240, 274, 368, Petty Sessions, 196, 267, 321.
381, 417, Petz , Admiral, 472.
Opium Question , The, 28, 44, 75-95, Phelps , Mr., 186.
97, 116, 153, 162, 202. Philippine Islands, 344, 518.
Oriental Bank, 244, 387. Phillippo, G., 528, 546.
Oriental & Occidental S.S. Co. , 519. Picnic House, 186, 247.
Ormiston, W. , 387. Pien (the term), 33 , 34, 72, 73, 365.
Ormsby, T., 189. Pier and Godown Co., 386 , 491 .
Ortuno, F., 473. Pih Kwei. 317.
Ouseley, Sir F. G. , 349. Pinto, A. A. da S., 99-104, 112.
Overbeck, G. von, 472. Piper, J., 434, 467.
Oxford Professorship, 512. Piracy, 202, 204, 239, 270, 271 , 303,
Oxlad, Miss, 465. 338, 339, 382, 383, 408, 451, 452.
Plague, 278.
Plowden, W. H. Ch., 28, 30.
Pacific Mail S.S. Co., 519 . Plunket, C. B., 555, 566.
Pacific Ocean, 272. Pocheung & Pokap System, 222, 435.
Paco d'Arcos, 325. Poisoning Day, 311.
Paiva, F. J. de, 245. Pokfulam, 131 , 350, 403.
Pakhoi, 242 , 415 . Pokfulam Reservoir, 342, 376, 442,
Palmer, H. S., 540. 487.
Palmerston, Lord, 28, 29, 40 , 51 , 65, Poleung Kuk, 546, 547.
80, 113, 215, 257, 272, 296, 313, Police Commissioners, 262.
314. Police Force, 196 , 203 , 237, 286, 328.
Panton, Captain, 68. 336, 378, 379, 408, 428 , 430, 445,
Pao Pang, 120, 121. 489, 526.
Parker, Commodore, 207. Police Magistracy, 188 189, 231 , 363.
Parker, E. H., 78 , 151 . Police School, 446.
Parker, H. R., 189. Pollard, E. H., 369, 409, 445.
X INDEX.
Poll Tax, 222. Registration, 222–226, 310, 429, 480..
Polo Club, 564. 508.
Pope, J., 220, 236. Reiners, W. , 529, 543.
Population, 134, 171 , 183 , 186, 197, Religion , 186, 190, 245, 279, 348, 394.
221, 237, 259, 271 , 340. 371 , 463 , 466, 562.
485. 533. Remedios, J. J. dos, 473, 566.
Portugal, 1 , 2, 6. Representative Government, 205,
Possession Point, 124. 221 , 225, 260.
Postage Stamps, 385. Retributive Vengeance, 320.
Post Office, 185 , 243 , 286 , 346 , 371 ,Revenues, 233, 237, 265 , 335, 371 ,
384, 519, 537, 565. 424, 425, 485, 534.
Pottinger, E., 207. Reynolds, E. G. , 184.
Pottinger, Sir H., 146–162, 173 , 177, Rice, Th. F., 489 ,
179-210, 292–294. Richthofen, Baron von, 456.
Pratas Shoals, 388. Rickett, J.. 324.
Pratt, Major, 142. Rickomartz, Mrs., 405 .
Praya, 327–330, 377, 443. 487, 538, Rienacker, R., 323.
539. River-Steamers, 381 , 389 , 453, 457.
Precedence, 481. 482, 519.
Price, J. M., 480 , 486, 487 , 528, 529, Robertson, D. B., 414, 415 , 504, 505.
538, 540, 562. Robertson, P. F. , 174.
Public Gardens, 284, 403 , 444, 407, Robinson, G. B., 32, 42, 48–52.
480, 527. Robinson, Sir H., 353–407 , 429, 567.
Public Meetings, at Canton, 23, 35 , Robriguez , J. B., 182 .
67, 86 ; at Macao, 102 ; in Hong- Rolles, Captain, 16.
kong, 223, 224, 225, 248, 266, R. C. Cathedral, 186 , 405 .
309, 320, 322, 328, 373, 378 , 399 , R. C. Mission, 186, 247, 281 , 393.
401, 402, 426, 503 , 510, 543 . Rowan, Admiral, 471.
Public Works, 177, 184, 442, 487, Rowett. R., 423, 438 , 483 , 490, 500.
538. R. A. S., China Branch, 248, 296,
Punchard, E., 566. 393.
Pyke, Th., 469. Russell & Co., 389, 471.
Russell, J., 422. 481, 527.
Queen's Road, 183. Russell, Lord John, 338.
Russian War, 298.
Queen Victoria, 67. 95, 113, 124, Rustomjee, D., 35, 68, 174.
158.
Quinhon, 519. Rustomjee, H., 174, 177, 191 .
Ruttunjee, D. , 453, 469, 543.
Ryall, Ch., 379.
Races, 207, 283, 397, 471. Ryder, Admiral , 538, 540.
Railway, 388, 409. Ryrie, Ph., 418 , 423 , 424, 438, 440,
Raimondi, Bishop, 393, 465 , 511, 479, 481, 482, 483, 485 , 486, 487,
512, 522. 489, 490 , 501. 502, 510, 515, 528,
Rapp, Mr., 564. 531, 543, 562, 567.
Ranjee, B. P., 453.
Rates and Taxes, 234, 265, 335, 535 , Sailors' Home, 402.
537. Salisbury, Lord, 533.
Rawling, S. B., 376. Salt Trade, 181 , 204, 336, 553, 559.
Rawson, S., 223, 284. Saltoun, Lord, 207.
Rawson, W., 167 . Samyuenli, 145 , 305 .
Reddie, R. H., 402. Sanatorium, 279, 390.
Reformatory, 393, 541 . Sands, G. U., 519, 565, 566.
Registrar General, 221 , 364, 447, San Francisco, 273 , 387, 519.
448. Sangster, C. F. A., 349, 394, 398.
INDEX. xi
Sanitation, 175, 183, 245 , 278, 340, Smith, J., 174.
389, 408, Smith, J. M., 189.
Sanon (Namtao) , 127, 128, 320, 337 , Smith , G. , 20, 102. 241.
362, 463, 508, 560. Smuggling, 198, 419.
Sares, Captain, 1 . Social Life, 206, 247, 282, 395, 469.
Sargent, Lieut., 180, 184, 506, 515, 563.
Sassoon, A., 387, Social Science Association, 335.
Scanlan, Dr., 481 . Solomon, R. , 453 .
Scarth, J., 324. Souza, Admiral de, 422.
Scherzer, Professor, 472. Souza, Regina v., 444.
Schmidt, W., 373, 387. Spanish Ports, 518, 557.
Schmidt, W., 564. Special Fund, 433 , 437 , 438 , 455.
Schuck, J. L., 183, 186 . 462.
Scott, Captain, 123 . Spratt & Co., 565 .
Scott, Major, 401. Spiritual Junk, 513.
Scott, W., 102, 169 Sports, 207 , 283, 397, 517, 563.
Seal of the Colony, 189 ; of the Spring, F., 189.
Superintendent, 203 . Spring Gardens, 167, 190,
Seamen's Hospital (at Wantsai). St. Andrew's School, 347, 393.
191 , 247 , 470, 509. St. John's Cathedral, 186 , 190, 246 ,
Senhouse, H. L. le Fleming, 119, 279, 394, 467, 469.
138, 150, 175 . St. John's Lodge, 563.
Seu Kwang-tsin, 256, 305 , St. Joseph's Church, 512.
Seward, W. H., 459. St. Joseph's College, 512.
Seymour, Sir M., 306–309, 351 . St. Paul's College, 181 , 191, 280,
Shadwell, Admiral, 499. 347, 391 , 466, 511, 512.
Shakespeare Memorial, 395 . St. Peter's Church, 467.
Shanghai, 342, 343 . St. Saviour's College, 465, 512.
Shares, 483, Stamp Duties , 425 , 426, 534.
Sharp, E., 486. Standard (London) , 410.
Sharp, Granville , 390, 543 . Stanley (Chikchü) , 131 , 171 , 190.
Shaukiwan, 130, 132, 378. Stanley of Alderley, Lord, 548.
Shelley, A. E., 220, Stanley, Lord, 124, 196, 241. 338.
Shipping Trade, 272, 345 , 388, 550. Stanton, V. J.. 119, 189, 191 , 247.
Shortrede, A., 347, 348 . Staunton, Sir G. , 53, 54, 59, 66.
Siam, 299, 300, 343. Staveley, Major-General, 248, 254,
Silva. C. C. da, 478. 282.
Silver Standard. 185, 375. Stead, Captain , 149.
Silver, Depreciation of, 551. Steam-ferries, 520.
Sinnett, A. P. , 470. Stephen , D., 189.
Sirr, H. Ch., 220. Stephenson, Sir M., 388 , 409.
Sketching Club, 518. Stewart, Ch. E., 189.
Slade, J., 35, 91. Stewart, F., 392, 448, 466. 481 , 510,
Slavery Acts, 195, 229. 527, 562.
Slavery, Domestic, 195, 228, 546, Stewart, Hon, K., 320.
547. Stewart, P., 189.
Smale, J., 369, 370, 414, 438, 445, Stewart, W., 68, 188.
474, 382, 501, 532, 548. Stirling, P. I., 193, 220.
Smith, Archer & Co., 381. Stirling, Sir J., 298, 299, 304, 344.
Smith, Bishop G. , 280, 302, 348. Stonecutters' Island, 127, 357, 378,
392, 394, 400, 474. 379, 405.
Smith, Captain, 106. Storey, C. H., 373 .
Smith, C. C., 362, 365, 422, 423, Strachan, G. , 248.
424, 434, 440, 443, 487,527, 529. Straits Settlements, 354.
xii INDEX.
Straubenzee, C. van, 315 , 320, 357. Tipo, 166, 364.
Street Fights, 269. Tomlin, G. L.. 447, 488.
Strikes, 223, 368, 369, 508. Tonnochy, M. S., 365, 486 , 488, 523.
Stuart, C. J. F., 286. Torrey, J. W., 516.
Subscriptions, 248-298, 394, 401 , 402. Towing Rights, 272.
445, 472, 564. Town, Captain, 111 .
Subsidiary Coinage, 372, 375 , 425, Train, G. F., 472.
499. Tramways, 531 .
Suez Canal, 452, 571. Treasury Board, 276, 345, 375 , 441 .
Sugar Factories, 491. Treaties of Chuenpi, 123 , 177 ; of
Summary Jurisdiction , 220, 268, 363, Canton, 139 ; of Nanking, 155,
444. 187, 274 ; Supplementary, 160,
Summers, J., 255, 280. 161, 198, 209, 212 ; with Annam,
Sunday Labour, 245, 563 . 218 ; with Siam, 299, 300 ; of
Superintendent of Trade, 27-52, 67- Tientsin, 318 , 357, 421 ; Conven-
74, 182, 187, 212 , 230 , 253, 264, tion of Peking, 356, 388.
295, 297, 354. Treaty Ports, 155, 172, 200, 421 .
Supplementary Treaty, 160, 161. 242 . Treaty Revision, 420 , 421 .
Supremacy, Chinese claim of, 36, 44, Triad Societies, 227 , 259.
65, 69, 92, 288, 569. Tripp, H. J. , 401 .
Supreme Court, 181 , 187 , 220, 330, Troubridge, Captain, 255, 285.
331 , 444, 479 , 483 , 484, 528. Tsimshatsui (Kowloon Point ). 100,
Surveyor General, 194, 221 . 101, 111 , 114, 132 , 167, 168, 181 ,
Sutherland, Th ., 373, 387, 423 , 453. 357, 380, 486, 550.
Sykes, Colonel, 410. Tungku, 107, 111.
Tungwa Hospital, 462, 501 , 507, 510,
Tahunga, 149, 153. 544, 555, 567.
Taipan, 3, 26, 39, 46 , 71 . Turing. A.. 373.
Taiping, 258, 259, 302, 356, 367. Turner & Co., 35, 45, 47, 68, 174,
Taipingshan, 124, 168, 220, 383.
Taitam Reservoir, 487 , 529, 539. Turner, F. S., 434.
Tan-ka, 168 . Turner, R., 35.
Tanner, K. D., 400 , Typhoons, 146 , 175, 176 , 284, 350,
Tarrant, W., 189, 235, 313. 404, 578 , 514.
Tatsing Dynasty. 2, 15 , 128 , 133.
Tauffer, Brothers, 515. Union Church, 246 , 393.
Taylor, J. B., 423, 438. Union Dock Co. , 386, 453.
Tea Trade, 9, 389, 494. Urmston, Sir J. B., 55.
Telegraph, 276 , 566.
Telephones, 566. Vachell, J. H., 32, 72.
Temperance Hall, 517. Van Geniss, 269.
Temples, 190, 282. Vaucher, A. E., 453 .
Templeton & Co., 35, 45. Vernon, Sir E. 68.
Terranuova. 16. Vice- Admiralty Court, 220, 232.
Thom, R., 91 , 182. Vickers, J. M., 444.
Thompson, Mr., 61 . Victoria City, 188 , 189.
Thomsett, H. G., 402, 502, 538. Victoria Club, 471.
Thomson, W., 159, Victoria English School, 510.
Thorburn, H., 566. Victoria Exchange, 405.
Time Ball, 401 , 540. Victoria Fort, 167.
Times (London) , 240 242, 325, 346, Victoria Gaol v. Gaol.
463 . Victoria Gunboat, 417, 437.
Times (New York), 349. Victoria Library, 284, 471.
Tinpak, 242. Victoria Peak, 124 , 133, 381 , 403.
INDEX. xiii
Victoria Recreation Club, 516. Wilkinson, A., 189.
Victoria Regatta Club, 283. William IV, 24, 67.
Volunteer Corps, 382, 396 , 399–401 , Williams, Captain, 311.
471, 549. Williams, C. D., 347.
Wills, Chinese, 332.
Wilson, W., 377.
Wade, Sir Th. , 254 , 308 , 404, 420, Winchester, Ch . A. , 385.
504, 552. Wise, J., 189.
Walker, J., 376, 405. Wise, Holliday & Co. , 68.
Walker, R. S., 373. Wodehouse, H. E., 490.
Walkinshaw, W., 277, 389, 402. Wongchukee, 218, 305.
Wallace , W., 106 . Wongmakok, 132, 269.
Wang An-tung, 159. Wongshing, 481.
Ward, U. S. Minister, 355. Woods. Mr., 334.
Wardley & Co., 337. Woosuam, R. W., 184, 189.
Warner, Captain, 107. Wotton, W., 528.
Warren, Ch. J., 434. Wright, H., 106.
Waterworks, 341 , 342 , 376, 442 , 487,
529, 539.
Wato Temple, 510, 543. Yacht Club, 471 , 517.
Watson, J., 35 , 45 . Yang Fang, 136–143.
Webster, R. G. 174, 443. Yaumati, 131 , 132.
Weddell, Captain, 2. Yeh Ming-shen, 304-309 , 315-317.
Weller, G. F., 444. Yen, Japanese, 538, 555.
Wellington. Duke of, 31 , 40, 50. Yikking, 149.
Welsh, D., 440, 515. Yikshan, 136-144, 150, 151 , 153,
Westpoint, 174 , 191, 192, 43 154.
West River, 318 , 456, 518. Young, Peter, 191 , 245.
Whale, 397. Young, R., 465, 481 .
Whalers, 273. Young, W. S., 543, 564.
Whampoa, 3, 64, 74, 77, 112, 137 , Yelverton, Mrs., 472 .
138, 387. Yue Kien, 141 , 149, 153.
Wharry, Dr., 481 . Yue Pao-shun, 138, 147.
White, J., 183, 189, 203.
Whitfield, H. W., 414, 421 , 424, 439,
469. Zelandia, 2.
Whitfield Station, 452. Zetland Lodge, 247.
Whittall, J., 368 , 373 , 402, 453, 457.
481, 483, 490, 500.
PRINTED BY KELLY & WALSH, LIMITED, HONGKONG.
i
F
Stanford University Libraries
3 6105 020 071 861
STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
STANFORD AUXILIARY LIBRARY
STANFORD , CALIFORNIA 94305-6004
(415 ) 723-9201
All books may be recalled after 7 days.
DATE DUE
MAR 3 998
98
R
AP
19
0
2
99
19
MAR17 1999