It is

instantly renounced the acquaintance of the dishonoured merchant-not on account of opium-smuggling, which possibly they might not have objected to, but because he had pledged his honour to a direct falsehood. almost needless to add that the China merchant forfeited the sum for which he had become security; but most probably he had a share in the speculation. Acts such as these should not go unpunished. The Chinese dread so much the consequences resulting from an exposure of their connexion with the sale or use of opium, and are so fearful of being suspected of smoking it, that I have known a compredore, who had been long in the service of an English merchant at Canton, with great alarm, inform his employer that he must leave his situation, because a handsome opium-pipe, which had been purchased, was exhibited in his apartment as a curiosity. "Were a mandarin to see it," said he, "he would ، squeeze' out all my dollars, or inform against me, and have me severely punished." To quiet the fears of the compredore, who was an old and valued servant, the opium-pipe was locked up.

Prone as the Chinese are to every form of vice, yet I believe there are many who, like the drunkard, are led on step by step to the commission of outrageous crimes by indulging in the use of this debasing narcotic.

A compredore, whose character, as compared with others of his nation, had been most exemplary, both before and after he entered my service, acquired the habit of smoking opium. He immediately fell a victim to every temptation which offered; fault followed after fault; one fraud was succeeded by a greater; he appropriated to his own use the money he received to pay for provisions, and he finished his career by planning the robbery of my house.

The consumption of opium increases rapidly in China. I regret that the circumstances under which I write deprive me of the benefit of official references; I should think it has increased, within the last ten years, tenfold. It is a curious fact, that about fifty years ago, a governor of Canton, himself a slave to opium, vainly used every argument and threat he could invent for the suppression of the trade.

He then put forth a proclamation, in which this remark occurs :-"Thus it is that foreigners, by means of a vile and poisonous substance, derive from this empire the most solid profits and advantage; but that our countrymen should blindly pursue this destructive and ensnaring vice, even till death is the consequence, without being undeceived, is indeed a fact odious and deplorable in the highest degree." He might have said, "thus it is that English merchants derive the most solid profits in China." All who have written upon China represent the evils consequent upon the use of opium; few take into consideration the guilty share this nation has in a traffic which enriches her degenerate sons, and which she could suppress with greater facility than she did the slave-trade.

The horrors and evils of the opiumtrade are such as to render it unbecoming in a Christian nation to sanction, encourage, or permit its continuance. The minister who triumphantly abolished colonial slavery wore undying fame, and obtained the satistion of a self-approving conscience; the laurels he acquired, however, were diminished by apparent compliance with the pressure from without. Were a British minister, at the present time, uninfluenced by external agitation, voluntarily to effect the suppression of the traffic in opium, the credit would be his alone. Difficulties, no doubt, would beset the path of such a man, of no trifling description. The British merchants trading in China, and those connected with the drug in India, would oppose, by every means in their power, any measure for the abolition of the opium trade. Whatever their opposition to the measure might be, duty demands its adoption, even for their benefit. Abolish the traffic in opium, and a remunerative trade in unprohibited commodities, now only commencing, with China, would ensure new and availing sources of wealth, free from risk and anxiety, as well as from moral evil. A new and reciprocal treaty ought to be entered into with the Emperor of China, whereby it should be mutually agreed to suppress the traffic in opium, on condition that an ambassador should be sent to our court, and another be received at Pekin from the Queen of England. Diplomatic relations can

only be established by holding out some great inducement, or by the successful termination of another war. The greatest benefits would accrue from such an arrangement. The office of plenipotentiary would be then abolished, and the undivided attention of the governor of our colony would be directed to promote the interests and welfare of the inhabitants, unshackled by diplomatic duties.

We should thus secure an additional advantage by separating two incongruous offices. A very good colonial governor might make a very bad diplomatist. The expense of the new arrangement would not be so great as might be at first contemplated. The governor of Hong-Kong might be selected from amongst those military officers already trained to colonial government, whose attention had been directed to such subjects, and on whom the command of the troops might devolve. The consular establishments might then be greatly reduced. A consul-general, aided by a vice-consul, two assistants, and an interpreter, would be sufficient at one of the ports; and at each of the other ports, a vice-consul, one assistant, and an interpreter. The salaries of four consuls and four assistants thus reduced, would largely contribute towards the expense of an ambassador. If a Chinese ambassador were once received in England, and could witness the wealth and greatness of our nation, the splendour and magnificence of our court, and the position we occupy amongst the other nations of Europe, his nation would never dare again to molest or insult the subjects of Great Britain. The court and higher classes of Chinese despise all mercantile pursuits, and contemn England as a "nation of shopkeepers," and that the rather, as our traffic in opium is not of the most honourable description. More favourable impressions would inevitably arise were a Chinese ambassador to report the magnificence of the court of St. James, and a British ambassador contemporaneously to visit the imperial court at Pekin, exhibiting there the splendour of a British noble, the adroitness of a skilful diplomatist, and the unflinching firmness becoming his position. The equipage alone of an ambassador, and the external evidences of wealth, would impress the Chinese, who attach infi

nite importance to such things, with ideas of the power, greatness, and renown of England. If some effort of this kind be not made, it is not impossible (and the contingency would certainly prove calamitous to our interests) that foreign powers, notwithstanding the loss of so many of our brave men, and the successful termination of a protracted war, should acquire all the solid advantages of our victories, advance their wealth, and establish diplomatic relations with the Celestial Empire. It would be galling in the extreme to find ourselves forestalled in the exchange of ambassadors by the French, or to learn that they had obtained possession of Chusan for a colony! This is not improbable. France has sent her ambassador, M. le Comte Le Grand, to China; has incurred the expense of maintaining four men-of-war in the Chinese seas at this present time, December, 1846; and as she has no possessions to protect, she must have some ulterior views. Austria, also, has dispatched her agents to China, to collect information, and to procure specimens of raw materials and of every article of manufacture. These, I know, have been collected with the greatest care and research, and classified by the agents with considerable judgment and accuracy, during their protracted visit to China. France and Prussia have done the same. I know not if these visits have been reported to Downingstreet; but on viewing the collections formed by the Austrian emissary, I could not help contrasting the relative policy of the two countries, remembering how supine the British government were in collecting information for the advancement of our mercantile prosperity.

Our ambassador at Pekin would prevent the gross misrepresentations which reach it through the present channels of communication. The Chinese are peculiarly addicted to "bribery and corruption." If a favour is to be gained in China, presents must be given from one mandarin to another, from the lowest to the greatest. All information or communications conveyed to the court are thus transmitted-one mandarin after another suppressing, adding to, or colouring the tale to suit his own peculiar views. The most essential attendant upon an

ambassador should be an upright interpreter, thoroughly acquainted with the language. I have been positively assured by those who were eye-witnesses of the proceedings, that the government interpreter, during the war, though his salary amounted to £1,200 per annum, was in the habit of receiving innumerable presents from the Chinese, and of misrepresenting, in consequence, the tone of the communications between the negotiating parties. When insulting language was used by the Chinese, it was softened down in the English translation; when fine or strong language was employed by us, it was materially modified in the Chinese translation. Thus the Chinese were induced to form an erroneous idea of the British character, conceiving we could bear all their insults. When a junk was taken, laden with silks, teas, &c., the interpreter was presented with perhaps half a dozen chests of tea to retail amongst the officers. Being asked how he got them, he would answer, "His friends had given them to him." My informant added, that the Chinese, knowing how to promote their interests through the interpreter, were wont to prostrate themselves before him as they did before their greatest mandarins. The treaty is well known in China to be erroneously translated, but it is supposed to arise from the interpreter not having been thoroughly acquainted with the court language. But such mistakes, arising from whatever cause, might eventually lead to serious mischief.

A more enlightened intercourse with China would gradually open commercial intercourse with Japan, owing to the trade carried on between the two countries. This additional field for British industry would be productive of incalculable benefit to our trade, opening an inexhaustible mine of wealth and traffic. The Japanese are believed to surpass the Chinese in ingenuity, and their mode of japanning would be a valuable improvement in our manufactories. France must have some object in view connected with Japan, as her men of war now cruise off that coast.

Of the five ports which have been opened to British trade, there are two at which no trade is carried on, namely, Fou-chow-foo and Amoy, and com

VOL. XXXII-NO. CLXXXIX.

paratively there is but little business at Ning-po; so that in the event of an ambassador being sent to Pekin, it might not be unadvisable to reduce the consular establishments at Fou-chowfoo and Amoy. But in any case, those ports in China which are opened to our trade, and where we have consular officers, should not be left unprotected as they are at present. "An English government cruiser should anchor within each of the five ports, that the consul may have the means of better restraining sailors and others, and preventing disturbances," according to the fourteenth act of the general regulations appended to the treaty.

Having alluded to Amoy, a fact is recalled to my mind, which shows the necessity of our being provided with good interpreters. The local authorities caused an inscription in large Chinese characters to be placed over the wretched building which was accepted for the British consulate"This is the Fauqui's Hong" (the Foreign Devil's Factory), which remained there for a long time, until seen by a new interpreter. It was not without some difficulty the mandarins were compelled to remove it.

It appears by the returns from the five ports, that the trade at Shang-hai is rapidly increasing, and calls for a more safe and regular communication with Hong-Kong and Canton. The merchants there have constantly had freights ready for months, but no vessel to convey their goods. The only means at present afforded of communicating with Hong-Kong is by the opium clippers' vessels, which ought to be disused as quickly as possible. This rapid increase of trade calls loudly for the facility of intercourse afforded by steam; and it is, therefore, to be hoped, that the Peninsular and Oriental Company will continue the line to Shang-hai, which would seem to promise very adequate remuneration.

Our woollens and cottons are not only highly prized in China, but, their cutlery and hardware being very inferior, Birmingham and Sheffield manufactures are much sought after. There can be no doubt of the fact, that if we had an ambassador at Pekin, at whose mansion all our inanufactures might be seen in constant use, the court and higher orders of

Y

Chinese would very soon acquire a taste for many articles now unknown to them, whereby our exports would be considerably increased, and the embassy become a source of profit to the kingdom.

There appears to be an opening for a profitable trade in furs. The Chinese value them very much, and use them extensively in cold weather. They are supplied with the greater part of them from Tartary; but I am not aware that any attempt has ever been made by our merchants to meet the demand. It is highly probable,

that a profitable trade in this article might be opened. They prize sable beyond measure, and admire ermine exceedingly. High as the prices are which are given in Russia for sable, still higher are given in China. Even the middling and inferior sorts of sable might be profitably sold in China. The very commonest furs, which are used by the middle and lower classes, fetch high prices. The marten, fitch, squirrel, and many others not prized in Europe, might be made a most lucrative source of traffic.

IN our diplomatic relations with China, as well as in the government of our half-ruined colony, are required men of firmness, decision, and experience in trade, to re-establish and maintain our proper position with the empire, which, owing to our false policy, has been lost; to remove the contempt and scorn with which we are now treated; to give life and energy to our colony, now crippled by a petty system of legislation; and both to protect the interest and promote the views of British merchants, in their legitimate trade.

The false policy adopted by us in our diplomatic relations and intercourse with China, may sufficiently be judged of by reference to some few of the daily violations of the treaty, ratifications of which were exchanged on the 26th June, 1843, as well as to some of the mistakes in our intercourse, arising from misconception of the national character

The second article of the treaty declares, “His Majesty, the Emperor of China, agrees, that British subjects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without MOLESTATION or RESTRAINT, at the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Fou-chow-foo, Ning-po, and Shang-hai," &c. Fresh in the memory of the reader must be the daring attack made upon the unprotected merchants in Canton, in the month of July last, who, in self-defence, shot

NING-PO

some few of the mob. The Chinese authorities took no notice of the outrageous attack, and thereby gave it a tacit sanction. It does not appear that the British consul resident at that post adopted any decisive measures on the occasion, nor did her Majesty's plenipotentiary. The consequence has been, that the Chinese, seeing the pas sive manner in which the British authorities bore this outrage, turned round upon us, denounced us as the aggressors, and declaring that twenty of their citizens had been killed, demanded an equal number of foreigners to be given up, to be dealt with according to their laws. Again, let us exemplify this policy by an occurrence which took place at the same port, during the visit of her Majesty's plenipotentiary, at the end of the last year. His excellency, accompanied by two or three members of the colonial government, and by one official from the consulate, were walking through Canton, when they were surrounded by a mob, and were obliged to take shelter in a building, which was literally pulled down about their ears, and (as report says) they narrowly escaped with their lives, over a wall, having first been beaten and robbed, and one of their number being nearly stripped naked. The representative of the British crown, thus personally outraged, made, it appears, a formal complaint to the mandarins, and received for answer (as my informant states, not having been myself in Canton at the time) that no notice

could be taken of this outrage and insult, as her Majesty's plenipotentiary had dared to overstep the limits which the Chinese authorities, in violation of the second article of the treaty above quoted, chose to prescribe for British subjects. I think every dispassionate person will agree with me, that suffering such an insult to the representative of our gracious sovereign is calculated to bring the British nation into contempt in the eyes of the Chinese. Had active measures been instantly adopted, and some portion of our fleet sent up to punish the authors, it is most likely we should never have heard of the attack upon the merchants in a few months after. But it is very possible the whole mischief might have been avoided, had the British minister appeared in public, surrounded by attendants becoming his high station, and had he and they been clad in uniform.

There is good reason to believe that the example of their superior has been but too frequently followed by the consular officers at the ports. The Chinese, who have imbibed from infancy a contempt for foreigners, are thus induced to repeat their insults. A time may come when it will be found too late to remedy an evil which proper firmness might at first have arrested and repressed, without the spilling of more blood. But, probably, the consuls may be deterred from following the course which reason would dictate, owing to the unprotected position in which they are placed, in consequence of the British government cruisers having been withdrawn, contrary to the fourteenth article of the general rules of regulation, appended to the treaty under which British trade is to be conducted at the five ports. We seem from the commencement to have acted most unadvisedly, in reference to Canton alone; for when our troops were on the walls, and the city was all but taken, they were ordered suddenly to retire. Again, since the treaty, we have never availed ourselves of our right to enter the city. The inhabitants, who are more bitter in their feelings of animosity towards the English than those in any other part of China, ascribe the whole to our pusillanimity, and treat us-and, indeed, all foreigners with ridicule and contempt The mob of Canton is the most lawless

in China. The European residents refrain in consequence, from visiting the city, knowing their appearance there might raise a mob, whose violence and outrage, if once excited, might lead to the firing of the factories and the destruction of all their property. A European lady must confine herself to the gardens of the factories. She cannot,

with any degree of safety, venture into the small portion of the town in which Europeans are allowed to perambulate. When she ventures on such an enterprise, boxed up in a sedan-chair, and surrounded with friends, the populace mob her, and will even pull off the top of the chair to insult her, crying, "Fauqui," and using other opprobrious epithets. Such is our position in Canton, where events each day seem to indicate a coming crisis, when the inhabitants shall be taught a lesson which their insolence so richly deserves. Once humbled, they would vie with each other, from the highest to the lowest, in marks of civility and attention, which firmness would ripen into lasting regard and respect. The government being despotic, the Chinese can understand no medium between servile submission to rule, and the exercise of tyrannic sway. The same principle governs the conduct of superiors and inferiors, towards each other, in every rank and class of society. The national character cannot be better exemplified, than by the following laughable anecdote, which was related to me by the officer referred to. After the taking of Ning-po, the mandarin sent a very respectful deputation to one of our officers, requesting to be informed how many fans he would be pleased to require for our soldiers. The officer replied that he wanted no fans, but that an indefinite number of coolies were requred to carry away the "looti," or treasure, which had been collected in the town. The coolies were furnished with the same alacrity with which the fans of honour would have been presented, had the complexions of our troops required protection from the sun; and the "looti" was marched off without delay under escort. Thus the Chinese, when soundly beaten, will always kiss the rod that chastens them. It should be observed, that the presentation of a fan amongst the Chinese is considered a very great compliment, and a distin