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"For these 100 years past it has been customary to employ as porters, door-keepers "and attendants of all kinds, natives of China only. If these natives may not be employed, we shall be quite satisfied to employ our own people, if some other "abode is pointed out where there may be sufficient room for that

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purpose." 59. The Regulation, when confirmed by the Emperor's edict, was in the following

terms: viz.

"Natives may be employed as coolies, porters, tea-boilers, cooks, and in other "similar capacities, but persons not to be hired under the denomination of Kawpan*, "and Shawan.t"

60. The 7th Regulation provides, that commanders going backwards and forwards in sampan boats must have a flag set. We do not perceive any prohibition to the commanders going in their own boats, such boats carrying a flag: this we understand has been invariably the practice, and is observed for the purpose of relieving such boats from search at the several chop houses between Whampoa and Canton. Every boat on its arrival at Canton is searched under the regulations.

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61. From the result of former representations and discussions with the Chinese government, we are of opinion that a temperate and judicious appeal on the most objectionable points, which are comprised in the 3d and 4th Regulations, would have effected, and may still effect a modification of those provisions, and that, notwithstanding the conduct of the Foo Yuen with reference to the Factory (for which much cause is to be found in the proceedings of your predecessors), a proper explanation of the circumstances would still induce the authorities to observe the stipulation acceded to in 1814, viz. "the local magistrate not to visit the Factory "without giving due previous notice."

62. We were not insensible to the difficulties you would have to encounter on assuming charge of the Factory, under our orders of the 26th May 1830, arising, on the one hand, from the notion which the supercession of the former Committee might engender in the minds of the Chinese of a disposition on the part of the Committee to yield more implicitly to the will of their government; and on the other, from the opposition you might at first meet with from the British private merchants to a more conciliatory line of conduct, such merchants having so decidedly supported the views of your predecessors. But after making every allowance for the circumstances in which you were placed, we cannot approve of the support which you gave to a continued disobedience of the laws prohibiting the residence of females at Canton, although repeatedly urged to obey them, both by the Hong merchants and by the edicts of the Viceroy.

63. So far from weakening the attempts which you might be called upon to make in order to relieve the trade from vexatious exactions or impositions, we consider that immediate obedience to the laws in question, accompanied by a clear and open avowal of the principles by which you were actuated in paying such obedience, would have strengthened your influence with the government, by evincing a disposition to respect their regulations.

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64. We are prepared to admit that the conduct of the Foo Yuen, arising out of transactions which had occurred in the time of former Committees, and regarding which nothing had arisen to bring them to your immediate notice till the attack on the Factory, followed so immediately by the regulations, were sufficient causes to excite your feelings. We nevertheless are of opinion, that the notification of the intended suspension of the trade, and your determination to abandon the Factory, were measures adopted with unnecessary precipitation, and that the circumstances did not call for your publication of a contemplated measure against which we have so repeatedly and so strongly cautioned you; we consequently received with much satisfaction the intelligence announced in your despatch of the 10th June; and we entirely approve of the determination you came to of withdrawing the conditional. notice, that the trade would be suspended on the 1st of August. This satisfaction is, however, considerably lessened by the concluding terms of your last notice, recommending all British residents in Canton "to exert every means in their power to recover such property belonging to them as at present is in possession "of natives of this country." Combining this circumstance with the sentiments expressed to the Bengal government in your letter of the 26th May last, already noticed, we feel it necessary to convey to you explicit directions for the conduct of your future proceedings.

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65. The commerce between Great Britain and China is too important to be put to hazard without the most urgent and imperious necessity, and on no account upon considerations of a personal nature. It is of essential moment to the Indian as well

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as to the home revenues, both as regards the State and the East India Company, as well as in the regular supply to the British public of an article of general consumption.

66. We sought that trade originally. The advantages which it has yielded havę induced us to exert every endeavour to secure its continuance. Those exertions have been attended with success, and although late events have led to the expression of opinions in favour of a more decided and less pacific course of policy, we are by no means prepared to adopt or to act upon such opinions.

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67. To attempt to maintain a purely commercial intercourse such as that with China, by force of arms, would, in a pecuniary point of view, be anything rather than a matter of profit, even if justice and humanity could allow us for a moment seriously to contemplate such a step. We cannot in fairness deny to China the right which our own nation exercises as she sees fit, either by prohibiting, restraining, or subjecting to certain laws and regulations its commercial dealings with other countries. China must be considered free in the exercise of her affairs, without being accountable to any other nation; and it must be remembered that she has rejected every effort made by us, as well as by almost every other European state, to form a commercial intercourse with her upon those principles which govern commercial relations with other countries.

68. It is our desire that you sedulously endeavour to avoid entering into any discussions with the Chinese government except in cases of absolute necessity; and should such cases unhappily occur, we enjoin you to carry them on with temper and moderation, and that you close them at the earliest possible period.

69. Another point to which we feel it necessary particularly to advert, is the disposition evinced by you to seek the aid of His Majesty's ships of war in supporting

your measures.

70. The appearance of King's ships in China, from the commencement of our trade with Canton to the present time, has very frequently occasioned the greatest embarrassment, often leading to lengthened and difficult discussions (even with reference to the procuring supplies only for such ships), and not unfrequently to a stoppage of that trade, and consequently to great pecuniary loss.

71. In 1818 we felt it necessary, with regard to the request you had made to the captain of His Majesty's ship "Orlando," to anchor at Chuenpee, and if requisite to proceed to Whampoa in support of the measures you had adopted in aid of the country traders, and also regarding the suggestion you had ventured to make to Admiral Sir Richard King, to visit China annually, to express our strong feeling of disapprobation, and to state, that we had "with difficulty been prevented from making an "immediate application to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for orders to "be issued to Sir Richard King, directing that officer by no means to comply with your suggestion for a man-of-war to be sent annually to China and the other places mentioned in your letter to that officer."

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72. The evil was, however, so seriously felt on the occasion of the affair of the "Topaze" frigate in 1824, causing a stoppage of the trade for some months, that we immediately, on the receipt of the intelligence, made a communication to His Majesty's Ministers, which led to the Lords of the Admiralty issuing orders to the naval commander-in-chief in India, "That in future during peace, none of His "Majesty's vessels of war should visit any port of China, unless on a requisition "from the Governor-General of India, or from the Select Committee of Supracargoes at Canton."

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73. At the same time that the determination of the Lords of the Admiralty was announced to you, we also informed you, "that in a letter to Bengal, conveying copies of the correspondence with the Admiralty, we have enjoined that government carefully to abstain from requiring any ship in His Majesty's service to proceed to China, unless in case of indispensable necessity." And we likewise enjoined you, that "nothing but an occurrence of vital importance, and of the "most urgent necessity, should induce you to forward any requisition to the government of Bengal, or to the naval commander-in-chief in India, for the dispatch of any of His Majesty's ships to China during a period of peace.

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74. With these facts upon record, we dicidedly condemn the requisition you made to the Bengal government for the aid of ships of war, and more especially your communication of that requisition to his Excellency Admiral Sir Edward Owen. We trust, however, that the Vice-President in Council, to whom your letter was addressed (the Governor-General being up the country), will have been guided by the sound and judicious views expressed by Lord William Bentinck, in his minute

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of the 3d April 1830, on the occasion of a similar request on the part of your predecessors.

75. We so fully approve of his Lordship's views, that we have caused a copy of that minute to be sent (a number) in the present packet for your information.

76. On your Consultations of the 6th January 1831, you state with reference to the claims of British subjects on the native merchants, "that as the Committee were "the representatives not only of the East India Company but of the British nation, "it became an important part of their duty to protect British subjects from being "treated with injustice, to the utmost extent of their ability." It is essential that you should clearly understand that you are not the representatives of the British nation, but of the East India Company, in whom the exclusive trade with China has been vested by Parliament. The assumption of the character of British representatives has increased the difficulties experienced in the various discussions which have arisen with the local authorities, more particularly those in which His Majesty's ships have been concerned. When on such occasions you have disavowed to the Chinese authorities all right of interference with the captains of ships of war, those authorities have urged the impossibility of your not having power as the representatives of the British nation over all ships belonging to your country.

77. It is a notion too commonly entertained and acted upon by you, and encouraged by foreign merchants residing at Canton, that nothing is to be gained from the Chinese by obedience to their laws and edicts, but that much may be obtained by intimidation. You may have succeeded for the moment in setting the government at defiance, but that government has not only taken the first opportunity to assert its dominion, but also with the view of making you feel the consequences of disobedience, it has almost invariably deprived you of some advantages which it had either tacitly or avowedly yielded to friendly remonstrances. The proceedings as to Macao in 1809, and those now under review, fully bear out this observation.

78. We cannot pass over without remark the proceedings of the British private merchants resident in China. We waive for the present the question as to the circumstances under which those parties have become residents in that country; but we are forcibly struck with the terms in which they have addressed the Chinese authorities, and we must add, the unwarrantable freedom with which they comment upon the laws and regulations of an empire to which they have voluntarily resorted, and that for their own advantage.

79. There is a material distinction between lending your aid in matters purely commercial, and in appearing to be parties to resolutions and representations couched in terms of open defiance and hostility to the laws and regulations of the country. We consider the resolutions of the merchants of the 30th May, and their addresses to the Foo Yuen and the Hoppo decidedly open to these objections. We by no means imply that you sought the approbation of those merchants, as expressed in their resolutions above noted; but as it is possible you may be considered a party thereto by the Chinese, we desire that you will carefully abstain from any interference in the concerns of the merchants, which do not fall within the obvious intent of our instructions in the seventh paragraph of our letter of the 26th May 1830, wherein we stated that we should not withhold our approbation to a discreet and prudent exercise of the influence you may possess with the local authorities in favour of those merchants.

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80. We received with your Secretary's letter of the 22d July, a pamphlet entitled, "Remarks upon the late Proceedings of the Select Committee, and the Suspension of the Trade." Although the pamphlet is stated to have been issued from the American press at Canton, there is no mark whatever to designate it as coming from such a source. We were not aware that there was such an establishment as an American press in China. When we reflect upon the difficulties which have arisen from our press at Macao, originally sent out for the sole purpose of printing the Chinese dictionary by Dr. Morrison; and when we consider the jealousy of the Chinese at any measures which are calculated to facilitate the diffusion of opinions amongst the lower order of their countrymen, of whose intrigue and disaffection much apprehension appears to be entertained, it is important that our Factory should stand clear from any suspicion of being parties to such publications.

81. It is stated in the notice of the proposals for establishing a new weekly paper, to be called "The Chinese Courier," "that the advocates of free discussion "will now be enabled to communicate their sentiments to the public under no restrictions but those of truth and decency." The tenor of the observations

contained in the pamphlet before us evince so little respect for the constituted native authorities, and the opinions advanced in it are so totally at variance with the principles upon which we have determined that our affairs shall be conducted, that had we not already fully communicated to you in our despatch of the 18th April 1828 (paragraphs four to nine), our sentiments with reference to abstaining from all connection with the Canton Gazette, or with any other literary publication in China, we should have no hesitation in desiring that the members of our Factory should be no parties in any way whatever to the publication of the proposed newspaper. In the event, however, of that publication taking place by the Americans, we desire that you act upon the instructions of 1828, in notifying to the authorities at Canton that you have no connection whatever with it.

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82. It now only remains for us to express our concurrence in the intimation given by the Chairman and Deputy Chairman as to the shipment of the winter teas, and most particularly to the injunction at the conclusion of their letter against your adopting any course of policy which is likely to involve us in hostilities with "the Chinese, without the most distinct and positive orders from this country." The preservation of the national honour is in the hands of His Majesty's Government, and it must be for the King's Ministers alone to take the responsibility of deciding upon the adoption of extreme measures for vindicating that honour, if insulted. Those measures, if resorted to, will most materially affect the valuable interests at present dependant upon a peaceful prosecution of our intercourse with China.

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Our President and Select Committee of Supracargoes at Canton, in China.

Para. 1. IN our despatch of the 13th January last, which was forwarded to you by the Company's sloop of war "Coote," we communicated to you our sentiments regarding the occurrences which took place in Canton in May and June 1831, the measures you adopted in consequence, and the principles upon which we desire that our affairs in China shall be conducted for the future. Since the date of that despatch, we have received your several secret advices of 7th and 9th September, the 1st, 12th and 16th October, and the 7th, 12th, 16th, 24th and 25th of November last.

2. Your despatches of the 7th and 9th September, and those of the 1st and 12th October, written before you had received a reply from the Governor-General to your letter of the 26th May 1831, apprise us of the good understanding which appeared to exist with the local authorities, and of the various instances in which those authorities had evinced a disposition to act with a better feeling towards you,

more

more particularly in not enforcing any of the obnoxious regulations, and in having received your address in the Chinese character; also in having commenced to rebuild the quay, and in having voluntarily offered assistance when the Company's ship" Marquis of Huntley" grounded on her passage towards the river.

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3. This report of the state of your affairs on the 12th October fully confirms the opinion we expressed in the 61st paragraph of our letter of the 13th January, viz. that" from the result of former representations and discussions with the Chinese "government, a temperate and judicious appeal on the most objectionable points, "which are comprised in the 3d and 4th Regulations, would have effected, and may still effect a modification of those provisions, and that, notwithstanding the "conduct of the Foo Yuen with reference to the Factory (for which much cause "is to be found in the proceedings of your predecessors), a proper explanation of "the circumstances would still induce the authorities to observe the stipulation "acceded to in 1814, viz. the local magistrate not to visit the Factory without giving due previous notice.""

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4. By your President's letter to our Chairman, dated at Macao the 16th October, we learn, that on the receipt by him of the Governor-General's letter, announcing that his Lordship had placed at the disposal of the Select Committee the resources of India, Mr. Marjoribanks resolved to present the Governor-General's letter to the Viceroy, and in the event of the result proving unsatisfactory, that he intended to proceed in person to Tien Sing with the Governor-General's letter to the Emperor, which course he considered would "gain more than any expensive embassies have hitherto done."

5. We can readily imagine, that on learning the disposition of the GovernorGeneral to give you his unreserved support, as well as the unlimited confidence which his Lordship reposed in your judgment (under, we regret to repeat, by no means a full knowledge of the circumstances which led to the aggressions of the Chinese), you felt called upon to justify the high grounds which you had taken in seeking such aid from the Supreme Government.

6. We accordingly find that you at once pass over the altered and favourable spirit evinced by the local authorities, which you had so strongly dwelt upon in your letters to the 12th October; and in your letter of the 7th November, you again revert to the whole course of the proceedings which had taken place from the month of May, and state, that "our affairs have been threatened with no common danger."

7. You notice what you term the excessive acts of violence inflicted in May, and state that you have received no security against the recurrence of similar evils; nevertheless, you looked forward to the conclusion of the season with uninterrupted tranquillity.

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8. You express the satisfaction which you derived from a knowledge that you would be supported by the powerful arm of British India, " in a just cause,' against aggressive acts of violence, and that the Chinese were the authors of the injuries of which you complain, adding, "the grievance is alone with us."

9. You then recite the several requests which you intended to prefer, and state, that "they will necessarily comprise exemption from those multiplied exactions to "which the legal trader has become subjected, the reduction of the aggravated rate "of port duties, the licensing a greater number of Hong merchants, the right of paying our own duties, and an authenticated list of government duties being published, the treatment of British subjects with more consideration, and the obtaining security against future acts of violent aggression."

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10. These requests, if necessary, you state "must become demands," and that they will be founded on the strictest principles of reason and justice;" and you remark, that "one great desideratum in Lord Amherst's mission is not included,' viz. "the right of representation vested in your representatives to the Imperial government of Pekin, of grievances at Canton; but we feel that this power is even now possessed by us, and that we have the means, if we have the inclination, to employ them. By our printing press, we can throw off, in a few hours, any "number of copies of any document in the Chinese language, and with the enemies among their own countrymen that officers of government ever have, it would be extraordinary if one copy, among hundreds, should not find its way within the

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