Heaven," and the record was quoted, not long since, by the Canton Government, in an official paper addressed to the writer of this, as president of the select committee in China, who stated, of course, in reply, that presents had been sent, but no tribute.

No untoward events occurred, for several years subsequent to the embassy, to interrupt the quiet progress of commercial affairs at Canton. The mandarins had improved in their conduct towards the merchants, and the highly objectionable measure of stopping the trade on the most trifling occasions had not been lately resorted to by the Chinese. At the same time, some of the heaviest burthens on the European trade still continued, being too profitable to both the local government and the Hong merchants to be readily aban

doned by them. The most objectionable of these were, the Consoo fund, arising from a rate which the Hongs were permitted to levy upon the foreign commerce, in order to meet the heavy demands of the government on themselves; and the inordinate amount of the port-charges and fees.

An unfortunate occurrence, however, in 1800 threatened for some time to place British affairs at Canton in some jeopardy, although proceeding, as very usual on such occasions, from the fault of the natives. While his Majesty's schooner Providence was lying at Whampoa, a party of Chinese in a small boat appeared one night to be attempting to cut the schooner's cable. As they returned no answer on being hailed, a shot was fired into the boat, by which one Chinese was wounded,

and another, who jumped overboard in his fright, was drowned. The government, as usual, demanded that the person who fired the musket should be delivered up; but Captain Dilkes, who was then in China, commanding his Majesty's ship Madras, required, on the other hand, that the Chinese in the boat should be punished for their delinquency; and refused to deliver up the seaman, or even to allow him to be tried, except in his own presence. The wounded Chinese at length recovered, and so the correspondence closed; but, some time afterwards, an abstract of the Chinese law relating to homicide was handed to the select committee by the local government; although the shameful injustice and perfidy with which, on several occasions, the mandarins had treated foreigners accused of such offences, gave them no right to expect that their laws should be much attended to.

It was in the year 1802 that the American flag was first hoisted at Canton. The consular agent for the United States, who was in all cases, appointed from among the American merchants resident in China, was simply a commercial officer, and called a Tue-pan, or factory chief, by the Chinese. He received no salary whatever from his Government, but was permitted to levy fees in the transaction of business with his countrymen, besides trading on his own account. The American flag continued to fly at Canton until very lately, notwithstanding the interruption which the trade of the United States, for some time previous to 1815, experienced by the war with England; but in the year 1832 a dispute occurred between the Consul for the time being, and the Captain of an American frigate, then on a visit to China. The Captain having failed to call upon the Consul, the latter took offence on the occasion, and the two republicans were too tenacious of their respective ranks and dignities to come to an accommodation. The flag was struck, and the Consul proceeded home. Such disputes are rendered impossible, between English officers, by the regulations of etiquette conveyed in the consular and naval instructions.

An occurrence of some importance, in 1802, tended to establish, beyond all doubt,

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a point which had sometimes been questioned; and this was, the nature of the tenure on which the Portuguese held Macao of the Chinese. It was in that year that Lord Wellesley, Governor-general of India, being apprehensive that the French republic had some designs against the Portuguese establishments in the East, considered it necessary to garrison the principal settlements of our "ancient ally" with British troops; and accordingly an expedition was sent from Bengal to take Macao under our protection. The Portuguese would have admittted the offered aid indeed they had not the power to refuse it-but the leave of the real masters had never been asked. The Viceroy of Canton indignantly repelled the idea of any portion of the Chinese empire needing aid from foreigners, and required the troops immediately to depart. In the meanwhile it fortunately happened that the brig Telegraph, despatched by the Court of Directors with news of the peace in Europe, arrived off Macao, and the whole of the troops accordingly returned at once to Bengal on the 3rd of July. The Portuguese did not fail on this occasion to carry on their customary intrigues with the Chinese Government, with whom they did their best to ingratiate themselves, by misrepresenting the views and designs of the English. An unfortunate priest named Rodrigues, from whose knowledge of the Chinese language considerable assistance had been derived during the stay of the expedition, was in consequence so persecuted by his countrymen that he was compelled to quit the place. The Portuguese, however, have since had ample leisure to repent their short-sighted and narrow policy towards our countrymen, which had the effect of driving the whole of the Indian opium trade from Macao to Lintin, and thereby depriving the former place of its most fertile, and indeed only source of wealth.

The advantages of establishing, if possible, some commercial relations with the King of Cochin-china, on the part of the British, had been a subject of attention for some time when the present Lord Strathallan, at that period Mr. Drummond, President of the select committee at Canton, appointed Mr. Roberts, a member of the factory, to proceed

D

on that service in November, 1803. That gentleman was directed to attend to the instructions of the Governor-general of India, from whom he was the bearer of a letter to the Cochin-chinese king. Mr. Roberts was civilly received, and met with much liberal and friendly assistance from the French missionaries at Hue-foo, the capital. He had two audiences of the king, with an interchange of presents; but the Council, with the usual cautious and exclusive spirit of the ultra-gangetic nations, would not consent to any written treaty of commerce; and the envoy returned to Canton, after some months' residence, without having been able to establish the ends contemplated: nor was the more recent expedition of Mr. John Crawfurd, to the same country, attended with any better success. It appeared, subsequently to Mr. Roberts's mission, that reports prejudicial to the English were raised by a Portuguese of Macao, named D'Abrio, stating that they meditated an attack on the country. Much alarm was excited, and, when the Discovery surveying vessel appeared on the coast, refreshments were denied to her.

The considerable naval force, which had been maintained by France in the eastern seas for the annoyance of our India and China trade, had directed the particular attention of the Company to the due arming of their ships, and an occasion occurred, in 1805, when the efficiency of those noble vessels was signally proved. The China fleet, consisting of sixteen sail, under the command of the senior officer, Captain Dance, was homeward-bound on the 15th February, when it fell in with the French squadron, under Admiral Linois, who had been cruizing for some time to the north of the Straits, with the express view of cutting them off. The fleet, of which most of the ships mounted thirty guns and upwards, formed in order of battle, and advanced boldly to the engagement, the van being led by Captain Timins of the Royal George, who engaged the Admiral's ship, a vessel of eighty guns, and received upwards of sixty shot in his hull and rigging. The fight concluded by the French squadron setting all sail, and leaving the English in quiet possession of the field, as

well as of the immense amount of national property of which they were in charge. The Commodore of the fleet was knighted in approbation of his gallant conduct, and the commanders of all the ships presented with swords, and other marks of distinction. This highly respectable service has been dissolved by the operation of the act which deprived the East India Company of their former privileges.

About this period, or shortly afterwards, commenced the career of the Chinese pirates, called, after the Portuguese of Macao, Ladrones, who for some years spread terror along the coasts of the Canton province, and even up the river itself, as far as the city. The southern shores of China, from the innumerable islands with which they are studded, have always given employment and shelter to a hardy race of fishermen, whose poverty, joined to their independent habits, have at different periods led them to combine in large bodies for piratical purposes, in defiance of the weak and inefficient maritime force by which the coasts of the empire are guarded. The power of the celebrated leader, Koshinga, and his successes against the Dutch settlers on Formosa, during the seventeenth century, have been already noticed; and a squadron scarcely less formidable was destined to appear during the period which elapsed between 1806 and 1810. Very particular accounts have been obtained of these singular freebooters, not only from a Chinese work, but from the personal narratives of Messrs. Turner and Glasspoole, two Englishmen who had the misfortune to fall into their hands, and who were compelled under pain of death to attend the pirates in all their expeditions.

But however great their contempt for the imperial fleet of China, or any other native force to which they might be opposed, these Ladrones never willingly engaged a European vessel larger than a boat, and the following observations of the Emperor Kânghy seem to show that their predecessors in his time were equally cautious. "We have lately heard, from the pirate who surrendered and threw himself upon our mercy, that when his companious went to plunder vessels on the seas, it was their practice to avoid all European ships, being afraid of their fire-arms,"

&c. The force and number of the later squadron of freebooters has been pretty accurately ascertained from the accounts of Messrs. Glasspoole and Turner. Their junks or vessels amounted in 1810 to about 600 of various sizes, from 80 to 300 tons of which the largest seldom mounted more than twelve guns, varying from six to eighteen pounders, which had been either purchased from European ships, or taken from the Chinese; but chiefly the latter. Their hand-arms were pikes with bamboo shafts from fourteen to eighteen feet long, and they used, besides, the common Chinese pike with a handle of solid wood, and an iron point consisting of a slightly curved blade. They had also short stabbing swords, not two feet in length. Their guns as usual were mounted on solid timber, without trucks, breechings, or tackles, and run out right abeam, so as to be fired only when they could be brought to bear upon the object, by wearing the vessel! The broadside being fired, they hauled off to reload, which is a difficult and tedious operation with the Chinese. The largest junks carried between 100 and 200 men, and were furnished each with an armed boat for committing depredations among the towns and villages on shore. Few narratives can be more interesting than that of Mr. Glasspoole, which was published in the United Service Journal, but which cannot be detailed in this place. Both that gentleman and Mr. Turner were ransomed for considerable sums by their friends at Canton, and escaped happily to relate their singular captivity and adventures.

Not the least remarkable feature about this formidable fleet of pirates was its being, subsequent to the death of its original chief, very ably governed by his wife, who appointed her lieutenants for active service. A severe code of laws for the government of the squadron, or of its several divisions, was enforced, and a regular appropriation made of all captured property. Marriages were strictly observed, and all promiscuous intercourse, and violence to women, rigorously punished. Passess were granted to the Chinese junks or boats which submitted to the pirates: but all such as were captured in Government vessels, and indeed all who opposed them, were treated with the most dreadful cruelty. At

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the height of their power they levied contributions on most of the towns along the coast, and spread terror up the river to the neighbourhood of Canton. It was at this time that the British factory could not venture to move in their boats between that place and Macao without protection; and to the Ladrones, therefore, may be partly attributed the origin of the valuable survey of the Chinese seas by Captain Ross; as the two cruisers which were sent from Bombay, at the select committee's requisition, to act against the pirates, were subsequently employed by them in that work of public utility, the benefits of which have been felt by the whole commercial world.

This

Finding that its power was utterly unavailing against the growing strength of the Ladrones, the Chinese Government published a general amnesty to such as would submit, and return to their allegiance; a stroke of policy which may be attributed to its acquaintance with the fact, that a serious dissension had broken out between the two principal commanders of the pirate forces. proceeded even to the length of the black and red squadrons (which they respectively headed) engaging in a bloody combat, wherein the former was discomfited. The weaker of the two now submitted to accept the offers of the Government, which promised free pardon, and kept its engagements; the leader was even raised to some rank in the Emperor's service! Being thus weakened by the desertion of nearly half her forces, the female chieftain and her other lieutenant did not much longer hold out. The Ladrones who had submitted were employed by the crafty Government against their former associates, who were harassed by the stoppage of their supplies, and other difficulties, and a few more months saw the whole remaining force accept the proffered amnesty. Thus easily was dissolved an association which at one time threatened the empire: but as the sources and circumstances, whence piracy has more than once sprung up, are still in existence, the success and impunity of their predecessors may encourage other bands of maritime robbers to unite in a similar confederacy at no distant period.

A considerable number of years had elapsed

since the occurrence of one of those homicides, which, even when accidental, always prove so serious and embarrassing to the trade at Canton; but in the month of March, 1807, a case happened which showed in the strongest light the consequences which may at any time result from the riotous and unruly conduct of our seamen on shore, subject as they are in China to be supplied on the cheapest terms with ardent spirits, called samshoo, generally adulterated with ingredients of a stimulating and maddening quality. A portion of the crew of the ship Neptune had been drinking at a spirit-shop, and a skirmish soon took place with the Chinese, upon which the men were collected as soon as possible by their officers, and confined within their quarters. The idle Chinese, however, assembled in great numbers before the factory, and pelted the gates, as well as every European who passed, notwithstanding the presence of some Hong merchants who had been summoned on the occasion. The confined sailors, at length losing patience, broke through all restraint and sallied out on the mob, whom they scattered in an instant, and one Chinese was knocked so rudely on the head that he died.

The trade as usual was stopped by the Chinese, and the Hong merchant, who secured the Neptune, held answerable by the Government for the delivery of the offender. Nothing could be elicited as to the identity of the individual, in a court of inquiry held on board the Neptune. The mandarins at first demanded that the men should be tried within the city, but the case of the poor gunner was retorted upon them, and the thing was declared to be impossible. It was at length arranged that an examination should take place within the factory, before Chinese judges, but in the presence of the select committee and Captain Rolles, of his Majesty's ship the Lion, who were provided with seats in court, while two marines with fixed bayonets stood sentries.

Eleven of the men, it was proved, had been more violent than the rest, but no indi-. vidual could be marked as the actual homicide, though the Chinese still demanded that a man should be given up. It was at length settled that one of the eleven, named Edward Sheen, should remain in custody of the com

mittee: the understanding at first was, that a fine to the relations of the deceased would be sufficient, but on the committee preparing to proceed to Macao, the Government required his being left behind. Captain Rolles now interfered, and declared that, if Sheen was not permitted to be taken by the committee to Macao, he should take him on board the Lion, and the point was at length conceded. The local government being puzzled how to proceeed, invented a tale in which it was stated that Sheen, while opening an upper window, had dropped by misfortune a piece of wood, which struck the Chinese on the forehead and caused his death. This was

sent up to Peking as an official report, and an imperial reply was soon obtained, sanctioning the liberation of Sheen on his paying a fine of about twelve taëls, or four pounds sterling, to the relations of the deceased. This singular transaction proves at once how easily the Emperor may be deceived, and with what readiness the local government can get out of a difficulty. The firm and successful conduct of the committee and of captain Rolles was much approved, and to the latter 1,000l. was voted by the Court of Directors.

Early in 1808 information reached India of the probability of ambitious views being entertained by France towards the East, and of the danger to which Macao might be exposed by the vicinity of Manilla, if the French should make that Spanish colony their own. In consideration of treaties by which England was pledged to protect Portugal and its settlements against aggression, as well as of the interests which the English themselves had at stake in the neighbourhood of Canton, Lord Minto, having garrisoned the colony of Goa, by a convention with the governor of that place, deemed it fit to send an expedition for the protection of Macao, which he apprehended might be threatened by an enemy's fleet. It might reasonably be questioned how far such a measure was well advised, after the experience of the similar expedition just six years before, when it plainly appeared that the Chinese treated Macao as a portion of their empire, and the Portuguese as mere tenants at will: the result at least was an utter failure.