Lord Palmerston and the Opium War

Part II of the Opium War

Charles Elliott, the British Superintendent of Trade, had handed over 20,000 chests of opium to Lin Zexu, who was Governor General of China’s Guangdong province, which included the port city of Guangzhou.

Lin had the opium destroyed and was up for promotion by his Emperor.

There were British who wanted war.

They pamphleted in the United Kingdom about resisting mistreatment, insult or humiliation or even “slaughter”. At times, they focused on the fact that Chinese considered foreigners to be “barbarians”. The British, most definitely did not think of themselves as “barbarians” and wanted to teach the Chinese a lesson.

The opium merchants paid for content to be published in London to stir up public support. The content went beyond the immediate issues and began to cast China in negative terms. They wrote of “stagnation”, of an “embalmed mummy, wrapped in silk”.

Back in Asia, on the morning of September 4, 1839, Charles Elliott led three small ships from Hong Kong Island across the narrow water towards Kowloon on the mainland. There were some Chinese junks there, blocking British access to food and water.

Elliott dispatched Karl Gützlaff, a German missionary, who spoke Chinese fluently and who had been in high demand by foreign traders as a translator. Guetzlaff handed letters from Elliott to the authorities in Kowloon warning them to withdraw their ships or that violence would result.

The Chinese representatives declined to take them because Chinese law did not allow any direct communication between the governments. The British could only communicate through the Hong merchants of Guangzhou.

When no movement was seen, Elliott sent a further warning and again asked to buy provisions. When that deadline came and went, he ordered his side to open fire. The Chinese ships fired back and did not retreat. It took some hours and included the firing of grapeshot at the Chinese crew but the British won the day.

Lin allowed some of the ships, including Elliott’s, to return to Macao and correspondence was exchanged.

Lin also allowed Kowloon traders to supply the British, albeit at a bit higher price and the signs threatening poison by the drinking wells disappeared.

An outstanding issue was Lin wanting all foreign traders to sign a bond promising to never bring opium back to China, on pain of death.

Elliott offered a compromise.

China could inspect any incoming ships and confiscate any opium.

On the issue of the Chinese man that one or more British sailors had killed, Elliott offered 2000 dollars towards the search for Lin Weixi’s killer.

Americans were already trading again with China because American traders had signed a less onerous version of the bond (one they say mentioned no death penalty). So they were shuttling cargo between Chinese and British merchants.

But then a British ship, the Thomas Coutts, arrived from Singapore with only legal cargo.

It proceeded past Elliott, signed Lin’s bond and did trade.

Lin felt strengthened and ended any compromises. He insisted again on the bond, which he said was much easier than the inspections proposed by Elliott.

British ships were close to Guangzhou waiting for a resolution.

Lin brought out his war ships and fire rafts. This was November 1839.

What happened next is disputed.

Here is Elliott’s version:

Elliott claimed that he "tried to send a letter to Qing Admiral Guan Tianpei, but the Admiral refused to take it and asked for delivery of Lin Weixi’s murderer.

Captain Smith who had brought two warships from India that summer thought the risk of leaving the merchants ships exposed to Lin’s vessels was too great and that retreat would be too dishonourable.

He recommended a battle and Elliott concurred. One Chinese ship exploded, three were sunk, several others were obviously waterlogged. The Chinese Admiral’s conduct was worth of his station, manifesting a resolution of behaviour honourably enhanced by the hopelessness of his efforts.

In less than three quarters of an hour, he and the remainder of his squadron were retiring in great distress to the former anchorage.

It was not Captain Smith’s disposition to continue protect hostilities and discontinued fire and set sail for Macao. One light injury to a British sailor was sustained."

Here is the Chinese version as per a memo by Lin to the Emperor:

"When a second British ship seemed keen to sign the bond that the Thomas Coutts had just agreed to, the British blocked her and forced her back.

Just when Admiral Guan began making inquiries, the British opened fire.

The Admiral returned fire and ordered his fleet to advance, standing erect before the mast, wielding his sword and yelling 'Death to deserters'. He did not flinch when a cannon ball took off part of his mast and returned fire such that the figure head of a British ship fell into the sea and many foreign sailors with it.

The British ships then fled the scene."

“Outstanding” wrote the Emperor in vermillion ink in the margin of that document.

Back in London, China was not the only matter occupying the British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston’s time. This was the period when Britain unsuccessfully invaded Afghanistan to block Russia. The Whig government had also experienced violence in the streets because it refused the Chartist proposal for full male suffrage, secret ballots, the abolition of property requirements to be a Member of Parliament and other democratic reforms.

The Whigs had pursued some democratic improvements in 1832 with the Reform Act, but even so, by the time of the Opium War only 20% of British men and no women had the right to vote. It was not until around 1885 that even 50% of British men could vote in elections. British government at the time of the Opium War was elected only by property owning men.

If that wasn’t enough, there were also rebellions in Jamaica, Ireland and Canada in 1839. And a miners’ strike in Wales in November 1839 resulted in over 20 deaths and 50 injured.

Desire for war with China was by no means unanimous. Lord Auckland in Calcutta, the Governor General of India, thought there were better commercial opportunities in India. And John Hobhouse, President of the Board of Control in London agreed and recommended writing off the 2 million compensation for the seized opium and being done with the drug trade altogether.

When William Jardine, an opium merchant from Macao, travelled to London, Lord Palmerston would not meet with him. When they finally did meet, Palmerston was noncommittal, but tried to extract as much information as possible from Jardine.

When Cabinet did consider the question, they spent most of that meeting talking about the Egyptian leader’s attempt to take Syria. That was a more pressing matter for the British. Britain was far more interested in the response of the other European powers to its moves and when China was discussed, Palmerston minimized the number of vessels that would be required and said six would be sufficient. The main question by other cabinet ministers related to the cost of the campaign. When Lord Palmerston suggested that the Chinese would pay for it, opposition decreased.

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister deferred a decision and delegated it to Lord Auckland, Governor General of India.

But in early November, Lord Palmerston instructed Lord Auckland to prepare forces, but to wait until the spring trading season had ended in 1840. Palmerston did that in spite of the Prime Minister’s deferral and although Parliament had not been consulted and had not authorized such a move. Palmerston’s order seems to have been kept a secret in the foreign office.

But naval activities could be observed. As word trickled out about the ships fitting and their movements, many questions arose. Palmerston deferred questions about China for months and eventually the Tories attacked the plan in Parliament but did not have the majority.

Some Whigs seem to have defected on the question as the government’s majority decreased on that vote.

When the fleet arrived, it bypassed Guangzhou.

That might be why Lin dismissed it as rumours to the Emperor and described it as a large smuggling operation.

This was about half a year after the previous battle by Hong Kong.

On July 2, 1840, the fleet was heading north up the Chinese coast and approached Xiamen Island.

The British fleet was carrying a letter from Lord Palmerston outlining his demands to China.

The letter was long and it accused the Chinese of ignoring their own law against opium for so long that it was like a dead letter and accused them of double standards.

China was said to have not prosecuted Chinese officials and merchants who profited off the opium trade and who had encouraged and transported it, but China was now going after foreigners.

The letter said that the British Queen wants her subjects to follow the laws of other countries where they trade. But that Britain expects that the laws will be applied equally both to the Chinese as to the British.

It demanded compensation if the commandeered opium could not be returned.

It further accused the Chinese of mistreatment of the British with the blockade and imprisonment that they had experienced in the factories of Guangzhou.

It said that as a result, Britain would have to have use of an island off the mainland where its people could reside. It also required an ending to the Canton system and payment of outstanding debts by Hong merchants.

The full text of Lord Palmerston’s letter can be found below.

At Xiamen, one of the fleet’s translators was sent to try to get someone to receive the letter of demands sent by Palmerston. He was greeted by unfriendly noises, shouting and eventually an arrow. He returned to his ship.

Again, there are conflicting reports about what came next.

The British say they fired two and a half hours of broadsides.

The Governor General there claimed a British warship was sunk.

Two days later, on July 4, 1840, the British fleet was further north.

They approached Zhoushan, an island off the coast of Ningbo, midway up the Chinese coast and about 100 kilometres south of Shanghai. This is considerably north of Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

At first, the locals were optimistic. They thought traders had come there because they were shut out of Guangzhou. The Zhoushan residents were interested in foreign trade and the profits that trade with the British would bring.

But this was no merchant fleet. It was twenty-two warships and twenty-seven transports, carrying 3600 infantry.

Captain Fletcher and Lord Jocelyn were sent to transmit Lord Palmerston’s letter to them and to demand surrender within 6 hours.

The Admiral responded that the British dispute was with Guangdong.

“Those are the people you should make war on”.

“We see your strength and know that opposition will be madness, but we will perform our duty even if we fall doing so.”

The Chinese fortified the embankments as best they could and prepared.

The next morning, the British prepared their fleet but waited to fire in the hope of surrender. But by mid afternoon, seeing no surrender, they opened fire...for 9 minutes.

Then they stopped and the damage was tremendous.

The admiral’s leg was missing (and he would die a few days later.) People could be seen fleeing.

The infantry landed and took up positions with their artillery. The remaining inhabitants had run away and the Governor had drowned himself. By the next morning, the British flag was flying on the island.

All in all, about 1 million people deserted the island, sometimes halfway through a cup of tea or the smoking of a pipe. No British injuries or deaths were reported then.

But ultimately, the occupation of that island was very costly. Disease, particularly malaria and dysentery, was the long-term issue. Over 5300 soldiers were ultimately hospitalized, which is more than the original infantry force and there were about 450 British deaths there from disease.

Why did it only take 9 minutes of firing (plus the landing of their soldiers)?

The Qing Dynasty had not upgraded its firepower in the last century or two. Its soldiers mostly had bows, swords and shields. What muskets they had were old matchlock models that required loading of gunpowder in the muzzle with a slow, smouldering match.

The British were using flintlocks or breech loading percussion locks. Both were superior weapons.

Qing cannons also lacked sighting devices or the ability to swivel. Their cannons were also left out in the elements, which caused them to rust. Their gunpowder too was of low quality.

The British fleet had been continually improving based on experience competing with and fighting the French, Spanish and Dutch navies. The British ships were self- contained fighting vessels and could carry up to 120 cannons each.

The Chinese ships were auxiliaries, meant to support the land-based fortifications. At most they had ten cannons. They could not maneuver well, except in smooth waters.

The Qing thought their forts were very strong. They had high and thick walls and held up to 60 cannons each. However, they had no roofs to protect their soldiers and were designed to defend by sea and not to stop an attack from land. Also, their state of repair was generally weak.

In theory, the Qing Army had 800,000 soldiers. That absolutely dwarfed anything the British could muster there. But most were stationed for domestic duties, such as suppressing bandits and rebels and guarding prisons.

The Qing army had different quality of soldiers. At the top were the Manchu, Mongolian and Han Bannerman. Over time, the Manchus predominated among the Bannermen. They were hereditary soldiers and received a stipend of cash, rice and land. The stipend levels had been set at the beginning of the Qing period and had not kept pace with inflation. Soldiers protested, went on strike, ran away or took another job.

Beneath the Bannermen was the Chinese Green Standard Army. They were also professional soldiers, primarily ethnically Han, and there were about 3 times as many of them as the Bannermen. Their wages were also diminished by inflation and they also were experiencing morale and logistical problems.

The official numbers of soldiers did not match reality. Families concealed deaths and invented births to keep the stipends coming. Corruption by officials was also a problem. Superiors could pilfer funds and squeeze subordinates with the promise of promotion.

Another failure was in reporting. There seemed to be no benefit or incentive for the Qing officials to send accurate reports to the Emperor. They repeatedly misled him by minimizing risks and problems and exaggerating their contributions.

Who was this Daoguang Emperor?

He lived from 1782 to 1850 and ruled from 1820 to 1850. He had smoked opium as a youth and even composed poetry about it. But his views changed and by the time of the Opium War he was strongly against the vice. Rumour has that he even had one of his sons executed for failure to give up opium.

Opium already had a long history in China. It seems to have been first introduced in China by the 8th century, because it was already mentioned in a Chinese medicine text. It was considered a remedy for diarrhoea, dysentery, arthritis, diabetes, malaria, chronic coughs and more. By the 1100s, it was also being used for recreational purposes. It was popular among emperors of the Ming dynasty and was considered by them, among other things, to be an aphrodisiac.

Initially, opium was not a profitable trade for the East India Company. But by the 1820s, it was becoming profitable and fortunes were being made by entrepreneurs like Jardine & Matheson.

The foreign ships would generally sail to Lintin, about 1/3 of the distance between Hong Kong and Guangzhou and then transfer their cargo onto small local boats. They were rowed by about 20-70 locals who would unload the cargo and then transport it surreptitiously into China.

There was lots of work for locals in the process of unloading and transporting. The opium would then also make its way inland and there was further employment in opium dens, brothels etc.

This of course required officials to look the other way and to take bribes for the commerce to pass their area of control. Often there would be a show of following the law, such as waiting for the foreign vessel to unload its cargo and then having Chinese ships pursue it so that credit could be claimed for having scared it away.

By the time of the Opium wars, opium was already being produced in multiple regions of China. It was however, at that point, considered an inferior substitute to foreign opium. It would earn Chinese farmers about 10 times more than rice. In 1840, 34 peasants in Zhejiang fought officials sent to destroy their crops.

American traders did very well too. Families that had grown wealthy through opium trading were deeply involved at Harvard, and others funded Yale University’s infamous Skull and Bone Society. Columbia’s Low Memorial Library was named after a key member of an opium trading family. Princeton’s first large benefactor funded his contribution through the opium trade. Even the 20th century US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a connection. FDR’s Delano side of his family had earned wealth through the drug trade.

Now returning to the Opium War.

Over the next two years, the Emperor did send 51,000 soldiers to help with the campaign against the British. But poor communication by his officials, as well as slow transportation meant that those soldiers were rarely where they were needed. The British controlled the initiative with their mobility up and down the coast. The British could muster ships from India in about 30-40 days. And in China, mail normally took 30-35 days one way with the most urgent mail arriving in 16-20 days. Travel by soldiers could take two to three months.

In July 1840, eight days after taking the island of Zhoushan, Charles Elliott and his Admiral went across the narrow waters to Zhenhai, on the mainland opposite Zhoushan island. At first, a Chinese official received the letter from Lord Palmerston, but the next day returned it and said he did not dare forward it to Beijing.

So, the British tried to get closer to the Emperor to communicate their demands and sailed to Tianjin, the closest port to the capital. That seems to have always been the plan, since that destination is specifically mentioned in Lord Palmerston’s letter.

What reports was the Emperor receiving? In July 1840, he had received a report from Lin in Guangzhou dated June saying that some additional British ships had arrived in Macao, but not to worry, they were probably traders. Lin also claimed to have sunk thirty-six vessels and killed countless Englishmen.

“I couldn’t be more delighted” was the Emperor’s note in vermillion ink on the dispatch.

There is no evidence that any such Chinese victory happened. That was a strange report. Lin is considered a Chinese hero now. He was an upright and incorruptible official. He showed fortitude and good tactics in cracking down on opium and in destroying 20000 chests of it. It is easy to understand how he might have misinterpreted the new ships arriving in Macao when he was at Guangzhou.

But what is more difficult to understand is how he could claim to the Emperor having sunk thirty six British vessels if no such thing occurred. This seems to have been very dangerous boasting at a time when the Emperor needed to understand what was actually happening along the coast.

Three days later, on July 20, 1840, the Emperor eceived a message that 3000-4000 English had taken Zhoushan island. The Emperor was furious and fired the officials there.

Two days later, the Emperor ordered coastal fortresses to strengthen their defences against “profit-seeking opium smugglers”. He does not appear to have realized that these were British warships.

By July 26, he was confident that reinforcements would be able to retake Zhoushan.

Why wouldn’t he?

He has not been informed that Britain was at war. He did not know the British navy is there. He has only been informed of traders. And he had been told that Lin had sunk 36 British ships.

On August 3rd, he was informed by a memo from Guangzhou dated July 3 (sent by regular and not by express post) that more ships had arrived and might travel to Zhoushan and then to Tianjin.

So, the Emperor sent word to his officials responsible for Tianjin that if the British there were obedient in behaviour and speech to tell them that trade only occurs at Guangzhou and not in the north. If they were unruly, they were to be exterminated in battle.

The Emperor seems to have believed they were just a larger and more aggressive trading group and that their ambitions were simply to trade.

Then the Emperor received the report from Xiamen and from Zhenhai each about an attempt by the British to deliver a letter. The Emperor told his representative Qishan at Tianjin that if the British just want to hand over a lette to receive it and forward it, regardless of what language it was written in.

Lin, meanwhile, was sending further dispatches to the Emperor minimizing the risks. He wrote that these foreign ships only have confidence in open waters on the high seas. He said that in a river mouth they can at once be captured and destroyed.

On August 11, 1840, the British fleet approached the port near Tianjin. Administrators in satin boots walked into the mud to receive Palmerston’s letter and probably to prevent the British from coming further.

The letter was sent it to Qishan, who was the province’s Governor General.

Qishan was a Manchu Marquis, around 50 years old, and had been Governor General of multiple provinces. But he had also been fired from two governorships by this point. But each time, again and again, he was saved personally by the Emperor.

He had accumulated considerable wealth too. His estate was said to contain 10 million silver dollars and three hundred and forty houses. A year later, it was confiscated by the Emperor, once he had lost confidence in Qishan. But again and again, Qishan seems to have benefited from his Manchu status and pedigree.

Qishan was uncertain whether to pass the letter along to the Emperor. While he considered it, he treated the British as his guests and sent them bullocks, sheep and poultry.

4 days later, on August 15, 1840, he informed them that he would send the letter along, but that a response would take time.

On August 19, the Emperor did receive and read Lord Palmerston’s letter and demands. He says he gave it a careful reading, but glossed over the demands for monetary compensation, opening of ports and consular rights and instead focused on the criticisms of Lin and Lin's behaviour in Guangzhou.

The Emperor concluded that the issue was a quarrel with one of his officials. He thought getting rid of the official would get rid of the problem. He ordered an investigation into the complaints against Lin, but ignored the other concerns in the letter.

Generally, the Imperial playbook when responding to rebellion was either to “soothe” or “exterminate”. At this moment, the Emperor chose to soothe because, as he wrote, “the British were like whales or crocodiles with no fixed abode. Even if the Qing improved their defences along the coast, they could not annihilate them. What was the point in exhausting the treasury then? If they wanted to trade and to have their grievances addressed, that provided an opportunity for resolution.”

So, as per the Emperor’s wishes, Qishan decided to soothe the British by providing them with many gifts, compliments and kind words. Not just for Elliott. Even the ordinary sailors were being banqueted in smaller tents with beef, mutton, birds nest soup and other dishes. Qishan admitted that Lin had misbehaved, but otherwise made no promises. He did mention that his Imperial Majesty had already resolved to send a commissioner to Guangzhou.

The generosity and good manners seem to have stalled Elliott, who did not think it right to press the matter further then and decided to return to Guangzhou.

The Emperor was pleased that the fleet had left Tianjin and thought the flattery and food to have been well worth the trouble.

He then appointed Qishan as Lin’s successor in Guangzhou.

That would be a much more challenging assignment, as he would be responsible for the follow up. Also, problematically for Qishan, during his report, he had told the Emperor that the British seemed to be showing remorse and that, if the British were to attack by land, they would be able to do nothing except “fire their guns”.

So, now two Qing officials responsible for Guangzhou in a row minimized the British strengths and abilities to the Emperor.

At that point, it was perhaps understandable by Qishan, since he had not seen the foreigners fight. But, they had already captured an island that had contained perhaps a million people. So those boasts seem reckless.

On October 23, the Emperor received a request from the Governor General of two coastal provinces requesting 150,000 ounces of silver, to cover future military operations along the coast.

“What for?” Was the Emperor’s reply.

He believed the foreigners had been respectful and submissive in Tianjin. He expected now that his great minister would now sort the whole matter out in Guangzhou and then the armies could be demobilized.

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Here is the text of the letter sent by British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston to representatives of the Daoguang Emperor of China.

THE UNDERSIGNED, Her Britannick Majesty’s Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, has the honour to inform the Minister of The Emperor of China, that Her Majesty The Queen of Great Britain has sent a Naval and Military Force to the Coast of China, to demand from The Emperor satisfaction and redress for injuries inflicted by Chinese Authorities upon British subjects resident in China, and for insults offered by the same Authorities to the British Crown.

For more than a hundred years, commercial intercourse has existed between China and Great Britain; and during that long period of time, British Subjects have been allowed by the Chinese Government to reside within the territory of China for the purpose of carrying on trade therein. Hence it has happened that British Subjects, trusting in the good faith of the Chinese Government, have fixed themselves in Canton as Merchants, and have brought into that city from time to time property to a large amount; while other British Subjects who wished to trade with China, and who could not for various reasons go thither themselves, have sent commodities to Canton, placing those commodities in the care of some of their fellow Countrymen resident in China, with directions that such commodities should be sold in China, and that the produce of the sale thereof should be sent to the Owners in the British Dominions.

Thus there has always been within the territory of The Emperor of China a certain number of British Subjects, and a large amount of British Property; and though no Treaty has existed between the Sovereign of England and the Emperor of China, yet British Subjects have continued to resort to China for purposes of trade, placing full confidence in the justice and good faith of The Emperor.

Moreover, of late years the Sovereign of Great Britain has stationed at Canton an officer of the British Crown, no wise connected with trade, and specially forbidden to trade, but ordered to place himself in direct communication with the local Authorities at Canton in order to afford protection to British Subjects, and to be the organ of communication between the British and the Chinese Governments.

But the British Government has learnt with much regret, and with extreme surprise, that during the last year certain officers, acting under the Authority of The Emperor of China, have committed violent outrages against the British Residents at Canton, who were living peaceably in that City, trusting to the good faith of the Chinese Government; and that those same Chinese officers, forgetting the respect which was due to the British Superintendent in his Character of Agent of the British Crown, have treated that Superintendent also with violence and indignity.

It seems that the cause assigned for these proceedings was the contraband trade in Opium, carried on by some British Subjects.

It appears that the Laws of the Chinese Empire forbid the importation of Opium into China, and declare that all opium which may be brought into the Country is liable to confiscation.

The Queen of England desires that Her Subjects who may go into Foreign Countries should obey the Laws of those Countries; and Her Majesty does not wish to protect them from the just consequences of any offences which they may commit in foreign parts. But, on the other hand, Her Majesty cannot permit that Her Subjects residing abroad should be treated with violence, and be exposed to insult and injustice; and when wrong is done to them, Her Majesty will see that they obtain redress.

Now if a Government makes a Law which applies both to its own Subjects and to Foreigners, such Government ought to enforce that Law impartially or not at all. If it enforces that Law on Foreigners, it is bound to enforce it also upon its own Subjects; and it has no right to permit its own Subjects to violate the Law with impunity, and then to punish Foreigners for doing the very same thing.

Neither is it just that such a Law should for a great length of time be allowed to sleep as a dead letter, and that both Natives and Foreigners should be taught to consider it as of no effect, and that then suddenly, and without sufficient warning, it should be put in force with the utmost rigour and severity.

Now, although the Law of China declared that the importation of Opium should be forbidden, yet it is notorious that for many years past, that importation has been connived at and permitted by the Chinese Authorities at Canton; nay, more, that those Authorities, from the Governor downwards, have made an annual and considerable profit by taking money from Foreigners for the permission to import Opium; and of late the Chinese Authorities have gone so far in setting this Law at defiance, that Mandarin Boats were employed to bring opium to Canton from the Foreign Ships lying at Lintin

Did the Imperial Government at Peking know these things?

If it did know these things, it virtually abolished its own Law, by permitting its own officers to act as if no such Law existed. If the Chinese Government says it did not know of these things, if it says that it knew indeed that the Law was violated by Foreigners who brought in opium, but did not know that the Law was violated by its own Officers who assisted in the importation, and received fixed Sums of money for permitting it, then may Foreign Governments ask, how it happened that a Government so watchful as that of China should have one eye open to see the transgressions of Foreigners, but should have the other eye shut, and unable to see the transgressions of its own officers.

If the Chinese Government had suddenly determined that the Law against the importation of Opium should be enforced, instead of remaining, as it long had been, a dead letter, that Government should have begun by punishing its own Officers who were the greatest delinquents in this matter, because it was their special duty to execute the Law of their own Sovereign. But the course pursued by the Chinese Government has been the very reverse; for they have left unpunished their own officers, who were most to blame, and they have used violence against Foreigners, who were led into transgression by the encouragement and protection afforded to them by the Governor of Canton and his inferior Officers.

Still, however, the British Government would not have complained, if the Government of China, after giving due notice of its altered intentions, had proceeded to execute the Law of the Empire, and had seized and confiscated all the opium which they could find within the Chinese territory, and which had been brought into that territory in violation of the Law. The Chinese Government had a right to do so, by means of its own officers, and within its own territory.

But for some reason or other known only to the Government of China, that Government did not think proper to do this. But it determined to seize peaceable British Merchants, instead of seizing the contraband opium; to punish the innocent for the guilty, and to make the sufferings of the former, the means of compulsion upon the latter; and it also resolved to force the British Superintendent, who is an officer of the British Crown, to become an instrument in the hands of the Chinese Authorities for carrying into execution the Laws of China, with which he had nothing to do.

Against such proceedings the British Government protests, and for such proceedings the British Government demands satisfaction.

A large number of British Merchants who were living peaceably at Canton, were suddenly imprisoned in their houses, deprived of the assistance of their Chinese servants, and cut off from all supplies of food, and were threatened with death by starvation, unless other persons, in other places, and over whom these Merchants so imprisoned had no authority or control, would surrender to the Chinese Government a quantity of Opium which the Chinese Authorities were unable themselves to discover or to take possession of, and a portion of which was at the time not within the territories and jurisdiction of China. Her Majesty’s Superintendent, upon learning the violence which was done towards these British Merchants, and the danger to which their lives were exposed, repaired, though with some risk and difficulty, to Canton, in order to enquire into the matter, and to persuade the Chinese authorities to desist from these outrageous proceedings. But the Imperial Commissioner did not listen to Her Majesty’s Officer; and in violation of the Law of Nations, and in utter disregard of the respect which was due by him to an officer of the British Crown, he imprisoned the Superintendent as well as the Merchants, and, continuing to deprive them all of the means of subsistence, he threatened to put them all to death by starvation, unless the Superintendent would give to other persons, not in Canton, orders which he had no power or authority to give, for delivering to the Chinese Authorities a fixed quantity of Opium.

The Superintendent, in order to save the lives of his imprisoned fellow Countrymen, gave at last the orders required of him, and the parties to whom these orders were addressed, although by no means bound to obey them, and although a great part of the property demanded, did not belong to them, but was only held by them in trust for others, yet complied with these orders, wishing no doubt to rescue the British Merchants in Canton from death, and trusting that the Queen of Great Britain would at a future time cause them to be indemnified for their loss.

The British Government cannot condemn the steps which were taken by Her Majesty’s Superintendent under the pressure of an over-ruling and irresistible force, to rescue from the barbarous fate which awaited them, so many of Her Majesty’s Subjects for whose special protection the Superintendent had been appointed, and the British Government highly applauds the readiness with which the persons to whom the orders were directed surrendered the Property demanded, and showed themselves willing to submit to the destruction of their Property, in order to prevent the destruction of the lives of so many of their fellow countrymen. But the British Government demands full satisfaction from the Government of China for these things. In the first place it requires, that the Ransom which was exacted as the price for the lives of the Superintendent, and of the imprisoned British Merchants, shall be restored to the persons who paid it, and if, as the British Government is informed, the goods themselves, which were given up to the Chinese Authorities, have been so disposed of, that they cannot be restored to their owners, in the same state in which they were given up, then the British Government demands and requires that the value of those goods shall be paid back by the Government of China to the British Government, in order that it may be paid over to the Parties entitled to receive it.

In the next place, the British Government demands satisfaction from the Government of China for the affront offered to the Crown of Great Britain, by the indignities to which Her Majesty’s Superintendent has been subjected; and the British Government requires that in future the officer employed by Her Majesty to watch over the commercial interests of Her Subjects in China, and to be the organ of communication with the Government of China, shall be treated, and shall be communicated with by that Government, and by its officers, in a manner consistent with the usages of civilized Nations, and with the respect due to the Dignity of the British Crown.

Thirdly.- The British Government demands security for the future, that British Subjects resorting to China for purposes of trade, in conformity with the long-established understanding between the two Governments; shall not again be exposed to violence and injustice while engaged in their lawful pursuits of Commerce. For this purpose, and in order that British Merchants trading to China may not be subject to the arbitrary caprice either of the Government at Peking, or its local Authorities at the Sea-Ports of the Empire, the British Government demands that one or more sufficiently large and properly situated Islands on the Coast of China, to be fixed upon by the British Plenipotentiaries, shall be permanently given up to the British Government as a place of residence and of commerce for British Subjects; where their persons may be safe from molestation, and where their Property may be secure.

Moreover, it appears that the Chinese Government has hitherto compelled the British Merchants resident at Canton to sell their goods to certain Hong Merchants, and to no other persons, and the Chinese Government, by thus restricting the dealings of the British Merchants, has become responsible for the Hong Merchants to whom these dealings were confined. But some of those Hong Merchants have lately become insolvent, and the British Merchants have thus incurred great pecuniary losses, which they would have avoided, if they had been allowed to trade with whomsoever they chose. The British Government therefore demands that the Government of China shall make good to the British Creditors the Sums due to them by the insolvent Hong Merchants.

The British Government moreover has recently heard of further acts of violence committed by the Chinese Authorities against British Subjects; and it may happen that before this Note reaches the Chinese Minister, other things may have been done in China, which may render necessary further demands on the part of the British Government. If this should be, the British Plenipotentiaries are authorised to make such further demands; and the Undersigned requests the Chinese Minister to consider any additional demands so made, as being as fully authorised by the British Government as if they had been specified in this note.

Now as the distance is great which separates England from China, and as the matter in question is of urgent importance, the British Government cannot wait to know the answer which the Chinese Government may give to these demands, and thus postpone till that answer shall have been received in England, the measures which may be necessary in order to vindicate the honour and dignity of the British Crown, in the event of that answer not being satisfactory.

The British Government therefore has determined at once to send out a Naval and Military Force to the Coast of China to act in support of these demands, and in order to convince the imperial Government that the British Government attaches the utmost importance to this matter, and that the affair is one which will not admit of delay.

And further, for the purpose of impressing still more strongly upon the Government of Peking the importance which the British Government attaches to this matter, and the urgent necessity which exists for an immediate as well as a satisfactory settlement thereof, the Commander of the Expedition has received orders that, immediately upon his arrival upon the Chinese Coast, he shall proceed to blockade the principal Chinese ports, that he shall intercept and detain and hold in deposit all Chinese Vessels which he may meet with, and that he shall take possession of some convenient part of the Chinese territory, to be held and occupied by the British Forces until everything shall be concluded and executed to the satisfaction of the British Government.

These measures of hostility on the part of Great Britain against China are not only justified, but even rendered absolutely necessary, by the outrages which have been committed by the Chinese Authorities against British officers and Subjects, and these hostilities will not cease, until a satisfactory arrangement shall have been made by the Chinese Government.

The British Government in order to save time, and to afford to the Government of China every facility for coming to an early arrangement, have given to the Admiral and to the Superintendent, Full Powers and Instructions to treat upon these matters with the Imperial Government, and have ordered the said Admiral and Superintendent to go up to the Mouth of the Peiho River, in the Gulph of Pechelee, that they may be within a short distance of the Imperial Cabinet. But after the indignity which was offered to Her Majesty’s Superintendent at Canton, in the course of last year, it is impossible for Her Majesty’s Government to permit any of Her Majesty’s Officers to place themselves in the power of the Chinese Authorities, until some formal Treaty shall have been duly signed, securing to British Subjects safety and respect in China; and therefore the Undersigned must request that the Chinese Government will have the goodness to send on board the Admiral’s Ship the Plenipotentiaries whom the Emperor may appoint to treat upon these matters with the Plenipotentiaries of The Queen of England. Those Chinese Plenipotentiaries shall be received on board the Admiral’s Ship, with every honour which is due to the Envoys of The Emperor, and shall be treated with all possible courtesy and respect.

The Undersigned has further to state, that the necessity for sending this Expedition to the Coast of China having been occasioned by the violent and unjustifiable acts of the Chinese Authorities, the British Government expects and demands, that the expenses incurred thereby shall be repaid to Great Britain by the Government of China.

The Undersigned has now stated and explained to the Chinese Minister, without reserve, the causes of complaint on the part of Great Britain; the reparation which Great Britain demands, and the nature of the measures which the British officer commanding the Expedition has been instructed in the first instance to take. The British Government fervently hopes that the wisdom and spirit of Justice for which The Emperor is famed in all parts of the World, will lead the Chinese Government to see the equity of the foregoing demands; and it is the sincere wish of Her Majesty’s Government that a prompt and full compliance with those demands may lead to a speedy re-establishment of that friendly intercourse which has for so great a period of time subsisted between the British and Chinese Nation, to the manifest advantage of both.

PALMERSTON