secure. The revenue, with a single tax upon commerce, has progressively increased since my arrival from £9,534 to £31,078 in 1847; and the civil expenditure diminished from £66,000 to £50,959 in the same year, of this £15,169 has been for public works incidental to a new colony, which being deducted from the total charge for the year leaves £35,790 for the fixed expenditure, being only £4,712 beyond the revenue. The shipping return for 1847 amounts to 229,465 tons for European vessels, and for Chinese junks 840,990 piculs."
After the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking steps were taken by the Home Government to organise a district Colonial Government at Hongkong by transferring the management of local affairs from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office. The superintending of trade and the direction of the new Consular service in China were, however, for the present combined with the office of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony. On this basis an Order in Council was issued (January 4, 1843) establishing in Hongkong the Court of Justice with criminal and Admiralty jurisdiction, which nominally had existed since the time of Lord Napier in Chinese waters under an Order of the Privy Council of December 9, 1833. This court was now endowed with jurisdiction over British subjects residing within the Colony or on the mainland of China or on the high seas within 100 miles of the coast thereof. Three months later (April 5, 1843) the Privy Council issued letters patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom creating the settlement on the island of Hongkong into a Crown Colony by charter, and on the same day a Royal Warrant was issued under the Queen's Signet and Sign Manual appointing the Chief Superintendent of Trade, Sir Henry Pottinger, Bart., K.C.B., as Governor and Commander-in-Chief. When the ratifications of the Nanking Treaty were exchanged on June 26, 1843, between Sir Henry Pottinger and the Chinese commissioners, who had come to Hongkong for the purpose, the Charter of Hongkong and the Royal Warrant were read out at Government House before a large assembly of residents, and subsequently published (June 29, 1843) by proclamation in the Gazette. It is noted by Dr. Eitel as an interesting fact that this proclamation fixed the name of the settlement as "the Colony of Hongkong (not Hong Kong as previously used) and the name of the city as Victoria."
The newly established Legislative Council was somewhat late in getting to work, for it was not until January 11, 1844, that it assembled. But it fully atoned by its activity when it did meet for any lack of expedition there may have been in bringing it together. In the first four months of its existence it compiled, considered, and passed no fewer than twelve colonial and five consular ordinances, some of them of an important character.
CHAPTER X.
The Five Treaty Ports—Early History of Shanghai—Growing Trade of the Settlement—First Consular Appointments—Difficulties at Foochow and Amoy.
We may leave the early history of Hongkong at this point and turn to survey the five ports thrown open to trade by the provisions of the Treaty. Canton, the oldest and at that time most important seat of European trade in Far Eastern seas, demands first notice. Recalling the history of the place and the unvarying hostility of the official classes to trade, it is not a matter for surprise that the concessions wrung from the Government under the Treaty gave intense mortification to the ultra patriotic inhabitants of this City of Unrest. They were not slow in showing in an emphatic way the feelings they entertained on the subject. First there was a serious attack by a riotous mob on the British factory, culminating in the plundering and burning of the building. Afterwards there was an active agitation set on foot by the secret societies with the deliberate aim of inflaming the populace against the foreigners. An outcome of this movement was the issue of incendiary proclamations calling upon the inhabitants to wreak their vengeance on the insolent barbarians. One of these productions, which was approved at a great public meeting held with the cognisance if not the approval of the Mandarins, after a reference to the greatness of the empire, said: "But there is that vile English nation! its ruler is now a woman and then a man, and then, perhaps, a woman again; its people are at one time like birds, and then they are like wild beasts, with dispositions more fierce and furious than the tiger or wolf and hearts more greedy than the great snake or the hog. These people have ever stealthily devoured all the western barbarians and like the demon of the night they now suddenly exalt themselves. During the reigns of the Emperors Kien-lung and Kiaking these English barbarians humbly besought an entrance and permission to deliver tribute and presents; they afterwards presumptuously asked to have Chusan; but those divine personages, clearly perceiving their traitorous designs, gave them a peremptory refusal. From that time, linking themselves with traitorous Chinese traders, they have carried on a large trade and poisoned our brave people with opium. Yes, the English barbarians murder all of us that they can; they are dogs whose desires can never be satisfied; and, therefore, we need not inquire whether the peace they have now made be real or pretended. Let us all rise, arm, unite and go against them. Yes, we here bind ourselves to vengeance and express these our sincere intentions in order to exhibit our high principles and patriotism! The gods from on high clearly behold us: let us not lose our first and firm resolution!" A counter agitation was attempted by a body of merchants and others who plainly realised the folly of these violent courses; but this peace party was small in numbers and it was soon overwhelmed by the spread of the spirit of fanaticism which the emissaries of the secret societies had so assiduously fanned. Outrages were of common occurrence, and property became far less secure than before the war. With strange unwisdom the British Government
