and on their arrival at Canton on the 24th of May operations against the city commenced in earnest. The landing of the troops from the transports took place on the evening of that day, and it says much for the military incapacity of the Chinese that 2,500 men were conveyed to the shore in absolute safety. On the 25th of May the force moved out in two columns on the positions which the Chinese had taken up on the hills above the city. The troops were subjected to a galling fire from the walls of the city as they marched forward, but they kept steadily on, their advance being covered by the artillery. When the British came within about rifle range of the four principal forts which were the special object of attack the Chinese evacuated a greater part of the position. Only in one fort was anything like a fight made, and there the resistance was easily overcome when the British tars to whom the capture of the fort was entrusted came to close quarters with the defenders. After the occupation of the main defences, Sir Hugh Gough, who personally superintended the operations, gave his attention to the outlying positions. These were soon in our possession, and when night fell the battle was completely won, the British losses amounting only to seventy killed and wounded. Canton was now completely at the mercy of the British, and military policy as well as political expediency suggested the advisability of bombardment as a means of bringing the Chinese Government to reason as well as of conveying a lesson to the local officials that treachery did not pay. But on the morning of the 27th of May just as the gunners stood with their guns loaded and primed ready for firing the shots which would seal the doom of the city, a special messenger arrived from Captain Elliot with the intimation that he had come to terms with the enemy. The conditions that he had made were that the imperial commissioners and all the troops should within six days withdraw to a position not less than 60 miles from the city, and that an indemnity of six million dollars should be paid "for the use of the English Crown." Strong dissatisfaction was expressed by the military at this arrangement, which they regarded as affording another example of Captain Elliot's incapacity to deal with the Chinese in the manner which their peculiar characteristics demanded. But the bombardment would have been a terrible business and would have resulted in immense loss to the very classes of Chinese who were most friendly to foreigners. In the circumstances the decision arrived at had many supporters at the time and it was even justified on military grounds, the smallness of the British force being urged as a sound reason for not perpetrating an act which would have given the whole country over to anarchy. As things were, Canton during this period was the scene of the most ferocious conflicts between the citizens and the lawless soldiery from outside, who occupied themselves after the fighting in which they had played so poor a part in plundering their fellow countrymen. It was stated that in one conflict alone between the factions over a thousand lives were lost. Wise or unwise, the arrangement met with prompt ratification at the hands of the Chinese. Within four days five millions of the indemnity was paid, and though Sir Hugh Gough had to resort to a threat of bombardment to secure the withdrawal of the troops as stipulated, the entire conditions were ultimately satisfactorily fulfilled, and the British forces were withdrawn. The generosity shown to the Cantonese was ill requited by these turbulent and fanatical people. After the departure of the troops there were repeated outrages on foreigners traceable to sheer vindictiveness. Though business was resumed it was conducted as it were under the shadow of the sword. In point of fact no one regarded the Canton Convention as anything more than a temporary provision—a truce and not a peace.
(From a print in the British Museum.)
(From an engraving.)
(From a print in the British Museum.)
A new turn was given to affairs by the arrival in the Macao Roads on August 10, 1841, of Sir Henry Pottinger, armed with full powers as sole Plenipotentiary to the Court of Peking. This officer found on his arrival increasing dissatisfaction at the conduct of the Chinese. Insulting edicts continued to be issued, there was gross ill-treatment of a number of prisoners who were still retained in the hands of the Mandarins, and the authorities, in defiance of the convention, were busily engaged in re-erecting the river defences. Sir Henry Pottinger was not the man to allow a situation to be compromised by lack of energy. He had had long training in Oriental methods in that best of all schools—the Indian Government—and he knew that decisiveness was an indispensable quality in dealing with Easterns. His first step, after he had made himself acquainted with the position, was to give a clear intimation to the Chinese authorities that they must either accede to the British demands or take the consequences. The requirements he made were that the opium destroyed by Lin should be paid for, and that certain ports in addition to Canton should be opened to British trade. To enforce his demands he despatched an expedition to Amoy, the famous trade centre which figures
