also calls attention to the fact that on the envelope "there was absurdly written the characters Great English Nation." In the communications of the governor to the hong merchants, the contents of which were to be made known to Lord Napier, attention was called to the fact that he had disregarded the rules of the trade in not applying from Macao for a permit to come to Canton; that only a tae-pan (supercargo or agent) had been allowed to represent the foreign merchants, and that an eye (superintendent), an official above the merchants in dignity, could not presume to exercise his functions without the consent of the imperial government, and for which a respectful pin must be sent. A recapitulation of the rules governing the visit and stay of foreigners was given, and the governor says: "To sum up the whole matter, the nation has its laws. Even England has its laws. How much more the Celestial Empire! How flaming bright are its great laws and ordinances. More terrible than the awful thunderbolts! Under this whole bright heaven, none dares to disobey them. Under its shelter are the four seas. Subject to its soothing care are ten thousand kingdoms. The said barbarian eye [Lord Napier], having come over a sea of several myriads of miles in extent to examine and have superintendence of affairs, must be a man thoroughly acquainted with the principles of high dignity."

On the day after the rejection of the letter the hong merchants called again on Lord Napier to induce him to change the address, but he refused to superscribe the word "petition." Other visits from them followed

on the next and subsequent days with edicts and communications to the hong merchants from the governor, but the British superintendent refused to change his position. In these documents Lord Napier was requested to return to Macao, there to petition to be received as a superintendent, and to await the emperor's decision. He was told that the laws of the Celestial Empire did not permit ministers and those under authority to have intercourse by letter with outside barbarians, especially in commercial affairs, and that any communications to them must be made through the hong merchants in the form of a petition, to which the barbarian merchants had always yielded willing and obedient submission. "There has never been," wrote the governor, "such a thing as outside barbarians sending a letter. It is contrary to everything of dig nity and decorum. The thing is most decidedly impossible."

In the matter of commerce, the governor defined the attitude of his government in very decided terms. "The barbarians of this nation [Great Britain] coming to or leaving Canton have beyond their trade not any public business; and the commissioned officers of the Celestial Empire never take cognizance of the trivial affairs of trade. . . . The some hundreds of thousands of commercial duties yearly coming from the said nation, concern not the Celestial Empire to the extent of a hair or a feather's down. The possession or absence of them is utterly unworthy of one careful thought." These declarations were followed by a notice that unless Lord Napier desisted from his efforts to hold direct

intercourse and withdrew to Macao, the trade with the British merchants would be stopped.

The controversy continued through the months of July and August with increasing irritation. The authorities encouraged the exhibition of every possible annoyance to the commission and the English residents; in communications of the hong merchants to Lord Napier, at the instigation of the governor, he was addressed as "laboriously vile;" and Chinese laborers and servants were forced to leave British service. Napier's correspondence with his government shows that these annoyances were leading him to lose his temper. In referring to the governor he used such epithets as "petty tyrant" and "presumptuous savage."

Lord

Having been rebuffed in his efforts to establish intercourse with the officials, and it becoming apparent that his mission was to prove a failure, he published in the Chinese language and caused to be circulated a document, in which he reviewed the government's edicts, closing as follows: "Governor Loo has the assurance to state in the edict of the 2d instant that the King (my master) has hitherto been reverently obedient.' I must now request you to declare to them (the hong merchants) that his Majesty, the King of England, is a great and powerful monarch, that he rules over an extent of territory in the four quarters of the world more comprehensive in space and infinitely more so in power than the whole empire of China; that he commands armies of bold and fierce soldiers, who have conquered wherever they went; and that he is possessed of great ships, where no native of China has ever yet dared to

show his face. Let the governor then judge if such a monarch will be reverently obedient' to any one."

Finally, Lord Napier showing no disposition to retire to Macao, an edict was issued stopping all trade with the English. This brought on such a threatening state of affairs that a British force was sent up from the warships at the mouth of the river and lodged in the British factory. The next day the British squadron cleared for action, moved up the river, and as they passed the Bogue forts they were fired upon and returned the fire. Two days afterwards the firing was renewed between the forts and vessels, but after much parleying between the hong merchants and the British residents a truce was arranged. The result of this was that Lord Napier, out of regard for the merchants whose trade was stopped, and, in view of the hopelessness of bringing the governor to intercourse on terms of equality, decided to withdraw to Macao and there await instructions from his government. The warships were to leave the river, and trade was to be reopened.

The commission took its departure for Macao, August 21, in two boats provided by the Chinese authorities, the British vessels having already left; but the indignities did not cease. Lord Napier, who had fallen ill, owing to the great strain upon his nervous system, was twice detained en route by the Chinese, and subjected to exposure which it is alleged greatly aggravated his illness; and he did not reach Macao until four days after leaving Canton. He died at the former place, September 11, 1834. His physician certified that his illness was wholly attributable to the severe labor and anxiety

which devolved upon him, and that his death was hastened by the needless and vexatious detention and exposure to which he was subjected by the Chinese authorities. The governor reported to the emperor that the barbarian eye had been sent away, and the English ships had been driven out of the river.

On leaving Canton, Lord Napier, in a letter to the British residents, expressed "a hope that the day will yet arrive when I shall be placed in my proper position, by an authority which nothing can withstand." At the same time he wrote to Lord Palmerston, secretary for foreign affairs, that the viceroy had committed an outrage on the British crown which should be chastised, and he implored his lordship to force the Chinese to acknowledge his authority and the king's commission, stating that such a course would result in opening the ports. The American consul sent to the Department of State a report of the affair in detail. He regarded war between Great Britain and China as imminent, and suggested that it might be to the interest of the United States to become a party to the contest, at least to the extent of making demand, accompanied by the display of a naval force, for terms in every respect as advantageous as those England might obtain.1 John Quincy Adams a few years later, in a public address, declared that the conduct of the Chinese authorities justified

1 The official documents relating to Lord Napier's commission will be found in the British Blue Book, or Parliamentary papers, of the period. They are quite fully reproduced with all the details of the affair in 3 Chinese Repository, 143, 186, 235, 280, 324; 11 Ib. 25, 65. See, also, Williams's Hist. China, chap. iii.; 47 N. A. Review, 403; Consul Shillaber, September 25, 1834, Consular Archives.