CAPT. ELLIOT SURRENDERS THE OPIUM.

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"Now, our great emperor, being actuated by the exalted virtue of heaven itself, wishes to cut off this deluge of opium, which is the plainest proof that such is the intention of high heaven! It is then a traffic on which heaven looks with disgust, and who is he that may oppose its will? Thus in the instance of the English chief Robarts, who violated our laws; he endeavored to get possession of Macao by force, and at Macao he died! Again in 1834, Lord Napier bolted through the Bocca Tigris, but being overwhelmed with grief and fear he almost immediately died; and Morrison, who had been darkly deceiving him, died that very year also! Besides these, every one of those who have not observed our laws, have either been overtaken with the judgments of heaven on returning to their country, or silently cut off ere they could return thither. Thus then, it is manifest that the heavenly dynasty may not be opposed!”

Two communications to Captain Elliot, from Lin through the prefect and district magistrates, accompanied this exhortation, stating his view of the superintendent's conduct, in contumaciously resisting his commands, and requiring him to give up the opium. For once, these commands were obeyed, and after intimating his readiness to comply, Capt. Elliot issued a circular, on the 27th of March, which from its important results is quoted entire.

"I, Charles Elliot, chief superintendent of the trade of British subjects in China, presently forcibly detained by the provincial government, together with all the merchants of my own and the other foreign nations settled here, without supplies of food, deprived of our servants, and cut off from all intercourse with our respective countries (notwithstanding my own official demand to be set at liberty that I might act without restraint), have now received the commands of the high commissioner, issued directly to me under the seals of the honorable officers, to deliver into his hand all the opium held by the people of my own country. Now I, the said chief superintendent, thus constrained by paramount motives affecting the safety of the lives and liberty of all the foreigners here present in Canton, and by other very weighty causes, do hereby, in the name and on the behalf of her Britannic majesty's government, enjoin and require all her majesty's subjects now present in Canton, forthwith to make a surrender to me for the service of her said majesty's government, to be delivered over to the government of China, of all the opium under their respective control: and to hold the British ships and vessels engaged in the opium trade subject to my immediate direction: and to forward me without delay a sealed list of all the British owned opium in their respective possession. And I, the said chief superintendent, do now in the most full and unreserved manner, hold myself responsible for, and

on the behalf of her Britannic majesty's government, to all and each of her majesty's subjects surrendering the said British owned opium into my hands, to be delivered over to the Chinese government. And I, the said chief superintendent, do further especially caution all her majesty's subjects here present in Canton, owners of or charged with the management of opium the property of British subjects, that failing the surrender of the said opium into my hands at or before six o'clock this day, I, the said superintendent, hereby declare her majesty's government wholly free of all manner of responsibility in respect of the said British owned opium. And it is specially to be understood that proof of British property and value of all British owned opium, surrendered to me agreeable to this notice, shall be determined upon principles, and in a manner hereafter to be defined by her majesty's government."-Chi. Rep., Vol. II., p. 633.

The guarantee offered in this notice was deemed sufficient by the merchants, though Captain Elliot had no authority to take such a responsibility, and exceeded his powers in giving it; being the authorized agent of the crown, however, his government was responsible for his acts, though the notice left it the power to set its own price upon the surrendered property.

At the time it was given, it could hardly be said that the lives of the foreigners were in jeopardy, and Lin had promised to reopen the trade as soon as the opium was delivered up and the bonds given. What the other "very weighty causes" were must be guessed, but the requisition was promptly answered, and before night, 20,283 chests of opium had been surrendered into Captain Elliot's hands, which were tendered to the commissioner on the next day. The market value of this property at the time, was not far from nine millions of dollars, and the cost price nearly eleven millions. It was on board twenty-two vessels, and directions were sent for them to anchor near the Bogue, to await orders for its delivery to the Chinese officers, the commissioner and the governor themselves going down to superintend the transfer. These dignitaries were no doubt greatly astonished at the success of their measures, and somewhat puzzled what to do with the enormous amount of property so unexpectedly obtained. On the 2d of April, the arrangements for delivering the opium were completed, and on the 21st of May, the whole amount was safely stored in buildings erected for it near the Bogue. The authorities had agreed that the servants should be allowed to return when one-fourth had been received, which was done; but the passage-boats were still prohibited when one half had been trans

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ferred, and the deliveries were stopped, until the commissioner held to his word.

When the guard was placed about the factories, no native came near them for three days, but on the 29th a supply of sheep, pigs, poultry, and other provisions, was "graciously bestowed" upon their inmates, most of whom refused them as gifts, which impressed Lin with the belief that they were not actually suffering for food. Three of the four streets leading into the square were blocked up, and the pleasure-boats hauled ashore, both being intended as precautionary measures against their escape.

One half of the opium having been delivered, a few of the schooners were allowed to run, and on the 5th of May, the guards and boats were removed, and communication resumed with the shipping. Sixteen persons, English, Americans, and Parsees, named as principal agents in the opium trade, were ordered to leave the country and never return. On the 24th, Captain Elliot left Canton, accompanied by the ten British subjects mentioned in the list of sixteen, having previously issued an injunction that no British ships should enter the port, nor any British subject stay in Canton, on the ground that both life and property were insecure; there were, however, no serious apprehensions felt by other foreigners remaining there; and the propriety of the order was questioned by those who were serious sufferers from its action.

This success in getting the opium, encouraged Lin to demand. the bond, but although the captains of most of the ships signed it when the port was first opened, it was not required long after. The British merchants at Canton prepared a memorial to the foreign secretary of their government, recapitulating the aggressive acts of the Chinese government in stopping the legal trade, detaining all foreigners in Canton until the opium was surrendered, and requiring them to sign a bond not to bring it again, which involved their responsibility over those whom they could not control; but nothing was said in it of the causes of these acts of aggression. Its burden was, however, to urge the government to issue an immediate notice of its intentions respecting the pledge given them by the superintendent in his notice demanding the opium; and their concern on this head was not premature, for the delay in doing so was so serious to the Parsees in Bombay, that many were ruined, and a few committed suicide. This plan of

George's channel, with a constant supply, taking occasional trips to the isle of Wight and the mouth of the Thames, when the officers were sufficiently attentive to their duty at the former station to prevent its introduction there. Suppose the consumption to increase annually, and to arouse the attention of government, and of those sound-thinking men who foresaw misery and destruction from the rapid spread of an insidious, unprofitable and dangerous habit. Suppose, in fact, that mutato nomine, all which has been achieved here had been practised there. Suppose some conservators of the public morals to be aroused at last, and to remonstrate against its use and increase; and that, among the nation sending forth this destroyer, to prey on private happiness and public virtue, one or two pious and well-meaning bonzes were to remonstrate with their countrymen on the enormity of their conduct:-how wonderfully consolatory to one party, and unanswerable to the other, must be the remark of the welldressed and well-educated Chinese merchant: Hai ya! my friend, do not you see my silk dress and the crystal knob on my cap; don't you know that I have read and can quote Confucius, Mencius, and all the Five Books; do you not see that the barbarians are passionately fond of arsenic, that they will have it, and even go so far as to pay for it; and can you, for one moment, doubt that it would not be much worse for them, if instead of my bringing it, it were left to the chance, needy, and uncertain supply, which low men of no capital could afford to bring?"

The writer then shows, that instead of only one person in every 326 using the pipe, it was far more probable that at least one out of every 150 (or about 2,500,000 in all) of the population was a victimized smoker. And that even this was a large allowance, if the number of secluded villages off the great thoroughfares, where the drug could not easily penetrate, was taken into the account. The assertion of its being a harmless luxury to the many, like wine or beer is disputed, and the sophisticated argument of its use as a means of hospitality exploded. "What would a benevolent and sober-minded Chinese think," he asks, "were the sophistry of the defenders of this trade translated for him? Where would he find the high-principled and high-minded inhabitant of the far-off country? How could he be made to comprehend that the believers in and practicers of Christian morality advocated a trade so ruinous to his country. That the government of India compelled the growth of it by unwilling ryots; and that, instead of its being brought to China by desperadoes, pirates, and marauders,' it was purveyed by a body of capitalists, not participating certainly in what they carry, but supplying the In

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merchants, wishing to dispose of the cargoes which had arrived in ignorance of all these acts, endeavored to make some arrangements for sending to Canton from Chuenpí; but this plan failed, and recourse was then had to ships sailing under other flags, in which, in fact most of the British trade was conducted during the year. The vexation of the commissioner at this detention of British shipping outside was very great, and he issued placards, exhorting the captains to enter the port, which brought out a rejoinder from Captain Elliot, stating the reasons why he forbade English ships putting themselves within the power of the govern ment. In this paper, Captain Elliot complained of his own unjust imprisonment as unbecoming treatment to the "officer of a friendly nation, recognized by the emperor, who had always performed his duty peacefully and irreproachably;" but there is no evidence to show that either the emperor or Lin knew him to be any more than a taipan; they certainly had never recognized him, or anybody else, according to the acceptation of that phrase among western nations, as is fully shown by Capt. Elliot's own correspondence.

While this matter of trade was pending, a drunken affray occurred at Hongkong with some English sailors, in which an inoffensive native, named Lin Weihí, lost his life. The commissioner, on hearing of it, ordered an inquest to be held upon the body, and demanded the murderer, according to Chinese law. The superintendent immediately repaired to Hongkong, and impanelled a court of criminal and admiralty jurisdiction, with a grand and petit jury, in order to try the seamen who had been arrested. He also offered a reward of $200 for such evidence as would lead to the conviction of the offenders; and advanced in all $2000 to the friends of the deceased as some compensation for their heavy loss, and to the villagers for injuries done them in the riot. Having formed the court, he sent a polite invitation to the provincial officers for them to attend the trial; and when it was over, dispatched a second note, declaring that he had been unable to ascertain the perpetrator of the deed. Five sailors were convicted and punished for riotous conduct, by fine and imprisonment, and sent to England under arrest, but to everybody's surprise were all liberated on their arrival. The proceedings in this matter were perfectly fair, and the commissioner, if he received the invitation and note, should have been satisfied; and his subsequent violent