The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-10 00:00:00

i:VEN ENG EDITION.

He did net mean to turn into ridicule the wilier wice of the
Noble Lord to forms, but he would ask whether tl:at was
a proper answer to such warnings, to say that those in-
tructions were worthy of the occasion ? It excited almost
ridicule. He begged pardon for the digression. He would
now confine himself to the point, whether the papers sup-
ported the charge against the Government, that they had
not given to their Superintendent those powers which they
might have given him--powers which were essential to
the proper performance of his functions, and which,
if given, he fully believed, would have prevented the
calamity they deplored. The House would bear in mind
that_ an Act of Parliament, passed in 1833, called the China
Trade Act, which substituted for our pre-existing rela-
tions with China another form of official communication.
The sixth clause of that Act gave almost unlimited dis-
cretionary powers to the Crown, as full and complete
powers as could be given by Act of Parliament, to the
'‘,g in Council, to give such powers to the Superinten-
dent,o in respect to the trade and commerce in China--to
make and issue regulations touching the said trade and
commerce, and to constitute Courts of Admiralty for the
trial of all offences as well as civil matters. An Order in
Council, professing to follow that Act of Parliament, was
issued, but that Order gave to the Superintendent merely
the powers and authorities which the supercargoes of the
East India Company had before exercised, and were
in force before April, 1834. Now the supercargoes
had no authority, and no regulations were in force.
There was the East India Company at hand to apply
to for instructions, but the first Order in Council
gave no legal authority whatever to the Superintendent—
it professed to give the authority of other officers, but they
enjoyed none. The answer which had been given was,
that there were gentlemen on his ( Sir R. P.'s) side of the
House, who partook in the responsibility attaching to
these orders, because his Right Hon. Friend the Mem-
ber for Pembroke, and the Noble Lord the Member for
Lancashire, were Members of the Government at the time
they were issued. What he wanted to know was, why,
when those errors were pointed out, the Government had
not taken timely measures to correct them ?_( Cheers)—
for that, at least, his Right Hon. and Noble Friends were
not responsible, and he would show that the Government
had timely notice and might have repaired the omission ;
but up to the present time they had omitted to do so, and
at this very hour the Superintendent had neither powers
nor instructions upon which to act. He submitted also
that a great part of the present embarrassment had arisen
from the want of those powers. In the first place, he said
that the forcing of the passage of the Bocce by the Jar-
dine, and the evils which arose from it were caused entirely
from the want of those powers which might have been given
under the Act. When Captain Elliot attempted to make
regulations for the ships at ono port, it was found that he
could not act from his want of powers. When the
negotiations were interrupted by the forcing of
the passage by the Thomas Coutts, that was entirely
owing to a want of power on the part of the Superintendent.
Capt sin Elliot said in one of his despatches that he had
made regulations for the passage of the Jardine, but for want
of power he had been unable to carry them into effect.
What was the answer to that ? In the first place the de-
spatch was nut given, and what might have been the repre-
aentatioes contained in it they knew not,—( Hear, hear.)
They had only the minute, The answer of the Noble
Lord was, that he had no such authority to make these
regulations, but why had they riot given him that authority.
When it was said that the Chinese ultmately resorted to
outrage, there might, abstractedly speaking, be no justifi-
cation of the outrage, but they must not look at the
mere 'Act—they must not look at the last word which
preceded the blow. They must look at the whole
tenor and character of these proceedings ; they
' must look at the growing causes of exasperation and jea-
lousy in the minds of the Chinese, before they came to
any conclusion upon that point. From the nature of the
Notle Lord's reply it was impossible not to see that the
tacit instructions were, " you are not to interfere with the
enterprise of British merchants." He would take the
case of the regulation made by Captain Elliot with re-
spect to the vessels at Whampoa. In consequence of the
conflicts that had taken place between the crews of
British vessels, Captain Elliot thought it ne-
cessary, acting under the powers of the orders in council,
to establish certain regulations for the British at Wham-
poa. This was the statement of the Superintendent—" I
have the honour to lay before your Lordship a copy of cer-
tain regulations which I found it necessary to establish at
the commencement of the closing busy season, for the bet-
ter preservation of the peace on board the British shipping
at Wilampoa. I have refrained from doing so till the end
of the season, in order that I might be able to report how
tar they have fulfilled the purpose in view. I trust it will
be considered that I was justified in taking the particular
occasion in question to establish these regulations. Every
season since the opening of the trade has been marked by
constant scenes of disgraceful and dangerous riot at
Whampoa, and my own personal attention could
not at all times be given without public inconvenience.
What was the answer of the Noble Lord to that despatch ?
1 Why, that the Order in Council gave him no such power.
r—t Hear.) Now he wanted to know what prevented
.her
Majesty's Government two years before that from giving
to the Superintendent at Canton the powers necessary
for preventing the Jardine from entering the river if it
were objectionable to the Chinese, and the establishing
those regulations at Whampoa, and latterly preventing
that rupture which was the consequence of the Thomas
Coutts neglecting the warning of the Governor
of Canton. He would prove that at a very
early period her Majesty's Government bad notice of
the 'defective powers of the Orders in Council.
He would prove that her Majesty's Government were
aware that the Superintendent at Canton had no legal
power whatever. The Noble Lord had stated that the Su-
perintendent was clothed with all the powers and authority
of the supercargoes of the East India Company, and that
all the regulations in force on the 21st of April, 1834, were
thereby confirmed. Now, my Lord, says Sir George Ro-
binson, it is respectfully submitted that there were no regu-
lations whatever in existence at the period referred to.—
1 ( Hear and cheers.) What steps were taken by the Noble
Lord in May, 1834, four months after he knew that the
Superintendent had no jurisdiction ? The Noble Lord
baing told that the Superintendent had no jurisdiction at all,
writes to say " that the limits of that jurisdiction were ex-
tended." On the 28th of January, 1836, he knew that
the Superintendent had the power, and be knew that the
Orders in Council were a dead letter—that he had neither
the power of a supercargo or anything else, and then, on
the 28th, 1836, instead of remedying the defect and
giving him power, he said, " Her Majesty's Government
think it desirable to extend the limits of the Superin-
tendent's power."—( Cheers.) They were aware of that
defect in Jan. 1836. Four years had passed, away and it had
not. been supplied, but, after the lapse of four months,
and in apparent utter ignorance of the fact, that the
Order in Council was illegal, and that no jurisdiction ex-
isted, the answer was—" Extend your jurisdiction from
Canton to Macao."—( Hear, hear.) They were sensible
of the want of these powers, for on the Bth of November,
1836, the Noble Lord wrote, stating that her Majesty's
Government was aware of the inconvenience arising,
from the nature of the confined state of the jurisdic-
tion of the Superintendent, and the want of power
to enforce the decisions that might be come to.—( Hear.)
It would be difficult to say what would have been the effect
if the Superintendent had possessed the powers that
might have been given to him. If he could have restrained
the Lascars and prevented the violation of Chinese autho-
rity, and, when they were willing to listen to terms of ac.
commodation, could have prevented interruption by the
act of a British Captain, who refused to obey his orders,
some of the great practical evils attending the opium
trade might have been effectually avoided. He admitted
it might have been difficult to prevent that cupidity,
arising from the debasement in consequence of constant
indulgence engendered by this traffic, but the question
i was, whether or not the possession of power by the Su-
' perintendent would not have deprived that traffic of much
of the evil resulting from it ? Take the admission of
Captain Elliot, 30th Jan., 1839, in which, after speaking
of the increase in trade during the last four years, he said,
" But the manner of carrying on the traffic within the river
is that which contributed most of all to impress the urgent
necessity of preventing the audacity of smugglers." The
great complaint of the Chinese Government was against
the opium trade within the Canton River, and it was
evident that it was not merely the trade, but the mariner
of carrying it on, that exasperated the Government.
In the' same despatch he says :—" While such traffic exists
in the heart of our regular commerce, it affords the Chi.
nese Government just groundefor harsh measures against
our lawful trade, as being difficult to distinguish between
that which was lawful and that which was not ; but this
would not happen if I had power to suppress it." On the
17th July, 1839, Capt. Elliot said " Certainly the Super-
intendent' should act with force among British subjects in
this country ; it is necessary for his safety that the officer on
the spot should be known to stand without blame
in the estimation of the Government, and be
vested with defined and adequate powers for the
reasonable control of men whose rash conduct
cannot be left to the operation of Chinese laws without
the utmost inconvenience ' and risk to British character
and British interests.' But, above all, read and consider
the report of his conversation with Howqua, in which he
aaid—.." I had recently had a conversation with Howqua,
on which I explained, as carefully as I could, your Lord.
ship's reasons in the debate in the House of Commons on
the Chinese question. He confirmed every word I said,
and particularly the expediency of withholding the subject
from the attention of the Government, till all was ready
for operation. He referred me with much earnest-
ness to the results of the opening of the monopoly,
and implored me to make provisions for the government
of her Majeaty's subjects, and desired to know what more
was wanting, and how impossible it would be to preserve
peace among all the English people who came to that
country, if they were to be left without control."—
(Cheers.) That was the opinion of the most eminent of
the Chinese merchants, of the man of greatest intercourse
with England, best acquainted with thest relati
able ons beto-
tween the two countries, and be
foresee the consequences that would arise from
the absence of that power." Captain Elliot conti-
nues—o and he further entreated me to remember this
Government never interfered except in cases of extreme
emergency, upon the principle that from our ignorance of
their laws and customs it would be unjust. I must con-
fess, my Lord, this reasoning appears to me marked with
wisdom and great moderation, and, at all events, con-
vtunes me of the necessity of establishing control. I
would most respectfully submit these views to the attentive
consideration ot the Government. In fact, my Lord, if her
Majesty's officer is to be of any use for the purpose adjust pro-
tection, it a well-founded hope of securing things honourably
. established, is not to be subjected to changes which may
be cast up by goading this Government into some sud-
den and violent assertion of its own authority, no time is
to be lost in establishing a defined and reasonable control
over her Majesty's subjects."—( Cheers.) What was the
\
answer? They had power by the Chinese Act in 1838--
they knew in 1836 the power they pretended to have con-
ferred was necessary ; no man shared in their responsibility
sirce I 83,.. In 1839 they heard from the most intelliaent
tner,2llant of China, that by Chinese lawe British subjects
could not be governed; but above all they had
this practical warning, that some act of outrageous vio-
le ice on the part of the Government, stung to the quick
by constant neglect of their authority, would afford no