The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-22 00:00:00

OUTRAGES ON BRITISH SUB-

_ _
ji;CTS AT CAN f
An interesting coliection of papers relating to the
murder of six Englishmen, in the neighbourhood of
Canton, in the month of December, 1847, has just
been laid on the tables of both Houses of Parliament
by command of her Majesty. These papers are
chiefly dispatches from Sir John Davis, the Chief
Commissioner at Hong Kong, to the Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, with enclosures embodying the cor-
respondence with the Chinese authorities at Canton,
and the British Consul and resident there, on the
subject of the violation of the Ist article of the
Treaty of Nankin, by which protection and security
were insured to British subjects, on several occasions
previous to, as well as the sth of December, when
the murders were perpetrated. The general tendency
of this correspondence shows that a strong feeling of
animosity exists against the appearance of foreigners
beyond the immediate vicinity of the factories in Can-
ton and its neighbourhood, and that it is with great
difficulty that the authorities—when they are willing to
do so—are able to restrainlopen attacks on British and
other residents visiting the places in the neighbour-
hood of that city. Sir John Davis, however, seems
to have been disposed to place too much confidence in
the good faith of the Chinese Commissioner and other
magistrates in their attempts to restrain the violence
and brutal conduct of the inhabitants of the villages
near Canton. This ill-feeling, from statements con-
tained in some of the documents, appears to have been
mainly engendered by events which occurred in 1841,
when, according to a Chinese statement, on the troops
violence was offered
geescOntaining these papers
and the correspondence
etl aoonndtthai nei
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ot
m seonm.
seventy-nine e oTf teh e
volume
pages,
esma
goes back to August, 1847. At that time Sir John
Davis appears to have felt pretty confident of the
maintenance of tranquillity, for in a dispatch to Vis-
count Palmerston, dated the 25th of that month,
after having stated that the Admiral had applied to
him for his concurrence in moving the Pluto steamer
from Canton, he adds, " I believe the Canton factories
were never less in need of the presence of such a
vessel than at present. The congregation of vagabonds
about them has been put an ecd to ; there is an effi-
cient Chinese guard at the Consoo-house, and the
final blocking up of the old thoroughfare and landing-
place in the midst of the factories, has given them a
degree of quietness and security to which they were
before strangers."
In a subsequent dispatch, dated the 23d of Sep-
tember, he announces that he had communicated to
Keying the expression of approbation on the part of
the British Government at his conduct in punishing
some persons who had injured a sailor, and in doing
so he had assured the Commissioner that " the most
impertant thing in the estimation of the British
Government is the security and welfare of its sub-
jects, and as your Excellency is determined to main-
tain right, and rigidly to govern ill•disposed Chinese,
there can be no cause for interruption to peace and
friendship."
In reply to this, Commissioner Keying says, 6;1
was highly gratified with the tenor of this communi-
cation on perusing it. Friendship will thus be firmly
preserved on both side, and this will materially con-
tribute to the happiness of the subjects of both
countries. The Honourable Envoy and the Imperial
Minister will henceforth, by our.united efforts, pro-
mote peace, and the good and cordial understanding
between the people of our respective nations. If any
outrage be committed, the aggressors'must forthwith
be punished, to maint,iin peace and friendship for
ever, and to perpetuate the enjoyment of mutual
advantages."
Immediately after this Sir John Davis took ships
for the removal of a considerable portion of the gar-
rison of Hong Kong to India; and such was his con•
fidence in the Chinese authorities, that he says in a
letter to Rear-Admiral Inglefield, " the quiet and
security of British residents at Canton have been so
much improved by local arrangements since April
last, that it appears to myself that the constant pre-
sence of a steamer opposite the factories will be quite
needless."
Sir John Davis then proceeded on a mission to
Cochin China, and left Major-General D'Aguilar in
temporary charge of the Government of Hong Kong.
A few days afterwards the gallant general sent a
dispatch to the Commissioner Keying, in the course
of which he states— _ _

" I have learnt with regret the piracy committed
on the boat of an English merchant-vessel a few days
since. This piracy appears to have taken place
between Canton and Whampoa, in the open day, and
under circumstances of peculiar cunning and audacity.
I feel assured your Excellency will be as anxious as I
am that the criminals should be brought to justice,
and I look forward with anxiety to learn the result
of your measures to apprehend them, and also to the
recovery, if possible, of the property that hE s been
thus forcibly abducted."
In answer to this the Commissioner, after having
expressed his deep regret at the occurrence, states
that certain parties had been apprehended for the
robbery, and part of the booty had been recovered,
and he added, that he had dispatched an officer to
examine the case and try the prisoners. The fol-
lowing graphic account of the trial and punishment of
the offenders was then forwarded to the British consul
at Canton :
" Ke, Imperial Commissioner, Governor-General of
the Two Kwang, &c., &c., hereby gives a declara•

tion :
" Whereas in the case of the boat of the British
vessel Shah Allum, having been robbed on the river
between Canton and Whampoa, and certain parties
being wounded by the robbers in opposing (their at-
tempts to save their property), some time ago when
you sent in a statement on the subject, I wrote to
the proper district magistrate and military officer,
ordering them to dispatch a strong force of soldiers
and police to make rigorous search for the criminals,
who must (I stated) be seized.
It subsequently, on the 11th of October, the said
military othcer and district magistrate delivered over
to me the following nine criminals concerned in this
caose. Le-a-fuh,Tn- Chin-a- tseen, Tsang-
soo-te, aa.
se
w,
Hwang-a-shing,
of
' ten pieces of foreign
irndgered a commissioner to
Fung-a-chin, and Kwo a-haou, together with a
cbloootthy., alisoimsemizeedte
diacolnysisto
have the criminals brought before him and to try
them.
" Woo-a luh deposed—' lam a native of the Nan-
hae district, and fifty-nine years of age. On the
30th of September, having happened to meet with
an old acquaintance, Le-a-fuh, at present appre-
hended, we had a conversation together on our
poverty and hardships ; when Le-a-fuh told me that
he was acquainted with a black-faced man named
Alosha who had informed him that his master's
boat, lac en with a large quantity of property,
would proceed on the 2d of October to Whampoa,
and must go by way of the North Barrier.' I
immediately proposed that we should collect
some companions, go to the place in question,
rob the boat, and divide the booty obtained
for our own use ; to which proposition he agreed. Im-
mediately afterwards I collected the following persons
at present apprehended :—Chin• a-tseen, Tsang- soo-te,
Kwo-a-kew, Tan-a-sew, Hwang-a-shing, and Kwo-
a-haou ; together with the following not yet ap•
prehended, Chin-a-kew, Chin-a-se, Leang- a- woo,
Leang-a-tung, Ho-a-sze, Tan-a-san, and Leang-
yung-hing. With these we set out in a vessel, and
on the 2d of October, some time after two o'clock,
reached the river in the neighbourhood of the Barrier,
just as the boat of the Shah Allum arrived. I
immediately caused Leang-yung-hing to stand up in
the head of the vessel, with a false letter in his hand,
and to say that he wished to deliver it to the boat.
The people on board of the boat hearing and believing;
this, came alongside of us, on which I and Le-
a-fuh, Chin-a-tseen, Tsang-soo-tee, Ching-a-kew,
Chin a se, and Leang-yung-hing,immediately boarded
her in order to search and plunder her; Kwo-a-kew,
Tan a- sew, Hwang-a-shing, Tung-a-chin, and
Kwo-a-haou, with the rest of our compa-
nions, received the booty on board of our
vessel. The Foreigners grasped their weapons
and advanced with shouts in order to seize
us, upon which I and Le-a-fuh opposed and wounded
them with swords. The rest of the foreigners, fear-
ing our violence, escaped by swimming. I, with
Le-a-fuh and the others, then serched the boat in
order to plunder her, and succeeded in getting one
case, two bags of copper cash, and 13 dollars which
were on the persons of the wounded foreigners.
After this a fast boat came towards us and fired a
gun, when, becoming apprehensive of being seized,
we, severally carrying the above articles of booty
with us, returned to our vessel and sailed to a se-
cluded place, where we examined and counted off the
booty. The property robbed consisted in all of a case
containing 40 pieces of foreign cloth, and two bags
containing a sum of 30,000 copper cash. We re-
tained 10 pieces of the cloth together with the case,
the rest we sold to a person whose name is unknown to
me. The cash, as also the silver got by the robbery,
we divided among
us by shares, and then all dis-
persed. Subsequent was sought out, and appre-
hended by the soldiers and the police. This is the
truth.'
" Le-a-fuh de poled that he was thirty-three years
of age, Chin-a- tseen that he was forty-four years of age,
Tsang-soo-te that be was thirty-three years of age,
Kwo a-kew that lie was twenty-nine
.years of age,
Tan-a-sew that he was twenty-eight years of age
llwhang•a-shing that he was thirty-four years of age,
Fung-a.-chin that he- was twenty-five years of age,
and Kwo-a-haou that he was twenty-five years of
age. They all deposed alike that they were laitives
of the Nanhae district, and their depositions agreed
as to the rest with that of Woo-a-luh. On being
croas-examined, they all cgreed to the above state-
ments, and there was no concealment or glossing of
the facts in the case.
" Woo-a-luh and Ese-a-fuli have been sentenced in
accordance with the clause, that in case oe robbery