The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-21 00:00:00

FEBR CARY 21, 1848.

is proved that they were bound and scourged repeatedly.
The woman saw the commencement of the affray; the
party was then six. The people shouted " Fankwei"
(foreign devil), and threw mud at them, which they did
not resent. From mud they proceeded to throw stones,
their numbers increasing; hoes and farming implements
were next used; a shot was fired, and one Chinese fell;
a multitude had congregated at the sound of a gong, and
two of the foreigners fell, the people continuing to strike
them; the other four, after endeavouring to appease the
people, fled, severely wounded by pikes, poles, knives,
and stones. The woman saw nothing further.
The male witness first observed the four who fled in
or near the village of Lotsum ; they ware pursued by
a number of people, two men carrying grass endeavoured
to intercept them, and were shot. He afterwards pro-
ceeded to Hwang chu kee, where about one thousand
people were assembled, and he was told that they had
been beating the foreigners. He also stated that the six
foreigners were still alive until Tuesday morning. This
is opposed to the first report of the Chinese, that two
men had been killed in the melee, though it is probably
correct, the two who fell having been wounded, and not
killed. _ _

The bodies of the deceased were examined by Dr.
Marjoribanks, who was decidedly of opinion that they
were all alive at a later period than Sunday evening.
Marks of the cane were visible upon four of them, as
well as of the cords by which they had been tied up ; and
from inflammation having supervened, they could not
have been put to death for twelve hours at least after
being flogged. From the marks of cords on the arms
one had been tied up on three i,everal occasions, and the
rattan had been applied to the sides of the face as well
as the back.

This proof is not so clear as could be wished, though
it establishes the damning fact that six Englishmen were
murdered in cold blood, after being tortured to gratify
the cruelty of a hardhearted race, the proceedings were
at least tolerated by the magistrates, and it is almost
certain that they approved of and sanctioned them.
With them the responsibility rests, and no redress can
be satisfactory which does not include the forfeiture of
their lives.

As may be believed, when it was ascertained that the
unfortunate gentlemen were missing there was an intense
degree of excitement at the factories. Early on Monday
Mr. Consul Macgregor applied to the district magistrates
for the release of the party supposed to be held captive
in the villages. He also addressed Keying, enclosing a
copy of his application to the magistrates. An answer
was received from Keying in the course of the afternoon,
stating that before receiving the Consul's letter be had
heard of the circumstance, and had sent orders to the
magistrates to seareh for the foreigners, and set them at
liberty. This correspondence should not be lost sight
of—twenty-four hours prior to the murders the Go-
vernor-General of the province knew that six foreigners
were captive at a village within three or four miles of
his house, and he either had not the power or the will
to save them from death.

At noon two boats, with about thirty Englishmen, left
the factories in search of their friends. They explored
several creeks in the neighbourhood of Hwang-chu-kee,
but without gaining any information. In the afternoon
Dr. Majoribanks found the Nanhae magistrate on board
a boat at anchor about a quarter of a mile below Hwang-
cha-kee, evidently afraid to go further. Dr. Majors-
banks remonstrated with him on his apathy, and offered
to accompany him to the village lest any of the prisoners
should require surgical aid. This offer was declined.

In the evening —it was arranged that a party well
armed should prcceed to the villages in search of their
friends, but the Consul interposed his official authority
in a circular addressed to her Majesty's subjects :

[ PI-110E SD.

"TO MESSRS. DAVID JARDINE AND THE BRITISH
MERCHANTS AT CANTON.
Majesty's Plenipotentiary to acknowledge the receipt of
British Consulate,
en,—l am
directed
by
his Dec.
your letter, dated the 13th inst. Excellencyis47lB ber
" Gentle'm
" You are right in surmising that demands for im-
mediate reparation (as far, at least, as the punishment
of the guilty can avail) have been peremptorily made,
and a limited time fixed, beyond which his Excellency
cannot remain here, or continue these negotiations.
" Your implied apprehension lest any measures of
redress by coercion on his Excellency's part might
debar the British Government from further measures of
its own is groundless, inasmuch as it is an universal rule
that no Government is bound implicitly by the acts of
its representatives, and that no such acts are conclusive
unless ratified by the Sovereign.
" Whenever it might become necessary to withdraw
the consul from Canton, or blockade the port, full
previous notice would be given to the mercantile com-
munity, in order that they might have time to conclude
their commercial operations, and in the meanwhile all
due protection will be afforded on the spot. But his
Excellency hopes that extreme measures may be un-
necessary.
" I have the honour to be, gentlemen,
" Your most obedient, humble servant,
" A. R. JOHNSTON."
From the 12th to the 20th was passed in negotiation.
On the evening of the 20th it was intimated to the com-
munity that four of the murderers would be executed,
the following morning at the village of Hwang-chu-kee.
On the morning of the 21st, the Honourable Company's
steamer Pluto earried up the Honourable Mr. Johnston,
Mr. Vice-Consul Elmslie, and Mr. Meadows, interpreter
to the Consulate, to witness the execution. They were
accompanied with a guard of three officers and thirty
men of her Majesty's 95th Regiment. Four men were
decapitated ; but from the fact of their being gagged,
and the bodies buried in the strangers' burying-
ground, it is surmised that they were not villagers at
all. Upon this particular there are various beliefs.
It is very confidently asserted that on the demand
being made by Keying for four lives, the men who
were executed offered to suffer, provided certain honours
were conferred on their families. In Europe this may
appear incredible, but in China, where life is held cheap
and the laws are loose, substitutes are found. It was but
lately that on sentence of death being passed on a mur-
derer in Hong-kong, he inquired whether he would be
allowed to provide a substitute.
It cannot be supposed that these executions are in full
of the demands which " would be satisfactory for the
present," and we therefore conclude that Keying has not
complied with them. Sir John Davis left the factories
on the 22d, without communicating to any one his future
intentions. He informed a gentleman who waited on
him that Keying had got to the 20th of next month to
satisfy him (Davis) that he (Keying) could control the
villagers. The fact of Keying being unable—possibly
unwilling—to relieve the six victims of Chinese cruelty
is conclusive upon this head ; however, Sir John Davis
may have an object in view ; by the end of next month
our naval force will be increased.
On reading these details the inquiry will naturally be,
what protection has Sir John Davis afforded his coun-
trymen in the dangerous position they hold at Canton?
We answer none. It has been his Excellency's policy
to convince his Government that the people of Canton
were quite under control of the authorities, and that
no danger was to be apprehended unless it was in-
curred by the misconduct of foreigners. A more fatal
delusion never was entertained by any man, in opposi-
tion to the repeated warnings and remonstrances of
those who were in the best position to judge. The pre-
sence of a small vessel of war has been again and again
begged for, and had one been at Canton on the sth of
December the horrid murders would not have been per-
petrated. The village braves are cowardly as well as
cruel, and had the Pluto been at her anchorage off the
Macao passage, Englishmen might have walked through
Hwang-chu-kee or any of the neighbouring villages in
perfect safety. As far back as July, 1846, the British
inhabitants of Canton addressed Viscount Palmerston,
earnestly entreating that orders be sent out to have a
steamer permanently stationed near the factories. His
Lordship took a correct view of the matter, and in his
memorable dispatch to Sir John Davis of December 10,
he says, " Whenever British subjects are placed in
danger, in a situation which is accessible to a British
ship of war, a British ship of war ought to and
will be ordered, not only to go, but to remain
as long as its presence may be requirencit the
protection of British interests. Would that Sir
John Davis had acted upon these instructions; but, alas!
an obstinate adherence to his own opinion, or a credulous
belief in the representations of Keying, led to the with-
drawal of the Pluto on the 17th of October. No sooner
was this done than the villagers commenced their pre-
concerted operations for the destruction of foreigners.
In extenuation of this neglect it may be said that Sir
Joha Davis was deceived by Keying, and this is partly
true, though it says little for the Plenipotentiary's dis-
cernment. Keying writes on the 24th of August—
" The trained bands and village braves were raised with
the view of protecting their villages and farms against
robbers and vagabonds, who have reeently become very
numerous."

A more palpable untruth was never uttered even by a
Chinese diplomatist. At that time the proclamations
A. and B. wore in circulation, and two European boats
had been fired into at the identical village of Hwang-
chu-kee.
Sir John Davis is at length aware of the deceit which
has been practised in his official dealings with Keying.
The following note is plain, but is true :
"British Consulate, Canton, Dec. 18, 1847.
" I have received your Excellency's note, dated yes-
terday. It is therein erroneously stated that the six
murdered Englishmen ' fired pistols and killed Chinese,
in return merely to the shouts of the villagers, and were
put to death on the spur of the moment.' The truth on
the contrary is, that being attacked, according to the
previous repeated declaration of the villagers, they de-
fended themselves with pistols, and some of them being
captured were subsequently put to death in cold blood.
This has been declared by several Chinese witnesses, and
their statements will be forwarded to my Government,
who will maturely consider it. It is useless therefore to
slur over the real facts.
" Your Excellency, in addressing your Emperor, ap-
pearscllands,
na
d et t to
to have
ah
erectionva ov statede
an
object
b oja
efs ft
buildings,o
il follows:—'
vw se '
suchoS rh ot
hu
ale Should t
like
eee
trifles,
oe foreignersef
Canton people collect a mob and interfere with them by
making a disturbance. The local authorities, holding
the people to be foremost in consideration, think it in ex-
pedient to thwart their inclinations seriously, or to show
a devious compliance with :the requests of foreigners.'
This, indeed, is the real truth, and being contrary to the
treaty it is the whole cause of the constant troubles at
Canton, ',while at the other ports there is a perpetual

quiet.
" Since the Canton people have been thus encouraged
against foreigners, they are ready to murder them when
they merely take recreation in the country under the
treaty. Unless an example is made by executing the
criminals at Hwang-chu-kee, foreigners will continue to
be murdered by the villagers.
" Since your Excellency distinctly stipulated that these
four executions are not the whole of the punishment to
be inflicted, but that ' the remainder of. the. criminals
will either be sentenced to` decapitation, strangulation,
military slavery, or transportation for life, in every case
awaiting the confirmation of the criminal board,' it may
be suffiicient for the present, and iu part of my demands,
if these four criminals be decapitated where the crime
was committed, in presence of my officers. The only
object of punishment is example for the future, and I
have already informed my Government that if the ex-
ample is not made at Hwang..chu-kee, it willbe a mere
mockery and wholly and entirely unavailing.
"It is in vain to write more words on this subject,
and if your Excellency will not make the example at the
place where the crime is committed our present negotia-
ations ought to stop.
" Accept the assurances, &c.,
"To his Excellency Keying, &c.
The following account of the execution of. the " Sub
stitutes" is also taken from the Friend of China:—
"We have been favoured with the following account
of the execution at Hwang-chu -kee from the pen of a
gentleman who was present, which,it will be observed,
is drawn up with great precision. an
is and may be relied
exhibiting hhi baintidn: g a
upon as true to the letter. Every circumstance con-
nected with the murders of deep interest, and this gra-
phic description of the punishment of some of the
o
murderers deserves dcehseuarevsees attention,ustoms radwewrenit
by only
yn
as
able x
" During the evening of the 20th inst. it was rumoured
amongst the foreigners here, that the Chinese authori-
ties would early next day behead, at the village of
Hwang-chu-kee, four Chinamen concerned in the re-
cent murder of the six Englishmen at that place; also
that the Pluto steamer had received orders to be in
readiness next morning to convey thither some officers
of the civil department, deputed by Sir John Davis to
witness the execution, together with a party of the 95th
Regiment, to be landed for the protection of the British
officers against any attack that the villagers might at-
tempt. I therefore made arrangements to start in a
boat about five o'clock next morning for the place of
execution, which I reached about six A.M.
" It is a grass plot of about two acres in size, nearly
square4having the river in the front, paddy ground on
both si es, and an ancestral hall at the back. This
ancestral hall faces the river; the village of llwang-chu-
kee lies inland beyond the hall, almost concealed, as is
usual with the villages of this neighbourhood, by fine
old trees, but apparently about throe hundred yards
from the river:; a large number of mandarin boats were
moored in two lines, reaching from the two rows of trees
at the sides of the plot of ground, to a considerable dis-
tance into the river. On these and on the plot of
ground were collected a numerous body of mandarins,.
and their retinues, soldiers, police, executioners, &c.,
n
their official dresses. On my approach the soldiers threw
themselves hastily into three lines, two under the side
of the rows of trees, and one across the plot of ground
before the hall, thus forming, with the river front, an
open square, inclosing groups of the other official people.
At a distance of 100 yards from this square, small bodies
of Chinese soldiers were picketed, on all the paths lead-
ing to the plot, doubtless for the purpose of preventing
the near approach of the country people, as during the
? whole course of the! proceedings I neither observed any
[of them, nor any other.non-official Chines* present. On

" J. F. DAVIS."