The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-02 00:00:00

clined to shut their eyes to the presence of peace-
ably conducted foreigners.
The second is that, unless excited by the authori-
ties, as they have been at Canton—and as they might
have been here, for liad the Mandarins chosen
to say we were Portuguese we should certainly
have had our throats cut, —the Chinese people have
no objection whatever to the presence of foreigners
in their cities.

Whenever, therefore, the provisions of a new
treaty shall open all China to every European pro-
vided with a passport from his own Consul there
will be no difficulty in the English merchant carry-
ing his own gcods up the rivers and canals and into
the great cities of China. The people will be glad
enough to trade with him, and the authorities can,
if they will, protect him.

NINGPO, AUG- 24.
This great city, with its 350,000 inhabitants, its
beautiful river, and its excellent water connexion
with the interior, is the least valuable of all our
commercial stations. Neither tea nor silk is
brought down in any quantities, and the little tea
that is prepared here is sent to Shanghai to be
shipped. The importation of British and Straits
produce was last year but 136,3591. 95., and not
two-thirds of this was British manufactures. The
greater security of European shipping and its
comparative immunity from the pirates outside
(whom I saw the other day send a whole fleet of
junks back into the river) have given it some im-
portance as a shipping port for Amoy, Formosa,
Swatow, and the Straits. In 1856 198 British
ships, with an aggregate of 25,506 tons, loaded here.
This carrying trade is likely to increase, for the
Chinese are becoming quite alive to th• advantage
of a stout ship and an English flag. "Can insure?"
is a question now very often in a Chinaman's mouth,
and Chinamen are rich at Ningpo.
Ningpo is still in the after-throb of great excite-
ment. The European settlement is ou the Bide of
the river, opposite to the walled city. The hongs
are not numerous nor very large, and they are
mixed np with Chinese residences and large timber
yards—timber is the. staple of Ningpo,—and they
form a rectangle, the area behind which is occupied
by graves and paddyfields, but chiefly by graves.
On the 26th June a naval battle was fought in the
river, and a massacre took place among the tombs.
The story is somewhat out of date, but I mus t deal
with it here, where alont I could do so upon a proper
knowledge of the facts, because it is illustrative of
the state of affairs we have to deal with in China.
To understand this transaction we must recollect,
what i t is so difficult for people in England to believe,
that the whole coast of China is so infested with
pirates that even a fleetof fishing boats cannot ven-
tu,e out without armed vessels as a convoy.
The fishing boats which ply off the mouth of the
river Yong pay convoy duties to the extent of
$50,000 a-year ; and the wood junks that ply be-
tween Ningpo and Foochow and the other native
eraft raise the annual payment for protection to
$200,000 (70,0001.) annually. These figures are
startling, but I have taken pains to ascertain their
correctness.
The vessels employed in this convoy service were
Portuguese lorchas. These vessels were well armed
and equipped. There were no Mandarin junks and
no Portuguese ships of war to cope with them or
control them, and they becarne.masters of this part
of the coast. It is in the natuieef things that these
privateers should abuse their power. They are ac-
cused of the most frightful atrocities. It is alleged
that they made descents upon villages, carried off
the women, murdered the m-n, and turnt the habi-
tations. They became infinitely greater scourges
than the pirates they were paid to repel. It is
alleged, also, that complaints to the Portuguese
Consul were vain, that Portuguese sailors taken
red-handed and banded over to this consul were
suffered to escape from the consular prison. Rightly
or wrongly, the Chinese thought that the Consul
wa,4 in complicity with the ruffians who were acting
both as convoy and as pirates. The convictions of
the English and French residents at Ningpo do not
differ from those of the Chinese ; and although,
having no means of guarding my inquiries with the
securities of a judicial investigation, I am unwilling
to make any strong assertion, I think I may rea-
sonably say that the honour of the Government of
Portugal is so compromised that European nations,
fer common chara,c, er's sake, should require it to
institute a searching examination into the conduct
of this official.
The leader of the pirate fleet was—l am going
back now to a time three years ago—a Cantonese
named A'Pak. The authorities at Ningo, in their
weakness, determined to make terms with him
rather than submit to the tyranny of the Portu-
guese.
A'Pak was mode a mandarin of the third class ;
and his fleet—not altogether taken into Govern-
ment pay—the Chinese could not affor I that—was
nominally made over to A'Pak's brother, a gentle-
man with a long name, which I cannot remember.
This fleet, now turned nominally honest, began
to compete with the Portuguese for the convoy
business, and, their business being now tolerably
respectable, they were joined by several English,
American, and French deserters from ships-of-war
and merchant vessels.
This has been the position of the two parties for
the last three years.
The fishermen and carrying junks„ glad to be rid
of the Portuguese yoke, gradually transferred their
custom to the Cantonese fleet, and the Portuguese,
hungry and furious, became more active in their
piracies, and attacked the Cantonese ships when
they could get them at an advantage, and mur-
dered their craws with circumstances of great
atrocity.

The Cantonese do not look upon the Portuguese
as Europeans. They have not the same fear of
them. They can fight them man tu man. M tow
would have been taken by the Chinese long since
had they not dreaded the interfence of the other
Western Powers. After a few of these very sangui-
nary provocations A'Pak—not, it is believed, with-
out the concurrence of the Taoutai of Ningpo, de-
termined to destroy this Portuguese convoy fleet.
For this purpose A'Pak's brother collected his
snake boats and convoy junks from along the whole
coast, and assembled about 20 of them an l perhaps
500 men. The Portuguese were not long hearing of
these preparations, but they seem to have been struck
with panic. Some of their vesselswent south, some
were taken at the mouth of theriver. Seven lorchas
took refuge up the river opposite the Portuguese
C insulate. The sailors on boardthese lorchaslauded
some of their big guns and put the Consulate in a
state of defence, and perhaps hoped that the neigh-
b )urhood of the European houses and he character
of the Consulate would prevent an attack. Not so.
On the day I have above mentioned the Canton
fi.et came up the riv,.r. The Portuguese Consul im-
mediately fled. The lorchas fired one broadside at
them as they approached, and then deserted their
vessels and made for the shore. About 200 CAO-
tonese,
shott hhe
de
ore Pw ontrhteonyr
hunted and butchered with spears.-
accompanied by a few Europeans, fol-
lo wed these 140 Portuguese and Manilla int n a,,hofe.
A fight took place in the s‘reetti. It was of very.
s!t, rt duration, for the Portuguese behaved in the
most dastardly manner. The Manilla men showed
some spirit, bu: the Portuguese could not even per-
suade themselves to fight fur their' own lives behind
the walls of their consulate. The fortified house was
taken
sought
wand.r
refuge,a sacked by
and
pursued
dy
o amongtohfesteeLl theChinamen,w te eh
gt
;s
The Cap, icieuse French frigate now came up the
river, fired upon the Cantonese who were sacking
the Consul's house, and put an end to the conflict.
The French captain received on board the Portu-
guese Consul, not I am told with great cordiality,
and also the fugitives who had escaped the massa-
cre. The latter he conveyed as • prisoners to Macao
to be tried as pirates.

•
Merciless as this massacre was, and little as is the
choice between the two seta of combatants, it must
be owned that the Cautone3e acted with purpose
and discipliue. Three trading Piirtuguese lorchas
which lay in, the river with their flags flying were
not molested, and no European, not a P, rtuguese,
was even insulted by the infuriate butchers. The
stories current of Souero and his Portuguese fol-
lowers rivalled the worst of the tales of the bucca-
neers, and public opinion in Ningpo and the foreign
settlement was strongly in favour of the Cantonese.
The Chinamen lost only two Chinese. One vaga-
bond Englishman fighting on their side was shot by
a Manilla man.

After the departure of the Capricieuse the Portu-
guese brig of war, the Mondego, came up the river,
accompanied by abut 12 Portuguese lorcha, and
made formal demands of the Toutai that the cap-
turedlmchas should be restored and other restitu-
tion made. The Toutai replied that the two convoy
fleets must settle their own quarrels, for he hail
nothing to do with them. The Portuguese and the
Cantonese then made ready for a fight, and the
general opinion was that the Cantonese would have
again been victorious. Meanwhile, however, Com-
mander Dew in the Nimrod had steamed up the
river. He sent a message to the Portuguese Com-
marider to say that his instructions were to remain
entirely neutral, and if the brig was about to attack
he would move his ship out of the line of fire, bur
that if the Nimrod or houses of British residents
on the river were struck by shot is would be his
duty to interfere. The Mondego and her consort
lorehas immediately departed for Shanghai. The
Canton fleet is still either engaged in convoying or
at anchor in the river,; and, to the great comfort
of the merchants and ttie missionaries, so also is the
Nimrod.

I do not for a moment seek to implica'e the Por-
tuguese nation in the crimes of these Macao ruf-
tilos, except so far as that it wis the duty of Por-
tugal to prever t such deeds. But thcsti citcum-
stsacassuggest serous considerations in conueotion.