The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-13 00:00:00

DISPUTE WITH THE CHINESE

Canton papers to the 21st of October have arrived. ;The pilot
chaps' so long wit t hitch! at Nl:tea.° ripitihe'lititisli ships detained
outside of the 11.. git.: hiul been granted in 'the previous week,.
and the first of them, cousisting of thirteensail, reached Ny ham
pea on the lith of October. His Majesty's ship*Andremache
had sailed for India, but the Imogene still remained. 'The fol-
lowing extract from
.1?r, Colledge's private notes respecting
Lard Napier's .voyage from Canton to Macao gilie a detaile,l
ace .tint of his sittfe'rings and the treatment he received from
the Chinese authorities :
"On Sunday, the 21st instant, about six p.m., Ilowqiia and
Mowqu i waited upon 'me fur the purpose of delivering the'
chap,' (or usual pass for foreigners,) to proceed to Macao,'and•
I, in confirinity with the arrangement which hadbeen acceded
to by myself on the part of the Right Hon. Lord Napier, was
prepared with an order from his lordship for his majesty's ships
ltnogene and Andromache to leave Whatripoa : which order I
premised to deliver to Howqua and Mowqua on their procuring
Lord Napier and suite a proper conveyance to Macao by the
Heang-shang passage ; stipulating that the conveyance should
in every respect be suited to the rank and dignity of his lord-
ship's' high office, as the representative of our most gracious
monarch William IV.
compact was made by myself on the part of Lard Na-
pier. and by Howqua and Mowqua on the part of his excellency
the Viceroy of Canton, at the Consoo-house, on the 19th instant,
in the presence of my friend William Jardine, Esq., in nearly
the following words:* .
" I, 'l'. R. Colledge, engage on the part of the chief Super-
intendent of British Commerce in China, the Right Hon. Lord
Napier, that his lordship does D,,rant an ordeilor his majesty's
ships now at Whampoa to sail for Lintin on my receiving a
chop from the viceroy for his lordship and suite to proceed to
Macao,'Lerd Napier's iffstate of health net permitting him to
'correspond with your authorities longer oh this subject. One
condition I deem it expedient to impose, which is, that his ma-
jesty's Ships du not submit to any ostentatious display on the
part of your (the Chinese) government.' Howqua replied—
' Mr. CiAledge, your proposition is of a most serious nature,
and from my knowledge of your character I doubt not the he-
nest-Y of it; shake 'hands with me and Mowqua, -and let My.
Jardine do so likewise;' we all joined bands. Howqua and
Alowqua thentleft us to go to the viceroy, and in the evening
returned with an answer that all was arranged according to my
proposition, and that no mark of insult would be shown to the
ships in passing the Bogue Forts. The following morning.
Howqua and !Mowqua sent to say_ that we could not leave Can-
ton that day,. as they (the'merchants) were engaged in a further
discussion with the viceroy relative to our departure, which
lasted until half-past ten p.m., when I again saw Mowqua, who
told me all was finally settled, and that we might go next day.
The foregoing is the substance of the agreement, and both Mr.
Jardine and myself expected that Lord Napier and suite would
he perini:ted to go to MaCau in the usual manner that foreikners
do—viz., stopping only at the Heang-shang Chop-house. Flow-
,ever, to my, gritat mortification,. we had not left Canton two
hours before I discovered we were under a convoy of armed
boats, and that we should not beallowed to pass beyond a few
miles from Canton that night, the boats having anchored at the
Pagoda fort, in sight of a part of Canton.
" Monday, 22d, we again got under weigh, and proceeded
slowly and tediously under a convoy of eight armed boats, two
transports carrying military, and another boat with a civil
Mandarin in charge of the whole sqUadron.• •
" Although the wind was generally favourable,' we did nut
reach Ileang-shang till about midnight of the 23d; and it is
itpw that I have to describe a scene of treachery practised upon
his lordship, which. was•not only annoying, but so greatly in-
jurious, as to exasperate the symptoms of his complaint and
cause a relapse of such as -he had nearly recovered from pre-
viously to his leaving Canton. We were detained here from
the time of anchoring the boats on the 23d until one p.m. of the
25th, amidst a noise and confusion, beating.of gongs, &c., that
his lordship could barely support. This was by me repeatedly
complained of. At daybreak of the2sth I sent a message to the
civil Mandarin, through a linguist, infdrining him that I could
no longer held myself responsible fur the safety of his lordship
if such an unwarrantable course of oppression was persisted in,
that I had no medicine with me applicable to the change that
had taken place in his lordship's complaint, &c. The linguist
was received by the Mandarin, but could elicit nothing satis-
factory as to the probable time at which we 'should proceed to
Macao. Provoked at length beyond all endurance by this cruel
display of power, I requested the linguist to accompany me to
• the Mandarin's boat, which he did without any kind of reluc-
tance, and on his; the linguist's, sending up my name, an inter-
, view was immediately afforded me. Through him I explained
most fully Lord Napier's sufferings, and the danger of delay
under such circumstances. The Mandarin repliedthat he must
Consult with the Heang-shang authorities before he could pro-
: mise to release us, but that he would lose no time in represent-
ing my statement. No further communication took place until
one p.m., when this said Mandarin, acconipanied by two others
of an inferior rank to himself, caine to us, and handed to me the
Heang-shang pass. I consider that Lord Napier's illness was
ie much aggravated by this unjustifiable, and, as far as I can learn,
unprecedented detention.

"THOMAS R. COLLEDGE,
Surgeon to his Britannic Majesty's Superintendents.
•
" Macao, September 28th, 1834."
•
The Governor of 'Macao attended the funeral'of Lord Napier,
and when a deputation of gentlerunt waited upon him afterwards
to thank him for his attention, he remarked; it is stated, "That
the days of mystery' were over, and that the old system af al-
ways yielding to the Chinese was not the best calculated to
succeed ; that means were in progress for giving an impulse to,
the trade at Macau, which he hoped and thought would be suc-
cessful; that it W 413 his wish to see foreigners availing themselves
Of the place for the purposes of trade, and that he would at all
times be ready to exert his power in behalf of the interests of
all merchants resorting to the place. His excellency also
alluded to the establishment of a depot system at Macao on
liberal terms.

The crew of the Dutch schooner Harriet had mutinied, and
murdered their captain. The schooner and crew had. been:
placed in the Typa under the care of a Portuguese guard.
The private accounts from Canton come down to the 25th of
October. .Business was going on quietly, but the price of tea
was about 20 per cent. higher than at the opening of the season
last year; the principal supply had not, however: come down
from the eountry, therefore the quotation was not considered a,
fair average- of what the price of- the seasm would he. Three'
vessels were loading for the London market. The viceroy had
been degraded, but the accusations against him had not been
made pipe. In speaking of the passing of the Bogiie by the
.lingli.h ships, it is stated that they had orders on no account to
fire upon the junks or forts, unless they were fired upon, and to
act on the defensive only. Northerly winds and calms pre-
vented their reaching Whampoa in time to send their boats for
Lord Napier, which would probably have spared his lordship
the insulting treatment, and prevented the calamity which fol-
lowed. It was generally thought thata reference to Pekin would
have settled the point in dispute without much difficulty, but
that Lord Napier'sinstructions did not admit of his doing so.