a cause of anxiety within the Imperial Cabinet, rather than the sign of any waning power among the feudatory states. Riots in Szchuen and Kansuh, the revival of piratical efforts on the Canton river, were no more than ordinary occurrences in the life of a vast empire; and although the introduction of high-priced and greatly prized European articles into the country had entailed the increase of smuggling, the evil was then and afterwards only a local nuisance. a local nuisance. Up to this point China had remained undisturbed in a world of her own. The sense of superiority will remain much longer, but the time is now at hand when the Government and the people must be rudely awakened from several of their most cherished opinions. The great foreign question had long been approaching that crisis which has now to be described and considered, and on the settlement of which depended the right of foreign nations to trade and to hold diplomatic intercourse with the Chinese. Up to the year 1834 there was no sign that the end of the old order of things was approaching, and when Taoukwang chose* a new wife to succeed the late Empress in her high station, there was no reason to suppose that he was not as lofty and as unapproachable a sovereign as the greatest of his predecessors.

This event took place on 15th of November 1834. A fire, which lasted during five days, occurred about the same time at Pekin.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GROWTH OF FOREIGN INTERCOURSE.

The East India Company's Charter.-Its Monopoly of Trade.The Chinese Views.-From a Company of Traders to an Independent Sovereign.-The Consequences of the Change.A Revulsion in Sentiment.-The Prospect of the China Trade. -Sanguine Expectations.-Sir George Staunton's Opinion.More Places of Trade.-A Chief Superintendent appointed. -Lord Napier.-Lord Palmerston's Instructions.-Refusal to receive Lord Napier's Letter." A Barbarian Eye."-Not to be allowed to Canton.-Lord Napier proceeds to Canton.Suspension of Trade.-Other Considerations.-The Export of Silver. Lord Napier's Task.-His Public Letter." As easy to stop the Current of the Canton River as to carry into Effect the Insane Determination of the Hong."-Decisive Measures of the Chinese.-Their Success.-Mutual Boasting. -An angry Correspondence.-Death of Lord Napier.--Resumption of Trade.-New Trade Regulations.-Smuggling and Piracy. The Case of the "Troughton."-The Minor States.-Captain Elliot.-Allowed to go to Canton. To rank as a Supercargo.-The Balance of Trade.-Feeling of Alarm. -Not one of Prejudice alone.-Wish to stop the Foreign Trade. Want of the Power.-Opium.-Edicts against it.Objection to its Import.-Reasons for it.-Proposal to Legalise it. Captain Elliot's Difficulties.-Conflict at Canton.-Matters temporarily arranged.-The Foreign Trade.-Opposite Views. A New Reign.-Queen Victoria.

THE monopoly of the trade with China had been granted by royal charter to the East India Company, but the

term* of its rights and privileges was approaching at the period which we have now reached, and the question of its renewal in whole or in part was the one matter under consideration in Leadenhall Street, as well as with the authorities of Calcutta and the merchants at Canton. But if the subject was of the greatest interest to the English community, it neither concerned nor received much attention from the Chinese; and were it not that the change in the manner of the relations between the two countries which ensued from it was followed by results of the greatest importance, the topic would not claim much notice here. The views of Chinese officials were extremely simple. They had no objection to foreigners coming to Canton, and buying or selling articles of commerce, so long as they derived personal profit from the trade, and so long also as the laws of the Empire were not disputed or violated. The merchants of the East India Company were content to adapt themselves to this view, and they might have carried on relations with the Hong merchants for an indefinite period, and without any more serious collision than occasional interruptions. The renewal of the monopoly would have left things in exactly the same position as when intercourse was first established ; and, although the English merchants were on a distinctly inferior footing, they would have been able to continue the trade in its actual restricted limits at Canton.

If the Chinese thought very little in a political sense

*It expired in April 1834.

of the Company and its representatives, they thought a very great deal about the English sovereign, and they regarded with indignation, not unmixed with alarm, the pretensions of the latter to equal rights, and to a rank of dignity in no way short of that of the Celestial ruler himself. Their opinions on this point were strengthened by the proceedings in connection with the two embassies from the King of England, and by every visit of a British man-of-war to their ports. It became clear to the most obtuse mandarin mind that, although these foreigners might not be placed in the same scale of power and civilisation as the favoured people of the Middle Kingdom, they did possess in their formidable war-ships a power of inflicting damage with which they had nothing to cope. The cardinal point in the foreign policy of the Pekin Government thus turned on the exclusion of the representatives of the English sovereign. The officials were not unwilling to hold intercourse with a body of traders; they would willingly have nothing whatever to do with an independent and exacting sovereign. The former could be kept at a respectful distance, and in a mood thankful for the smallest favours. The latter would have to be treated after a different fashion, and one for which the records of the Empire, at any period of its existence, afforded no precedent.

The surprise and the indignation of the Chinese authorities were great, therefore, when in the year 1834* they learnt that by the decree of a remote

*On the 1st of August 1834, Dr. Robert Morrison, the great Chinese scholar and lexicographer, died at Canton. See, for a sketch of his career, "Chinese Repository," vol. iii. p. 180.

potentate the conditions of the barely tolerated intercourse with the principal of the outer peoples had undergone a complete and radical alteration. So far as Chinese affairs were concerned the East India Company passed out of history, and the merchants of Canton became entitled to and received the direct protection of the English Government. The Chinese neither understood nor cared to understand the causes or the precise meaning of this change. They would have thought it rather an aggravation than a mitigation of the offence, that a foreign prince should make trade with China free instead of the monopoly of certain persons. They saw clearly enough that the alteration could not possibly redound to their national honour and security, and that it must be followed by the more frequent appearance of the formidable foreign war-vessels, and of officials intent on maintaining the dignity of their sovereign. The abolition of the Company's monopoly, and what is called the opening of the trade, were followed by a sharp revulsion of sentiment among Chinese officials. Their policy towards foreigners then became one of intensified and unqualified hostility.

In the animated discussions which were carried on in the Houses of Parliament during the years 1833-34, great stress was laid upon the probable increase that would take place in the trade with China, were free intercourse proclaimed. In this speculation hope was allowed to get the better of reason, and these favourable anticipations were only to be realised after considerable delay, and when other and violent agencies had been