CHINA.
The governor and garrison of Hong-Kong were startled by a deed of atrocity and perfidy on the part of the Chinese. On the 22nd of August the governor of Macao, who had acted more firmly towards the commissioner at Canton than his predecessors, was waylaid and assassinated. Proofs arose that the Chinese authorities were concerned in the outrage, and a conflict of a serious nature ensued between the Chinese and the Portuguese troops. The British, French, and American naval officers on the station brought up their war-ships to protect the residents at Macao who belonged to their respective countries, and to render such assistance as might be possible to the Portuguese authorities. But for this, the Europeans resident at Macao would probably have all been massacred.
At the same time, the chief commissioner of his Chinese majesty at Canton issued very stringent edicts against smuggling, and the English merchants and marine were subjected to repeated insults. No conflict, however, occurred; but the seeds were sowing for future contest. After laborious negotiations, and many minor outrages, a peace between the Portuguese of Macao and the Chinese was ultimately arranged. The Portuguese themselves were as little to be trusted or respected as the Chinese; probably, where religion was concerned, less bigotry was exhibited by the Pagan Chinamen. An instance in proof of this occurred at the very juncture when Englishmen were offering their assistance to the Portuguese authorities, and preserving the lives of Portuguese subjects, which their own government had not force sufficient to do. On the 25th of August, Mr. Summers, an English missionary, was cast into prison because he did not take off his hat to the procession of Corpus Christi in the street. The Englishman excused himself by a declaration that his conscience would not allow him to do any act of religious reverence in such a case; but that he meant no disrespect, and regretted that he did not think of passing into some other street, thereby avoiding the procession. These reasonable explanations and polite statements did not mollify the Portuguese civil and ecclesiastical authorities; and an English Protestant subject was incarcerated for not performing an act of Roman Catholic worship in the public streets of a city which English arms were saving from pillage and massacre! Captain Keppel, of her majesty’s ship Meander, however, demanded Mr. Summers’s release, which was refused, when he gallantly landed a party of marines, and took him out of prison. The Portuguese resisted with fierce fanaticism, and some loss of life ensued; but the English officer accomplished his purpose, and inflicted humiliation upon the bigots whose tyranny compelled his prompt and manly act.