A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

CHAPTER VII

PROCEEDINGS AT MACAO

The city of Macao, in the road of which we came to an anchor on the 12th of November, is a Portuguese settlement, situated in an island at the entrance of the river of Canton. It was formerly very rich and populous, and capable of defending itself against the power of the adjacent Chinese governors: but at present it is much fallen from its antient splendor; for though it is inhabited by Portuguese, and hath a governor nominated by the King of Portugal, yet it subsists merely by the sufferance of the Chinese, who can starve the place and dispossess the Portuguese whenever they please. This obliges the Governor of Macao to behave with great circumspection, and carefully to avoid every circumstance that may give offence to the Chinese. The river of Canton, off the mouth of which this city lies, is the only Chinese port frequented by European ships; and is, on many accounts, a more commodious harbour than Macao: but the peculiar customs of the Chinese, solely adapted to the entertainment of trading ships, and the apprehensions of the commodore, lest he should embroil the East India Company with the Regency of Canton if he should insist on being treated upon a different footing than the merchantmen, made him resolve rather to go to Macao than to venture into the river of Canton. Indeed, had not this reason prevailed with him, he himself had nothing to fear. For it is certain that he might have entered the port of Canton, and might have continued there as long as he pleased, and afterwards have left it again, although the whole power of the Chinese empire had been brought together to oppose him.

The commodore, not to depart from his usual prudence, no sooner came to an anchor in Macao road than he dispatched an officer with his compliments to the Portuguese Governor of Macao, requesting his excellency, by the same officer, to advise him in what manner it would be proper to act to avoid offending the Chinese, which, as there were then four of our ships in their power at Canton, was a matter worthy of attention. The difficulty which the commodore principally apprehended related to the duty usually paid by ships in the river of Canton, according to their tunnage. For, as men-of-war are exempted in every foreign harbour from all manner of port charges, the commodore thought it would be derogatory to the honour of his country to submit to this duty in China: and therefore he desired the advice of the Governor of Macao, who, being an European, could not be ignorant of the privileges claimed by a British man-of-war, and consequently might be expected to give us the best lights for obviating this perplexity. Our boat returned in the evening with two officers sent by the governor, who informed the commodore that it was the governor's opinion that if the Centurion ventured into the river of Canton the duty would certainly be expected; and therefore, if the commodore approved of it, he would send him a pilot, who should conduct us into another safe harbour, called the Typa, which was every way commodious for careening the ship (an operation we were resolved to begin upon as soon as possible) and where, in all probability, the above-mentioned duty would never be demanded.

This proposal the commodore agreed to, and in the morning weighed anchor, under the direction of the Portuguese pilot, and steered for the intended harbour. As we entered between two islands, which form the eastern passage to it, we found our soundings decreased to three fathom and a half. However, the pilot assuring us that this was the least depth we should meet with, we continued our course, till at length the ship stuck fast in the mud, with only eighteen foot water abaft; and, the tide of ebb making, the water sewed to sixteen feet, but the ship remained perfectly upright; we then sounded all round us, and discovering that the water deepened to the northward, we carried out our small bower with two hawsers an end, and at the return of the tide of flood hove the ship afloat, and a breeze springing up at the same instant, we set the fore-top sail and, slipping the hawser, ran into the harbour, where we moored in about five fathom water. This harbour of the Typa is formed by a number of islands, and is about six miles distant from Macao. Here we saluted the castle of Macao with eleven guns, which were returned by an equal number.

The next day the commodore paid a visit in person to the governor, and was saluted at his landing by eleven guns, which were returned by the Centurion. Mr. Alison's business in this visit was to solicit the governor to grant us a supply both of provisions and of such naval stores as were necessary to refit the ship. The governor seemed really inclined to do us all the service he could, and assured the commodore, in a friendly manner, that he would privately give us all the assistance in his power; but he at the same time frankly owned that he dared not openly to furnish us with anything we demanded unless we first produced an order for it from the Viceroy of Canton, since he himself neither received provisions for his garrison nor any other necessaries but by permission from the Chinese Government; and as they took care only to victual him from day to day, he was indeed no other than their vassal, whom they could at all times compel to submit to their own terms by laying an embargo on his provisions.

On this declaration of the governor, Mr. Anson resolved himself to go to Canton to procure a licence from the viceroy, and he accordingly hired a Chinese boat for himself and his attendants; but just as he was ready to embark, the hoppo, or Chinese custom-house officer of Macao, refused to grant a permit to the boat, and ordered the watermen not to proceed at their peril. The commodore at first endeavoured to prevail with the hoppo to withdraw his injunction and to grant a permit; and the governor of Macao employed his interest with the hoppo to the same purpose. But the officer continuing inflexible, Mr. Anson told him the next day that if the permit was any longer refused he would man and arm the Centurion's boats, asking the hoppo at the same time who he imagined would dare to oppose them in their passage. This threat immediately brought about what his intreaties had endeavoured at in vain; the permit was granted, and Mr. Anson went to Canton. On his arrival there, he consulted with the supercargoes and officers of the English ships how to procure an order from the viceroy for the necessaries he wanted: but in this he had reason to suppose that the advice they gave him, though well intended, was yet not the most prudent; for as it is the custom with these gentlemen never to apply to the supreme magistrate himself, whatever difficulties they labour under, but to transact all matters relating to the government by the mediation of the principal Chinese merchants, Mr. Anson was persuaded to follow the same method upon this occasion, the English promising, in which they were doubtless sincere, to exert all their interest to engage the merchants in his favour. Indeed, when the Chinese merchants were spoke to, they readily undertook the management of this business, and promised to answer for its success; but after near a month's delay, and reiterated excuses, during which interval they pretended to be often upon the point of compleating it, they at last, when they were pressed, and measures were taken for delivering a letter to the viceroy, threw off the mask, and declared they neither had made application to the viceroy, nor could they, as he was too great a man, they said, for them to approach on any occasion: and not contented with having themselves thus grossly deceived the commodore, they now used all their persuasion with the English at Canton to prevent them from intermeddling with anything that regarded him; representing to them that it would in all probability embroil them with the government, and occasion them a great deal of unnecessary trouble; which groundless insinuations had unluckily but too much weight with those they were intended to influence.

It may be difficult to assign a reason for this perfidious conduct of the Chinese merchants. Interest indeed is known to exert a boundless influence over the inhabitants of that empire; but how their interest could be affected in the present case is not easy to discover, unless they apprehended that the presence of a ship of force might damp their Manila trade, and therefore acted in this manner with a view of forcing the commodore to Batavia: though it might be as natural in this light to suppose that they would have been eager to have got him dispatched. I therefore rather impute their behaviour to the unparalleled pusillanimity of the nation, and to the awe they are under of the government, since such a ship as the Centurion, fitted for war only, having never been seen in those parts before, she was the horror of these dastards, and the merchants were in some degree terrified even with the idea of her, and could not think of applying to the viceroy, who is doubtless fond of all opportunities of fleecing them, without representing to themselves the occasion which a hungry and tyrannical magistrate might possibly find for censuring their intermeddling with so unusual a transaction, in which he might pretend the interest of the state was immediately concerned. However, be this as it may, the commodore was satisfied that nothing was to be done by the interposition of the merchants, as it was on his pressing them to deliver a letter to the viceroy that they had declared they durst not interfere in the affair, and had confessed that, notwithstanding all their pretences of serving him, they had not yet taken one step towards it. Mr. Anson therefore told them that he would proceed to Batavia and refit his ship there, but informed them at the same time that this was impossible to be done unless he was supplied with a stock of provisions sufficient for his passage. The merchants, on this, undertook to procure him provisions, though they assured him that it was what they durst not engage in openly, but they proposed to manage it in a clandestine manner by putting a quantity of bread, flour, and other provisions on board the English ships, which were now ready to sail, and these were to stop at the mouth of the Typa, where the Centurion's boats were to receive it. This article, which the merchants represented as a matter of great favour, being settled, the commodore, on the 16th of December, came back from Canton to the ship, seemingly resolved to proceed to Batavia to refit as soon as he should get his supplies of provisions on board.