The whole loss on our side, during this adventurous trip, was only three men wounded. Altogether, one hundred and fifteen guns were destroyed, together with nine war-junks; and several armed mandarin-boats, six batteries, and three government chop-houses or military stations, together with barracks and magazines, were also taken and set on fire.
One simple, but very natural question will now suggest itself. We have seen that, even in channels unfrequented by Europeans, and only partially known to exist, the Chinese were found to be well provided with means of defence, not of recent construction only, but many of them evidently of long standing. But the Chinese government had not been at war with neighbouring nations, nor could they have erected these internal defences against any possible future outbreak of the foreigners who traded with Canton. The latter had usually been very "respectfully obedient;" and, even if they had been disposed at an earlier period to come to blows with the Chinese, their measures would have been directed almost exclusively against the Bogue forts, which protected the main channel of the Canton river, leading to Whampoa. This Inner or Broadway Passage was, at all events, too shallow and intricate to admit of the passage of large ships; and, indeed, we have seen that even the Nemesis had failed in making her way through the upper portion of it.
Against whom, then, we may ask, or for what purpose, were the numerous forts erected? The government might have thought proper to occupy the principal strong positions, with a view to strengthen themselves against any outbreak or insubordination of their own people; and disturbances of this kind have not been unfrequent, even in despotic and obedient China. But it is far more probable that these defences of their "inner waters" were designed to keep in check the dangerous incursions of pirates, or "Water Braves," who have always infested the coast of China, and have been great enemies to its commerce, and a source of uneasiness to its government. In a country in which so large a portion of the population make their permanent home upon the waters, some upon the innumerable canals and rivers which intersect it in all directions, others along the extensive sea-coast and among its numerous islands, it is not surprising that pirates, or, as the Portuguese call them, Ladrones, should at all times abound.
The means of subsistence being frequently precarious among so populous a nation, and at no time to be acquired without careful industry, and, at the same time, the real weakness of the government, in spite of its bombastic edicts, have combined to make the temptation to piracy almost irresistible. In not a few instances the government have been compelled even to conciliate or buy over the depredators; and, in spite of all their efforts to suppress them, the ladrones have never ceased to infest the coast to a greater or less extent. The temptations are always numerous, and the desperate characters who gain their living by smuggling are, at all times, as likely to gain it by robbing, whenever the opportunity may appear more favourable. Hence, we can scarcely wonder that the pirates had long become bold, enterprising, well-organized, and successful in their efforts, directed, however, almost exclusively against their own countrymen, along the whole coast.
Such as were the banditti of Italy and Spain not long ago, or the klephts of Greece, or the robbers of Hounslow Heath in times past—such have been for centuries the pirates or ladrones of China. They are, in fact, the highwaymen of the "Celestial Empire;" for their rivers and water-communications are essentially their highways.
Under these circumstances, we are led to the conclusion, that nearly all these defences in the Broadway Passage had been constructed more with a view to the defence of the river against the Chinese themselves, than under any apprehension that the foreigners would ever force their way into it. This supposition is further borne out by the fact that, even during the short expedition of the Nemesis, bands of robbers, and boats filled with men of a very suspicious character, were distinctly seen at a distance, trying to take advantage of every opportunity of plundering their countrymen while the panic lasted. Indeed, it may with much truth be said, that on this, as on many other occasions, the Chinese suffered a great deal more from the excesses and misdeeds of their own people, than they did from any hardships they encountered at the hands of their foreign enemies during the war. Many ludicrous, no less than unfortunate, scenes have been witnessed, of Chinese plundering parties falling in each other's way accidentally, and then fighting for each other's booty, while, just at the critical moment, a third party would perhaps step in, and carry off the greater part of what the others had been already fighting about; and perhaps even these would, in their turn, be stripped by another fresh party, before they could get fairly off with their prize.
In reality, the war itself served to disorganize the Chinese police, and to diminish the authority of the local officers. Smuggling, robbery, and multiplied outrages, were never more prevalent throughout all the maritime districts than during the continuance of hostilities.
In the neighbourhood of the Canton River, these violent proceedings arrived at length at such a height, that the fishermen, in many instances, combined together for mutual defence, and provided themselves with arms. But even these men, although, doubtless, most of them started with the good intention of capturing the pirates, or, at all events, of protecting their own property, were tempted at last to become, in many instances, almost as fraudulent as the regular ladrones. Some were bold enough even to attack the foreigners, urged thereto perhaps by the promised rewards of their own government. Others, having now found out their own comparative strength, became salt-smugglers and opium-smugglers; while others traded, smuggled, robbed, or aided others to escape detection, just as it might best suit their purpose for the moment.
Secret societies were at length formed; a sort of freemasonry of crime was established; and, before the close of the war, they had acquired such an organization as to make it dangerous to move about in the neighbourhood of Hong-Kong or Macao. They even sold passes to the trading-boats, which were intended to exempt them from plunder, for a regular payment of so many dollars a month; yet even these were not always respected.