The quitting of Canton by the Honourable East India Company in 1833 was succeeded by the arrival of Lord Napier on July 25, 1834, as 'Chief Superintendent of the English Trade.' His lordship landed in a boat belonging to the country ship 'Fort William.' This vessel being secured by the Hong merchant 'Sun-Shing,' he was held responsible, conducted into the city and imprisoned. As Her Majesty's representative declined to correspond with the Viceroy through the Hong merchants, the latter issued a proclamation on September 5, in which he spoke of this 'contumacy' as a breach of the existing laws and regulations of the Empire—of his Lordship having come to Canton officially, without the permission of His Imperial Majesty, and requested him to return to Macao pending a reference to Pekin; adding that, if he refused to leave for Macao, no Chinese should serve him in any capacity. The proclamation being pasted on a thin board, was suspended at the gate of his Lordship's (the East India Co.) Factory and guarded by about twenty soldiers. No sooner was this done, than the Chinese within the building, half frightened to death, and fearing that the soldiers would enter, rushed upstairs and reported what had taken place. Lord Napier, who was at dinner with Sir George Best Robinson and others, instantly left the table and came down to the gate. The proclamation was at once removed, and, apprehensive of something serious, Lord Napier despatched a messenger to Captain Blackwood, of H.M.S. 'Imogene,' then outside the Bogue, to send him a guard of a dozen marines, and to come with his own vessel and her consort, the 'Andromache,' to Whampoa with all despatch. This being done, his lordship retired inside the Factory with his suite, and the gate was bolted. At midnight Sir George left Canton in a small cutter to join the two frigates. Very soon the marines arrived at the Factory, the Square was filled with Chinese soldiers, and war junks and boats were gathered on the river. All communication with the Whampoa shipping was cut off, and orders were issued that no English boats should come to the city. The Viceroy had also requested the American merchants not to allow boats from their vessels to come up except on urgent business. It is needless to add that the whole foreign trade of the port was entirely stopped. At the time the disturbance took place, one of our captains, Hepburn, of the ship 'Nile,' was in the Factory, and having been assured by the Linguist that he should be provided with a Chinese boat to take him to Whampoa, had sent his own back to the ship. On the 6th, when ready to start, we found that the Linguist could not procure one. I therefore ordered my own, a small schooner yacht, the 'Ferret,' to be made ready, and together we left Canton at four in the afternoon. We passed through a fleet of about fifty war boats, filled with men and armed to the teeth. Presently, to our surprise, we met a small English cutter, having on board Captain St. Croix, of the 'Alexander Baring,' just arrived from London, on his way up with our despatches. I told him it was useless to attempt to get through, and brought him with us to the 'Nile.'
The next day, September 7, Mr. Coolidge, Mr. A. A. Low, and Mr. Cabot made their appearance; they had pulled down for the 'Baring's' letters, having heard of her arrival soon after I left. The 'Union' schooner next hove in sight, coming from Macao, with Mr. George R. Sampson and a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Vandermulen, on board. I took them out and brought them to the 'Nile.'
Later in the day, Coolidge, Low, and Cabot started with the 'Baring's' letters, in the hope of being able to get to the Factories; but on arriving at 'Houqua's' Fort, about half-way, first one and then another ball flew over their heads, which brought them to. A war boat came alongside, with a Linguist on board; he told them it was useless to attempt going on, as, owing to these troubles with the English, the Viceroy had issued an additional order, that to prevent 'the innocent from suffering with the guilty,' no foreign boat could come to Canton. They pulled back to the 'Nile.' We found ourselves, therefore, all prisoners at Whampoa, including another American, named Gorham. We styled ourselves 'the Canton refugees,' and threw ourselves upon the hospitality of our friends the captains of the six American vessels then at the anchorage. And this rather eventful day closed with a dinner on board the 'Coliseum' (Captain Stoddard), with whist in the evening on board the 'Nile.' The next day we dined on board the 'India' (Captain Cook, of Salem), and quartered ourselves upon our friends as follows:—Coolidge, Vandermulen, and myself, on board the 'Nile;' Low on board the 'York;' Cabot, Sampson, and Gorham, on board the 'Coliseum.'
September 26.—At last we have safely arrived back at our old quarters in the Factories, after being 'refugees' at Whampoa for just twenty days. The commotion is still great, and we are cautioned about going far from 'home.' The streets are full of rowdies and blackguards, who abuse us in words far from complimentary, and make signs as if beheading us! Nevertheless we are comfortable enough as far as 'Jackass Point' or Hog Lane, and can look up 'Old China Street' without bodily fear.
The return to Canton immediately after 'hostilities' had ceased by the departure of Lord Napier was worth making, if only to see the enormous preparations that had been made against an attempt by the boats of the frigates. We took the Junk river passage, and met with no obstructions until we had passed Houqua's Fort and got abreast of the 'Lob Creek' Pagoda. Here we were brought to and ordered to pull alongside of a large mandarin boat, crowded with a ferocious looking lot of fellows, and half-starved as well, to judge from the avidity with which they seized upon some biscuit we threw among them. We were in two boats—one with Captain Tonks, of the Bombay ship 'Lord Castlereagh,' Mr. Low, and Sampson, and my own small gig, with myself alone. A petty officer, wearing an opaque white button, got in Tonks's boat and directed him to a junk, on board of which was a Linguist, and I followed. We reached the Factories four and a half hours from Whampoa.
Correspondence between the Hong merchants (as intermediaries of the Viceroy) and Lord Napier, which his lordship would not comply with, was the only mode that could be expected under the existing foreign and Chinese relations. The Viceroy could not set aside that yet unrepealed system, nor enter into personal communication with any foreign representative. To do so, special authority from the Imperial Government was indispensable. The entire difficulty therefore was caused by Her Majesty's representative persisting in requiring of the Viceroy that which the latter could not grant. Naturally, the 'Napier War,' or, as locally called, the 'Napier fizzle,' was the result. It was coupled, too, with an entire stoppage of all foreign trade from September 2 to September 24, which was a very serious thing, and entirely unjustifiable in the absence of a declaration of war. The mortifying result was that Lord Napier had to renounce his expressed determination to remain at Canton. The British Government should either have obtained official recognition from Pekin for their representative, or simply have appointed a Consul whose dignity could not have been infringed upon by his being placed on the same footing as Consuls of other foreign nations.
On September 21 Lord Napier quitted Canton with his suite for Macao. As the frigates proceeded towards the Bogue and Lintin, so did the two chop-boats of Lord Napier, pari passu, towards his destination by the inner passage. He was convoyed by several Chinese men-of-war boats. At length his Lordship arrived on the 26th. The humiliating end of his ineffectual attempt to correspond directly with the local government aggravated an illness brought on by the vexation and excitement he had undergone from the day of his landing from the 'Fort William's' boat, and on October 11 his Lordship died at Macao.
The years 1835 and 1836 were unmarked by any event out of the regular course. The business of the house was taking a great extension (purely as agency); but in 1837 occurred the failures in London of three important banking houses having a large American connection. We had negotiated their 'credits' for some of our constituents to a considerable amount for the payment of teas and silks. Those houses were Thomas Wilson & Co., George Wildes & Co., and Timothy Wiggin, commonly known as the three W's. These failures were within a short time of each other. On reference to our register of bills drawn, we found the total amount of which we had not yet received advice of payment or acceptance to be close upon 200,000l. They were all drawn on 'clean credits,' without 'collaterals' (which were not yet in vogue), and at six months' sight. We had confidence in our American constituents, but as the shipments occupied, say, four months in getting to market, and could only be sold at the usual credit of six months, very little margin of time existed. Our own credit, however, was the first consideration. One of our partners, then in Boston, had in his charge a very large amount belonging to Houqua, who gave us an order on the former to hold at our disposal any sum required. Enclosing this, we directed remittances to be made to Messrs. Barings of a sufficiency to cover all such bills on the W's as could not be relied upon for payment by those for whose accounts they had been drawn, and simultaneously we informed Messrs. Barings that remittances would be made to them to provide for such bills, so that our signature could be promptly honoured.
Communication with the Western world was long in those days; there were even no 'clipper' ships yet. Accustomed, however, to such delays, we waited patiently the result. Our first advices were from London. They informed us that the writers, Messrs. B. B. & Co., would honour all bills bearing our name on the three bankrupt houses in question. This was a gratifying thing, as they had not yet received our communication above referred to. Everything worked with regularity. Some of the firms for whose accounts the bills had been drawn were ready to meet them, others furnished securities, and the ultimate loss was inconsiderable on the whole account. So rapid had been remittances from our Boston partner that, when the final account current was received at Macao from London, 1840-41, the balance of interest was in our favour, while Houqua was recouped in full as payments were made to our home partner by American constituents.