The 'Kin-Chae' at length arrived at Canton on Sunday morning, at half-past eight o'clock of March 10. Two gentlemen and myself went on board of a small schooner lying off the Factories to witness his arrival. He was seated on board of a large official boat, with a few red- and blue-button Mandarins standing a little to the rear, so that we had an excellent view of him personally. He had a dignified air, rather a harsh or firm expression, was a large, corpulent man, with heavy black moustache and long beard, and appeared to be about sixty years of age. His own boat was followed by a great many others, on the sides of which, on a black ground, were painted in gold letters the rank of the principal occupants, while flags of various colours were displayed abaft. The crews were neatly dressed in new uniforms of red trimmed with white, and conical rattan hats of the same colours. These boats contained the principal officers of the city, civil and military, from the Viceroy to the Superintendent of the Salt Department. The walls of the 'Red Fort,' nearly opposite the Factories on the Honam shore, were lined with soldiers, as were those of the 'Dutch Folly,'[72] arrayed in bright new uniforms. Both shores of the river, every door and window, and every spot of standing ground, were thick with people. Everyone was observing the novel scene quietly and as curiously as ourselves. No other boat of any description was moving about; all were lying close to the shores, and a universal silence prevailed. Besides my companions and myself, not a 'foreign barbarian' was to be seen in the vast gathering.
On the 17th the Hong merchants, the Linguists, and the Compradores (except our own) were summoned to an audience of the 'Kin-Chae.' They obeyed it with fear and trembling. The object was to ascertain who, amongst the foreigners duly registered as occupying the Factories, and whose names had been forwarded to Pekin eighteen months before, were still present and in the opium 'business.' Russell & Co. not having been included, our Compradore was not 'invited,' at which he appeared particularly delighted.
On the 18th the Kin-Chae sent for the Hong merchants. They were charged with having connived at the opium trade, and his Excellency threatened to strangle some of them if it was not instantly put a stop to! They were also accused of allowing foreign dealers in 'smoke' to reside in their Factories, and were very much frightened, as one of them said, 'No hav see so fashion before.' Forthwith they met in 'Consoo' to deliberate, and remained until late in the night.
On the same day the first edict from the 'Kin-Chae' to foreigners was issued. It ordered all Opium held by them to be surrendered, and that they should sign bonds to discontinue the trade, 'under penalty of death.' It became very clear that his Excellency was not to be trifled with.
On the 19th, Messrs. Matheson, Dent, Green, Wetmore, Dadabhoy Rustomjee, and Daniell met the Hong merchants at the Consoo House, and were informed by them verbally of the commands of the 'Kin-Chae,' which were a repetition of the foregoing, with the addition that the opium was to be destroyed. Moreover, if his Excellency's orders were not complied with, the consequences would be serious. There were at this time 15,000 chests on board of the 'receiving ships' at Lintin, and 5,000 chests at the coast stations, and the cost of all over $12,000,000.
The foreign community thought to propitiate the 'Kin-Chae,' after the receipt by them of his 'unalterable' commands, by offering to give up a certain quantity. This had been suggested by the Hong merchants, who, no more than ourselves, supposed the 'Kin-Chae' to be serious in insisting upon all that was held. A meeting was therefore convened in the Danish Hong, on the night of March 21, at which nearly everyone was present, as were also the Hong merchants, who assembled in an adjoining room. They were as anxious as we were to avert the threatened troubles, should the 'Kin-Chae' not listen to 'reason,' as they expressed it. In fact, throughout, while we were prisoners in the Factories, as will be seen, for six weeks, under threat of death and constant, unheard-of pressure, they did what they could to alleviate our condition through appeals to the 'authorities of the City.' All this was done with very great risk to themselves. Their presence at the meeting was from a desire to know the decision to which it might come, that they could report it to the 'Kin-Chae' as quickly as possible, and, in fact, we saw by his reply that it had been made known to him between five and seven on the morning of the 22nd.
An hour or two before the meeting, Houqua made his appearance at our office, and requested Mr. Green, the then chief, to add 150 chests of opium to the quantity he intended to offer on behalf of Russell & Co. to the general subscription, for which he himself would pay. The cost of these chests would have been $105,000! The gentlemen present at the meeting, on behalf of their firms subscribed 1,034 chests in all, of the value of $725,000. These were offered to the 'Kin-Chae,' but disdainfully refused. All communication with the shipping at Whampoa was then cut off; quantities of soldiers collected near the Factories, as well as on the river, while several days before, all the gates opening to the rear of the Factories had been bricked up.
Before the promulgation of the 'Kin-Chae's' proclamation to foreigners, I was invited by the senior Hong merchant to translate from English into Chinese a communication that had been prepared by his Excellency, conjointly with the Viceroy[73] and Lieutenant-Governor of Canton, addressed to Her Majesty the Queen of England. This arose from the original having been translated into English, and the Imperial Envoy was desirous to judge for himself if the latter version conveyed the sense of the Chinese. Having consented, I passed four hours of a very cold day at the Consoo House in accomplishing the task. There were present a delegate from the Commissioner, a Mandarin of the fourth rank (light blue button), an inferior officer, Houqua's grandson, Mouqua and Kingqua, and two Linguists. The document was a most extraordinary one. Prominent is the bombastic style, the outcome of ages of dominion, ignorance of Western official forms through an absence of diplomatic intercourse. It said: 'In dealing in opium, regardless of the injury it inflicts upon the Chinese people, an inordinate thirst for gain controls the actions of these foreign merchants.' With an idea that the use of it was prohibited in England: 'We have heard that England forbids the smoking of opium (within its dominions) with the utmost rigour; hence it is clear that it is deleterious. Since, then, the injury it causes has been averted from England, is it not wrong to send it to another nation, and especially to China?' Then there is an appeal to personal feeling: 'How can these opium-sellers bear to bring to our people an article which does them so much harm, for an ever-grasping gain? Suppose those of another nation should go to England and induce its people to buy and smoke the drug—it would be right that You, Honoured Sovereign, should hate and abhor them. Hitherto we have heard that You, Honoured Sovereign, whose heart is full of benevolence, would not do to others that which you would not others should do to yourself.' The grandiloquent then appears: 'Our great Emperor maintains Celestial lands and foreign nations in equal favour; he rewards merit and punishes vice; and, as is the heart of heaven and earth pure and incorruptible, so is his own. The Celestial Dynasty rules over ten thousand[74] nations, and in the highest degree sheds forth its benign influence with equal majesty.' This is in the sense of grandeur or stateliness. It ended thus: 'By manifesting sincere and reverential obedience[75] mutually will be enjoyed the blessings of great peace! Heaven will protect your Majesty; the Gods bless you, lengthen your years, and grant you a happy and an honourable posterity.' I never heard if this document reached its destination.
On March 23, every Chinaman in the Factories, from the Compradore to the cook, left by order of the 'Kin-Chae,' and were threatened with decapitation if they dared to return. The day before, Mr. Lancelot Dent, chief of Messrs. Dent & Co., had been invited to enter the city and meet his Excellency, which he declined to do. Other but ineffectual attempts by the authorities to induce him to go were also made, when, on the 24th, Captain Charles Elliot, Her Majesty's Superintendent of Trade, arrived from Macao, and immediately assumed charge, on behalf of the English residents, of the perplexing question of the 'total surrender of the opium.' The street in rear of the Factories was now filled with soldiers, a strong guard was also placed in the 'Square,' and a triple cordon of boats drawn up from the Creek to the Danish Factory. The whole community were thus prisoners in the hands of the Chinese. Provisions were not allowed to be brought in, no one was permitted to go beyond the 'Square,' and matters assumed a decidedly serious aspect. We overcame the difficulty of provisions in this way. The Chinese soldiers being entirely unaccustomed to foreigners, there was a danger that 'trouble would arise;' the Hong merchants therefore represented this to the City authorities, and offered to send their own coolies to keep watch at the different gates of the Factories.[76] This was agreed to, and the double object was gained in supplies of firewood and provisions, which were at night stealthily brought to us by them.
On March 27, on the 'Kin-Chae's' demand to Her Majesty's Superintendent 'that all the opium under the control of the English merchants should be given up,' 20,283 chests were tendered and accepted, and 'Chunpee' fixed upon as the place of delivery. To control the delivery, Mr. Alexander Johnston, Deputy Superintendent, was furnished with a conveyance, and left Canton on April 3. The 'receiving ships' moved up to the Bogue, where the entire quantity was handed over to officers (appointed by the 'Kin-Chae'), who caused it to be destroyed in deep trenches on Chunpee heights. Thus 'reverent obedience' was shown. Captain Elliot remarked, in his despatch to her Majesty's Government, dated March 30, 1839: 'This is the first time, in our intercourse with this Empire, that its Government has taken the unprovoked (?) initiative in aggressive measures against British life, liberty, and property, and against the dignity of the British Crown.' No words could more strongly confirm everything herein said in relation to the safety of property and life which we had enjoyed at Canton. But the despatch contained not a word of the provocation given by foreigners in continuing the condemned traffic under constantly repeated injunctions against doing so, and persistent warnings to discontinue it. I, of course, do not blame my brother merchants at Canton, no matter to what nation they belonged, as we were all equally implicated. We disregarded local orders, as well as those from Pekin, and really became confident that we should enjoy perpetual impunity so far as the 'opium trade' was concerned.