ART. VII. Journal of occurrences: Proclamation against the hong merchants conniving at and abetting vice in foreigners; imperial edict against extortions of hong merchants.

We have no pleasure, but rather the opposite feeling, in laying before our readers the two following official papers. The first, (or something like it,) is an annual production, usually published at the commencement of the business season. In consequence of a remonstrance, it did not make its appearance during the last two years; but to make up for that deficiency, the present edition has been republished by the chief magistrates of Nanbae and Pwanyu. The contrast which is drawn in this paper between the members of the present co-hong and the shameless merchants of former times is a curious specimen of Chinese rhetoric, and shows how much it behooves the present fraternity to have a tender regard for their face,' lest they should lose their present high reputation for propriety and respectability. It is much to be regretted that the barbarians should ever afford any occasion for such a proclamation; and we would never screen from just reproach such as are guilty; but we greatly err in the opinion, if it is not the duty of the foreign residents to protest against such documents being placarded before their own eyes, and on their own dwellings. If there are malefactors, let them be tried and punished according to the law, but let not the community suffer such wrongful insult and injury.

Proclamation against the hong merchants conniving at and abetting vice in foreigners. Issued by the governor and hoppo, Nov. 15th, 1834.

Loo, governor of the provinces Kwangtung and Kwangse, and Păng, superintendent of customs of Canton, &c. hereby issue a severe interdict.

The barbarians of outside nations who trade within the central territories, are all in their spoken language unintelligible to, and in their written language different from, (the Chinese). It is therefore very difficult for them to understand clearly the proprieties, the laws, and the prohibitory orders of the celestial empire; and on this account hong security merchants, and linguists, have been appointed to rule and control commercial transactions. These persons ought, doubtless, continually to instruct and guide (the barbarians); to repress their pride and profligacy; and to insist on causing them to turn with all their hearts towards renovation; that both parties may enjoy the repose of gladness and gain,-every one keeping in his own sphere, and minding his proper business. Moreover, the security merchants are all men of property and respectable family; it the more behooves them, therefore, to have a tender regard for their face and reputation, to trade with fairness and equity, not to cheat or deceive; then they will certainly be able to obtain the confidence of men from a distance.

Now we find on inquiry, that formerly there was a set of lawless, shameless hong merchants, who, whenever the barbarians entered the port and took lodgings, endeavored to make gain of them. For this purpose they adopted a hundred schemes to meet their wishes; bought young boys for them, to act as servants and attendants, or procured boat prostitutes for them to gratify their libidinous dispositions; by so doing, not only ruining the morals and manners of the public, but also, it is to be apprehended, creating disturbances.

About this (the present) time, the foreign ships are successively arriving; and it is really feared, that lawless vagabonds will again tread in their old footsteps. Therefore, besides ordering strict search to be made for the purpose of seizure, we unite in issuing this severe interdict. To this end, we address it to the security merchants, the linguists, and the patrol and watchmen behind the factories, requiring their universal acquaintance herewith.

Hereafter, all are peremptorily required to have a tender regard for their face and reputation, and to repent, with bitter contrition, of their former faults. At every landing place behind the hongs, (i. e. in the front of the factories,) where barbarians reside, they must not allow the tinka boats to anchor. And when barbarians pass up or down between Canton and Whampoa, they must not seek out and hire for them tanka boats having families on board.

As to the foreign menials whom they bring with them, they are in every way sufficient to attend on and serve the barbarian merchants; they are not at all permitted to hire and employ natives. If any presume to continue to hire Chinese and young boys for them as servants; or, forming unlawful connections with barbarians, lead them clandestinely to the tanka boats, to drink wine and sleep with courtezans; or, under the darkness of night, secretly take shore-prostitutes into the factories;-so soon as the patrol and watchmen, having found and seized them, report the fact, or so soon as such practices shall have been otherwise found out, the lawless barbarians, together with the security merchants and linguists, shall assuredly be sent to the local officers, to be tried and punished according to law, with severity.

As to the appointed patrol behind the factories, and the constables of the district, if they presume to accept of bribes purposely to connive at, screen, and conceal such practices, they shall, so soon as it is discovered, be made to wear the cangue for one month, on the spot; and at the expiration of that time shall be brought before our court, and immediately cudgeled to death.

We, the governor and hoppo, will firmly adhere, without deviation, to the law, and assuredly, will not show the slightest indulgence. Let every one obey with trembling fear. Be careful not lightly to make experiment. A special proclamation. Imperial edict against extortions of the hong merchants under the name of duties, and against contracting debts to foreigners.

At Canton there are merchants who have of late been in the habit of levying pri vate duties, and incurring debts to barbarians; and it is requested that regulations be established to eradicate utterly such misdemeanors.

The commercial intercourse of outside barbarians with the inner land, is owing, indeed, to the compassion exercised by the celestial empire. If all the duties which are required to be paid, can indeed be levied according to the fixed tariff, the said barbarian merchants must certainly pay them gladly, and must continually remain tranquil. But if, as is now reported, the Canton merchants have of late been in a feeble and deficient state, and have, in addition to the governmental duties, added also private duties; while fraudulent individuals have further taken advantage of this to make gain out of the custom-house duties, peeling off (from the barbarians) layer after layer, and have gone also to the extreine degree of the government merchants, incurring debts to the barbarians, heaping thousands upon ten thousands;-whereby are stirred up sanguinary quarrels:-if the merchants, thus falsely, and under the name of tariff duties, extort each according to his own wishes, going even to the extreme degree of incurring debts, amount upon amount, it is not matter of surprise, if the said barbarian merchants, unable to bear their grasping, stir up disturbances. Thus, with regard to the affair this year of the English lord Napier and others disobeying the national laws and bringing forces into the inner river, the barbarians being naturally crafty and artful, and gain being their only object, we have no assurance that it was not owing to the numerous extortions of the Canton merchants, that their minds being discontented, they thereupon craftily thought to carry themselves with a high hand. If regulations be not plainly established, strictly prohibiting these things, how can the barbarous multitude be kept in subjection, and misdemeanors be eradicated?

Let Loo and his colleagues examine with sincerity and earnestness, and if offenses of the above description exist, let them immediately inflict severe punishment; therefore let there not be the least connivance or screening. Let them also, with their whole hearts, consult and deliberate; and report fully and with fidelity as to the measures, they, on investigation, propose for the secure establishment of regu lations; so as to create confident hopes that the barbarians will be disposed to submit gladly, and that fraudulent merchants will not dare to indulge in peeling and scrap. ing them. Then will they (Loo and his colleagues,) not fail of fulfilling the duties of their offices. Make known this edict. Respect this.

THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY.

VOL. III.- JANUARY, 1835.—No. 9.

ART. I. Intercourse with the Chinese: letters from correspondents on the subject; 1st, from a Constant Reader; 2, from A Foreigner; 3d, from R. C., and 4th, from Wellwisher.

It is with great pleasure we lay before our readers the following correspondence; and we recommend to them a careful perusal of each of the letters, and particularly the last, by Wellwisher. It is very desirable that those who have long resided in this country, and are well acquainted with the character of the people and government of China, should communicate to an inquiring public the results of their observations. At the present time, the desire to obtain accurate information relative to the Chinese empire,-its commerce, politics, religions, &c., is very great both in Europe and America. This desire should be encouraged, because it will lead the people of the western world to a better knowledge both of their own interests and duty. We have known instances in which individuals have refused to communicate information, lest others should share with them benefits which they would appropriate to themselves alone. That persons should be rewarded for their discoveries and inventions in the arts, sciences, and so forth, we do not object. That merchants may retain their advices of the state of distant markets, when their doing so will benefit themselves and not injure others, we willingly allow. But, for the sake of one's own gain, to withhold from the public that which if communicated would benefit multitudes equally with the one individual, thus sacrificing the greater for the less, is not right, nor in accordance with the spirit of the age. The time was, when many good men were engaged in the slave trade; but the time has come for such to clear themselves, from such an odious and accursed traffic. 51

CH: REP: VOL. III.

The time was too, when the system of monopolies and exclusive rights was upheld by many well-intentioned men; and such there may be even now; their number, however, is rapidly decreasing. Yet much of the evil genius of slavery and monopolies still lives, dreading the light, and restraining and restricting as far as possible, the interchange of thought and the diffusion of knowledge. We make these remarks that our readers may know that, if we do not convey to them all the information they desire, it is not because we would not do so. In regard to many local affairs, and those which most intimately concern foreigners, it is often almost impossible to ascertain the truth. We shall feel under particular obligations, therefore, to our friends who favor us with communications to illustrate the real condition of the Chinese, and the very extraordinary position in which foreigners are now placed in relation to them and their government. For the communications we here introduce, we tender to our correspondents our best thanks.

LETTER I.

"Mr. Editor,-From the various articles upon China in the English periodicals, which have of late come under my observation, it appears that the darling idea that this country is proof against all friendly propositions for an amicable intercourse, is by no means exploded; but is still defended, as if the happiness of the universe would be compromised by any deviation from the present unnatural system of excluding foreigners. In regard to this opinion I have to make two general remarks. None of your worthy antagonists, who set at naught what your Repository contains about China, have ever come in contact with the people whose champions they are. They have at the same time forgotten that all those who are intimately acquainted with the Chinese, their language, manners, and government, are without exception at variance with them. How far, therefore, their opinions are to be relied upon, you and your readers must judge for yourselves; but for my own part, since they are based on the phantoms of their own imaginations, and can have no existence except in the Utopia of Du Halde and other Jesuits, I must reject them as unsound.

1:

"Ou the other hand, I regret that the friends of China, who wish for a liberal intercourse with this country, are mostly under the impression that the road to this desirable object must be sprinkled with Chinese blood; thus giving their opponents occasion to declaim against their sanguinary proposals. By inculcating the love of nonintercourse, a doctrine which, in no quarter of the globe or at any time, can strictly be adhered to, and which is even rejected by the Chinese, both in theory and practice,-the reviewers are utterly foiled. The fear of an eternal stoppage' of the trade, and of an order to cut down all the tea shrubs, in order to prevent barbariansfrom repairing to China, is puerile; and unless both the native and foreign merchants are willing to remain passive spectators of their own ruin, such absurd and visionary measures can never be adopted.

There was a time when such orders could be executed, but that time has gone by; and it would now be as difficult to do away with all printing presses in Europe, as to prevent the Chinese from engaging in commercial speculations with foreigners. The state of affairs has greatly changed, even within the last ten years; and it may reasonably be expected that much greater and more thorough changes will take place during the next ten.

"But if measures are to be taken to put commercial relations on an equitable footing, and to extend them to every part of the empire, it should not be forgotten for a moment, that we must treat with the Chinese government as such, and not as a civilized state; this alone can insure success. To quiet the apprehensions of the good people in England, who tremble at the idea of giving rise to carnage, you may assure them that the cowardice of the Chinese government is much greater than its antipathy against foreign intercourse, and that it will make every sacrifice to avoid a dangerous collision.

"Of the utility of a commercial treaty, no reasonable man can entertain any doubt. Nor will the most potent reviewer ever be able to prove that it is against the law of nations to make proposals for such a purpose. As for the wish of the celestial government to come to an arrangement with foreigners, notwithstanding its boasted compassion for them, I can say nothing, because no such wish exists. Let us repeat what has often been done in times of yore.' Did the Portuguese obtain a footing from the good-will of the government? Is not the whole trade to China virtually a forced trade? Though China has often changed its rulers, it has never altered its maxims, viz. to yield when there is no other remedy, and to hold out firm as a mountain' as long as it has the means of doing so. Such is the bending character of Chinese politics, and no attempt to place commerce on a sure basis will succeed, unless it be undertaken with these facts in view. Yet it is wholly a mistaken idea that the use of arms must precede negotiations, as if there were no middle course between crouching obedience and open violence. Demand firmly and insist upon the demands, are the few plain words which define the whole course of procedure in negotiating with the Chinese.

"But here I anticipate the general outcry, What right have we to interfere with China, and force upon it a commercial treaty? I answer, What right have we to visit so many other countries, and to establish and improve political relations wherever such measures are practicable? Is China an exception to this general rule? "Yes; because her laws militate against placing commercial intercourse upon the firm basis of a definite treaty." Men seem to forget that Chinese law is like wax in the hands of the rulers, who can mould it into any shape according to their will. But can the arbitrary measures of a despotic power, which are carried into effect against the best wishes of the nation, and which are at variance with natural and rational law, be so binding on foreigners as to paralize all their efforts to promote an amicable understanding? I leave this question to the mature consideration of all those who are interested in its solution.