1933

HONGKONG
the cessipn .of',. the Poirtugyese rights at Macu^Pi flit fQr,,;the effejptfitl defeBee. of
the place, and its appropriation'to British uses by means of a snbsfidiary Con¬
vention.” Happily for the ; permanent; interests i of British trade in China
this suggestion came to nothing,, and. Greaf Britain found a'much superior
lodgment at Hongkong. . : i ,•
The unfortunate death ,pf a Chinese during a. riot at ^pughong be¬
tween British and Araericah- sparnenj'hnd, ngfives- precipifateci events^ and, in
view of the measures taken by the Chinese in reference to Macao,‘ Captain
Elliot felt that he) ought no Ipnger to ’oomprpi3|ise the safety,of that settlement
by remaining there. He accordingly left for Hongkong on th<;’ 24th. August,
1839, Mrs. Elliot and her child having previously embarked' It was hoped
that his own departure, with the’officer^ of his bsthblishment, might satisfy
the Chinese, nut it soon becamdlevident that they intended t6 expel all the
English from Macao. Iti was accorflingOji determined that they should leave,
and on the '2.5th August the' exodus took, place. The whole' of bthe British
community (with the exceptiin of a few sick left behind in'hospital) em¬
barked, and under the convoy b.f H.M.Sv'Fofage arrived safely at'Hongkong.
At that time there was, of course, no town, and the.community, had to reside
on hoard ship. The1 next measure of thePChinese was to st6p supplies of food;
the water also' was reported to be poisoned; a.placard being put -up on shore
warning Chinese against drinking it. This led-to a miniature naval battle-
in Kowloon Bay. On the -1th September Captain- Elliot, in thg cutter Lomse,
accompanied by the Pearl, a small armed vessel, and the pinnace of the
Volage, went to Kowloon, where- there were three large men+oBwar junks
whose presence prevented the regular supplies of food A written remon¬
strance was sent off to the jUnk of the commanding 'mandarin. After six
hours of delay and irritating evasion a boat was ■ sent on shores to a distant
part of the bay with money to purchase supplies, which the party succeeded-
in doing, and they'were on the point of bringing their purchases' away when
some mandarin runners approached and obliged the natives’ to take back
-their provisions. The English returned with this intelligence, and Captain
Elliot, greatly provoked; opened fire on the three junks. It was answered
with spirit by the junks and a hattery on sfiore. After a fire of almost half-
,an-hour the English force hauled off, from \he failure of. ammunition, for
anticipating no serious results they had not come prepared for them. It was
evident, however, Captain Elliot says in hip account of the engagement, that
the junks had suffered considerably, and aftep a delay of about three-quarters
of an hour, they -weighed anchor and made sail from under the protection of
the battery, with the obvious purpose of making their escape. By this time the
English had made cartridges, and they drove the junks back to their former
position. Evening was now closing in, and in. the morning it was decided,
for reasons of policy, not to renew the attack. A complete relaxation of the
interdict against the supply of provisions followed. Some little time after
this event an arrangement for the resumption of the trade was arrived at,
and there v/as a partial return to residence at Macao. The arrangement
was of but a few weeks’ duration, however, and on the 3rd .November a naval
•engagement took place off Chuenpee, when the Chinese retired in great dis¬
tress. The British ships returned to Macao; arriving, on the evening of the
same day, and arrangements -were immediately made for the embarkation of
those of Her Majesty’s subjects there who thought it safest to retire, and
cn the evening of the 4th November they arrived at Hongkong.