are to be placed in the hands of arbitors to make the award. However unimportant this question may have been thought, it has now become one of great magnitude-in a commercial and political, as well as in a moral point of view. Turn whatever way it inay - be it partially resumed, or be it wholly annihilated-the traffic must, it does, occasion much distress. It is, and it has long been, agitating the public mind throughout the empire. The rapid increase in the consumption of the drug has been equaled only by the industry of its growers and purveyors, who at this moment have not less than 50,000 chests, worth at former prices $25000000, ready for market.

Late in August last the activity in the business subsided; it soon became dull; brokers absconded; stagnation ensued; few sales were made on the east and west coasts; many seizures were reported in Canton; an execution was attempted in the front of the factories Dec. 12th, and another effected February 26th. No one of the foreign flags has since been hoisted in Canton. With reference to the execution, we have space now only for the following correspondence. No. 1.

To Alexander Robert Johnston, esq. H. M. deputy superintendent &c. Sir,-A gross and shocking outrage againt the foreign community having been perpetrated by the Chinese authorities in causing a man to be strangled this afternoon in front of the factories, We, the undersigned British subjects, most earnestly request that the British flag may not again be hoisted until reference has been made to her majesty's chief superintendent.

(Signed) Wilkinson Dent; Chas. S. Compton; W. Drayner; J. B. Compton; W. C. Le Geyt; M. Pitcher; Jon. H. Cannan; G. Rodger; M. R. Daniell; Andrew Jardine; Gabriel J. Redman; G. P. Collard; J. W. Smith; T. Mackean; W. Leslie; James Matheson; John Slade; M. Were; W. Fanning; W. Bell; H. H. Lindsay; Crawford Kerr; W. S. Stockley; A. S. Drysdale; R. Inglis; George T. Braine; W. Tryer; W. Livingston; T. Jones: N. Elias; A. S. Daniell; John Thacker; Donald Matheson; Robert Webster; David Jardine; M. A, Macleod; S. Humpston; H. Wright; Thos Fox; James Drayner; Dadabhoy Rustomjee; Geo. Woolley; A. F. Croom; E. A. Staple; A. L. Johnston; R. J. Gilman; W. H. Edmonds; L. Just, jr.; M. Moss; W. H. Foster; R. M. Fraser; Ardaseer Furdonjee; Cooverjee Jeevajee; J. Rustomjee; Dossabhoy Hormusjee; H. Byramjee; W. Thomson; A. MacCulloch; P. Dudgeon; W. Scott; R. Strachan; S. E. Pattullo; Stewart Smith; R. H. Hunter; P. Scott; C. B. Adnm; W. Ellis; T. Gemmell; M. Mac Conochie; R. H. Cox; Thos. Edmond; James Tait; Wm. Cragg. Canton, 26th February, 1839.

war "

No. 2.

To Alexander Robert Johnston, esq., &c., &c.

Sir,-Information having been received of the arrival of H. M. sloop of Larne," in the Macao Roads, also that her stay there was expected to be very short; We, the undersigned British merchants, respectfully request you will convey to H. M. senior superintendent, that it is our opinion a naval force is at all times desirable in the Chinese waters, more especially at the present time, when our commercial relations with the Chinese government are in so unsatisfactory a state: and that the services of the "Larne" should be made available for the protection of British interests. We have, &c., &c. Answer. Canton, 28th February, 1839. Gentlemen, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date; and have the honor to inform you I have forwarded your request to the

chief superintendent in such a manner as it is most likely to reach his hands with the least possible delay. I will likewise avail myself of the earliest opportunity so to arrange it, that the commander of H. M. sloop Larne, if she has not sailed much sooner than I have any apprehension of her doing, shall be placed in possession of a request from me to defer his departure until receiving some communication from the chief superintendent in reference to your request. I am, gentlement (Signed) A. R. JOHNSTON. Deputy, &c. No. 3.

Gentlemen,-I have the honor to receive your letter to the address of Mr. Johnston upon the subject of her majesty's sloop "Larne's" continuance on this station and in reply I beg to acquaint you that I had already moved captain Blake to remain for the purpose of affording me an opportunity to communicate with the British Indian government, and the commander in chief, from this place. The period of her further delay must be regulated with careful attention to the orders under which that officer is acting in the furtherance of the other exigencies of the public service, as well as by circumstances on the spot, of which I am not yet in a situation to judge. I may observe, however, that my chief object in requesting captain Blake to remain, was to enable me to report to the authorities above mentioned, in order that such immediate and effectual steps may be taken for the protection of British interests in this quarter as the emergencies of the case appear to them to demand. I have the honor to be, &c. Canton, March 2nd, 1839. (Signed) CHARLES ELLIOT.

No. 4.

Chief Super.

Gentlemen,-I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 26th ulto., to the address of the deputy superintendent, and I beg to acquaint you that it is not my intention to hoist the British flag at Canton in the present posture of circumstances. I am sensible, gentlemen, of the extreme hazard to which the lives and property of the whole foreign community are exposed by the recurrence of so dismal and exciting an event as that which forms the subject of your letter. And it will be my duty to make an early communication to her majesty's subjects in explanation of the proceedings I propose to take, for leading the governor to refrain from measures that cannot fail to burden his excellency and his government with the responsibility of some terrible catastrophe. I have, &c. (Signed) C. ELLIOT. Chief Superintendent. Canton March 2d, 1839. To William Bell, Esq., and others.

No. 5.

Circular. To her majesty's subjects.

With reference to his circular of the 4th instant, the undersigned has now the honor to promulgate a copy of his address to the governor, concerning the late execution before these factories. And having this day ascertained by a formal message from his excellency, that he does not propose to reply to him in a direct shape, it only remains for the undersigned to announce to her majesty's subjects, his own intention to report the circumstance to her majesty's government by the earliest opportunity. To this representation he will join his own strong opinion, that the lives and properties of the whole foreign community would be exposed to perilous jeopardy on every repeated occasion of an execution in the same situation. Pending further instructions from his government, his own address has served the purpore of a protest, which was the main object of its transmission.

Canton, March 9th, 1836. (Signed) C. ELLIOT, Chief Superintendent.

No.6.

To his excellency the governor, &c. Canton, March 4th, 1839. The undersigned, &c, &c., presuming to offer no objections to the right of this government to execute native criminals wheresoever it may think fit

within the limits of the empire, desires only to observe that no such cireunstances have ever had place in the immediate vicinity of the foreign dwellings until the 26th ultimno, during an intercourse of nearly two hundred years; and he has now to request, on the behalf of the government of his nation, that his excellency will be pleased to order their future discontinuance in this situation. A native of the western countries, your excellency will hold the undersigned excused for observing, that, agreeably to the genius of those people, nothing could be more distressing to them than the execution of a criminal before their doors. He dares not conceal from your excellency a very general impression, upon the part of the foreign community, that the considerate protection of this government is in a great degree withdrawn from them. The effect of such feeling need not be pressed upon the attention of a high officer, versed in the government of men. It deprives the wise and the thoughtful of their just and restraining influence, and renders the rash, desperate. The undersigned is afraid, therefore, that it would be impossible to stay the hands of every excited individual, in such a crisis of intense agi. tation as another execution before these factories would produce: and one fatal blow might lead to death, destruction of property, and disturbance of the lower orders of the native population, which the most anxious efforts of the honorable officers could not prevent. These are the profound sentiments of his heart; and claiming, as the officer of his nation, the protection of the great emperor, the undersigned must once more request your excellency to signify to him the calming declaration, that it is not the purpose of this wise and just government to leave the whole foreign community exposed to the most imminent ris's of disaster.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to offer to your excellency the renewed expression of his highest consideration. CHARLES ELLIOT.

ART. VIII. Journal of Occurrences. Arrival of Lin Tsihseu; notice of his proclamation to foreigners and his edict to the hong merchants; proceedings in other parts of the empire respecting opium; one of the licensed boats stopped at the Bogue; loss of a boat's crew in going to Whampoa.

MARCH 19th. Lin Tsihseu, the imperial commissioner, made his entrance into Canton on the 10th, took up his residence in one of the collegiate halls, and immediately proceeded with his inquiries. Two documents from him have just been made public. One is a proclamation to the foreigners of all nations, reasoning with them on the inquity and folly of prosecuting the trade in opium, promising indemnity if they will at once desist and give up to government the opium they have on hand, and threatening heavy penalties if they persit. The other is an edict to the hong merchants, showing them how they have repeatedly given way to foreigners, glossed over, if not joined in, their offenses, to their own great shame, threatening to pass sentence of death on one or two of the most unworthy of them, if the foreigners be not influenced by their representation and advice. These documents shall appear in our next. It may be remarked here, that shortly before the arrival of the commissioner, two or three commercial houses issued notices to their correspondents abroad, declining further agency in opium after the receipt of their notices.

Recent Gazettes teem with reports of vigorous operations against the traffic and use of opium in various parts of the empire. It has been proposed that all of it seized should be sent to Peking and be destroyed there. The emperor, however, prefers that it should be destroyed whereever it is taken.

One of the European passage boats, recently licensed to run between Canton and Macao, was stopped at the Bogue,-for having taken on board some small boxes of tea and sugar-and has been brought back to Canton. We do not know that any descision has been given, by the government, respecting her. A boat belonging to the St. Vincent, captain Muddle, was run down by a native craft in the evening of the 11th, while on her way from Canton to Whampoa. Of eleven in the boat, two men only escaped alive.

THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY.

VOL. VII.-APRIL, 1839.— No. 12.

ART. I. Crisis in the opium traffic: orders from Lin high imperial commissioner for the surrender of the drug to the Chinese government; all foreigners forbidden to leave Canton; their whole trade suspended; port clearances denied to their ships at Whampoa; with a narrative of proceedings relative thereto. THE extraordinary growth of the traffic in opium, and its present crisis, will long remain memorable events in the annals of foreign intercourse with China. In the tariff, published near the close of the last century, opium was placed among the imports, as a medicinal drug, subject to a duty of five mace per catty. Its importation from Bengal-a plan suggested by colonel Watson, and adopted by Mr. Wheeler, vice-president in council- seldom exceeded 200 chests prior to 1767; that year it amounted to 1000, at which rate it continued a long time in the hands of the Portuguese. In 1773, the British East India Company made a small adventure. In 1781, the Bengal government freighted an armed vessel with it-the proceeds of which were to be paid into the Company's treasury in Canton. In 1794, a ship laden exclusively with it, came to Whampoa. In 1800, it was interdicted by the Chinese government. In 1821, the traffic was driven from the port, and has since extended along the whole coast, and increased with amazing rapidity. In the summer of 1836, a high officer at court, Heu Naetse, in a memorial to the emperor, proposed its legalization, and was supported in his recommendation by the local government of Canton. In the autumn of the same year, another high officer, Choo Tsun, came forward remonstrating aust

its admission, followed by Heu Kew and other. The reader will find these several documents in the former volumes of the Repository. The immediate result of them was an edict from the emperor, requiring certain foreigners to leave Canton. That edict was partially evaded, and the traffic continued through the year 1837, and until the summer of 1838-and it was said by the dealers, at that time, that the local authorities received $75 per chest for connivance. Of the occurrences during the last twelve months, recorded in the previous numbers of this volume, it is sufficient to allude here to those of the 12th of December and the 26th of March last, the sequel of which is now to be detailed.

-

His excellency Lin, high commissioner from the court of Peking, arrived in this city on the 10th of March. He came with plenipotentiary powers authorized to do whatever should seem to himself right. Born and bred in one of the maritime provinces, and having (as he says) early had intimate acquaintance with all the arts of foreigners, he was therefore, it would seem, selected for this new and difficult service. He is now about fifty-five years of age; and is described by natives (no foreigner has yet seen him) as of middling height, rather stout, and of stern demeanor. For his other qualities, as statesman, &c., his public documents and proceedings give us no unequivocal testimony. His instructions, respecting the traffic in opium, he received in person from the emperor. And report says, that the monarch—having called before him his faithful servant Lin, recounted the evils that had long afflicted his children by means of the flowing poison; and, adverting to the future, paused and wept : then, turning to the commissioner, said, "How, alas! can I die and go to the shades of my imperial father and ancestors until these direful evils are removed!" At the same time the emperor put into his hands the seal of his high commission — investing him with power (if report be true) such as has only thrice been delegated by the monarchs of the present dynasty—and then bade him go, examine and act. Thus charged, he came. Having made his entrance into the city, eight days were occupied with inquiries, and in preparing edicts. Late in the evening of the 18th of March, one of the foreigners (Mr. Thom) was called to Howqua's to translate a paper to foreigners. The following appeared the next day.

No. 1.

Edict from the imperial commissioner to foreigners of all nations. Lin, high imperial commissioner of the Celestial Court, a director of the Board of War, and governor of Hookwang, issues his com