authorities as a concession on our part. I am therefore, reluctantly compelled t abstain from giving you any positive directions for your conduct on this emergency, as I fear, should I attempt it, that I might probably add to the difficulties and embarrassments with which you are already beset

As I only took charge of this office yesterday, I have considered it proper to show my able predecessor this despatch, and he has authorized me to say he perfectly agrees in the sentiments it contains.

I have, &c.

AT six o'clock to-day, a special messenger arrived from the Sub-prefect, Chin, bringing a letter to the effect that two of the sailors implicated in the disturbance had already been seized, who being examined by the District Magistrate of Tsing-poo, deposed that they had asssisted the riot, but still were not the principal parties concerned in it; they have now been put in the cangue and flogged.

It is reported that the principal offenders have all escaped to other places, and the officer of the division has already proceeded himself in pursuit, in order that they may be seived with rigour. The Sub-prefect, Chin, will still stay at Tsing-poo, as it is imperative that they be apprehended and severely punished. This shows that measures are really and sincerely being taken for the adjustment of the affair, and I may therefore request that you, the Honourable Consul, will set your mind at rest about it.

With regard to the rice vessels who are transporting the grain by sea, several hundred of them have now been collected, and in the course of one or two days they will weigh and proceed. I must trouble you, the Honourable Consul, not on any account, to obstruct them, as this step might involve our amicable relations.

While writing this, I present my wishes for your unceasing prosperity, and await your answer.

13th day (17th March), 8 P.M.

Inclosure 28 in No. 49.

Consul Alcock to the Taoutae.

ALCOCK, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Shanghae, makes this communication in reply.

You, the Honourable Taoutae, inform me that two of the sailors implicated in the disturbance at Tsing-poo had already been seized, that they confessed to having assisted the riot, but still were not the principal parties concerned in it, and that they have been put into the cangue and flogged.

You also inform me that it is reported the principal offenders have all escaped, but that the officer of the division has been sent in pursuit.

Nothing can be more unsatisfactory than the whole statement. It appears, notwithstanding the inability to seize these grain junk men hitherto professed, that you, the Honourable Taoutae, when you really determine to do so, can apprehend them, since you have at last caused the seizure of two of their number. It is quite evident then, that the chief offenders might also have been seized from the first, had your Excellency caused rigorous and prompt measures to be taken. Now if it be true that they have been allowed to escape, they must be followed and apprehended. But I repeat, that unless brought down to Shanghae, where they can be identified and punished in the presence of one of my officers, no adequate redress will have been afforded, and I consider any reported seizures or punishments at Tsing-poo as of no account.

When I see any of the ringleaders actually here, who can be identified, I

shall be satisfied that measures are really and sincerely being taken for the adjustment of the affair in a satisfactory manner, and not until then.

With regard to the rice junks, I have already officially notified to you that the commanding officer of Her Majesty's ships had peremptory orders to stop any grain junk attempting to pass down the river, and if they would not turn back on being warned, or if they resisted, to fire into them. I strongly recommend you not to try the experiment of forcing the passage for these junks, or they will find to their cost and peril that these orders will be most thoroughly and effectually carried out. When you have afforded redress by seizing the chief offenders, guilty of a murderous assault upon peaceable British subjects, and brought them here, then I will give different orders.

In the meantime, I have only again to repeat that the grain junks shall not leave this river until I have obtained justice for the committed outrage. I have reported the steps taken to Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, and if you, the Honourable Taoutae, are rash enough to risk collision with our armed vessels before I can receive his Excellency's instructions, the consequences of any mischief that may ensue be upon your head and not mine. I am most anxious to avoid any act of violence, but if you compel me to resort to it, the fault is yours, and I warn you in the strongest terms, that no grain junk will be permitted to leave the river at the present time.

A necessary communication.

March 18, 1848.

My Lord,

No. 50.

Mr. Bonham to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received May 24.)

Victoria, Hong Kong, March 29, 1848. MY last despatch on the subject of Shanghae affairs was dated the 25th instant, since which a vessel has arrived from that port, without bringing me any despatches from the Consul, and I have therefore requested the Senior Naval Officer to permit Her Majesty's steamer "Fury," to proceed to Shanghae, for the purpose of carrying my despatches, and, by her appearance, of strengthening Mr. Alcock's position, by affording him countenance and support.

Having reperused Mr. Alcock's despatch of the 17th instant, and more fully considered the matter, the more am I satisfied that I should incur your Lordship's displeasure were I to permit the peaceable relations existing between the two nations to be compromised on this occasion; and, I trust, my second letter of the 27th instant will convince the Consul of the propriety of bringing the present misunderstanding to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.

Mr. Alcock appears to conceive that the Missionary gentlemen had not exceeded their limits by proceeding to Tsing-poo, but, by reference to the inclosed sketch, your Lordship will perceive that this place is half-way between Shanghae and the large city of Soo-chow-foo, and ninety-six le, or thirty miles, from the former place; it certainly, therefore, seems to me doubtful whether it was ever intended that British subjects should perform journeys of this sortthe original intention of defining the time that they should be permitted to be absent from their respective Consulates, being simply to enable them to enjoy exercise and recreation within a moderate distance of their port or place of residence.

With this view of the case, I have it in contemplation to instruct the Consuls, in conjunction with the Chinese authorities, to endeavour, if possible, to define the limits allowed for the purposes of recreation and exercise by space or boundary, instead of by time, as at present, which will tend to the prevention of misapprehension and abuse.

The "Fury" will leave this harbour in an hour.
I have, &c.

(Signed)

S. G. BONHAM.

Sir,

Inclosure 1 in No. 50.

Mr. Bonham to Consul Alcock.

Victoria, Hong Kong, March 27, 1848.

THE brig "Denia," having arrived from Shanghac, which place she left on the 20th instant, without bringing me any further communications from yourself on the state of affairs at your Consulate, I am led to believe that matters are much in the same state as when your despatch of the 18th instant was written.

I have, since my letter of the 23rd instant, had further time for the consideration of your despatches, and under all the circumstances of the case, and pending the receipt of replies from the Foreign Office to my predecessor's letters respecting the Hwang-chu-ke catastrophe, I feel more strongly than ever the necessity of discouraging any offensive operations being taken against the Chinese, which may embroil the two nations in hostilities, without the previous sanction of Her Majesty's Government.

From the Taoutae's note to you, forming an inclosure in your letter of the 18th instant, two of the principal parties concerned in this transaction are reported to have been punished. It would undoubtedly have been more satisfactory if these persons had been punished at Shanghae, or in the presence of some constituted British authority, but, as matters now stand, all I can countenance is for you to continue to call on the Taoutae to punish any others of these criminals he can apprehend, for I again repeat that from recent instructions from Her Majesty's Government, I am strictly forbidden from engaging in any offensive operations against the Chinese authorities.

Under these circumstances you will, as early as you possibly can, bring this question between the Taoutae and yourself to a close, and you will, of course, abstain from making any further representation to any of the higher authorities alluded to in your letter, which I consider to be one which must be finally arranged between the Imperial Commissioner and myself.

I forward this and my other despatch by Her Majesty's steamer "Fury," and as her presence may possibly tend to induce the Chinese authorities to bring this question to a satisfactory conclusion, I have no objection to your requesting Captain Wilcox to remain with you for a few days, if you should be of opinion that she will have the effect suggested; otherwise, you will inform that officer he can return to Hong Kong as soon as he sees fit, as I have it in contemplation to request her services to convey me to an interview with the Chinese High Commissioner at an early period.

(Signed)

I have, &c.

S. G. BONHAM.

Inclosure 2 in No. 50.

Sketch showing the Position of Tsing-poo.

Sir,

No. 51.

Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Bonham.

Foreign Office, May 29, 1848. IN reply to Sir John Davis's despatch of the 13th of March, I have to acquaint you that Mr. Bird was quite right not to interfere with reference to the affray which occurred between some Americans and Chinese at Whampoa, on the 6th of that month.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

PALMERSTON.

Sir,

No. 52.

Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Bonham.

Foreign Office, May 29, 1848.

I HAVE to acquaint you that I approve of the answer returned by Sir John Davis, as reported in his despatch of the 4th of March, to the note from Keying, of the 29th of February, calling for the punishment of a man from Manilla, accused of having committed murder at Woosung.

No. 53.

I am, &c.

My Lord,

Mr. Bonham to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received June 21.)

Victoria, Hong Kong, April 10, 1848.

ON the 1st instant, the Acting Consul at Canton reported to me that an unprovoked assault had been committed by some Chinese on Messrs. Bowman and Johnson, two British subjects, while proceeding up a creek on the side of the river opposite to Canton, and within a mile of the factories. This morning I had the gratification to receive the inclosures Nos. 1 and 2, by which your Lordship will perceive that the matter has been promptly arranged, and the culprits punished.

The Imperial Commissioner having, in the correspondence with Mr. Elmslie, made some attempt to defend the aggression, on the ground of the English gentlemen not having been accompanied by policemen and linguists, I addressed a letter to his Excellency on the subject, of which I inclose a copy, and of the reply that I received thereto.

It is satisfactory to observe that redress has, in this instance, been afforded by Seu, the Acting Imperial Commissioner, more speedily than on any former occasion of a similar nature.

I HAVE the honour to inform your Excellency that two culprits, alleged to have been concerned in the assault on Messrs. Bowman and Johnson, were yesterday morning brought to this Consulate, wearing the cangue, having the nature of their offence written upon it.

The offenders were conveyed up the river in a boat, landed at the garden steps, paraded through the British factory and back streets, and finally set down in the largest suburban thoroughfare (opposite the Consoo House), where they remained exposed in the cangue till sunset.

That the people at Honan may know of the punishment inflicted on the two delinquents, I insisted upon their being taken to the bridge to-day, where the assault was committed, and there exposed in the cangue till evening; this demand was positively refused, on the ground that the people there were exceedingly "obstinate and ferocious." Your Excellency's despatch, however, to the Imperial Commissioner arrived very opportunely, and I was thus enabled to carry the point.

By the inclosed note from the Imperial Commissioner, your Excellency will learn the sentences passed on the offenders. Mr. Meadows and myself visited them yesterday at different periods, and found they were undergoing the punishment awarded.

I requested Mr. Meadows to proceed to Honan this morning, for the purpose of ascertaining the fact as to the punishment of the culprits being inflicted as promised, and have much satisfaction in forwarding to your Excellency that gentleman's report.

I have, &c. (Signed)

ADAM W. ELMSLIE.

I FOUND the two men, Chin-a-te and Le-a-lae, in cangues, under the charge of the police, in an open space about fifty yards from the bridge, the scene of the assault on Messrs. Bowman and Johnson.

The labels on the cangues stated distinctly that they were undergoing punishment for having "assaulted foreigners."

I found them surrounded by a number of onlookers, and neither from them, nor from any other persons in the street which I had to walk down for about 100 yards, did I experience any molestation. I also passed twice under the bridge without suffering the least insult or annoyance.

(Signed)

THOS. TAYLOR MEADOWS.

Inclosure 3 in No. 53.

Mr. Bonham to Commissioner Seu.

Victoria, Hong Kong, April 5, 1848.

I SOME days since received a despatch from the Consul at Canton, stating that a very violent assault had been committed by some Chinese on two British subjects, who were passing on their lawful avocations up the Kee-ya Creek, and that he had called on your Excellency to investigate the matter, and to cause the offenders to be punished.

I confess that I expected to have heard that your Excellency had at once done what was so obviously requisite-that the culprits had been seized at once and punished, and that the matter had been thus properly settled.

But I have this day received a second letter from the Consul, inclosing me a copy of your Excellency's letter to him, dated 3rd April, wherein you ask, if the two Englishmen were accompanied by policemen and linguists, to enable you to examine and to deal with the case.

Now, I would bring to your Excellency's notice that, whether these British subjects were or were not attended by a policeman and linguist, I consider it the duty of the Chinese Government to afford them protection against acts of gross violence of the description complained of; and if such protection be not afforded, and miscreants punished who commit such acts, a second catastrophe similar to that which lately took place at Hwang-chu-ke may be expected.

If such acts of violence and bloodshed are again committed, will not the harmony and good feeling which ought to exist between our respective Governments be endangered; and may not hostilities ultimately ensue?

I have already observed, that I conceive whenever British subjects are wantonly assaulted or insulted they have a right to expect redress, whether attended by linguists or otherwise. In this instance I am not aware that they were so accompanied; and if not, it assuredly was not necessary that they should be guarded by police to proceed about half a mile from their place of residence; and had not your Excellency mooted the question, I should have considered it an insult to your nation to suppose that the authorities under your Excellency cannot afford protection to a couple of peaceable foreigners within a mile of their residence, without their being accompanied by policemen.

If, moreover, it were necessary to be so accompanied on occasions like the present, where people were not going into the interior for recreation or exercise, but were engaged in mercantile pursuits, it will shortly be also requisite for

S