The Chinese Mandarins, Incited By The Mob,
Demanded The Surrender Of The Man Who Fired The Shot; And That They
Should
have made such a demand, after they had formally accepted and recognized
the jurisdiction of consular courts, furnished strong
Evidence that they
had not mastered the lessons of the late war or reconciled themselves to
the provisions of the Treaty of Nankin. The fortunate arrival of Keying to
"amicably regulate the commerce with foreign countries" smoothed over this
difficulty, and the excitement of the Canton mob was allayed without any
surrender. It was almost at this precise moment, too, that Taoukwang made
the memorable admission that the Christian religion might be tolerated as
one inculcating the principles of virtue. But the two pressing and
practical difficulties in the foreign question were the opening of the
gates of Canton and the right of foreigners to proceed beyond the limits
of their factories and compounds. The Chinese wished for many reasons,
perhaps even for the safety of the foreigners, to confine them to their
settlements, and it might be plausibly argued that the treaty supported
this construction. Of course such confinement was intolerable, and English
merchants and others would not be prevented from making boating or
shooting excursions in the neighborhood of the settlements. The Chinese
authorities opposed these excursions, and before long a collision occurred
with serious consequences. In March, 1847, a small party of Englishmen
proceeded in a boat to Fatshan, a manufacturing town near Canton which has
been called the Chinese Birmingham. On reaching the place symptoms of
hostility were at once manifested, and the Europeans withdrew for safety
to the yamen of the chief magistrate, who happened unfortunately to be
away. By this time the populace had got very excited, and the Englishmen
were with difficulty escorted in safety to their boat. The Chinese,
however, pelted them with stones, notwithstanding the efforts of the chief
officer, who had by this time returned and taken the foreigners under his
protection. It was due to his great heroism that they escaped with their
lives and without any serious injury.
The incident, unpleasant in itself, might have been explained away and
closed without untoward consequences if Sir John Davis had not seized, as
he thought, a good opportunity of procuring greater liberty and security
for Englishmen at Canton. He refused to see in this affair an accident,
but denounced it as an outrage, and proclaimed "that he would exact and
require from the Chinese government that British subjects should be as
free from molestation and insult in China as they would be in England."
This demand was both unreasonable and unjust. It was impossible that the
hated foreigner, or "foreign devil," as he was called, could wander about
the country in absolute security when the treaty wrung from the emperor as
the result of an arduous war confined him to five ports, and limited the
emperor's capacity to extend protection to those places. But Sir John
Davis determined to take this occasion of forcing events, so that he might
compel the Chinese to afford greater liberty to his countrymen, and thus
hasten the arrival of the day for the opening of the gates of Canton.
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