Keshen At Once Begged A Cessation Of Hostilities, And
Offered Terms Which Conceded Everything We Had Demanded.
These were the
payment of a large indemnity, the cession of Hongkong, and the right to
hold official communication with the central government.
In accordance
with these preliminary articles, Hongkong was proclaimed, on January 29,
1841, a British possession, and the troops evacuated Chusan to garrison
the new station. It was not considered at the time that the acquisition
was of much importance, and no one would have predicted for it the
brilliant and prosperous position it has since attained. But the promises
given by Keshen were merely to gain time and to extricate him from a very
embarrassing situation. The morrow of what seemed a signal reverse was
marked by the issue of an imperial notice, breathing a more defiant tone
than ever. Taoukwang declared, in this edict, that he was resolved "to
destroy and wash the foreigners away without remorse," and he denounced
the English by name as "staying themselves upon their pride of power and
fierce strength." He, therefore, called upon his officers to proceed with
courage and energy, so that "the rebellious foreigners might give up their
ringleaders, to be sent encaged to Pekin, to receive the utmost
retribution of the laws." So long as the sovereign held such opinions as
these it was evident that no arrangement could endure. The Chinese did not
admit the principle of equality in their dealings with the English, and
this was the main point in contention, far more than the alleged evils of
the opium traffic.
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