The favorable opinion which his father had held of Kiaking does not seem
to have been shared by all his ministers. The most prominent of them all,
Hokwan, who held to Keen Lung the relation that Wolsey held to Henry the
Eighth, soon fell under the displeasure of the new emperor, and was called
upon to account for his charge of the finances. The favor and the age of
Keen Lung left Hokwan absolutely without control, and the minister turned
his opportunities to such account that he amassed a private fortune of
eighty million taels, or more than one hundred and twenty-five million
dollars. He was indicted for peculation shortly after the death of Keen
Lung, and, without friends, he succumbed to the attack of his many enemies
incited to attack him by the greed of Kiaking. But the amount of his
peculations amply justified his punishment, and Kiaking in signing his
death warrant could not be accused of harshness or injustice. The
execution of Hokwan restored some of his ill-gotten wealth to the state,
and served as a warning to other officials; but as none could hope to
enjoy his opportunities, it did not act as a serious deterrent upon the
mass of the Chinese civil service. If arraigned, they might have justified
their conduct by the example of their sovereign, who, instead of devoting
the millions of Hokwan to the necessities of the state, employed them on
his own pleasure, and in a lavish palace expenditure.
The Portuguese were the tenants, as has previously been stated, of Macao,
for which they paid an annual rent to the Chinese; but the nature of their
tenure was not understood in Europe, where Macao was considered a
Portuguese possession. During the progress of the great European struggle,
the French, as part of one of their latest schemes for regaining their
position in the East, conceived the idea of taking possession of Macao;
but while they were contemplating the enterprise, an English squadron had
accomplished it, and during the year 1802 Macao was garrisoned by an
English force. The Treaty of Amiens provided for its restoration to
Portugal, and the incident closed, chiefly because the period of
occupation was brief, without the Chinese being drawn into the matter, or
without the true nature of the Portuguese hold on Macao being explained.
The exigencies of war unfortunately compelled the re-occupation of Macao
six years later, when the indignation of the Chinese authorities at the
violation of their territory fully revealed itself. Peremptory orders were
sent to the Canton authorities from Pekin to expel the foreigners at all
costs. The government of India was responsible for what was a distinct
blunder in our political relations with China. In 1808, when alarm at
Napoleon's schemes was at its height, it sent Admiral Drury and a
considerable naval force to occupy Macao. The Chinese at once protested,
withheld supplies, refused to hold any intercourse with that commander,
and threatened the English merchants at Lintin with the complete
suspension of the trade. In his letter of rebuke the chief mandarin at
Canton declared that, "as long as there remained a single soldier at
Macao," he would not allow any trade to be carried on, and threatened to
"block up the entrance to Macao, cut off your provisions, and send an army
to surround you, when repentance would be too late." The English merchants
were in favor of compliance with the Chinese demands, but Admiral Drury
held a very exalted opinion of his own power and a corresponding contempt
for the Chinese. He declared that, as "there was nothing in his
instructions to prevent his going to war with the Emperor of China," he
would bring the Canton officials to reason by force. He accordingly
assembled all his available forces, and proceeded up the river at the head
of a strong squadron of boats with the avowed intention of forcing his way
up to the provincial capital. On their side the Chinese made every
preparation to defend the passage, and they blocked the navigation of the
river with a double line of junks, while the Bogue forts were manned by
all the troops of the province. When Admiral Drury came in sight of these
defenses, which must have appeared formidable to him, he hesitated, and
instead of delivering his attack he sent a letter requesting an interview
with the mandarin, again threatening to force his way up to Canton. But
the Chinese had by this time taken the measure of the English commander,
and they did not even condescend to send him a reply; when Admiral Drury,
submitting to their insult, hastily beat a retreat. On several subsequent
occasions he renewed his threats, and even sailed up the Bogue, but always
retreated without firing a shot. It is not surprising that the Chinese
were inflated with pride and confidence by the pusillanimous conduct of
the English officer, or that they should erect a pagoda at Canton in honor
of the defeat of the English fleet. After these inglorious incidents
Admiral Drury evacuated Macao and sailed for India, leaving the English
merchants to extricate themselves as well as they could from the
embarrassing situation in which his hasty and blundering action had placed
them. If the officials at Canton had not been as anxious for their own
selfish ends that the trade should go on as the foreign merchants
themselves, there is no doubt that the views of the ultra school at Pekin,
who wished all intercourse with foreigners interdicted, would have
prevailed. But the Hoppo and his associates were the real friends of the
foreigner, and opened the back door to foreign commerce at the very moment
that they were signing edicts denouncing it as a national evil and
misfortune.
The Macartney mission had attracted what may be called the official
attention of the British government to the Chinese question, and the East
India Company, anxious to acquire fresh privileges to render that trade
more valuable, exercised all its influence to sustain that attention.
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