April 27, 1857.] AND THE EAST COAST OF CHINA. 331 



It seems at once good policy as regards the Cantonese, and mere 

 justice and humanity towards the better -disposed populations to- 

 wards the north-east, that, if a lesson is to be administered, it should 

 be administered in the right quarter. Topical evils require topical 

 remedies : and if we were once more to leave Canton to itself (as 

 we have done before), the question would again be asked, which 

 was so often asked then, — " Why did you not address yourselves to 

 those who had offended you, and were prepared to resist you, 

 instead of attacking us ? " At Canton, besides, there is nothing at 

 present to lose, for all trade has left it, and all the foreign quarter 

 is in ruins. The complete capture and occupation of the city and 

 the heights behind by our troops, with Hongkong and its harbour, 

 its barracks and its hospitals, for the base of operations, would at 

 once dispel the delusions of the Cantonese, and supply us with a 

 material guarantee and pledge, as long as it was retained, for all 

 that we have to require from the Peking Government. These two 

 points seem to comprise within themselves the objects of the expe- 

 dition — that is to say, satisfaction for the past and security for the 

 future ; and, as the surest way to the second, the first seems indis- 

 pensable — viz. the capture and occupation of the provincial city. 



Apart from some peculiar disadvantages which conspire to render 

 Canton about the worst place for our trade (a trade which was 

 altogether forced there by the policy of the Tartar Government), 

 that city happens to be placed on one of the finest and most com- 

 modious navigable rivers in the world. Some account of this river, 

 and of the islands and principal anchorages in its neighbourhood, 

 with the several points of defence, may be interesting at a time 

 when the public prints contain accounts of naval transactions, and 

 of movements from one place to another whose names and localities 

 are to many unknown. 



The whole distance between Canton on the N.W., and Hong- 

 kong on the S.E., is about 77 nautical miles, of which 45 extend 

 from Hongkong to the forts at Boca Tigris, and the remaining 32 

 to Canton. Whampoa, the place of anchorage for trading vessels, is 

 about 10 miles below the provincial city, and this is a great draw- 

 back, for in China our trade is always most secure under the guns 

 of our vessels, as at Shanghae and Amoy. Until our war there was 

 only one recognised passage between Whampoa and Canton ; but 

 the enterprise of her Majesty's ships in 1840 and 1841 discovered a 

 convenient passage to the south, called Blenheim Eeach, from that 

 ship of the line having navigated the greater portion of the way. 

 TLe principal defences of the river are, first, the famous Bogue 

 forts, which mount some hundreds of very large guns, and, to 



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