April 27, 1857.] AND THE EAST COAST OF CHINA. 333 



less strong position, has very wisely occupied the Macao Fort, 

 which is easily defended by co-operation with his ships. Having 

 determined on keeping the river open pending the arrival of rein- 

 forcements, the admiral has placed his ships within signal distance 

 of each other all down the river, so as to co-operate in case of 

 necessity, and prevent the channel being blocked up by the Chinese. 

 The difficulties of this plan are considerably increased by the 

 numerous creeks and side-channels on each bank of the river, where 

 the flat-bottomed junks can lurk and send out fire-rafts and other 

 annoyances upon our ships, without the possibility of being fol- 

 lowed and cut off in return. The fire-rafts, however, are not so 

 dangerous as might be apprehended, since they can be taken in tow 

 by rowboats, and driven on shore to burn at their leisure. The 

 species of vessel most wanted by the last accounts were gunboats of 

 light draft to follow up the junks into these creeks and destroy 

 them ; and, with the assistance of such, no doubt a good account 

 will be given of the enemy. Almost every Chinese afloat in the 

 neighbourhood of Canton is a pirate, whenever he can turn his hand 

 that way ; and perhaps one of the best results of the proposed naval 

 expedition would be the extinction of piracy about Hongkong and 

 the coast (interfering so seriously as it does with our trade) by dis- 

 arming, and, if necessary, destroying, every armed junk fallen in 

 with. The excuse for carrying arms is " self-defence against 

 pirates ;" but they are, in fact, all pirates in turn, and if all are 

 disai-med equally this pretence will be annihilated. 



In the mean while, both the internal and the external troubles of 

 China seem to have conspired to favour the progress of our own 

 colony of Hongkong. More than thirty years ago I remember 

 sailing round it in a yacht, and occasionally landing to shoot, 

 when it was nearly uninhabited, and now it contains 70,000 Chinese 

 inhabitants, with occasionally as many as a hundred European ships 

 in the harbour. This harbour is one of the finest in the world, and, 

 according to the testimony of Admiral Cecille, of the French navy, 

 superior to that of Eio Janeiro, which, I believe, has ranked as the 

 first. All these circumstances combined, together with the accommo- 

 dation for troops on shore, must tend to give the present expedition 

 an immense advantage over the first one. The unhealthiness of 

 Hongkong was experienced on the first occupation (I believe a very 

 frequent occurrence), and this was much aggravated by the effects 

 of Chinese spirits on our troops ; for while the prisoners in gaol 

 were quite healthy (without the luxuries which prisoners in gaol 

 enjoy in this country), the soldiers in barracks, who had access to 

 liquor, were dying at the rate of 10 in a week. I was rejoiced to 



