382 Voyage of the ^ovara. 



which were called "Braves," who every night discharged 

 rockets into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the 

 allied troops, who were only 3500 strong (800 of whom were 

 in hospital) almost continually on the alert. 



When the gun-boat Algerine arrived off Canton, the Com- 

 modore, although it was late in the evening, was accom- 

 panied by a military escort to the head-quarters of General 

 Straubenzee, commander of the allied troops. A stillness 

 as of a grave-yard reigned throughout the city, and not a light 

 was to be seen. By 10.30 p.m. the Commodore reached the 

 post, and was most hospitably received by the General. The 



blind and dumb, and will not receive advice. You must— there is nothing else for 



it_you mu&t be cut off to the very last man ! Since you first came 



to the Middle Kingdom, you have done all that you can to destroy us ; you have 

 shot at us from your ships ; you have poisoned us with opium, you have erected 

 devils' houses (churches) within the walls of the city ! Nay more, in order to hold 

 your horse-races, you have profaned graves, and not suffered the dead to rest in 

 peace ! Insatiable as sharks, greedy as a set of silk-worms upon a mulberry tree, the 

 more you get the more you want. Even our most trifling profit you have taken to 

 yourselves. Now, however, the cup is full. Heaven in its wrath has decreed your 

 destruction, — our people shall cut you off with divine weapons of fire. Hearken now, 

 O people, to the four following rules for the extermination of the barbarians : AH bar- 

 barians must be beheaded, that our reproach may be removed, and our Middle King- 

 dom be no longer insulted. So runs the order of the leader! — To none other shall 

 any disaster happen, no one shall be molested. Whoever strikes back, shall himself 



be struck The day of vengeance shall be secretly appointed. We 



shall circumvent the barbarians with treachery, we shall fall on them unawares, and 

 destroy them. Natives who are in the habit of attending their schools, or of serving 

 them, or of trading with them, must leave them and return to their old pursuits. "If 

 they remain, then the subjects of the exceedingly beneficent dynasty as well as the 



barbarians, the diamonds and the hailstones, shall be destroyed together 



After the destruction of these hideous hordes, their possessions shall be distributed 

 among those who have distinguished themselves on the day of battle. So runs the 

 order of t he leader ! " 



