388 MONTllLK KEVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



India Company, a servile deference to their innumerable and absurd pecu- 

 liarities and customs. An observance of very many, if not most of them, 

 is inconsistent with the free spirit — the sense of what is due to self-respect — 

 of the enlightened nations of Europe. Hateful, indeed, is — or ought to be — 

 the idea of smothering or compromising such feelings, from considerations of 

 mere traffic and gain. ' The free and high-minded nations of Europe,' says 

 the calm and philosophic Malte Brun, 'will never admit the arrangements of 

 a tyrannical police, the annoyance of a childish etiquette, and the ' great 

 walls,' which have been erected for interrupting the communications of the 

 human mind.' The time for attending to such trifles has passed away, as 

 have occupied so much of the anxious attention of the East India Company 

 and its local representatives. Is it not revolting to common sense and com- 

 mon humanity, to think that the mere appearance of an English lady at 

 Canton — that lady the wife of Mr. Baynes, our first resident merchant, — that 

 an English invalid's venturing to use a sedan, the common conveyance among 

 the respectable Chinese, — has each of them led to the most alarming and pro- 

 tracted misunderstandings — to insulting ' Orders' and ' Edicts' — to threats 

 of suspending the whole British trade — to negociations and correspondence 

 of a long and most harassing description ? Yet such have been the facts ! 

 It is repeated that graver considerations must henceforth occupy the attention 

 of those who carry on the trade with China, and a sterner spirit be exhibited 

 in enforcing the claims of reason and justice. If we should unfortunately 

 find the Chinese turn a deaf ear to all our remonstrances, and bent upon con- 

 tinuing in full force the galling system of imposition and insult from which 

 they have so long reaped so rich a harvest ; if, above all, they should presume 

 to inflict upon us so vast an injury as the interdiction of our trade (which is of 

 all things the most improbable) : then will have arrived the time when our 

 Sovereign would be bound — bound by the duty he owes his subjects, and 

 authorised by the law of nations — to interfere on their behalf, and protect 

 them from such grievous injuries. This he might do, in the first instance, by 

 issuing letters of marque and reprisal, 'which are 'grantable by the law of 

 nations whenever the subjects of one state are oppressed and injured by those 

 of another, and justice is denied by that state to which the oppressor belongs.' " 



"'If Great Britain were to take possession of "Macao, garrison it with 

 native troops from Bengal, and declare it a free port, it would be one of the 

 most flourishing places in the East.' In this opinion, however, this intelli- 

 gent traveller has been misinformed, for Macao Would be worse than useless 

 to Great Britain, owing to the humiliating tenure on which it is held from the 

 Chinese, and its want of a suitable anchorage for any but vessels of the 

 smaller class. If any island is taken possession of, it should be in a central 

 part of China, — Chusan for instance, as suggested by Sir James Urmston, 

 formerly chief of the Company's factory. Then indeed might we hope to see 

 it become one of the most flourishing places in the East ; ' for,' continues Mr. 

 Holman, ' the Chinese are so fond of smuggling, that they would not hesitate 

 to trade with foreigners if they could be assured of receiving protection ; and 

 there is no doubt tha, they would use all those arts of bribery with their own 

 countrymen, which would be necessary to promote their own ends, and which 

 are so irresistible to the equivocal integrity of the Chinese. By these means, 

 therefore, there is not a doubt that a very extensive and productive trade might 

 be established with China, and very important advantages secured to the 

 British nation. When these facts are so self-evident,' well may the writer 

 add, ' it is wonderful that some measures have not been taken to secure the 

 commerce and to protect the merchants from the insults and obstacles which 

 are now so much complained of, as well as to lower the bullying and im- 

 perative tone which the Chinese at present think fit to adopt in all their mer- 

 cantile transactions.' 



" The British merchants trading at Canton desire, however, neither to con- 

 template nor to suggest a resort to such extreme measures, unless forced upon 

 us by the failure of more peaceful means. Their inclinations, as well as their 



