Chap. XXII. ABUSE OF THE ENGLISH FLAG. 



425 



Macao, Canton, Hongkong, and Amoy, but by 

 far the greater number have been engaged of 

 late years in convoying Chinese junks from port 

 to port and protecting them from pirates. When 

 I was last in China a fleet of them was chartered 

 by the mandarins and sent up the Yang-tse-kiang 

 to attack the rebels at that place and Nankin, but 

 in this instance they did not seem very successful. 

 They have often been accused of committing acts 

 of piracy on the coast, and stringent measures 

 have been taken by the Macao government at 

 various times to keep them in order. Generally 

 they are very heavily armed, and have a most 

 formidable-looking appearance. 



These vessels, whether in convoying or in 

 simple trading, do not confine themselves to the 

 five ports at which foreigners are permitted by 

 treaty to trade, and are well known both to the 

 Chinese government and to foreigners as in- 

 veterate smugglers. Oftentimes the peaceful 

 inhabitants in the little towns on the coast have 

 complained bitterly to me of the lawless and 

 tyrannical acts of their crews. 



Such, then, is the class of vessels to which the 

 "Arrow" belongs. Is it right that they should 

 be allowed to sail under the English flag without 

 our government having means to control the law- 

 less acts of their crews ? These vessels, as I have 

 already shown, visit and trade at hundreds of 

 places on the coast where bona fide English ships 

 are not allowed. Are these crews to be allowed 



