The Amoy Riots of 1852 323
tolerated, awful disasters would be the result. They went on to allude in
particular to the vile impositions that were practised daily on the people
by a class of reprobates, who, under false pretences and delusive offers,
had succeeded in enticing them from their homes and sold them to the
English. The petitioners mentioned a recent case. It had happened a day
or two earlier when one of the ketou (brokers in these transactions)
called Lin Huan had violently kidnapped an unfortunate man and taken
him to sell to the English. Lin Huan was a notorious βigure in the local
community. He paraded the streets accompanied by bands of armed
rufβians who were kidnappers by profession. Murder and plunder had
been the order of the day. The people were enraged by this atrocious way
of behaving. They seized this infamous broker and sent him to the Marine
Magistrate (haifang tongzhi) as a prisoner to be tried and punished.
The petitioners regretted that their authorities had not yet imposed a
punishment on him. They were convinced that the mandarins had an
undoubted right to judge Chinese offenses and punish crimes committed
by their own people. Unless the authorities condemned the offender to
severe punishment, the streets of Amoy, the resort of business and trade,
would be made unsafe and the interests of the community would be
seriously affected. Upon receipt of the petition, the Daotai immediately
sent orders to the Marine Magistrate to cooperate with the military and
seize the offenders.
On the basis of this information, Daotai Chao accused John Backhouse
of having distorted the picture. He said Backhouse was vague on several
key points and demanded the latter’s explanation. He asked, “What
induced that Englishman to go out on a dark night and in a drunken βit
to assault the soldiers and others, what was the subject of their quarrel,
who was wounded, and by whom and where?” He requested Backhouse
to obtain these various particulars as accurately as possible to enable him
to proceed with the investigation of the case and deal with it accordingly.
Finally, he observed that:
... a party of troops was landed from the steamer. As this is the
βirst time on record that this has occurred at Amoy, I shall make
no comment upon it at present until I have reported the subject
ofβicially to Their Excellencies the Governor-General and Governor
of the province, who will bring it ofβicially to the notice of the
plenipotentiary of your honourable country.^23- FO 663/51, Zhao to Backhouse, 24.11.1852. The translation of this Chinese
dispatch can be found in FO 663/5, Zhao to Backhouse, 24.11.1852.