324 Boundaries and Beyond
While Zhao was engaging in the debate with John Backhouse, he received
a report from Acting Marine Magistrate Wang telling him of the violent
clashes between local people and Englishmen on the 24th. Wang said
three Chinese were shot dead by the English and two others were
wounded in the affray. He requested his superior to write ofβicially to
the British Consul for a joint inquest on the bodies. He also claimed that,
having been informed of the clash, he proceeded in person to the spot
and succeeded in quelling the row and dispersing the mob.^24
On the 27th, John Backhouse wrote to the Chinese ofβicials to convey
the fears of the British merchants about the safety of their Hongs and he
charged the local authorities with the responsibility for the protection
of their property. The Marine Magistrate and the colonel in charge of
the local garrison immediately consented to place about six or eight
men under petty ofβicers at each of the outlying Hongs. These measures
apparently did not please the Daotai who, in a dispatch sent two days
later, was highly critical of the improper wording of the Acting Consul’s
letter. He reprimanded the latter for shifting the entire responsibility on
to the Chinese authorities. He thought that the local authorities and their
people should collaborate with the British ofβicers and their merchants
to render each other assistance for the preservation of peace and the
maintenance of good will between the two parties.^25
Daotai Zhao’s tough stance on the issue did not show any signs
of softening when he again communicated with John Backhouse on
December 2. Coming straight to the point, he directed the Consul’s
attention to the abuses practised by the English Hong merchants in their
recruitment of coolies through the crimps. “These proceedings”, he said,
“have given rise to considerable general discontent, and are undoubtedly
the origin of the affray in which life has been lost.” He warned the Consul
that the minds of the people were far from being paciβied, and that he
should not be deceived by the apparent tranquility. As the English
merchants had not stopped the fateful commerce, there was no telling
when a similar affray, such as the last, might break out again. On the part
of the Chinese authorities, the Marine Magistrate had issued orders to
seize all the crimps and punish them with a degree of severity. This would
“effectually dig out the soil at its root”. He simultaneously requested the
- FO 663/51, Zhao to Backhouse, 25.11.1852. The English translation is in FO
663/5, Zhao to Backhouse, 25.11.1852. - FO 663/55, no. 39, Backhouse to the British merchants, 27.11.1852; FO
663/57A, no. 24, Backhouse to Zhao, 27.11.1852; FO 663/56, no. 19, Zhao to
Backhouse, 29.11.1852; and the translation of Zhao’s reply in FO 663/5, Chao
to Backhouse, 29.11.1852.
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