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JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON


NOTES ON HUNTER'S JOURNAL

J. L. CRANMER-BYNG and Sir LINDSAY T. RIDE
1 Snow. Peter Wanten Snow, Consul for the United States in Canton.
He surrendered the opium in American possession as demanded by
Commissioner Lin, and was ready to promise that Americans would cease
importing opium, but refused to have anything to do with the bond as the
penalties were too severe. (See also note 43, bond.) (L.T.R.)

2 Mr. Forbes. Joined the American firm of Russell & Co. in Canton
in October 1838, became a partner 1 January 1839 and eventually was
made chief of the house. Robert Bennett Forbes (1804-1889), first arrived
in China in 1817. After some years back in the States he returned to
China in October 1838 and was admitted a partner of Russell & Co., China
on 1 January 1839. He retired in 1844 but had an interest in the firm
till 1857. (L.T.R.)

3 Mr. Green. John C. Green of Trenton, New Jersey, first went to
China as an agent of N.L. & G. Griswold. In 1834 he was admitted a
partner of Russell & Co., China, and retired to New York on 31st December
1839. At the time of the disturbances he was Chairman of the Chamber
of Commerce at Canton. He died in 1875. (L.T.R.)

4 Mr. Delano. Warren Delano, Jr. of Fairhaven, Mass., came to China
1834 to join the house of Russell, Sturgis & Co., of Canton and Manila.
He was a partner of Russell & Co., China for two terms, 1 January 1840
to 31 December 1846, and 1 January 1861 to 31 December 1866. He was
a great-uncle of ex-President F. D. Roosevelt. (L.T.R.)

5 Mr. King. This is most likely to be Edward King of Newport,
R.I., who was taken into the firm of Russell & Co., as a clerk on his
arrival at Canton in 1834 in the Silas Richards. On 1 July 1834 he became
a partner and retired in 1842 to Newport where he died in 1876.

There was a Charles W. King of Olyphant & Co. in Canton at the
time, but as this firm had nothing to do whatsoever with opium, he may
not have been confined to the Factory. (L.T.R.)

6 Mr. Low. Abiel Abbott Low (1811-1893) was born in Salem,
Massachusetts, and became a leading figure in both the New York and
China shipping world. He first worked as a clerk in shipping firms in
Salem and in New York and then went to China in 1833 as a clerk in
Russell & Co. of which house his uncle, Wm. Henry Low, had been head
for some years. He was made a partner in 1837 retired to New York
where he founded the firm of A.A. Low & Brothers, famous for its clipper
fleet. In 1863 he was President of the New York Chamber of Commerce.
(L.T.R.)

7 Spooner. Daniel Nicholson Spooner of Plymouth, Mass. was at
this time a clerk in Russell & Co., Canton. He became a partner in
January 1843 and retired to Boston on 31 December 1845. He returned
to China again as a partner in January 1852, finally retiring in 1857.
(L.T.R.)

8 Gilman. Joseph Taylor Gilman of Exeter, New Hampshire, joined
Russell & Co., Canton as a Clerk about the same time as Spooner. His
dates of partnership and retirement were the same, too, as Spooner's.
(L.T.R.)

9 Mouqua. Also spelt Mowqua in pigin English. His official name
as Hong merchant was Lu Chi-kuang /£ M 7t and his family name was
Lu Wen-wei M. X M The suffix qua 1* (kuan in mandarin) signifies
"an official". (J.L.C.-B.)


W. C. HUNTER
10 Linguist purser. See note 39. (J.L.C-B)

11 Elliot's last day. On 25 March Elliot formally requested the Viceroy
that passports should bfc issued within three days for all the English ships
and people at Canton and that if passports were not issued he would
consider the men and ships of his country as forcibly detained and act
accordingly. Blue Book, Correspondence relating to China, 1840, p. 367.
(J.L.C-B.)

12 Edward Elmslie. Secretary and Treasurer to the British Superintendents
of Trade, Captain Charles Elliot and the Deputy Superintendent,

A. R. Johnston. (J.L.C-B.)
13 Houqua. Known to Westerners at Canton as Howqua j# f. His
family name was Wu Ch'ung-yiieh •££ # 9$ (1810-1863). He was the fifth
son of the famous Hong merchant Wu Ping-chien whom he succeeded as
head of the firm in 1843. For his biography see Hummel, Eminent
Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, II, 867-8. (J.L.C-B.)

i<* Nam Hoe. Also written Nam Hoi. This means Nan Hai Hsien
A) j& J$ i-e. the Magistrate having jurisdiction over the western part of
Canton city and the District lying to the westward of the walls which
included the area in which the foreign Factories lay. (J.L.C-B.)

15 Kwang Hup. The author may be referring to the Kwangchou hsieh
j& "the Canton brigade", and so to its commander. (J.L.C-B.)

16 The Governor. The Governor of Kwangtung province at this time
was I-liang f& %_ (1791-1867). For his biography see Hummel, op. cit., I,

389. (J.L.C-B.)
17 K'an-ch'o % # (J.L.C-B.)

18 An-tsou & -f (J.L.C-B.)

19 Columbia & John Adams. According to the Chinese Repository
Vol. 8, p. 56 the Columbia was a U.S. frigate and the John Adams was
classed as a sloop-of-war. The Columbia was commanded by Commodore
George C. Read. (J.L.C-B.)

20 Johnston. Alexander Robert Johnston, H.M. Deputy Superintendent
of Trade. When the Government of Hong Kong was set up he was deputy
first to Elliot and later to Sir Henry Pottinger and in this capacity he
administered the Government of the Colony on various occasions from
1841 until 1843. (J.L.C-B.)

2i Pwan Kei Kua. Probably the merchant whose name was also spelt
by Westerners at Canton at that time Ponkhequa and Puan Khequa. This
was P'an Cheng-wei j$ S. f$ (1791-1850). See Hummel, Eminent Chinese
of the Ch'ing Period, II, 605. (J.L.C-B.)

22 Saoqua. His family name was Ma Tso-liang .8, •(£. jt and the name
of his Hong was Shun Tai Hong JK&ft. (J.L.C-B.)

23 Sturgis. Russell Sturgis (1805-1887) of Boston was first named
Nathaniel Russell Sturgis, Jr., but he was always known as Russell Sturgis
after his name was changed by decree of the Middlesex County Court. He
graduated from Harvard in 1823, married in 1828 but was widowed four
months later. After an extended tour of Europe he returned to Boston
and for a while practised law. He remarried and in 1833 took his family
to the orient where he became a partner of Russell & Sturgis of Manila
and Russell, Sturgis & Co. of Canton. Later in 1842 when the latter firm
became incorporated with Russell & Co., China, he became a partner in
1842. In May 1844 he retired to Boston, his second wife having died in
Manila in 1837. Being far too young to give up work altogether he
decided to return to China in 1849 but while passing through London he


JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON


was persuaded to join the firm of Baring Brothers & Co. In 1873 he
became senior partner of the house, finally retiring in 1882. (L.T.R.)

24 Lin Tse-hsu's fate. Hunter long survived Commissioner Lin. Lin
Tse-hsii was dismissed from office in 1840 and later sentenced to exile in
Hi in Chinese Turkistan, where he remained for three years. He was
allowed to return to Peking in 1845. He later served as Governor-General
of Yunnan and Kweichow, and retired from office in 1849. He died in
1850 at the age of sixty-seven. (J.L.C-B.)

25 Heang-shan (Heungshan). Former name of the District in which
Macao lies. Re-named Chung-shan «f Jj in honour of Sun Yat-sen.
(J.L.C-B.)

26 Morrison. John Robert Morrison (1814-1843) was born in Macao,
the second son of Dr. Robert Morrison and his first wife Mary (n6e
Morton). He had some schooling in England but at the age of twelve
he came back to Canton with his father in 1826. He became a fluent
Cantonese speaker as well as a Chinese scholar, and on the death of his
father in 1834 was appointed Chinese Secretary to H.M.'s Commission in
China. In 1838 he became, in addition, Interpreter, and in 1841 succeeded
Elmslie as Secretary and Treasurer to the Superintendent of British Trade
in China. In 1843 he was appointed Chinese Secretary and member of
the Executive Council of the newly founded Colony of Hong Kong and
was recommended for appointment, by the Governor, as Colonial Secretary.
Before the appointment was approved, however, he died in Macao in
August 1843, and was buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery there.
(L.T.R.)

2? Kwang Chow Foo. Kuang-chou fu $ jt\ /ft . The Prefect of the
Prefecture of which Canton was the chief city. (J.L.C-B.)

28 Kam Hay Hue. No such title. But I suspect Hunter intended to
indicate the Namhoi Hien which title was sometimes written Nam Hoy
Hien. See note 14. (J.L.C-B.)

29 Pwan Yu Hue. Also written Punyu Hien # $ $ . The magistrate
having jurisdiction over the eastern part of Canton city and the District
lying to the westward of the walls which included Whampoa and the
foreign shipping there. (J.L.C-B.)

30 Fearon. Samuel Turner Fearon was the second son of Christopher
Fearon and Elizabeth Noad who were married on 14 May 1818 at the
Streatham Parish Church. His father served as a midshipman at the Battle
of Trafalgar and after being discharged from the Royal Navy he joined
the Honourable East India Company's marine service. In this service he
made a number of voyages to Canton and when he decided to take a
shore posting there he brought his wife and family out with him. Samuel
became a fluent Cantonese speaker and in 1838 was appointed Interpreter
to the Canton General Chamber of Commerce. After the cession of Hong
Kong he was appointed interpreter and clerk of the Chief Magistrate's
Court and a couple of months later were added the duties of Notary Public
and Coroner. Three years later he was appointed Assistant Magistrate of
Police and on 1st January 1845 he became Registrar General and Collector
of Revenue. In July 1845 he was granted a year's sick leave and while in
England he was appointed Professor of Chinese at King's College, London,
an appointment which he held from December 1846 until December 1852.
(L.T.R.)

31 Van Basel. Magdalenus Jacobus Senn van Basel, born in Groningen,
Holland on 27 September 1808, was appointed clerk in the Dutch Consulate
at Canton in 1826, and Vice-Consul in November 1831. He was later in
partnership with G. M. Toe Laer and P. Tiedenan in the firm of Senn van
Basel & Toe Laer & Co. In 1848 he became Collector General of Taxes


W. C. HUNTER
at Samarang where he served for 3 years. He died at Delft in 1863.
(L.T.R.)

32 Viceroy. The Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi at this
time was Teng T'ing-chen $p ft fA who held this post from early 1836 until
early 1840. See Hummel, op. cit., II, 716. (J.L.C-B.)

33 Hoppo. The Superintendent of Maritime Customs at Canton in 1839
was Yu (?). (J.L.C-B.)

34 The Yum Chae. Cantonese pronounciation for the characters #: J*
(mandarin = C/!'/M-c/i'a/) meaning "an Imperial Commissioner". (J.L.C-B.)

35 Innes. James Innes (1787-1841), the "storm petrel" of Canton was
the 7th Chieftain of the Inneses of Dunkinty, Scotland. He came out to
China about 1825 and operated as a Free Trader mostly on his own, but
for a time in the firm of Innes, Fletcher & Co. His dealings in opium had
not a little to do with precipitating the trouble in 1839. He died in July
1841 and was buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery, Macao. (L.T.R.)

36 Chaye Beale. Thomas Chaye Beale was a member of the firm of
Magniac & Co. in Canton as early as 1826. He severed his connections
with this firm in the early thirties, and operated on his own till 1845 when
he set up a house of agency in Shanghai with Lancelot Dent under the
name of Dent, Beale & Co. In 1851 he was Portuguese Consul and Vice-
Consul for the Netherlands at Shanghai. (L.T.R.)

37 Se-yin. This is probably a reference to the characters Ssu-ying
§J vf-, the officer in command of a ying which corresponded in some ways
to a battalion. However the rank of a ying commander corresponded more
to the Western rank of captain or major. (J.L.C-B.)

38 ta-laou-yay. The phrase ta-lao-yeh ;&. j£ $• signifies "revered elder".
(J.L.C-B.)

39 the linguists. Linguists (t'ung sink ifi. 1|5) were supposed to be able
to act as interpreters between the Canton officials and the foreign merchants
when instructions needed to be conveyed. The foreigners, for their part,
usually enlisted the help of the Hong merchants when they wanted a
document translated into Chinese or they needed an interpreter at an
important interview. They repeatedly declared that the linguists were
useless when it came to linguistic matters. In fact the linguists appear to
have been rather low-grade men of not much education, and able to speak
only pidgin English. However, by law a foreign merchant trading at
Canton was bound to employ a linguist. Since it was forbidden by the
statutes of the Ch'ing dynasty to teach the Chinese language to foreigners
it was reasonable that 'linguists' should be licenced to cope with their
language problems. However, in order that the foreigners should not learn
much about affairs in the interior the qualifications needed by a linguist
were low and their pidgin vocabulary was restricted to matters of trade.
This was part of a deliberate policy which grew up among the officials at
Canton, and the linguists merely acted as another cog in the mechanism
whereby communication between the foreign merchants and the officials,
however minor, was prevented, and the foreigners dealt instead with a
number of different unofficial functionaries such as the compradores and
linguists. Thus the foreign merchants were kept at an arm's length and
also kept in ignorance.

The linguists and their servants mentioned in this journal appear to
have acted as general clerks and messengers, as much as linguists. The
prefix A or Ah 'if (yd) signifies the status of servant. (J.L.C-B.)


JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON


40 Fan Kwais. Fan-kuei # %. = foreign devil. The title of one of
Hunter's books of reminiscences was The 'Fan Kwae' at Canton before
Treaty Days 1825-1844, by an old Resident, London, Kegan Paul, Trench
& Co. 1882; reprinted Shanghai 1911. (J.L.C-B.)

41 blows them sky high. By a coincidence Eric Partridge in his
interesting work A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 4th
Ed. 1951 p. 68 defines to blow sky high as "to scold or blame most
vehemently" and adds origin U.S. and anglicised ca. 1900. Here we have
an American example of the use of the phrase "to blow sky high" in 1839.
(J.L.C-B.)

42 Hae yaw? Probably part of the common expression pronounced in
Cantonese "hae yao ch'i lei" %, % & Vg. which means literally "there is no
such principle!" So it comes to imply "it can't be done". (J.L.C-B)

43 bond. The bond presented to the American Consul by Commissioner
Lin "stipulated that should any opium be found on an American vessel,
the ship would be liable to confiscation and its entire crew liable to death.
The Consul, moreover, was to be held responsible for his countrymen's
behavior." Dulles, F. R., 1930, The Old China Trade, p. 157. (L.T.R.)

44 Pankuqua. Probably a reference to P'an Cheng-wei (pidgin Pwankeikua).
(See note 21.) (J.L.C-B)

45 Chinchoo. Ch'uan-chou & ft] , a port in Fukicn. (J.L.C-B.)

46 the Governor of Macao. Don Adriao Accacio da Silverira Pinto
who served as Governor from 1839 until 1843. (J.L.C-B.)
4? 16 foreigners. A list is given in the Blue Book, Correspondence
Relating to China 1840, p. 403, which states "Supposed names of the
sixteen individuals, as given in the list appended to the Kwang Chou fu's
letter to Capt. Elliot dated 4 May 1839." "Supposed" because J. R.
Morrison in translating from the Chinese had to guess what names were
meant by the sounds of the Chinese characters used for transliteration.
The names listed were:

Dent, Henry, D. Matheson, Danicll, Inglis, Ilbery, Dadabhoy,

A. Jardine, Heerjeebhoy, Stanford, Green, Franjee, A. Matheson,
Matheson, Bomanjee, Goldsborough.
The 16 left Canton with Elliot on 24th May. (J.L.C-B.)

48 the Chung Hup. This may refer to the two characters d® {& pronounced
in Cantonese Chung Heep. This officer commanded a brigade.
(J.L.C-B.)

49 Snipe. She was a brig of tonnage reported variously as 176 to 196
tons, and registered sometimes as British, sometimes American. She was
owned by Augustine Heard & Co., and for many years she was commanded
by Capt. William Endicott of Boston, and was stationed at Woosung as
an opium receiving ship. (L.T.R.)