‘They watched as men gaped…’ BL Alexander, p.16.
‘Wandering quite at will…’ Staunton, p.32.
7.
‘A landing party…’ see also Barrow, Travels p.35, for an account of the visit.
8.
Mary Aldersey (Female Agency p.251) would later observe that Chusan’s women spent an hour each morning arranging their hair.
9.
‘The atmosphere was muggy… thunderstorm’ BL Alexander, p.16.
‘it was later remembered’ Barrow.
10.
‘…none were capable of piloting a ship’ Cranmer-Byng, Embassy p.65.
‘But the merchants… shore’ Hüttner, Voyage p.3.
11.
‘A patch of rice-paddy north… tents’ BL Alexander, p.34; BL Gower.
‘reservoirs for surface run-off’ see Wilson, Medical Notes, 22/9/1842.
‘Worse, as villagers… left’ BL Gower.
‘..she struck a submerged rock’ BL Alexander, 30/11/1793.
Chapter 3
1.
‘nearly five thousand chests’ Fay, The Opium War p.43.
‘Britain’s superintendent in Canton being reminded…’ BPP, Correspondence Relating to China, 1840, 36 (223) 5.
2.
‘The Mandarins are taught…’ FO17/9 (126) The Present State of our Relations with China.
3.
‘Though some thought him…’ Lane-Poole, Life of Sir Harry Parkes.
‘With great drollery…’ BL Pears, p.221 has a good description of Gützlaff.
‘Gützlaff looked and sounded the part…’ Lane-Poole.
4.
Journal of a Voyage, CR, vol.2 June 1833, p.49 contains the detail of Gützlaff’s visits.
5.
‘Lord Palmerston informed…’ FO17/36(66) Palmerston to the Admiralty, 4/11/1839.
6.
On Charles Elliot, Oxford DNB; Lovell, The Opium War p.62.
7.
‘As to Palmerston’s terms…’ FO17/40(130), amongst other FO documents containing Palmerston’s orders.
8.
‘…opiate dreams’ USJ 1840 vol.1 p.117.
‘They are naughty children…’ USJ 1840 vol.3 p.109.
Chapter 4
1.
‘British flotilla’ BL Pears, pp.61/75 records the composition of the squadron.
‘Aboard some four dozen ships…’ BL Nicholls, 8.
2.
‘Roasting in own fat…’ Cree, vol.4 3/6/1840.
3.
‘with hand gestures…’ BL Pears, p.213; Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch.
‘great numbers of opium clippers’ There were reportedly so many opium vessels in Chusan in 1839 that a few balls of the drug amounted to ‘nothing’: JMA reel 580 28/3/1839.
4.
‘Next morning…’ EMC, 5/10/1840 has a description of the day’s events.
‘Then as the tide ebbed…’ Jocelyn, Six Months.
‘In thick fog…’ BL Pears, p.216 provides details of what the British saw.
5.
‘A rowing boat was despatched… repulsed’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 3/7/1840.
6.
‘Aboard HMS Rattlesnake…’ Levien, p.55.
‘I was taking…’ ibid.
7.
‘The scenery…’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 4/7/1840.
‘It seemed a shame…’ Levien, p.55.
‘HMS Wellesley…’ USJ 1841, vol.1 p.125 has Sir Gordon Bremer’s account of the meeting; Jocelyn, Six Months gives another eyewitness account.
The note is reproduced in USJ 1841, vol.1 p.128.
8.
‘Though he was clearly angry… every protocol’ CR, vol.9 p.230.
9.
‘All that day… women and children’ Jocelyn, Six Months p.53; Levien, p.56.
10.
‘After disembarking… field artillery’ Urgungga’s memorial of DG20/6/13, YPZZDASL vol.2 p.161.
‘…once he was helpless on the ground’ Lin Zexu, in YPZZZZS p.55, DG20/7/10.
‘So a land battle… city’ YPZZZZS p.28, DG20/6/13.
‘But Zhang… waterfront’ Davis, China p.4, citing the original Chinese memorial.
11.
‘illuminated manuscripts’ Mountain, Memoirs & Letters p.161.
12.
The attack can be pieced together very well from eyewitness accounts: EMC, 9/10/1840 and Times, 8/12/1840 have Burrell’s report; EMC, 12/10/1840 has an account by ‘Paddy Fields’; EMC, 13/10/1840 has an account by ‘an intelligent sailor’; USJ 1841, vol.1 p.122 and Times, 8/12/1840 carry Burrell’s detailed reports to his superiors; USJ 1841, vol.1 p.125 carries intelligence from Sir Gordon Bremer to the Admiralty; Levien and Cree, vol.4 have Edward’s thoughtful observations; BL Pears and Ouchterlony have good incidental detail.
‘HMS Excellent…’ Lambert, The Last Sailing Battlefleet.
13.
‘the only opposition…’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 5/7/1840.
‘cowering monks’ NM, 1841.
‘The first man… cheered him on’ BL Pears, p.224. It was Captain Pears who handed him the flag and asked him to hoist it.
14.
‘Those too wounded to flee…’ BL Monk, p.2.
‘the only decent piece...’ USJ 1841, vol.1 p.113. The brass 6½-lber had been cast in Moorfields by the gun-founder Richard Phillips at a cost of £22/14s 6d. It would eventually make its way to a museum in India.
‘It was primed…’ Times, 9/12/1840.
‘toy-shops upon a large scale’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 5/7/1840.
Cree, vol.4 10/8/1840 describes an armoury in Tinghae.
15.
‘utterly ignorant of gunnery’ Times, 8/12/1840.
‘At around midnight… croaking of frogs’ Levien, p.61.
‘Bivouacked… half a mile away’ Masefield, Land of Green Tea p.66.
16.
‘Thousands of soldiers… warehouses’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 5/7/1840.
‘With the discovery… distillery’ BL Pears, p.224.
‘Its effect on them…’ Baker, Artillery Officer, letter of 11/7/1840.
17.
‘Officers… torrents’ CR, vol.9 p.230.
‘…awash with volatile spirits’ Ouchterlony, Statistical Sketch 5/7/1840; a correspondent to NM, 1841 reported that men had to wade through spilled samshoo.
‘…dismounted Chinese ordnance’ CR, vol.10 p.515.
‘Perhaps… lips’ ibid.
‘the Hertfordshires… re-embarked’ EMC, 19/10/1840.
18.
‘A party… grain sacks’ Times, 8/12/1840.
‘demolished the bridge’ Ellis, Memoirs p.115.
‘We are in possession…’ FO17/40(142), 20/7/1840.
Chapter 5
1.
‘a flurry of dispatches’ e.g. YPZZZZS p.22, DG20/6/8.
‘His report…’ YPZZZZS p.23, DG20/6/10.
2.
YPZZZZS p.24, DG20/6/10.
3.
‘It had been boasted’ Lord Macartney himself had noted this point in 1793: Singer, p.131.
‘Eventually sentenced to death’ Davis, China p.17.
4.
‘The first… wealthier houses’ BL Pears, p.224; Cree (Levien p.58) notes that some of the islanders were already looting the warehouses on the wharves.
‘The last… heaving them away’ BL Pears, p.224.
‘But instead… delivery’ Jocelyn, Six Months.
‘a Pompeii of the living…’ USJ 1841, vol.2 p.307 (Lt-Col. Wilkie).
‘Except… fled in terror’ YPZZZZS, p.78 DG/20/9/2.
‘They had even… ready to eat’ BL Pears, p.234; Cree, vol.4 23/9/1840.
5.
‘For the maintenance… civil magistrate’ Wakeman, Strangers at the Gate p.22.
‘somewhat less thorough’ Details of the British scheme are in EMC, 19/10/1840.
‘a situation…’ BL Nicoll
s, 17/7/1840.
6.
‘chronic dysentery’ BL Nicolls, 8/8/1840.
‘It vied… users’ CWM MS380645/1, letter from Chusan, Jan 1841.
7.
‘Only after… no coercion to remain’ EMC, 19/10/1840.
‘It was easier… removing them’ Times, 9/12/1840.
8.
‘A flurry of orders’ BL Pears.
‘pass issued by Gützlaff’ EMC, 12/10/1840.
‘Nothing else… gates’ CR, vol.10.
‘Here were stored… buildings’ Bingham, Narrative.
‘regular auctions’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence, 12/9/1840.
‘gangs of robbers’ Bingham, p.337.
9.
‘The Chinese… live amongst’ CR, vol.9 p.231. The Repository, published monthly in Canton by the American missionary Elijah Coleman Bridgman, was (and remains) a treasure-trove of informed articles on every aspect of life in China.
‘A suspicious… silks’ CR, vol.10.
‘The goods… confinement’ Recounted in CR, vol.9 p.231.
‘They did not… act’ CR, vol.10.
10.
‘The other… drowned’ Ellis, Memoirs p.116.
‘My orders… away’ EMC, 31/12/1840.
11.
‘He began… Greenwich’ Levien, p.9. Levien also provides a biography.
12.
‘They were very civil… fish’ Levien, p.59.
13.
‘Another officer… encounter’ EMC, 19/10/1840.
‘When I listen… joyous parties’ Bingham, Narrative p.325.
14.
‘Tinghae’s walls’ BL Pears.
‘covered sewers’ CR, vol.10 p.333.
‘Everywhere… filth’ see e.g. the accounts in EMC, 12/10/1840 and 13/10/1840.
‘Great earthenware jars… maggots’ CR, vol.10 p.333.
‘Before their owners… putrefying’ IJMPS, 1845 p.217.
‘Even the ladies’… toad’ CR, vol.10 p.487.
15.
‘Behind those… chairs’ CR, vol.10; BL Pears, p.234 and Cree, vol.4 4/8/1840.
16.
‘A stone’s throw… flagstaff’ Cree, vol.4 23/9/1840.
17.
‘Tinghae… books’ CR, vol.10.
‘posse of agents’ Bingham, p.340.
‘One was caught… theft’ CR, vol.10.
18.
‘accretion of burials’ Ouchterlony, The Chinese War p.77.
‘Finding the ground… observance’ Cree, vol.4 17/7/1840.
‘The fellows… gratitude’ BL Pears, 22/8/1840.
19.
Cree, vol.4 22/9/1840.
Chapter 6
1.
‘Red Hair Hall’ BL Pears, p.212 notes that the British were using East India Company charts on which the Red Hair Hall was marked.
‘choices to be made’ EMC, 12/10/1840.
2.
‘Governor Burrell… fires’ Levien, p.60. CR, vol.10 has an invaluable sketch-map which, when compared to the 1920s map in Guangxu Dinghai Tingzhi, allows us to determine which buildings were put to which purpose.
‘In the innermost… broadside’ CR, vol.10.
‘Burrell without further… anchor’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence. Letters in JMA reel 580 make it clear that opium went on being sold from ships, and at a ‘capital’ price.
On Robert Thom, see Coates, The China Consuls.
‘disgusted by the idolatry’ see e.g. the Catholic missionary’s reaction in APF, 13/10/1844.
‘Through successive… colours’ Cree, vol.4 14/7/1840.
‘rank and file… mud’ BL Pears, p.224.
‘Soon… canvas’ BL Pears, 19/7/1840.
‘Cameronian Hill’ appears in popular engravings as ‘Irgao-shan’ (Mount Irgao), possibly a dialect form of Zhen’ao shan, its name since the twelfth century.
‘Bengal Volunteers… city walls’ WO28/300/MS4, 1/9/1840.
3.
‘Rapidly inundated… strategy’ YPZZZZS p.78, DG20/9/2. See also YPZZZZS p.171, DG20/12/19.
‘these treacherous bandits’ YPZZZZS p.93, DG20/9/10.
4.
‘food to be bought’ EMC, 12/10/1840.
‘armed foraging party’ EMC, 19/10/1840; a different, anonymous account was published in EMC on 14/11/1840.
‘The ignorant peasantry…’ CR, vol.9 p.232.
5.
‘The butcher… looking’ Jocelyn, Six Months.
6.
‘armed search parties… kidnap’ ibid.
‘As one party… terrify them’ ibid.
‘When the parties… stretcher’ EMC, 1/12/1840.
7.
‘very good stones…’ Mountain, p.165.
8.
‘The natives came out…’ Levien, p.61.
9.
‘The barbarians speak and dress…’ YPZZZZS p.55, DG20/7/10.
10.
‘Word did get out…’ Cree, vol.4 21/8/1840.
11.
‘stores aplenty… hungry’ Times, 15/3/1841.
‘but otherwise… mustard seed’ WO28/300/MS4, General Orders, HQ, Tinghae.
‘Even the ragged beggars… once’ CR, vol.10.
‘A junk… inedible’ BL Pears, p.254.
‘I had much trouble…’ ibid., 19/7/1840.
12.
‘The next day… sea’ Cree, vol.4 13/8/1840.
13.
‘Cree… catch them’ ibid., 3/8/1840.
‘But finally… livestock’ ibid., vol.4 5/8/1840.
‘Still… menagerie’ Levien, p.62.
14.
‘Governor Burrell… Chusan’ EMC, 1/12/1840.
‘Even a modest plan… nothing’ BL Pears, 24/9/1840.
‘Beatings and worse… sword cuts’ EMC, 30/12/1840. JMA reel 580 12/11/1840 recounts how four villagers were shot dead and two more injured by sepoys out foraging. Gützlaff found it impossible, given that both sides seemed to be lying about the incident, to discover who had been to blame.
15.
‘One morning, six… Tinghae’ EMC, 1/12/1840, the event taking place on 19/8/1840.
16.
‘One scorching afternoon…’ Bingham, p.282 has the best account; also BL Monk, MacPherson, p.56.
‘But the innocent…’ The accounts disagree as to which boy shot whom.
17.
‘an officer commanding… kidnappers’ BL Pears, 22/8/1840.
18.
‘When a dog… supply’ Masefield, p.69.
‘Men were sent’ YPZZZZS, p.232 DG21/r3/27.
19.
‘Only one… tracts’ JMA reel 580 25/8/1840.
‘Fully one quarter… miles’ EMC, 1/12/1840.
‘Scurvy…’ CR, Sep 1840 p.326.
20.
‘England knows how to conquer… too bad’ EMC, 17/12/1840.
21.
‘introduced with the usual forms…’ BL Pears, 19/7/1840.
Chapter 7
1.
‘a man without… influence’ ibid.
‘With the want of interpreters…’ ibid.
2.
‘It was Burrell’s… proclamation’ BL Pears has an account of the progress of the proclamation around Chusan.
‘Magistrate Caine of Tinghae…’ YPZZZZS, p.142 (Chinese original).
3.
‘not the remotest… barbarians’ BL Pears, 28/8/1840.
4.
‘one respectable-looking… constable’ CR, vol.10 p.498.
5.
‘scared as much as…’ BL Pears, 30/8/1840.
6.
‘The neighbouring… news’ ibid., 31/8/1840.
‘We know and care nothing…’ ibid., 1/9/1840.
‘At another village…’ ibid., 2/9/1840.
7.
‘Other than… in Tinghae’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence, 17/9/1840.
‘Come September… their ration’ A fierce debate was conducted in the Englishman, the Frien
d of India and the Eastern Star over whether the premature award of the Bengal regiments’ victualling contract to one supplier had frozen a better quality but more expensive competitor out of the running.
‘Many thought his decision… swamp’ WO28/300/MS4, 1/11/1840.
‘But with so many men…’ ibid., 1/9/1840.
8.
On Edward Cree’s exploits, Cree vol.4 has various entries telling how Edward befriended the locals, often being invited aboard junks in the harbour.
‘One day… enquiries nonetheless’ Cree, vol.4 27/9/1840.
‘Go to hell!’ ibid. 18/9/1840.
‘His two older sons… traitors’ ibid.
9.
‘…felt like an open prison’ MacPherson, Two Years in China p.27.
‘One morning…’ EMC, 22/2/1841 has Anstruther’s account of his kidnap; MacPherson, p.49 has the letter he wrote from Ningbo, detailing his capture and imprisonment.
10.
‘At first… other regiments’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence, 17/9/1840.
‘a little, red-haired boy…’ Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India vol.4 pt.1 (quotation from the unpublished diary of a schoolfriend of Anstruther).
‘Captain Pears… South London’ BL Pears, 13/10/1840. Addiscombe Military Seminary was closed in 1861; the site was developed into housing, and the site of the large house where Anstruther and Pears trained together now lies under Outram Road.
‘…Governor’s pet donkey!’ ibid., 17/9/1840.
‘Later in the day… Ningbo’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence, 17/9/1840.
11.
‘…intent on retribution’ BL Pears, 17/9/1840 has a description of the subsequent events.
Lahoo was possibly a valley to the northeast of Sinkong.
‘It was only by a hair’s breadth… both sides’ JMA reel 580 25/8/1840.
‘The suggestion… representatives’ FO17/49(182), Diary of a Residence, 19/9/1840; BL Pears, 19/9/1840.
12.
‘…set out for Lahoo that evening’ Brigade Orders, 21/9/1840, reprinted in EMC, 1/12/1840.
‘by four the next morning… British rule’ JMA reel 580 25/8/1840 recounts the events.
13.
‘…very own haul of captives’ see e.g. the list in YPZZZZS p.86, DG20/9/3.
‘Besides Captain Anstruther… Anne Noble’ The story of the Kite and of Anne Noble and the others can be pieced together from sources including Anstruther’s letters, but the most important are Anne’s own Narrative of the Shipwreck of the ‘Kite’ and John Lee Scott’s first-hand Narrative of a Recent Imprisonment in China.
14.
‘a gaunt redhead’ Levien, p.67.
Chusan Page 33
