Captain Elliot and the Founding of Hong Kong

by Captain Elliot

  12 He wrote as chairman of the Central Committee of Safety of San Felipe. Quoted in Eugene Campbell Barker The Life of Stephen F. Austin: Founder of Texas, 1793–1836 (Nashville, 1925), 481, and in An Empire for Slavery, 40.

  13 From the Constitution of Texas, General Provisions, Section 9, quoted in An Empire for Slavery, 46.

  14 David G. Burnet had been interim President during the first, transitional, six months of the Republic.

  15 Hansard, Texas, House of Commons, 26 April 1842 at http://hansard.millbanksystems.com (accessed 18.11.2014).

  16 Ibid., Consul-General of Texas, 3 May 1842.

  17 Ibid.

  18 Ibid., Captain Elliot – Texas, 24 May 1842.

  Chapter Thirteen: ‘This Raw Country’

  1 Lytton Strachey and Roger Fulford eds., The Greville Memoirs 1814–1860 (London, Macmillan, 1938), vol. IV, 422, 19 November 1841, quoted in Hoe and Roebuck The Taking of Hong Kong, 199.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Stephen had trained as a lawyer and later became Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.

  4 Minto papers ms 11789, f203, Stephen to Taylor, 11 March 1842.

  5 Ibid.

  6 Minto papers ms 21218, ff1-54, Elliot to Aberdeen, 25 January 1842.

  7 Ibid.

  8 In 2015 terms, £129,299,892 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/resources/inflationtools/calculator/flash/default.aspx (accessed 11.4.2016). See Minto papers ms 21217, ff47–50, memorandum from Sir Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary, Treasury to H.U.Addington, Permanent Under Secretary, Foreign Office, 3 September 1846.

  9 Hansard, Slavery in Texas, House of Commons, 5 August 1836 at http://hansard.millbanksystems.com (accessed 10.12.2014).

  10 Broadlands mss., GC/MO no.29, quoted in Kenneth Bourne The Foreign Policy of Victorian England 1830-1902 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1970), 228–9.

  11 Ephraim Douglass Adams (ed.) British Diplomatic Correspondence concerning the Republic of Texas, 1838-1846 (Austin, The Texas State Historical Association, 1918), 46–7, Kennedy to Aberdeen, 6 November 1841 at http://archive.org/stream/britishdiplomati00grea# (accessed 11.12.2014).

  12 In 2015 terms, £126,185 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator (accessed 11.4.2016)).

  13 FO 75/4, ff5–6, Aberdeen to Elliot, 1 July 1842.

  14 FO 75/3, f26, Addington to Elliot, 28 June 1842.

  15 FO 75/4, f53, Aberdeen to Elliot (unsigned), 3 December 1842.

  16 Ibid.

  17 Aberdeen papers ms 43126, ff42–43, Elliot to Aberdeen, 15 January 1843.

  18 See Blake Charles Elliot RN, 74.

  19 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 125–30, Elliot to Addington, 15 November 1842 (accessed 5.1.2015).

  20 See Ephraim Douglass Adams British Interests and Activities in Texas 1838– 1846 (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1910), 115.

  21 FO 75/4, f145, Elliot to Addington, 11 December 1842.

  22 Ibid., f142.

  23 Ibid., f158, Elliot to Addington, 16 December 1842.

  24 Ibid., f161, Elliot to Addington, 28 December 1842.

  25 The ships were the Eliza Russell and the Little Penn.

  26 FO 75/6, ff44–47, Elliot to Aberdeen, 23 January 1843.

  27 FO 75/6, ff75–78, Elliot to Aberdeen, 5 February 1843.

  28 Ibid., ff 9–11, Aberdeen to Elliot, 18 May 1843.

  29 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 208-213, Houston to Elliot, 13 May 1843 (accessed 26.1.2015).

  30 Ibid., 205, Elliot to Aberdeen, 8 June 1843.

  31 Minto papers ms 13135, ff49–50, Charles to Emma and Clara, 15 April 1843.

  32 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 186, Elliot to Aberdeen, 12 May 1843 (accessed 29.1.2015).

  33 Minto papers, Elliot to Minto, 6 June 1843, quoted in Hoe and Roebuck The Taking of Hong Kong, 207–9.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Ibid.

  36 Ibid.

  37 Minto papers ms 13137, ff44–47, Clara to Emma, 16 July 1843.

  38 Ibid., ms 13135, ff55–58, Charles to Emma, 6 September 1843.

  39 See British Diplomatic Correspondence, 267, Addington to Elliot, 3 October 1843 (accessed 5.2.2015)

  40 Green to Upshur (undated fragment), quoted in Frederick Merk, Slavery and the Annexation of Texas (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), 12.

  41 Hansard, Texas, House of Lords, 18 August 1843 at http://hansard.millbanksystems.com (accessed 9.2.2015).

  42 Calhoun to Upshur, 27 August 1843 quoted in Merk, Slavery and the Annexation of Texas, 21.

  43 Aberdeen to Doyle, 31 July 1843, quoted in Adams British Interests and Activities in Texas, 138

  44 Murphy and Everett nevertheless had their own theories about British intentions: Murphy thought that Britain sought Texas’ re-annexation to Mexico, Everett that Britain wanted to see Texas commercially strong enough to rival the United States.

  45 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 271–8, Elliot to Aberdeen, 31 October 1843 (accessed 10.2.2015)

  46 Ibid.

  47 See British Diplomatic Correspondence, 283-286, Elliot to Aberdeen, 2 December 1843 (accessed 11.2.2015).

  48 Ibid., 289, Elliot to Aberdeen, 29 December 1843 (accessed 13.2.2015).

  49 Minto papers ms 13135, ff51–53, Charles to Emma, 26 June 1843.

  50 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 289–91, Elliot to Aberdeen, 31 December 1843 (accessed 13.2.2015).

  Chapter Fourteen: ‘Knavish Tricks’

  1 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 299, Elliot to Aberdeen, 17 February 1844 (accessed 24.2.2015).

  2 Quoted in Adams British Interests and Activities in Texas, 157.

  3 William R. Manning, ed., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States: Inter-American Affairs, 1831–1860 (Washington, 1932-1939), Vol.XII, 328, Murphy to Jones, 14 February 1844, quoted in David M. Pletcher The Diplomacy of Annexation: Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican War (Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1975), 132.

  4 Minto papers ms 13135, ff66–67, Charles to Emma, 18 March 1844.

  5 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 301, Rushton to Elliot, 7 March 1844 (accessed 7.3.2015).

  6 Ibid., 300, Elliot to Aberdeen, 7 March 1844 (accessed 7.3.2015).

  7 Ibid., 311–2, Jones to Elliot, 25 March 1844 (accessed 8.3.2015).

  8 Senate Documents, 28 Cong., 1 sess. (ser.435), no. 349, 11, Calhoun to Van Zandt and Henderson. 11 April 1844, quoted in Pletcher The Diplomacy of Annexation, 55.

  9 Quoted in Adams British Interests and Activities in Texas, 164.

  10 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 324-325, Elliot to Aberdeen, 10 May 1844 (accessed 16.3.2015).

  11 Minto papers ms 13135, f68, Charles to Emma, 20 May 1844.

  12 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 325, Elliot to Aberdeen, 20 May 1844 (accessed 19.3.2015).

  13 Ibid.

  14 Quoted in Adams British Interests and Activities in Texas, 171.

  15 See Pletcher The Diplomacy of Annexation, 160.

  16 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 342–33, Elliot to Aberdeen, 22 June 1844 (accessed 2.4.2015).

  17 Ibid.

  18 Ibid., 349–50, Elliot to Aberdeen, 10 July 1844 (accessed 4.4.2015).

  19 Ibid.

  20 Minto papers ms 13135, f73, Charles to Emma, 29 August 1844.

  21 Ibid.

  22 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 372, Elliot to Aberdeen, 28 October 1844 (accessed 4.4.2015)

  23 Ibid., 444, Elliot to Aberdeen, 8 February 1845 (accessed 30.4.2015).

  24 Ibid., 399, Elliot to Aberdeen, 28 December 1844 (accessed 15.4.2015).

  25 Ibid., 397.

  26 Ibid., 401–2, Elliot to Aberdeen, 29 December 1844 (accessed 17.4.2015).

  27 Ibid.

  28 Andrew J. Donelson papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Vol.10 (1844-1845), Duff Green to Donelson, 20 December 1844, quoted in Blake Charles Elliot RN, 99.

  29 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 407, Elliot to Aberdeen, 2 January 184
5 (accessed 17.4.2015).

  30 Ibid., 412, Elliot to Aberdeen, 15 January 1845 (accessed 28.4.2015).

  31 Ibid., 414.

  32 Ibid., 415.

  33 Ibid., 410.

  34 Minto papers ms 13135, f78, Charles to Emma, 15 January 1845.

  35 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 432–3, Aberdeen to Elliot, 23 January 1845 (accessed 28.4.2015).

  36 Ibid., 464–5, Elliot to Aberdeen, 2 April 1845 (accessed 2.5.2015).

  37 Ibid., 468.

  38 HMS Electra, 18-gun sloop.

  39 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 468, Elliot to Aberdeen, 2 April 1845 (accessed 3.5.2015).

  40 HMS Eurydice was a two-year old, fast, 24-gun frigate commanded by Captain George Elliot, son of Charles’ cousin Rear Admiral (later Admiral Sir) George Elliot with whom Charles had served in China.

  41 Peel papers, British Museum, Aberdeen to Peel, 11 May 1845, quoted in Merk Slavery and the Annexation of Texas, 170–1.

  42 Minto papers ms 13135, f80, Charles to Emma, 23 May 1845.

  43 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 503, Elliot to Bankhead, 11 June 1845 (accessed 7.5.2015).

  44 It is not clear what were the ‘private distresses’, but they may have been anxieties about his family, not only Clara’s and their daughter’s health, but the behaviour of their youngest son Gibby, whose persistent habit of lying had been the subject some months earlier of a pleading letter to him from his father to desist – see Hoe and Roebuck The Taking of Hong Kong, 212–3. Four days later, on 15 June, Elliot wrote to Aberdeen citing an attack of ague and fever and saying that he was going to New Orleans for the sake of his health. He indicated that he would then go on to New York (while always being ready, if the situation required it, to return to Texas).

  45 In Aberdeen’s instruction the importance of a coordinated approach between Bankhead, Elliot and de Saligny was a key element – see British Diplomatic Correspondence, 481–5.

  46 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 507–88, Bankhead to Elliot, 29 June 1845 (accessed 7.5.2015).

  47 Ibid., 508–9, Aberdeen to Elliot, 3 July 1845 (accessed 10.5.2015).

  48 Ibid.

  49 Aberdeen papers ms 43126, ff50–51, Elliot to Aberdeen, (no date) March 1844.

  50 Ibid., ff52–57, Elliot to Aberdeen, 26 March 1844.

  51 Ibid., 493–4, Aberdeen to Elliot, 3 June 1845 (accessed 19.5.2015). Adams notes that the withdrawal of Elliot’s complaint letter and related correspondence (see next paragraph) was the only instance of exclusion in the whole of the British Diplomatic Correspondence concerning the Republic of Texas.

  52 The Sabine River had formed Texas’s eastern boundary with the United States since Texan independence in 1836.

  53 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 550, Elliot to Aberdeen, 13 September 1845 (accessed 22.5.2015).

  54 See Minto papers, ms 13135, f84, Charles to Emma, 31 July 1845. Harriet’s date of birth is not clear from the records, but at death she was probably not older than 50.

  55 Ibid., f89, Charles to Emma, 15 August 1845.

  56 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 562, Aberdeen to Elliot, 3 December 1845 (accessed 26.5.2015).

  57 New York Herald archives 2336, 22 December 1845, at fultonhistory.com/my%20photo%20albums/All%20Newspapers/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/index.html (accessed 26.5.2015).

  58 Ibid.

  59 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 576–81, Elliot to Aberdeen, 8 January 1846 (accessed 27.5.2015).

  60 Minto papers, ms 21217, ff45–46, Aberdeen to Elliot, 3 April 1846.

  61 British Diplomatic Correspondence, 619–20, Elliot to Aberdeen, 18 June 1846 (accessed 27.5.2015).

  62 Grey papers ms GRE/B84/10/14, Elliot to Grey, 28 August 1846.

  Chapter Fifteen: ‘A Delightful Residence’

  1 Quoted in Hugh Tinker Victorian Colonial Governors in History Today Vol.40, Issue 12, 3, 12 December 1990 at http://www.historytoday.com (accessed 27.4.2016).

  2 Caroline Stephen The Right Honourable Sir James Stephen: Letters (1906), 207–8, quoted in Hoe and Roebuck The Taking of Hong Kong, 222.

  3 Rules and Regulations for the Information and Guidance of the Principal Officers and Others in His Majesty’s Colonial Possessions, 1837 quoted in Anthony Kirk-Greene On Crown Service (London, I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd., 1999), 9.

  4 Minto papers, ms 21217, f52, Aberdeen to Elliot, 13 September 1846.

  5 CO 41/2, Bermuda Royal Gazette, 27 October 1846.

  6 Imports in 2015 terms, £14.7 million (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/inflation/calculator/index1.aspx, accessed 3.7.2015).

  7 CO 41/41, Bermuda Blue Book 1846.

  8 At the start of 1848 the hulks were Coromandel, Dromedary, Medway, Tenedos and Thames; all had initially been in service as warships and subsequently converted for prison use.

  9 CO 37/114, ff359–362, Elliot to Grey, 17 October 1846.

  10 Ibid.

  11 CO 41/41, Blue Book 1846 (1843 census).

  12 Salary in 2015 terms, £231,235 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator, accessed 11.4.2016).

  13 CO 41/41 Blue Book 1846 and CO 41/49 Blue Book 1854.

  14 CO 325/20 Colonial Governors’ Salaries at December 1834.

  15 Austen was an elder brother of the novelist Jane Austen.

  16 CO 37/116, ff7–8, Elliot to Grey, 6 January 1847.

  17 For elaboration of this theme see Kwasi Kwarteng Ghosts of Empire: Britain’s Legacies in the Modern World (New York, PublicAffairs, 2011), passim.

  18 Melgund was later to become the third Earl of Minto; he was the husband of Elliot’s niece Emma (Nina) and son of his cousin Gilbert, the second Earl.

  19 Ephraim Selby, factor (manager) on the Minto estate; see John Evans The Victorian Elliots in Peace and War (Stroud, Amberley Publishing, 2012), 12.

  20 £50 in 2015 terms £5257 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator, accessed 11.4.2016).

  21 Minto papers, ms 12256, ff302–303, Elliot to Melgund, 14 April 1847.

  22 Grey papers, ms GRE/B84/10/15, Grey to Elliot,1 July 1847.

  23 In 2015 terms, £1,906,032 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator, accessed 11.4.2016).

  24 Reported in the Bermuda Royal Gazette – see Blake Charles Elliot RN, 113.

  25 CO 37/118/24.

  26 CO 41/4, Bermuda Herald, 1 July 1847.

  27 Quoted in Anonymous, Ferdinand Whittingham Bermuda, a colony, a fortress and a prison: or, Eighteen months in the Somers’ Islands (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857), 90 (Reprinted USA, Scholar’s Choice, 2015).

  28 CO 41/2, Bermuda Royal Gazette, 18 July 1848. Support expenditure figures in 2015 terms: £72,250 and £140,007 respectively (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator, accessed 11.4.2016).

  29 Admiralty The Navy List (London, John Murray, 1821-1881), quoted in John Francis Beeler British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, 1866–1880 (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1997), 28.

  30 Quoted in Ian Stranack The Andrew and the Onions: The Story of the Royal Navy in Bermuda 1795-1975 (Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime Press, 1990), 14.

  31 Quoted in Henry Campbell Wilkinson Bermuda from Sail to Steam: The History of the Island from 1784 to 1901, Vol.2 (London, Oxford University Press, 1973), 600.

  32 Grey papers, ms GRE/B84/10/40, Elliot to Grey, December 1851.

  33 Ibid., ms GRE/B84/10/18, Grey to Elliot, 29 May 1848.

  34 Ibid., ms GRE/B84/10/22, Elliot to Grey, 26 June 1848.

  35 John Mitchel Jail Journal; or, Five Years in British Prisons (New York, The Citizen, 1854), 68, at https://archive.org/details/jailjournalorfi00mitcgoog (accessed 21.8.2015).

  36 Grey papers, ms GRE/B84/10/24, Elliot to Grey, 10 July 1848. The Ticket of Leave system for convicts was essentially one of parole after probation.

  37 Ibid.

  38 CO 37/122, ff 51–52, Elliot to Grey, 22 June 1848.

  39
Ibid.

  40 CO 37/122, f93, Elliot to Grey, 3 July 1848.

  41 See CO 37/123/11.

  42 Minto papers, ms 13140, ff145–147, Elliot to Gibby, 5 April 1849.

  43 CO 37/141, f38, internal Colonial Office memorandum, 26 May 1852.

  44 Ibid.

  45 See Wilkinson Bermuda from Sail to Steam, 607, and Averil Kear Bermuda Dick (Lydney, Lightmoor Press, 2002), 108–9.

  46 CO 37/144, ff172–175, Merivale to Waddington, 22 October 1853.

  47 In 2015 terms, £128,107 (illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator, accessed 11.4.2016).

  48 CO 37/144, f404, Elliot to Newcastle, 24 December 1853.

  49 CO 37/146, ff95–97, Elliot to Newcastle, 24 January 1854 .

  50 CO 37/146, f146, Elliot to Colonial Office, 13 February 1854.

  51 Wilkinson Bermuda from Sail to Steam, 600.

  Chapter Sixteen: Back to the Caribbean

  1 Picton was killed in action at Waterloo and posthumously feted as a military hero, but he had previously been tried for his involvement in the torture of a slave girl while Governor of Trinidad.

  2 Harris to Grey, quoted in L.A.A. de Verteuil Trinidad: Its Geography, Natural Resources, Administration, Present Condition and Prospects (London, Ward and Lock, 1858), 343 (Reprinted London, Forgotten Books, 2015).

  3 CO 41/3 Bermuda Royal Gazette 27 September 1853.

  4 Minto papers, ms 13138, ff209-224, Freddy to (aunt) Emma, 26 August 1854.

  5 CO 296/22 f22, Peel to Harris, 4 March 1854.

  6 Ibid., ff25–26, Merivale to Treasury, 12 June 1854.

  7 Ibid.

  8 In 2015 terms, £1,457,142. Preceding sums mentioned for the individual projects would translate to £680,000; £194,285; £291,428 and £194,285 respectively (Illustrative – Bank of England inflation calculator at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/resources/inflationtools/calculator/flash/default.aspx (accessed 11.4.2016).

  9 CO 296/22 ff28–29, Merivale to Trevelyan, 24 June 1854.

  10 The Secretary of State was a nephew of Charles second Earl Grey and former Prime Minister.

  11 CO 295/191, ff124–133, Elliot to Labouchere, 24 January 1856.

  12 CO 295/193, Hume to de Verteuil, 1 May 1856, quoted in Donald Wood Trinidad in Transition: the Years after Slavery (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1968), 16.