ANTECEDENTS OF THE WAR.
I. THE OPIUM TRADE.
Its increase caused alarm to Chinese Government by throwing
the balance of trade against China -- English manufacturers
deplored the same fact -- Drain of silver -- Government
opposition to the importation of opium -- Official
participation in the trade -- The reign of sham --
Illustrated by Mr Hunter -- Captain Elliot volunteers to
prevent smuggling -- Rebuffed by Canton authorities -- The
principal patrons of the opium trade -- Imperial Government
and the opium traffic -- Proposals to legalise it -- The
Empress -- Commissioner Lin appointed to suppress trade --
His uncompromising proceedings at Canton -- Imprisonment of
the foreign merchants, and of the British envoy --
Surrender of opium by Captain Elliot.
Commerce itself had also for some time been a source of disquietude,
and it is an interesting circumstance that it was the same feature of
it which caused anxiety to both sides. The balance of trade was
against China, which in the year 1838 had to provide bullion to the
amount of upwards of £2,000,000 sterling to pay for the excess of
imports over exports. English manufacturers deplored the fact that the
purchasing power of China was restricted by the paucity of her
commodities suitable for foreign markets, while the Chinese
authorities saw with genuine alarm a yearly drain of what they deemed
the life-blood of their national wealth; for not only was silver and
gold bullion exported in what to them were large amounts, but the
vessels which brought raw cotton and opium from India were frequently
ballasted for the return voyage with the copper coinage of the
country. Crude, arbitrary, and quite ineffectual devices were resorted
to by the Chinese for the arrest or mitigation of the leakage of the
precious metal. Opium, being the commodity which the people most
imperatively demanded, was always paid for in hard cash, while
ordinary merchandise might be bartered against Chinese produce. It is
not therefore difficult to understand how, without prejudice to moral
or political considerations, the article opium should have become so
conspicuous a factor in the agony which preceded the war.
In characterising the relations then subsisting between the Chinese
and foreigners as lawless, it is not meant that China is a country
governed without law, although it is true that even in the purely
domestic administration of the State legality is systematically
travestied. But in connection with foreign relations, and almost as a
necessity of the case, every trace of legality was obliterated in
practice, and the merchants were constantly entangled in a labyrinth
of illusions and pitfalls. No regulation was, or was ever intended to
be, carried out as promulgated; it was generally something quite
different that was aimed at, and it is literally true that the law was
more honoured in the breach than in the observance.
Many Chinese eagles swooped on the carcass of foreign trade; various
authorities competed for the spoil; and the constantly changing orders
were often merely stratagems by which one set of officials sought to
steal an advantage over another. The rules of the game were perfectly
understood, and the loftiest professions of public duty were the
invariable concomitant of the most corrupt practice.
The two principal trade authorities in Canton were the viceroy of the
two provinces, and the _hoppo_, who held an independent commission
from Peking as superintendent of the customs. Smuggling was of course
systematic. Though there were severe dormant laws against it whereby
unwary individuals might on occasion be entrapped, yet the practice
was openly carried on in every department of traffic, its chief
patrons being the viceroy and the _hoppo_. The importation of opium
was officially prohibited, but no branch of trade was so effectually
protected. The depot ships lay in what was regarded as the outer
waters of China--that is, the archipelago in the estuary of the Canton
river. But the drug was brought to land in the viceroy's own boats and
to his profit. The traffic was conducted under a fluctuating
arrangement between the native merchants and the authorities, the
latter taking frequent occasion to pick quarrels with the former in
order to have a pretext for extortion. The fees levied upon the
opium-dealers were divided among the officials, but they could never
trust each other to deal fairly in the distribution of the takings. By
way of check on sharp practice a Chinese war-vessel was in the habit
of visiting the receiving ships, taking from them an account of their
deliveries, and at the same time making a small levy for the
commanders personal behoof, for which a formal receipt was granted.
A new _hoppo_ came to Canton in 1837, and, as had been the custom
with his predecessors, he inaugurated his commission by issuing
drastic edicts, in concert with the viceroy, against the sale of
opium, even going through the form of arresting some of the dealers.
This demonstration, like all that had gone before, was merely intended
to cover a heavier exaction than had yet been levied. The dealers and
boatmen refused the terms, and by way of protest the latter burned
their boats. Whereupon the two high officers built boats of their own,
which, with the Government ones already employed in the business,
brought the whole of the opium to Canton. In this manner was the trade
resumed after a temporary stoppage caused by the strike of the dealers
and boat-owners against the extortions of the viceroy and _hoppo_. Nor
was there ever any secret in Peking respecting these proceedings.
Indeed the occasion of any high official travelling to the capital was
always marked by a great enhancement of the market price of opium, of
which the official or his retinue invariably carried a large quantity
for sale there. This circumstance was published in the trade circulars
printed in Canton, without the least concealment of the name of the
mandarin under whose protection the drug was transported. The _hoppo_
was, and still is, an imperial _protégé_, and it was, and is still,
perfectly understood that he divides the proceeds of his Canton
harvest with his patrons. It is for that purpose that he receives the
appointment. And this was a trade proscribed under extreme penalties
by imperial edict! It is needless to trace the network of elusion in
which the administrative ingenuity of Chinese officialdom was
exercised, and the specimen given above may be taken as typical of
the system. "Nevertheless, during the year 1838 very serious and
determined measures began to be adopted by the Chinese authorities,
directed generally against the trade in opium; and imperial edicts
threatened death as the punishment for both the dealers in and smokers
of the drug."
It is hardly possible outside of China to realise the systematic
make-believe under which public affairs are carried on.
Life and business in Canton, says Mr Hunter,[4] was a
conundrum as insoluble as the Sphinx; everything worked
smoothly by acting in direct opposition to what we were
told to do. Certainly we were told to "listen and obey," to
"tremble and not by obstinacy and irregularity to court the
wrath of the imperial will"! We were reminded from time to
time that we were "sojourning in the land on sufferance."
We were threatened and re-threatened with the "direst
penalties if we sold _foreign mud_ to the people; truly
forbearance could no longer be exercised." Yet we continued
to sell the drug as usual. Our receiving ships at Lintin
must no longer loiter at that anchorage, but "forthwith
either come into port or return to their respective
countries." The heart of the ruler of all within the _Four
Seas_ was indeed full of compassion and had been indulgent
to the barbarians. But now no more delay could be granted,
"cruisers would be sent to open their irresistible
broadsides" upon the foreign ships. Yet in spite of these
terrors the ships never budged. We were "forbidden to
wander about except three times a-month, and that not
without a linguist," but we walked whenever we pleased, and
the linguist is the last person we ever saw.
And so on through a long catalogue of prohibitions to the disregard of
which the officials themselves were always parties.
We get an exact description also of the mode in which the opium trade
was carried on from the pen of Mr Hunter, himself an actor as well as
an eyewitness. It furnishes a perfect illustration of the reign of
sham which prevails generally in China:--
We anchored on the inside of the island of Namoa close by
two English brigs, the Omega and Governor Findlay. Inshore
of us were riding at anchor two men-of-war junks, with much
bunting displayed; one bore the flag of a _foo-tseang_ or
commodore. Knowing the "formalities" to be gone through
with the mandarins, we expected a visit from one, and until
it was made no Chinese boat would come alongside, nor would
a junk, not even a bumboat. We had no sooner furled sails
and made everything shipshape, when his "Excellency"
approached in his gig--a sort of scow as broad as she was
long.... He was received at the gangway by Captain Forster.
His manner and bearing were easy and dignified. When
cheroots and a glass of wine had been offered, the
"commodore" inquired the cause of our anchoring at Namoa.
The _shroff_ gave him to understand that the vessel, being
on her way from Singapore to Canton, had been compelled,
through contrary winds and currents, to run for Namoa to
replenish her wood and water. Having listened attentively,
the great man said that "any supplies might be obtained,
but when they were on board, not a moment must be lost in
sailing for Whampoa, as the Great Emperor did not permit
vessels from afar to visit any other port." He then gravely
pulled from his boot a long red document and handed it to
his secretary, that we might be informed of its purport. It
was as follows:--
_An Imperial Edict._
As the port of Canton is the only one at which outside
barbarians are allowed to trade, on no account can they be
permitted to wander about to other places in the "Middle
Kingdom." The "Son of Heaven," however, whose compassion is
as boundless as the ocean, cannot deny to those who are in
distress from want of food, through adverse seas and
currents, the necessary means of continuing their voyage.
When supplied they must no longer loiter, but depart at
once. Respect this.
TAO-KUANG, _17th year, 6th moon, 4th sun_.
This "imperial edict" having been replaced in its envelope
and slipped inside of his boot (for service on the chance
of another foreign vessel "in distress"), his Excellency
arose from his seat, which was a signal for all his
attendants to return to the boat, except his secretary. The
two were then invited to the cabin to refresh, which being
done, we proceeded to business. The mandarin opened by the
direct questions, "How many chests have you on board? Are
they all for Namoa? Do you go farther up the coast?"
Intimating at the same time that _there_ the officers were
uncommonly strict, and were obliged to carry out the will
of the "Emperor of the Universe," &c. But our answers were
equally as clear and prompt, that the vessel was not going
north of Namoa, that her cargo consisted of about 200
chests. Then came the question of _cumsha_, and that was
settled on the good old Chinese principle of "all same
custom." Everything being thus comfortably arranged, wine
drunk, and cheroots smoked, his Excellency said "Kaou-tsze"
(I announce my departure).... Chinese buyers came on board
freely the moment they saw the "official" visit had been
made. A day or two after, several merchant junks stood out
from the mainland for the anchorage. As they approached we
distinguished a private signal at their mastheads, a copy
of which had been furnished to us before leaving
Capshuymun. We hoisted ours, the junks anchored close to
us, and in a surprisingly short time received from the Rose
in their own boats the opium, which had been sold at
Canton, and there paid for, deliverable at this anchorage.
It was a good illustration of the entire confidence
existing between the foreign seller in his factory at
Canton and the Chinese buyers, and of a transaction for a
breach of any of the conditions of which there existed no
legal redress on one side or the other.
[Illustration: MACAO.]
From his asylum in Macao Captain Elliot thought he saw an opportunity
for making a fresh attempt to ingratiate himself with the Chinese
authorities. Disregarding the fact that the only return for his
previous efforts at conciliation had been accumulated insult and
odious accusations against himself personally, Captain Elliot resolved
on trying once more. So, when the opium agitation broke out in
1838-39, he volunteered his assistance in suppressing smuggling in the
river. The viceroy, being the head and front of the abuse, spurned the
offer, saying, what was perfectly true, that he could stop the traffic
himself by a stroke of the pen.
Ignoring the rebuff, Captain Elliot did nevertheless issue an order
that "all British-owned schooners, or other vessels habitually or
occasionally engaged in the illicit opium traffic, _within_ the Bocca
Tigris, should remove before the expiration of three days, and not
again return within the Bocca Tigris, being so engaged." And they were
at the same time distinctly warned, that if "any British subjects were
feloniously to cause the death of a Chinaman in consequence of
persisting in the trade within the Bocca Tigris, he would be liable to
capital punishment; that no owners of such vessels so engaged would
receive any assistance or interposition from the British Government in
case the Chinese Government should seize any of them; and that all
British subjects employed in these vessels would be held responsible
for any consequences which might arise from forcible resistance
offered to the Chinese Government, in the same manner as if such
resistance were offered to their own or any other Government, in their
own or in any foreign country." This gratuitous assumption of the
functions of the Chinese executive plunged Captain Elliot into still
greater difficulties, and prepared the way for the tragic events which
were to follow a year later. In vulgar parlance he "gave himself away"
to the Chinese, for in professing to be able to stop opium traffic
within the river he tacitly accepted the responsibility of stopping
it also in the estuary, where the British depot ships lay at anchor.
It was, in fact, the driving home of this responsibility by the
Chinese which was the apparent occasion of the war. For it is certain
that during his three years of office as representative of the Crown
of England Captain Elliot had given no provocation to the Chinese, nor
had he in any way withstood their aggression.
But a sudden change now came over the scene. The opium question had
been for some time debated in the imperial counsels with considerable
earnestness, the issue turning on the alternatives of suppressing or
legalising the traffic. It seems likely that in those deliberations
the reigning emperor, Tao-kuang, played a very secondary part; indeed
as an active factor in the government of the country he appears to
have been of little more account than his successors have been. He is
described as an amiable but weak man, sensible of the difficulties of
his country, but misinformed with regard to them by the favourites
around him. The most interesting personality about the Imperial Court
at that time appears to have been the empress, who had raised herself
to that exalted position by her talents as well as by her
fascinations. Though her career was a very short one, she exercised a
potent influence on affairs throughout the whole empire. She was
credited with a rare power of judging men and of selecting them for
offices of trust. She was a reformer of abuses and a true patriot; but
what was most remarkable, considering the order of ideas which
surrounded her, she held liberal views as to the extension of foreign
intercourse, and was at the head of the party which was in favour of
legalising the opium traffic. A memorial addressed to her urging this
measure was submitted by the emperor to the governor of Canton, Tang,
who with his colleagues reported on it favourably. The success of the
empress's policy enraged her enemies and stirred them to the most
strenuous efforts to compass her fall. The emperor, it is said,
remained neutral in this strife. The opposition party prevailed,
gaining over the emperor to their side while he was smarting from the
grief caused by the death of his own son from opium, an event which
enlisted his personal feelings against the drug.
So far, however, had the question been carried, that the legalisation
of the opium trade was fully anticipated by Captain Elliot up to the
very hour that the storm burst.
The final decision of the Government was to put an end to the trade,
for which purpose they sent an imperial commissioner to Canton, armed
with full authority to carry out the emperor's edicts. He arrived at
his post, March 10, 1839. Commissioner Lin, the best known character,
with the exception of Captain Elliot himself, in connection with the
war, was a man of uncommon energy and resolution, and was therefore in
some respects well chosen for the extraordinary task which was imposed
upon him. He was a native of Fukien province, an official of high
standing, having been Governor-General of the Central Provinces, the
Hu Kwang. He was now appointed Governor-General of the Two Kwang and
Imperial Commissioner for dealing with the opium question. As a
Chinese administrator he had been popular, and was no doubt possessed
of many high qualities.[5] It is possible that had he taken time to
study the foreign question with which he had to deal, and had he not
been betrayed by his too easy initial successes, he might have been
the means of placing the foreign relations of his country on a footing
of mutual accommodation. A reasonable man would have perceived the
utter impossibility of preventing the Chinese people from purchasing a
commodity for which they had an overmastering desire. He showed great
ignorance of human nature in proposing to break his countrymen of
opium-smoking within a year, after which time offenders were to be
beheaded.[6] This was but a sample of his violence and of his
incapacity to see two sides of a question. It must be remembered,
however, that he had undertaken to carry out the emperor's
instructions, and it is difficult to pronounce what amount of latitude
he might have allowed himself in the interpretation of them.
His proceedings were of an uncompromising character most unusual with
Chinese. Possessing full authority, he exercised it to the utmost,
terrorising all the local officials into absolute subservience. The
governor of Canton, himself deeply implicated in the opium traffic, a
fact well known to the Imperial Commissioner, was constrained to save
himself by affecting the utmost zeal in executing the commissioner's
behests. Having thus disposed of all the opposition with which Chinese
high officials have usually to reckon from their subordinates, Lin
gave the rein to his headstrong temper, and instead of effecting
reform, plunged his country into a war which shattered the imperial
prestige.
Within three weeks of Lin's arrival in Canton the drastic measures
against foreigners, and particularly against the opium trade,
culminated in his imprisoning the whole of the merchants within their
factories at Canton, menacing them with further outrages on their
person. At this crisis Captain Elliot, having left his residence at
Macao, made his way under difficulties to Canton, that he might share
the captivity of his countrymen and act as their head and mouthpiece.
Having thus got the superintendent of trade into his power,
Commissioner Lin preferred most extravagant demands upon him,
including the delivery to the Chinese of all opium owned by British
merchants, which amounted to 20,000 chests valued at upwards of
£2,000,000. The imprisoned merchants had no choice but to yield to the
demand made upon them by the representative of the British Crown; and
as the recent agitations had interfered greatly with the course of
trade, their assent to the terms was no doubt soothed by the
reflection that they were making a clearance sale of their goods to a
solvent purchaser, her Majesty's Government. They issued their
delivery orders for the opium on the 27th March 1839. It is to the
credit of Commissioner Lin that in a memorial to the throne he
commended the loyalty of certain of the British merchants.[7]
This grand concession to the demand of Commissioner Lin was but the
climax of all the antecedent steps of British submission. There was no
haggling, but a prompt and unconditional surrender in the following
terms:--
_Elliot to the Imperial Commissioner._
CANTON, _March 27, 1839_.
Elliot, &c., &c., has now the honour to receive for the
first time your Excellency's commands, bearing date the
26th day of March, issued by the pleasure of the Great
Emperor, to deliver over into the hands of honourable
officers to be appointed by your Excellency all the opium
in the hands of British subjects.
Elliot must faithfully and completely fulfil these
commands, and he has now respectfully to request that your
Excellency will be pleased to indicate the point to which
the ships of his nation, having opium on board, are to
proceed, so that the whole may be delivered up.
The faithful account of the same shall be transmitted as
soon as it is ascertained.
Captain Elliot did not even give himself time to verify the figures,
and in his haste committed himself to the delivery of more opium than
was actually in being. The consequence was that he could not deliver
until fresh importations arrived, when he was obliged to enter the
market as an opium merchant and purchase sufficient to enable him to
fulfil his engagement.
II. THE SEQUEL TO THE SURRENDER OF OPIUM.
Captain Elliot complains of his lengthened imprisonment --
The continued cruelties of Commissioner Lin -- Subservience
of the Portuguese -- English merchants driven from their
homes in Macao to seek refuge on shipboard -- Pursued by
the vengeance of the Commissioner -- Chinese claim absolute
jurisdiction over person and property -- Demand for an
English seaman for execution.
The interesting question in all this is how the Chinese authorities
were impressed with the magnanimous sacrifice of over £2,000,000
sterling worth of private property as a ransom for the liberties of
British subjects. They were certainly not impressed favourably, for
Captain Elliot, together with the whole community, was detained for
many weeks after the delivery of the opium close prisoners in Canton,
and cut off from all outside communication. A week after the surrender
Captain Elliot wrote to Lord Palmerston, "The blockade is increasing
in closeness.... This is the first time in our intercourse with this
empire that its Government has taken the unprovoked initiative in
aggressive measures against British life, property, and liberty, and
against the dignity of the British Crown." On the same day the
Imperial Commissioner threatened to cut off the water-supply from the
beleaguered merchants. A week later Captain Elliot wrote, "The
blockade is not relaxed, ... the reverse is the case;" and he was
constrained, though with evident reluctance, to characterise "the late
measures as public robbery and wanton violence." Commissioner Lin's
"continuance of the state of restraint, insult, and dark intimidation,
subsequently to the surrender, has classed the case amongst the most
shameless violences which one nation has yet dared to perpetrate
against another." And there is a forlorn pathos in his confession, a
fortnight later, of the futility of "remonstrances from a man in my
present situation to a high Chinese officer determined to be false and
perfidious."
Nor did the Chinese appetite for cruelty cease to grow by what it fed
upon even after the crisis of the Canton imprisonment was over. The
British community, when forced to seek safety on board of their ships,
were pursued from anchorage to anchorage by the implacable vengeance
of the Imperial Commissioner. The natives were by proclamation ordered
to "intercept and wholly cut off all supplies" from the English, some
of whom "had gone to reside on board the foreign ships at Hongkong,
and it was to be apprehended that in their extremity some may land at
the outer villages and hamlets along the coast to purchase
provisions," in which case the "people were to drive them back, fire
upon or make prisoners of them." "Even when they land to take water
from the springs, stop their progress and let them not have it in
their power to drink." Another proclamation stated that "poison had
been put into this water; let none of our people take it to drink."
During the summer of 1839 many murderous outrages were perpetrated by
the Commissioner's orders on English small craft wherever they were
found isolated or defenceless.
It is not necessary to pursue these barbarities in detail. Sufficient
has been advanced to illustrate the spirit in which the Chinese
Government, in a time of peace and without a vestige of provocation,
drove the retreating and absolutely submissive English to desperation.
And their characteristic manner of recompensing servility was
illustrated with cynical humour in a long memorandum drawn up during
the progress of the war by Commissioner Lin, the author of the savage
proceedings just referred to. "Since," he says, "the English are so
eager for the recommencement of their traffic, let us couple the grant
with another stipulation, that they present us with the head of
Elliot, the leader in every mischief, the disturber of the peace, and
the source of all this trouble"--the last statement containing more
truth than probably the writer himself fully realised.
Under such conditions it was obviously impossible to place the persons
and property of British subjects at the mercy of Chinese officials.
Yet this is what the authorities at Canton insisted upon,--"full
submission to Chinese penal legislation, involving capital punishment
by Chinese forms of trial." This was no new claim. The Chinese were
simply following the precedents. English, French, and Americans had
each in turn given up their men to be strangled on the demand of the
Chinese authorities, and though the right had not been exercised for
nearly twenty years, Lin evidently thought the occasion favourable for
reviving it. He furnished a clear explanation of what a Chinese trial
would be by demanding of the British representative the unconditional
surrender for execution of the alleged murderer of a Chinese. To
Captain Elliot's almost penitential protestations, that he had been
unable to discover the assumed murderer among the numerous liberty men
of ships of more than one nationality who had been in the scuffle, the
Chinese authorities paid no regard whatever. The Queen's
representative was publicly denounced in scurrilous language by
Commissioner Lin for concealing and failing to deliver up an offender,
and for criminal violation of the laws of China as "shown by our
reiterated proclamations and clear commands." This truculent
proclamation being followed by an ultimatum giving ten days for the
surrender of the unknown murderer under threat of the extermination of
the British community, the latter had to escape in a body from Canton
to seek refuge in Macao, whence they were expelled by the authorities
of that settlement at the behest of the Chinese commissioner. This act
of loyalty on the part of the Portuguese was duly acknowledged by the
Imperial Commissioners reply, through his subordinate officials, in
the following terms:--
We have received from his Excellency the Imperial
Commissioner a reply to our representation that the English
foreigners had, one and all, left Macao, and that the
Portuguese Governor and Procurador had ably and strenuously
aided in their expulsion, and faithfully repressed
disorder. The reply is to this effect:--
That the Portuguese Governor and Procurador having thus
ably obeyed the commands for their expulsion, evinces the
respectful sense of duty of those officers, and merits
commendation. I, the High Commissioner, in company with the
Governor, will personally repair to Macao to soothe and
encourage. And you are required to pay instant obedience
hereto, by making this intention known to them.
Captain Elliot, in a despatch to the Portuguese governor,
characterised his act as a participation "in measures of unprecedented
inhospitality and enmity against British subjects."[8]
Into the merits of the opium question itself, or of that unique
transaction, the surrender of £2,000,000 sterling worth of the
commodity by a British agent on the mere demand of a Chinese official,
it would be impossible to enter within the limits of space assigned to
us. But it is obvious that such a demand, made within two years of the
time when the viceroy of Canton was building a flotilla to carry the
merchants' drug from the receiving ships to his provincial capital,
was something so extravagant that compliance with it must be followed
either by open war or by complete submission and the abandonment of
China as a trading field. It is of course conceivable that had the
ordinary Chinese canon been applied to the case, and the proclamations
of Commissioner Lin been interpreted, like those that had gone before,
as the inaugural bombast of a newcomer, the demands might have been
evaded with impunity. The Portuguese, in fact, did evade them by the
simple expedient of sending their opium to sea for a time and bringing
it back again. There is some ground for the surmise that the High
Commissioner himself reckoned on evasion, and was even embarrassed by
his unexpected success in having such an enormous amount of property
frankly thrown on his hands. Our collision with China may thus be said
to have been brought about by a breach in the continuity of precedents
on both sides,--we reckoning up to a certain point on the continuance
of sham, and the Chinese on the continuance of submission. Both were
misled, and there was no way of reconciliation but by the arbitrament
of force.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Bits of Old China. Kegan Paul.
[5] When he visited Macao later in the year 1839--after the
events--there were public demonstrations in his honour, whether
prompted by public respect for his despotic power or approval of the
use he had just made of it, or merely a recognition of his previously
established reputation, may very well remain an open question.
[6] Possibly, however, this was but a specimen of the hyperbolic
diction which is habitual with the Chinese. An official will threaten
his servant with instant decapitation for a trifling offence, meaning
nothing whatever thereby.
[7] As in its commutation for the surrender of slave property, so now
the British Government inflicted serious injustice on the owners of
the opium. Captain Elliot's drafts on the Treasury were dishonoured,
he having had no authority to draw, and the merchants had to wait four
years for a most inadequate payment.
[8] "By the treaty of 1703," wrote Sir Anders Ljunstedt, the last
chief of the Swedish Company's factory, "Portugal placed herself, as
it were, under the protection of Great Britain. This Power never
failed to render her ally the assistance she stood in need of either
in Europe or her ultramarine dominions." The English had defended
Macao against the French in 1803.