THE CANTON RIVER--NEGOTIATING WITH THE CHINESE--PRISONERS RELEASED.
The Commodore, having taken pilots on board, proceeded with his prize for
the river of Canton, and on the 14th of July came to an anchor short of
the Bocca Tigris, which is a narrow passage forming the mouth of that
river. This entrance he proposed to stand through the next day, and to
run up as far as Tiger Island, which is a very safe road, secured from
all winds.
CHINESE INQUIRIES.
But whilst the Centurion and her prize were thus at anchor, a boat with
an officer came off from the mandarin commanding the forts at Bocca
Tigris to examine what the ships were and whence they came. Mr. Anson
informed the officer that his ship was a ship of war, belonging to the
King of Great Britain, and that the other in company with him was a prize
he had taken; that he was going into Canton River to shelter himself
against the hurricanes which were then coming on; and that as soon as the
monsoon shifted he should proceed for England. The officer then desired
an account of what men, guns, and ammunition were on board, a list of all
which, he said, was to be sent to the Government of Canton. But when
these articles were repeated to him, particularly when he was told that
there were in the Centurion four hundred fire locks and between three
hundred and four hundred barrels of powder, he shrugged up his shoulders
and seemed to be terrified with the bare recital, saying that no ships
ever came into Canton River armed in that manner; adding that he durst
not set down the whole of this force, lest it should too much alarm the
Regency. After he had finished his enquiries, and was preparing to
depart, he desired to leave the two custom-house officers behind him, on
which the Commodore told him that though as a man-of-war he was
prohibited from trading, and had nothing to do with customs or duties of
any kind, yet for the satisfaction of the Chinese he would permit two of
their people to be left on board, who might themselves be witnesses how
punctually he should comply with his instructions. The officer seemed
amazed when Mr. Anson mentioned being exempted from all duties, and told
him that the Emperor's duty must be paid by all ships that came into his
ports.
On the 16th of July the Commodore sent his second lieutenant to Canton
with a letter to the Viceroy, informing him of the reason of the
Centurion's putting into that port, and that the Commodore himself soon
proposed to repair to Canton to pay a visit to the Viceroy. The
lieutenant was very civilly received, and was promised that an answer
should be sent to the Commodore the next day. In the meantime Mr. Anson
gave leave to several of the officers of the galleon to go to Canton,
they engaging their parole to return in two days. When these prisoners
got to Canton the Regency sent for them and examined them, enquiring
particularly by what means they had fallen into Mr. Anson's power. And on
this occasion the prisoners were honest enough to declare that as the
Kings of Great Britain and Spain were at war, they had proposed to
themselves the taking of the Centurion, and had bore down upon her with
that view, but that the event had been contrary to their hopes. However,
they acknowledged that they had been treated by the Commodore much better
than they believed they should have treated him had he fallen into their
hands. This confession from an enemy had great weight with the Chinese,
who till then, though they had revered the Commodore's power, had yet
suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless free
booter than as one commissioned by the State for revenge of public
injuries. But they now changed their opinion, and regarded him as a more
important person, to which perhaps the vast treasure of his prize might
not a little contribute, the acquisition of wealth being a matter greatly
adapted to the estimation and reverence of the Chinese nation.
In this examination of the Spanish prisoners, though the Chinese had no
reason in the main to doubt the account which was given them, yet there
were two circumstances which appeared to them so singular as to deserve a
more ample explanation. One of them was the great disproportion of men
between the Centurion and the galleon, the other was the humanity with
which the people of the galleon were treated after they were taken. The
mandarins therefore asked the Spaniards how they came to be overpowered
by so inferior a force, and how it happened, since the two nations were
at war, that they were not put to death when they came into the hands of
the English. To the first of these enquiries the Spanish replied that
though they had more hands than the Centurion, yet she, being intended
solely for war, had a great superiority in the size of her guns, and in
many other articles, over the galleon, which was a vessel fitted out
principally for traffic. And as to the second question, they told the
Chinese that amongst the nations of Europe it was not customary to put to
death those who submitted, though they readily owned that the Commodore,
from the natural bias of his temper, had treated both them and their
countrymen, who had formerly been in his power, with very unusual
courtesy, much beyond what they could have expected, or than was required
by the customs established between nations at war with each other. These
replies fully satisfied the Chinese, and at the same time wrought very
powerfully in the Commodore's favour.
A MESSAGE FROM THE VICEROY.
On the 20th of July, in the morning, three mandarins, with a great number
of boats and a vast retinue, came on board the Centurion and delivered to
the Commodore the Viceroy of Canton's order for a daily supply of
provisions, and for pilots to carry the ships up the river as far as the
second bar; and at the same time they delivered him a message from the
Viceroy in answer to the letter sent to Canton. The substance of the
message was that the Viceroy desired to be excused from receiving the
Commodore's visit during the then excessive hot weather, because the
assembling the mandarins and soldiers necessary to that ceremony would
prove extremely inconvenient and fatiguing; but that in September, when
the weather would be more temperate, he should be glad to see both the
Commodore himself and the English captain of the other ship that was with
him. As Mr. Anson knew that an express had been dispatched to the court
at Peking with an account of the Centurion and her prize being arrived in
the river of Canton, he had no doubt but the principal motive for putting
off this visit was that the regency at Canton might gain time to receive
the Emperor's instructions about their behaviour on this unusual affair.
When the mandarins had delivered their message they began to talk to the
Commodore about the duties to be paid by his ships, but he immediately
told them that he would never submit to any demand of that kind, adding
that no duties were ever demanded of men-of-war by nations accustomed to
their reception, and that his master's orders expressly forbade him from
paying any acknowledgment for his ships anchoring in any port whatever.
The mandarins being thus cut short on the subject of the duty, they said
they had another matter to mention, which was the only remaining one they
had in charge. This was a request to the Commodore that he would release
the prisoners he had taken on board the galleon, for that the Viceroy of
Canton apprehended the Emperor, his master, might be displeased if he
should be informed that persons who were his allies, and carried on a
great commerce with his subjects, were under confinement in his
dominions. Mr. Anson was himself extremely desirous to get rid of the
Spaniards, having on his first arrival sent about one hundred of them to
Macao, and those who remained, which were near four hundred more, were on
many accounts a great encumbrance to him. However, to enhance the favour,
he at first raised some difficulties; but, permitting himself to be
prevailed on, he at last told the mandarins that to show his readiness to
oblige the Viceroy he would release the prisoners whenever they (the
Chinese) would send boats to fetch them off. This matter being adjusted,
the mandarins departed; and on the 28th of July two Chinese junks were
sent from Canton to take on board the prisoners, and to carry them to
Macao. And the Commodore, agreeable to his promise, dismissed them all,
and ordered his purser to send with them eight days' provision for their
subsistence during their sailing down the river. This being despatched,
the Centurion and her prize came to her moorings above the second bar,
where they proposed to continue till the monsoon shifted.