THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

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appointed  from  Peking  as  superintendent  of  foreign
customs.
When  Lord  Napier  arrived  at  Canton,  the  Chinese  refused ­
  to  recognise  him.  They  preferred  for  many  reasons
to  carry  on  trade  in  the  old  way,  and  they  were  unwilling
to  permit  Lord  Napier  to  begin  a  new  course  of  procedure
by  dealing  directly  with  the  Viceroy  of  Kwangtung  and
Kwangsi,  whose  capital  was  at  Shiuhing,  instead  of  with
the  Co-Hong.  This  brought  matters  to  a  deadlock  between
the  Chinese  and  British  merchants,  and  for  a  time  an  embargo ­
  was  placed  upon  all  foreign  trade.  After  the  foreigners
had  been  confined  in  their  factories  and  relations  had  become
most  strained,  two  British  men-of-war  were  sent  up  the
river,  to  protect  the  factories,  and  secure  the  safety  of
English  lives  and  property.  Lord  Napier  soon  afterwards
retired  to  Macao,  where,  his  health  having  been  seriously
impaired  by  the  anxiety  through  which  he  had  passed,  he
shortly  afterwards  expired.  As  soon  as  he  left  Canton,  the
Chinese,  deeming  they  had  carried  their  point,  immediately
resumed  trade  with  the  English  through  the  old  channel  of
the  Co-Hong.
In  1836  Captain  Charles  Elliot  was  commissioned  by  the
British  Government  to  take  up  the  work  of  Lord  Napier,
but  in  his  attempted  negotiations  with  the  Chinese  authorities ­
  he  met  with  no  greater  success  than  his  predecessor.
About  this  time  the  Chinese  became  seriously  alarmed  at
what  they  considered  one  of  the  serious  evils  of  foreign
trade,  namely,  the  seeming  outflow  of  silver  from  the
country.  This  was  especially  noticed  in  connection  with
the  large  sums  spent  on  opium.  The  commerce  in  this  drug
had  never  been  legalised  by  the  Chinese  Government,  and
increasing  quantities  were  surreptitiously  smuggled  into
the  country.  In  the  reign  of  Tao  Kwang,  the  question  of
legalising  or  prohibiting  the  trade  in  opium  was  warmly
debated  at  Peking,  and  it  was  finally  decided  to  make  determined ­
  efforts  to  abolish  it,  and  to  suppress  the  smuggling
of  the  commodity  into  the  country.