552 LIFE OF COBDEN, [08M
1857.
Ar, b3.
protested on the ground that malfeasants on board &
British ship should not be seized, but should be demanded
from the Consul. Nine men were returned at once. Bowring
sent word that unless the whole of the men were returned
within eight-and-forty hours, with apologies for the past
and pledges for the future, the English men-of-war would
begin operations. On a certain day the whole of the men
were returned, with & protest from the Chinese governo’
that the ship was not a British ship, and that therefore he
was not bound to demand his malfeasants from the
Consul. The Chinese governor was perfectly in the rights
Bowring’s contention was an absolute error from beginning
to end.! The “ Arrow ” was not a British ship. Its licenc®
had expired. Even if this had not been so, the Hong Kong
agents had no power to give a licence to a Chinese ship”
owner protecting him against his own government. The
case stood thus then. Bowring had made a claim which
was legally untenable. The Chinese governor, while de:
claring it illegal, acquiesced in the demand. Yet the day
after the whole of the men had been given up, naval
and military operations were begun, a great number of
Chinese junks were destroyed, the suburbs of Canton were
burnt and battered down, the town was shelled, and this
iniquitous devastation was the beginning of a long and
costly war.
The course which the Government at home ought to have
taken was this. Bowring ought to have been recalled ; i#
time it is to be hoped that public opinion will insist that
pgents who are guilty of action of this kind shall not only
} Mr. Ashley's account of this transaction (Life of Palmerston, ii. 344)
is too condensed to be quite ncourate, If a man of Mr. Ashley’s industry
and character is not careful to see the facts of such cages precisely and 8%
they were, we cannot wonder at the rough and ready style in which the
public is wont to take the unsifted official stories for granted, whenever 9
British agent launchos his country into ane of these scandalous wars.
