Chapter 37

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.