Page:Chinese account of the Opium war (IA chineseaccountof00parkrich).pdf/53

 poisonous dust into their eyes. They also succeeded in routing a foreign sampan sent to the rescue. All these facts were duly reported to the Emperor, who sarcastically replied, that the "village volunteers had apparently been able to accomplish more than the whole of the armies of China!" , too, was very much mortified, and issued a "proclamation," forsooth, calling upon the people "not to test the leniency of Great England's officers again!" The people sent him a defiant reply saying:—"As you profess that your ships and guns are invincible, why did you not attack Canton during Commissioner 's viceroyalty? The other day, when you were surrounded, why could not you fight your way out without begging aid from the prefect? Having now entrapped our disloyal statesmen into peace proposals and withdrawal of the troops, you succeeded in getting far into the country. If you dare to show your faces in the river again, and we do not assemble in myriads to burn your ships and annihilate your ugly selves, then we are not good subjects of the Great Ts‘ing Empire!" At this juncture there were 36,000 volunteers training night and day in the two Canton districts; and, when heard of these preparations, he dared not accept the challenge, but, knowing that it was hopeless to regain trade at Canton, changed his policy; and a month later the Amoy affair occurred.