Page:Chinese account of the Opium war (IA chineseaccountof00parkrich).pdf/54

 the historian, in summing up, remarks that it was the closing of trade, and not the forced surrender of the opium, that brought on the Canton War, the events leading to which were, the objections, generally, to sign away the lives of opium traders, and, specifically to deliver over the homicide. [Great Britain had already sacrificed the gunner of the "Lady Hughes" in 1784, and the Americans the Italian in 1821]. It is plain that had not a rebellious heart, inasmuch as he offered to agree to confiscation, offered rewards for the discovery of the murderer, and wished to await news from home. Finally, the laws provide for the ransom of Mongols and other uncivilized criminals by a fine in cattle, so that our demands upon him were altogether too exacting. The Rear-Admiral should have been executed for his corruption, instead of being merely degraded. The Hoppo and his men, whose irregular charges more than doubled the regular import duties, and who had been battening for years upon the co-hong merchants, should have been compelled, instead of the latter, to pay for the war. It would have been better to sacrifice the Customs' interests for a time; to devote full attention to measures of defence, and, by abolishing the Hoppo's extortions, to secure the good-will of the other foreigners. Just as the Astronomical Board avails itself of foreign as-