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Rh successful in the case of the attempt made, in October, 1867, by the Canton cotton-dealers' guild, to remove the whole cotton trade from Hongkong to Canton. As soon as he had the facts before him, shewing that the Canton guild had made regulations imposing a system of fines on any Chinese merchants who should violate their prohibitions by buying cotton or cotton yarn in Hongkong, Sir Richard addressed, through the Consul, such strong remonstrances to the Viceroy of Canton, that the latter yielded and issued a proclamation (November 29, 1867) absolutely prohibiting the measures contemplated by the guild. With the same promptness and energy Sir Richard interfered at the close of the year 1871, when the Administrator of Chinese Customs (Hoppo) at Canton openly made a rule, on which he had secretly been acting for years, that all foreign-laden Chinese junks in South China, intending to sail for Hongkong from any Chinese port, must first report at Pakhoi or Canton before proceeding to Hongkong. This hostile attempt to confine the whole native coast trade between South China and Hongkong to dealings between Treaty ports and Hongkong was energetically taken up and seemingly defeated for the time by Sir Richard, before the Chamber of Commerce made any move in the matter.

But the principal tussle Sir Richard had with the Chinese Authorities was connected with a much more serious attempt made by the Mandarins to ruin the native junk trade of Hongkong. About October 15th, 1867, the steam-cruizers of the Canton Customs, aided by native gun-boats employed by the holders of Chinese monopolies at Canton (especially the salt and saltpetre farmers), commenced what was thenceforth known as the Blockade of Hongkong. These steam-cruizers and gun-boats patrolled day and night every outlet of the harbour and waters of Hongkong, boarded and searched every native junk leaving or entering, arrested every junk that had no proper papers and levied double duty in the case of goods shipped at Pakhoi or Canton for other Treaty ports by junks which en route touched at Hongkong. It was a movement which pretended to aim only at suppressing smuggling but which, in reality, operated as an