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AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS

OP THE

GOVERNMENT

METROPOLITAN POLICE

IN THE CITY OP

CANTON.

Bv JAMES HENRY, Esq. M.D.

Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer's clOud,

Witliout our special wonder ?

Macbetu.

DUBLIN s HARDY k WALKER, 4, L0WE:R SACKVILLE-ST.

1840.

Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive "

in 2010 witin funding from

Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School

http://www.archive.org/details/accountofproceedOOhenr

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

METROPOLITAN POLICE

IN THB

CITY OF CANTON.

CHAPTER I.

Le monarque des dieux leur envoie une grue, Qui les croque, qui les tue, Quiles gobe a son plaisir. Les grenocjilles qui demandent un" roi.

The government metropolitan police had not been long established in the city of Pekin, when the inhabitants of Canton became weary of their old night watch, and desired to see a new police establishment in their own city on the model of the Pekin metropolitan police. The old watchmen, said they, do not mind us ; they are appointed by ourselves, and paid by ourselves, and are under no authority but our own. Watchmen will never be efficient unless they have a tight hand over them. We must

a2

4 PROCEEDINGS or THE GOVERNMENT

get rid of ours, and have a new police under the control of a government commissioner, who will take care that they do their duty ; as for us we have something else to do than to look after watchmen and police constables. Then the people of Canton applied to the imperial legislature and said, "Grive us a new police on the model of thePekin metropolitan police ;'' but the voice of the people of Canton was too weak to be heard at Pekin, for Canton is five hundred miles distant from Pekin, and there were at the same time hundreds and thousands of other cities in the great empire of China calling at the top of their voices on the imperial legisla- ture, and there was only one imperial legisla- ture for them all; so the voice of the people of Canton could not be heard; but after some time it happened that the imperial legislature began to centralise and assimilate, and then they gave to the city of Canton a metropolitan police on the model of the Pekin metropolitan police. Then great was the joy of the people of Canton, and loud their praises of that paternal government, and of that wise legislature which even at so great a distance as Pekin had heard and attended to the prayers of the people of

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 0

Canton. The frogs did not rejoice more when Jupiter gave them a king, than the people of Canton rejoiced when the imperial legislature gave them the new government metropolitan police. Some indeed looked grave and shook their heads, but they were only few, and the people of Canton did not mind the grave looks or the shaking of the heads of a few who thought themselves wiser than the rest.

Nothing could exceed the admiration of the people of Canton for the new police. They admired their decent, quiet, orderly appear- ance, their white gloves and comfortable coats, and polished hats and boots ; not one of them was ever seen smokino-, or eatinof opium, or drunk in the streets. " We are glad," said the people of Canton, " that we have got rid of the old watch with their cotton nightcaps and their wooden boxes, in which they used to snore away the night. We have now got a most respectable and cfiicient body of men, constantly on the watch both day and night, changed at regular hours, and what is still better, they are kept to their duty without any trouble to us ; they go about too without arras, and do not terrify us as the old watch-

6 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

men did with their long iron-pointed halberds and rattles, nor do they disturb us in the dead hour of the night by calling out what o'clock it is, and wake us from our sleep that we may know the hour. There will now be an end to all midnight brawls and drunken squabbles, and the streets will be as quiet by night as regular and orderly by day." And experience proved, as the sequel of this history will show, that the people of Canton were right, and that the streets of Canton did become quiet by night and regular and orderly by day.

The first step towards this desirable end was effected the moment the new government police appeared upon the streets of Canton ; for from that moment the calling of the hours and the springing of rattles, and the drunken brawls with the watchmen ceased, and the burghers of Canton were not disturbed in their sleep, from the time they went to bed until the time they got up ; and great was their delight thereat, and loud their praises of the new institution, and of the admirable arrangements of Mr. Commis- sioner Vin, father of the present famous Com- missioner Lin, the opium destroyer.

But although the people of Canton were no

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 7

longer disturbed at night, still it sometimes happened that they were awakened early in the morning by a small tiny voice, which used to cry " wheep, wheep, wheep," very early in the morning in the streets of Canton; and when the police watched, they found that this voice proceeded from the red lips and white teeth of several little black-faced children, who went about the streets with bags on their shoulders for carrying away the soot of the chimneys, for Canton is a very smoky city. Therefore the cook-maids watched for these little children early in the morning, that they might send them up the chimneys to scrape them and brush them, and carry away the soot ; and the little children used to cry "wheep, wheep, wheep," to let the cook-maids know that they were there, and ready to go up the chimneys. Now there had been a decree of the imperial legislature forbidding these little children to cry "wheep, wheep, wheep," but notwithstanding they persevered, and the old watchmen were either too sleepy or too good-natured to pre- vent them. At first the new police did not know where the sound came from : but when they watched they found that it came from the

8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

children, and that it was not the chirping of birds; and after that the cook-maids looked in vain for the children, for their tiny voice was heard no more. Whether they perished of hunger or fled to some city where there was no metropolitan police was never ascertained.

The people of Canton had scarcely had time to admire the steady orderly demeanour of the new police, and had not enjoyed for more than a month the absence of the watchmen's rattle, and of the little chimney sv/eepers " wiieep, wheep, wheep," when they were called upon to pay the half year's tax for the new police, amounting to sixpence in the pound of British money, or one-fortieth part of the rental of Can- ton ; which was just three times as much as had been required for the support of the old watch. Those who had shaken their heads at first now shook them again, but it was to no purpose ; the people of Canton had got good value for the money which they were called upon to pay, and even if they had not, still the money must be paid. There was therefore no use in shaking their heads; it was observed, however, that the number of heads shaken w^as somewhat .greater

than it had been before.

\

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 9

The people of Canton now began to look more narrowly at the new police, and some said that they carried arms, and some said that they did not. This discussion, however, did not last long, for it happened just at this time that the Mayor of Canton gave a great official dinner, and that as some young men of the company were returning home at a late hour, talking loudly and laughing, and one of them singing a loyal song, a party of the new govern- ment police came up and commanded them to cease singing and laughing and talking loudly, and to walk quietly home. It is probable that the young men, who had drunk pretty freely of Chinese wine, thought that they had only the old night-watch to deal with, for they went on laughing and singing, and did not mind what the police said to them ; whereupon the police proceeded to arrest them, and when the young men resisted, the police drew out of their long skirt pockets short thick bludgeons, hea- vily loaded at the end, every man of them a bludgeon, and in a moment the young men were levelled to the ground and dragged off to the station-house, and in the morning they were brought before the magistrates and fined

Ad

10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

for being drunk, all but one who died of his wounds in the station-house before he could be brought before the magistrates.

This circumstance having decided the ques- tion whether the government metropolitan police carried arms or not, the people of Can- ton next began to consider whether pikes and halberds, like those of the old watchmen, would not have been better weapons for the new police than those deadly bludgeons which they carried in their pockets. They debated this point with much warmth until some one ob- served that it was useless to discuss the ques- tion, as they had no authority over the new police, and could not so much as cause them to wear black gloves in place of white ones. The justice of this observation was apparent, and the people of Canton ceased to discuss what sort of arms should be carried by the new police.

It was not long, however, before another question arose among them, and they asked " why do the new police always walk upon the curb-stone of the foot-way." They leave the wall to the burghers out of respect, said some of the good people of Canton. A little obs^er*

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 11

vation, however, showed that where there was only the curb-stone, and no space between it and the wall, the police kept the curb-stone, and the burghers were shoved into the channel; and further observation showed that the same thing happened when the foot- way was two flags wide, for the police kept the curb- stone, and their sergeant kept the inner flag, and the burghers were shoved into the channel. One day it happened that where the foot-way was two flags wide, a burgher through inadvertence took the wall when a file of police was coming along the foot-way, the file upon the curb- stone, and the sergeant on the inner flag ; he was jostled about among them, and got several contusions upon his thighs from the loaded ends of the bludgeons which they carried in their pockets. Another burgher, who was possessed of the organ of combativeness, stopped short, and stood stock-still on the curb- stone as the file of police came down meeting him. The sergeant ordered the file to halt. " Is a free burgher of Canton to go ofi* the curb -stone," said the burgher, " and wet his feet in the channel, in order to make room for the new poHce ? The police are the servants

12 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

of the burghers, and not the burghers of the pohce."

" We beg your pardon, Sir," said the sergeant, stepping forward, "we are not the servants of the burghers of Canton, but of Mr. Commissioner Vin and the imperial govern- ment at Peldn ; you must go out into the channel, or we shall arresfc you instantly, and lodge you in the station-house for the night, and in the morning you will be fined, and per- haps imprisoned, for obstructing the police, unless you can prove your innocence to the satisfaction of Mr. Commissioner Vin and the imperial government at Pekin."

This argument was conclusive, and the free burghers of Canton never a^fterwards disputed the curb-stone with the government metropo- litan police.

" After alV said they, " it is not so very inconvenient to take a few steps in the channel, when there is no room on the foot -way ; and even if it were, we should not forget that the frequent wetting of our feet, and being now and then run over by the carts and carriages, will accustom us to hardship, and render us better able to bear the strictness of martial law,

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 13

which, it is not imhkely, will soon be pro- claimed in OantoD. Thus did the burghers of Canton, by the application of the highest kind of philosophy, reconcile themselves to what was inevitable.

14? PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER II.

" Ah ! Freedom is a noble thing."

Barbour in Ellis's Specim.

Now the new government police kept watch continually in the streets of Canton both clay and night, and they walked up and down both in the front and at the rere of the houses, and they looked in at the doors and e.t the windows, and they looked up at the roofs and down into the areas and kitchens, and they saw every thing which was brought into the houses, and every thing which was brought out, and they knew who visited at every house, and they saw every thing which the burghers did, and they watched them when they went out, and when they came home, and they listened to what they said, and they knew the face and per- son of every burgher, so that if any one offended the government and fled to Europe or America, there was always a policeman who knew him

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 15

ready to be sent after him to bring him back from any part of the world where he might be. And they had books and pencils in their pockets, every man a bludgeon in one pocket, and a book and a pencil in the other ; and they wrote down in their books every tiling that they saw and heard, and reported it every night to the superintendant, and the su- perintendant to the chief commissioner, and the chief commissioner to the imperial go- vernment at Pekin. And they were disci- plined and marshalled every day, and they had Serjeants and captains, and the guard which they kept in the streets of Canton w^as relieved every six hours. And in the dead hour of the night, when all else was silent, you might hear the heavy military tread of their companies marching to relieve guard. And they were not in any respect under the control of the inhabitants of Canton, but obeyed the orders of the imperial government. Yet they were not a standing army, for they had neither drums nor fifes, and their coats were blue and not red, and they were not armed with mus- kets and bayonets, but only with bludgeons. And they had station houses in the different

16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

quarters of the city, and if any burgher was found staggering in the streets, or lying sick or insensible from eating opium or drinking wine, or from a fit of apoplexy, or fainting, or from exposure to the cold, or from want of food, he was brought to the station-house, and locked up for the night ; and in the morning, if he was still living, he was brought before the magis- trates and fined for being drunk; and if any burgher had a dispute or quarrel with a police- man, he was locked up in the station-house for the night, and in the morning he was brought before the magistrates and fined for being drunk, and in default of payment, he was im- prisoned for forty-eight hours.

And there were, in the city of Canton, a great many poor men who had cars and horses, and plied for hire. And the magistrates made what rules and regulations they pleased for these poor carmen, and enforced the ob- servance of them by the infliction of fines, and by seizing their cars. And they appointed at what rate they should drive, and what fares they should receive, and how many passengers they should take up ; and where they should go, and where they should stop, and where

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 17

they should keep their cars. And before the government metropohtan pohce were esta- bHshed, these poor carmen now and then in- fringed the rules of the magistrates, and yet escaped being fined ; but after the establish- ment of the police, they never escaped ; for the policemen were always upon the spot watching them as cats watch mice ; and every time that they infringed any of the rules, the policemen pounced upon them, and brought them before the very magistrates who had made the rules, and they fined them and seized their cars. And nothing could be more free and happy than the condition of these poor carmen, for the magistrates had absolute authority over them, both legislative and exe- cutive ; and they paid the magistrates an an- nual rent for leave to do whatever the magis- trates ordered them to do ; and the magis- trates fined them and seized their cars when- ever they deviated in the smallest degree from their orders, and they had no appeal from the decision of the magistrates, and no protection from the fines and the seizing of their cars. But the mandarins drove where they pleased, and as fast or as slow as they

18 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

pleased, and stopped where they pleased, and paid neither annual rent nor daily fines to the magistrates.

And there was an edict of the imperial legislature, that no drink should be sold ex- cept in licensed houses, and as soon as the government metropolitan police was esta- blished, this edict was carried into effect ; and if any burgher was found drinking in an un- licensed house, he was fined ; and if any burgher gave a supper or a party, or if there was a wedding, and if drink was sold in the house, the whole party was arrested and brought before the magistrates, and men women and children were fined ; but if the mandarins had a party at the great rotundo €*anton ^^ B#kia, which was not licensed, the man- darins were not fined, nor those who sold drink in the rotundo, but the police attended, and kept the burghers at a distance, and made way for the carriages of the mandarins, and kept all things in order. And the fines which the magistrates received were very numerous, and amounted to many thousand pounds of British money annually. And out of the fines a fund was formed by which the government metro-

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 19

politan police might be increased as occasion required, without disturbing the repose of the citizens of Canton, or giving trouble to the imperial legislature.

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER III.

Justice. — What hast under thy cloke, woman ? Bose, (opening her cloak.) — Marry; a coat of Linsey-wolsey, and a heart beating hard, your worship.

Old Play.

And there was an order from Mr. Commis- sioner Vin that all persons who carried any sack, or basket, or bundle, or load of any kind, or any placard, should walk out in the centre of the streets, and not upon the footways ; and the police drove all such persons off the foot- ways and made them walk out in the middle of the streets, in the dirt and in the wet ; and the streets of Canton were newly M'Adamized, and the sharp edges of the split stones cut their feet, so that they bled ; for some of them had no shoes, and the shoes of others of them were bad, and the weight of the burdens \vhich they carried on their shoulders, forced the sharp edges of the stones into their feet ; and many of them were run over by the horses, and the drays, and the carriages ; and they pre-

ISIETROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 21

sented an liumble memorial to Mr. Commis- sioner Vin, and said that the police had driven them off the footways, which were made for the safety of those who went on foot, and for their protection against horses and carriages, and had driven them out into the middle of the streets, and that they were knocked down and run over by the carriages, and they humbly begged to be allowed to walk on the footways again, as they used to do w4ien there was no government metropolitan poHce in Canton.

And Mr. Commissioner Vin answered, that if they walked on the footways, they would incommode the mandarins, which could not be permitted, and that, as there was no other place for them, they must walk out among the horses and carriages ; and that if any of them were hurt, they would be taken care of in the hospitals, and the children and widows of those who m^ight be killed, would be supported in the workhouses, at the expense of the citi- zens of Canton.

And there was another order from Mr. Commissioner Vin, that the police should stop all persons who were found carrying bundles after sunset, and should brins^ them to the

22 PROCEEDINaS OP THE GOVERNMENT

station-house, and examine what was in the bundles. And it was only after sunset that the poor women of Canton could go out to buy- food and other necessaries for themselves and their children, for they were at work all day. And when the order came from the Chief Com- missioner, that all persons carrying bundles should be stopped and searched, the women when they went out in the evenings used to hide their bundles under their cloaks. And then if a policeman saw a woman after sun- set, with a bulk under her cloak, he stop- ped her and opened her cloak, and then if it was a woman with child, he told her to go on ; but if she had a bundle, he brought her to the station-house, and examined what was in the bundle ; and if there was nothing in it but some potatoes for her children's supper, or a loaf of bread, or a few turf or candles, she was dismissed ; but if there was any article of greater value, she was kept in the station- house all night, and was brought before the magistrates in the morning, and committed to the great House of Correction of Canton on suspicion of being a thief. And after a little time the poor women of Canton ceased to go

METEOPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 23

out at all, for they were at work all day from sunrise to sunset ; and if they went out after sunset they were stopped by the police to see what they had under their cloaks ; so they ceased to go out altogether, which contributed greatly to the quiet of the streets of Canton, and to the security of the property of the mandarins; and Mr. Commissioner Vin and the government metropolitan police, were in great favour with all the mandarins.

And the Chief Commissioner issued an order against all crying of wares, and all ballad sing- ing, and playing of musical instruments in the streets ; and then if the police heard a poor woman cry fresh eggs, they arrested her, and lodged her in the station-house for the night, and in the morning she was brought before the magistrates, and fined for being disorderly and creating a disturbance in the streets. And if they found a blind fiddler with a dog leading him, they killed the dog, and took the fiddle and lodged it in the sta- tion- house, and brought the fiddler before the magistrates, and fined him for being disorderly and creating a disturbance in the streets.

24 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER IV.

" Perhaps we've borrowed this from the Chinese.**

Don Juax.

And there were a great many poor men and women who used to sit upon stools at the corners of the streets, and they had Httle baskets and tables before them, and some of them sold apples and oranges ; and some of them sold nuts and gingerbread ; and others sold oysters, and cockles, and crabs. And there was an order from Chief Commissioner Yin that they should all be removed; and the policemen threw down their tables and their stools, and their baskets, and scattered their apples and oranges, and cockles, and nuts, and gingerbread. And those who sold them were brought before the magistrates, and the ma- gistrates told them that they should sell in shops and houses, and not in the streets. And they said that they would rather sell in shops

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN GANTON. 25

and houses, where they would be warm and comfortable, and where their goods would not be injured by the weather ; but that they were too poor to do so, for that all the money which they earned would not pay the rent of ishops and houses, and was barely sufficient to buy food for themselves and their children, and to pay for the straw on which they slept at night, in back cellars and back garrets. And the magistrates said that they must find some other way of Hving ; and then as they were too poor to pay fines, they were dis- charged. And they wandered into the streets, and the police saw them, and asked them what they w^ere doing, and they said "Nothing." And the police said, " How do you live V And they answered, " We did live by selling apples and oranges, and nuts and gingerbread, and oysters and cockles, and crabs, but our tables and stools have been taken from us, and our goods have been destroyed, and we are going about not knowing what to do." And the police said, "You are vagrants and vagabonds, and must be taken before the magistrates, because you have no mode of livelihood." And the police took them before the magistrates,

26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

and they were convicted of being vagrants, and were imprisoned for three months in the great House of Correction of Canton, and were kept to hard labour for eight hours every day, and were fed at the expense of the burghers. And when the term of their impri- sonment had expired, they were discharged ; and as soon as they were discharged, some of them went into the work-houses, where they were supported at the expense of the burghers of Canton; and others of them hid themselves; for they said, " If we wander about, not having anything to do, we shall be sent to the great House of Correction where we were before.^' So they hid themselves in holes and corners, and in sewers and in vaults under ground, and when they were hungry they came out and robbed for food ; and those who did so were arrested by the police, and some of them were transported, and others of them were hanged.

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON* 2?

CHAPTER V,

*' Porter — Make way there for the Princess. Porter's Man — You great fellow, stand close up, or I'll make your head ache. Porter— You o' the camblet, get up o* the rail : I'll pick you o'er the pales else."

King Hknry VIII.

And the government metropolitan police kept every thing in order in the streets of Canton, and removed all obstructions. And it hap- pened that the Great Lieutenant Mandarin was to set out for Pekin at four o'clock in the afternoon of a certPtin day ; and at twelve o'clock he stood at the gate of his castle, which opened into the principal street of Canton, and the Chief Commissioner of police stood beside him ; and it was the busiest time of the day in Canton, from twelve until four oVlock ; for the merchants were going to the Exchange, and their clerks were hastening to the banks with the money to pay their bills, and the postmen were running with the letters? and the stage

28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

coaches were going in and out full of passen- gers, and the cars were plying to and fro, and the lawyers, and attorneys, and the witnesses, and the suitors, were going to the law courts, and the physicians were going to visit the sick, and some were making haste to get to the steam-boats, and others to the railways, and the porters were carrying goods, and there were trucks and cars, and carts and waggons, heavily loaded, going both back and forward. And when the Great Lieutenant Mandarin saw all the hurry and bustle, and all the busi- ness that was going on without any distur- bance or irregularity, he praised the Chief Commissioner and the government metropo- litan police, and said, " You keep all things orderly and regular here, just as they do in the great city of Pekin ;"' and the Chief Commis- sioner said, " Yes, your Excellency, we keep all things in order ; we make those who go, keep on the left, and those who come, keep on the right ; and we allow no man to impede his neighbour or obstruct the highways ;" and then he called the superintendant, and commanded the streets to be cleared, because his Excel- lency the Great Lieutenant Mandarin was to

MEIROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 29

set out on his journey to Pekin at four o'clock that day; and all the cars, and carts, and wheelbarrows, and waggons, and coaches, were turned out of the principal street, and out of all the line of streets through which his Excel- lency was to pass, from one end of Canton to the other ; and the soldiers came and drew up in lines along the streets, in front of the houses on both sides, and the shops were shut up, and no man was allowed to pass across the street ; and if any one attempted to pass, not knowing that his Excellency was to set out for Pekin in four hours afterwards, the soldiers placed their muskets across him and stopped him ; and if he persisted, the police came up and took him to the station-house, and he was kept there all night, and the next morning he was brought before the magistrates and fined for obstruct- ing the streets. And the police stopped up the openings out of all the other streets into the line through which his Excellency, the Great Lieutenant Mandarin, was to pass, and they turned back all the horses, and carriages, and carts, and wheel-barrows, and stage coaches, and men carrying loads, and nothing was suf- fered to pass ; and the great line of the prin-

,^9

80 PROCEEDINGS Or THE GOVERNMENT

cipal streets, from one end of Canton to the other, was kept free from all passengers ; and the officers of the troops who lined the streets, and the staff of his Excellency the Great Lieu- tenant Mandarin, rode up and down in the void space for four hours, waiting for his Ex- cellency to leave the castle ; and all the busi- ness of Canton was interrupted for four hours; and at the end of that time the Great Lieute- nant Mandarin came out of the castle and rode along the line, followed by his soldiers and his staff; and a strong body of the metropolitan police, mounted on horseback, went before him, and the Chief Commissioner rode by his side. And the Great Lieutenant Mandarin admired the order and regularity with which every thing was done, and how the government metropo- litan police kept the streets clear for the con- venience of the burghers of Canton, and for the despatch of business, and he said to the Chief Commissioner — " This is even more regular than the great city of Pekin, for the streets are not cleared there for the Emperor himself." And when they had passed along the whole line, the military were ordered to fire ; and they fired several voHies, and many

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. SI

windows were broken ; and then they marched to their barracks, and the business of Canton began a^ain ; and some of the shopkeepers re- opened their shops ; but many did not, for it was almost dark ; and the physicians proceeded on to visit the sick, and they found some of them dying and others of them dead ; and the witnesses and lawyers were too late at court, and the suitors lost the term ; and many of the merchants^ bills were dishonored, for the clerks were too late with the money ; and those who were to go by the railways and steam -boats were not in time, and had to wait until the next day. And the government police were always busy in maintaining order and removing obstructions, and keeping the passage of the streets free for every one.

32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER VI.

*' And the physician seyde : there be some remedies worse

than the disease."

Old Story.

And there were a great many pickpockets in the city of Canton ; and when they saw the new government metropohtan pohce they were filled with consternation, and said, " Now indeed we are utterly ruined : the poor-laws gave us the hrst blow, but the new police will finish us entirely. For since the poor-laws came, those who used to have gold in their purses have only silver, and those who used to have silver have only copper, and those who used to have copper have nothing at all; and those who used to carry silk handkerchiefs carry only cotton ones, and those who used to carry cotton ones carry only bits of paper ; but the new police are worse than the poor- laws, for they will not so much as let us put our hands into the burghers pockets to feel

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 33

whether the poor-laws have left anything in them." And they would have removed out of Canton to some other city where there were no metropolitan police, but an old pickpocket said, " You talk more like children and honest men than like wise men and pickpockets : you have nothing to fear from the new police ; they have something else to do than to mind thieves and pickpockets. It will be quite enough for them to mind their business, and keep the burghers in order. In my opinion thieves and pickpockets never thrive so well any where as where there is an efficient government police. If you doubt the correctness of this opinion only cast your eyes upon the city of Pekin : they have had an efficient government metro- politan police established there these twenty yeg-rs, and yet there is no city in the world where our profession is so rapidly advancing in numbers, wealth, and respectability. And the pickpockets were convinced, and cried ' hear, hear;' and they took courage and did not leave the city of Canton. And it happened just as the old pickpocket said, for the streets of Canton were full of the new government police, and yet the burghers' pockets were picked

34* PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

every day ; and Mr. Commissioner Via asked the policemen — " Why do you let the thieves pick the pockets of the burghers every day ?" And the policemen said — " We cannot help it, we have so many things to do ; for we have to watch the burghers both when they go in and when they go out, and to take a note of every thing they say and of every thing they do, and we have to report daily to the imperial govern- ment, and we have to keep the streets regular and in order, and to remove all obstructions, and we have to bring the carmen every day be- fore the magistrates to be fined, and we have to see that no opium is eaten, and that every house where wine or spirits or tobacco is sold is closed at a certain hour, except the great rotundo of Canton, and we have to take care that none of those articles is sold in any unli- censed house to the burghers, but only in the great rotundo to the mandarins, and we have to bring all those who are found drunk to the station-house, and we have to attend the next day to give evidence against them, for it is upon our evidence that the magistrates convict them and receive the fines, and we have to clear the streets every time the Great Lieutenant Man-

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 35

darin goes to Pekin or returns from it, and we have to put down all agitation against the go- vernment, and to promote all agitation for the government, and to help the government at all registries and at all elections both for guardians of the poor and for municipal officers, and for burgesses to send to Pekin to serve in the im- perial legislature, and we have to attend every where and at all times day and night, and to obey all the orders of the imperial government, and we cannot prevent the pickpockets from picking the pockets of the burghers unless our number be doubled/' And Mr. Commissioner Vin saw that the policemen said right, and the number of the policemen was immediately dou- bled, and so was the tax ; and then if a pick- pocket attempted to steal a burgher's hand- kerchief he was sure to be detected, and the policemen took the handkerchief and lodged it in the station-house, and brought both the pick- pocket and the burgher before the magistrates, and the pickpocket was imprisoned in the great House of Correction, where he was supported at the expense of the inhabi- tants of Canton ; and the burgher being bound over to prosecute, could not leave the

S6 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

City until the trial was over, or if lie did leave it, he was obliged to return in time to attend the trial. And when the trial came on, it some- times happened that the pickpocket was ac- quitted either from a flaw in the indictment or some mistake in conducting the prosecution ; but it generally happened that, if the burgher had taken care to fee counsel and attorney, the pickpocket was found guilty, and sentenced to a further term of imprisonment, during which he was supported at the expense of the inhabi- tants of Canton; and the handkerchief was restored to the owner on his paying the police- man a gratuity, which was not expected to be much above the entire value of the handkerchief. And at first, after the doubling of the police, there were a great many of those trials before the Recorder of Canton, but they gradually became fewer and fewer, and at last ceased entirely ; and the burgher's wives read ■ the newspapers every day, and when they found that there were no more accounts of pick- pockets being taken up and tried before the Recorder, they said, " Our husbands will not require so many handkerchiefs now, for the metropolitan police have driven the pick-

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. S7

pockets out of Canton.'' But still the burghers required as many handkerchiefs as before, and their wives were puzzled and could not under- stand how it was ; until, one day, it happened that a burgher's wife, as she was walking with her husband, saw a pickpocket stealing the handkerchief out of her husband's pocket, and cried out, " Stop thief ! Stop thief ! I see the way the handkerchiefs go." But her hus- band put his hand upon her mouth and pulled her on ; and when they were at some distance, and he was sure that the thief had got clear off, he said, "My dear, do not say another word about the handkerchief, unless you wish me to be brought before the magistrates, and to be bound over to prosecute, like the goose in the story of the goose and the schoolmaster." And when the burgher's wife said, that she had never heard the story of the goose and the schoolmaster, the burgher said. Once upon a time a boy was going to school, and he saw a goose with her goslings feeding on the side of the road, and he ran and plucked a feather out of her wing, and the goose became very angry, and made a great outcry, and ran after the boy to school and complained to the school-

38 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

master ; and tlie schoolmaster told the goose, that the busmess of the school could not be interrupted at that moment, but that as soon as school was over, the matter should be inquired into, and then if she was able to prove the crime against the boy, and identify her feather, the boy should be punished as the enormity of his crime required, and she should have her feather restored to her. But the goose said, that she could not stay, because she had a family to attend to ; and that every thing would go wrong at home, and her goslings stray away and be lost, if she staid until school was over ; and then the schoolmaster said, that it was necessary to the ends of justice, that she should stay, and he gave orders that her wings should be clipped immediately, to pre- vent her from flying away. And when the school was over, the schoolmaster caused all the boys in the school to stand up before the goose, and he asked her, " which of these boys plucked the feather out of your wing ?" And the goose said, "I cannot tell, they are all so like." And then the schoolmaster showed her two feathers and said, " Which of these feathers is yours ?"" And the two feathers were so like that the goose

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. S9

could not tell which was hers ; and she would have' compared them with the feathers in her wings, but she could not, for her wings were clipped ; so the schoolmaster dismissed the case, and the boys laughed at the goose, and she went away without her feather, and with her wings clipped, to look for her goslings. And the burgher's wife perceived that the goose had suffered more from the schoolmaster than from the boy, and she agreed with her husband that it was better not to say any more about the handkerchief. And from that day forward the wives of the burghers ceased to inquire what became of their handkerchiefs, and why there were no more prosecutions of pickpockets before the Eecorder of Canton.

c2

40 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER VII.

" The gentleman's recreation."

And the lowest order of the burghers of Can- ton were very poor, and they could neither read nor write, and their houses were uncomfort- able, and they had no places of innocent re- creation abroad, and when their day's work was over they sometimes had recourse to badger- baiting and cock-fighting for their amusement. And Mr. Commissioner Vin was a man of humane and tender feelings ; and he could not endure that poor dumb animals should be tor- tured for amusement, and he gave orders to the superintendant of the new government police to put down badger-baiting and cock- fighting, and all other cruel amusements ; and the superintendant took with him a strong party of the police, and they found two men baiting a badger in an obscure court in one of the poorest suburb-s of Canton, and there were

METROPOLITAN T'OLICE IN CANTON. 41

from twenty to tliirty of the poorest burghers looking on ; and the superintendant com- manded the poHce, and they killed the dogs and the bad2:er, and arrested the two men who had the badger, and all those who were looking on, and brought them before the magistrates ; and all those who were looking on were fined, and the two men who had the badger were sentenced to imprisonment for six weeks and to be kept to hard labour for six hours every day.

And the next morning, when Mr. Commis- sioner Vin came to his office, the superinten- dant brought him, as usual, the report of the proceedings of the police for the preceding day ; and Mr. Commissioner Vin read the report, and made several notes and memorandums in his own private book ; and when he came to the account of the arrest and imprisonment of the two men who had been found baiting the badger, he said to the superintendant, " You have done well : I am glad those fellows have been caught ; there is nothing more detestable and despicable than cruelty to poor dumb ani- mals." And the superintendant was a very young man, and only lately appointed, and he did

42 PR0CEEDINC4S OF THE GOVERNMENT

not know his duty well, and he said, "The crime is great, but the punishment is greater ; the men are ignorant and uneducated, and what they did was not for amusement, but to obtain bread for themselves and their wives and children ; and now while they are in pri- son what will their wives and children do ?" And the chief commissioner became angry, and said, " You are not fit to be superintendant of the government metropolitan police if you take part with badger-baiters and cockfighters. Do you suppose that we are living in the times of the emperor Jam-Es, when badger-baiting and cock-fighting were fashionable, and were prac- tised by all the mandarins and by the emperor himself? Or are you ignorant of the law which the mandarins passed against cruelty to ani- mals, as soon as they ceased to take pleasure in it themselves ? It is that beneficent law which it is now our duty to enforce against the burghers, so as by a seasonable severity to pre- vent them from indulging in those vicious ha- bits which are no longer sanctioned by the practice of their superiors/' And the superin- tendant saw that what the chief commissioner said was right, and he gave strict directions to

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 43

the police ; and then if any little boys were found hunting a cat or a dog, they were brought before the magistrates, and imprisoned in the House of Correction ; and if a car-driver was found whipping his horse to make him go faster, he was brought before the magistrates and fined. And the superintendant himself, with a strong body of the police rode round the city of Canton once every day by the great Circular Road, which goes entirely round the city. And it happened one day, when he came to a turn in the road, that he saw something cross the road so quickly that he could not be sure what it was, but he thought it was a hare. And immediately after came a number of fierce dogs with open mouths, and then a great many men on horseback ; and the men shouted to each other, and to the dogs ; and they pur- sued the hare across the road, and broke down the fences, and galloped through the young corn ; and the hare turned, and came back, and the men and the dogs turned after her, and she came close past the superinten- dant, and he heard her panting, and he saw her eyes starting out of her head, and the foremost dog came closer and closer upon her,

44< PROCEEDINGS 0¥ THE GOVERNSIENT

and he saw him seize her by the haunch, and she turned her head round and screamed with agony ; and at the same moment the second dog caught her by the back of the neck, and the other dogs came up and tore her in pieces in an instant ; and the men on horseback said what fine sport it was, and they wondered the hare had been able to run so far, and that her heart had not burst with terror and hard run- ning before the dogs overtook her. And the superintendant said, " These men are worse than the badger-baiters, for they have done this cruel act for mere sport, and not to gain a subsistence by it; and they have done it boldly in the open day, and before all the world, and not in an obscure corner; and for the sake of their sport, they have broken dov^n their neighbour's fences, and destroyed his young corn; and they have not done this through ignorance, for they are all mandarins, and well educated, and know what they are doing;'' and he ordered the party of police who were with him to arrest them, but the mandarins laughed at him and at the police, and they all galloped away except three whose horses were too tired to gallop any more, and the police

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 45

arrested those three and brought them before the magistrates. And the superintendant said to the magistrates, " I found these men with dogs torturing a hare to death, for mere sport." And when the magistrates saw that they were mandarins, they said to them, " Come in here and sit on the bench along with us." And when they had sat down with them on the bench, the magistrates asked them, "Is it pos- sible that you tortured a hare to death for mere sport ?" And one of the mandarins, who was a member of the Humane Society of Canton, answered, " No, God forbid that we should torture any animal: we were only hunting." And another of them said, that although the statute against cruelty to animals extended to other sports, such as bear-baiting and cock- fighting, it did not extend to hunting, or shoot- ing, or angling, or coursing. And the third mandarin said, that it was contrary to com- mon sense to suppose that the manda-rins, who made the law against cruelty to animals, in- tended that it should be applied to their own amusements ; and that therefore the superin- tendant, when he arrested him and the other two mandarins for hunting, must have been

c3

46 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

either mad or drunk. And then the magis- trates dismissed the case ; and the mandarins went home with the magistrates, and dined with them that day. And the next day the superintendant of the government metropohtan pohce was removed from his office, and ano- ther superintendant appointed in his place. And the two badger-baiters were kept to hard labour in the House of Correction, for six hours every day, until the term of their impri- sonment expired.

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 47

CHAPTER VIII.

" Mind neither good nor bad, nor right, nor wrong, But eat your pudding, slave, and hold your tongue.'* Prior's Merry Andrew.

And the neAv government police attended at all public meetings, and some of them wore their uniform and kept order, and others of them were dressed in plain clothes, and mixed with the burghers, and overheard their con- versation, and reported every word to the im- perial government at Pekin. And at the theatres they stood in their uniform both at the doors, and in the lobbies, and in the pas- sages, and in the inside of the house ; and some of them sat among the audience in plain clothes ; and they kept order, and put an end to all hissing and clapping ; and they allowed no one to cough, or to laugh, or to talk loudly; and the theatres became quiet, and regular, and orderly ; and the police heard every whis-

48 PROCEEDINGS! OP THE GOVEKNMENT

per that passed between the burghers and their wives and their children, and reported all they heard to the imperial government at Pekin.

And when the children found that there was no more laughing, or hissing, or clapping, and that the theatres were grave and solemn, they said they would rather not go to them any more. And as there was no more hissing or clapping the actors did not know whether they pleased the audience or not, and then they began to stop at the end of every sentence, and one of them came forward and said to the audience in an audible, but not very loud voice, for fear of being arrested by the police, " If we have spo- ken that speech right, nod your heads ; and if "wrong, shake your heads." And thence arose the practice of nodding, and shaking heads, which is represented in the earthen figures of the Chinese mandarins. And after some time the people of Canton became tired of nodding and shaking their heads, and ceased to go to the theatres, and the patentees became bank- rupts, and the actors removed to other cities where there were no government police, and the people of Canton sat lit home in the evenings

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 49

beside their fires with their children ; and it was the sixth year of the command of the go- vernment metropoHtan pohce over the people of Canton.

50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER IX.

" Five tomahawks wi' bluid red-rusted: Five scyraitars wi' murder crusted."

Tam O'Shanter.

And there was a decree of the imperial legisla- ture that all the arms in the empire of China should be registered, whether they were fire- arms, or arms with sharp edges or sharp points ; and the same decree declared that all the unregistered arms were forfeited to the emperor.

And the constitution and privilege of the im- perial legislature were such that its decrees were always kept secret from those who were required to obey them. So the burghers of Canton knew nothing about the decree for the registration of arms until the government me- tropolitan police came to seize all the arms that were not registered ; and then every man that had a sword, or a gun, or a pistol, mad^

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 51

haste and registered it ; but many were seized before they could be registered. And the po- lice examined the registry, and they found that many of the arms which had been registered had not been duly registered, and they went round again and seized all such. And all the arms which the police seized were lodged in the great armoury at Pekin for the use of the em- peror; and when the police searched the houses for arms they found knives and forks, and they said, " These have sharp points and edges, are they registered ?'"* And the burghers said not. And the police said, " They are little swords and spears, and are all forfeited." And they gathered them up, and carried them away, and sent them to the great ar- moury at^ Pekin. And from that time forth the burghers of Canton used chopsticks in place of knives and forks ; and this was the ori- gin of the use of chopsticks throughout the great empire of China. And the police came back with their search warrants in their hands, and said, "We hear that you carry little swords in your pockets." And they searched the pockets of the burghers, and found their penknives, and said, " These too are forfeited, for they

52 PBOCEEDINfiSi OF THE GOVERNMENT

have sharp points and edges ;" and they took away their penknives. And then the burghers not having any knives to mend their pens or cut their pencils, began to use steel pens instead of pens made of quills, and Mor- dant's ever-pointed pencils instead of cedar- wood pencils. And the police came again and seized their razors ; and then the people of Can- ton began to use tweezers in place of razors. And when the people of Canton found that their knives and forks, and their penknives, and their razors, -were forfeited to the emperor, because they had not been registered, they made haste and registered their umbrellas and their walking-sticks, and their tooth-picks, and their ear-picks ; and the scissors, and the bodkins, and the needles, and the pins of their wives and children, and every thing that had a sharp point, or a sharp edge ; and they regis- tered also their pokers and their tongs, and their shovels; and the cookmaids registered their toasting forks, and flesh forks ; and the butlers registered their corkscrews ; and the o-rooms registered their pitchforks and their currycombs ; and the carpenters their chisels, and their planes, and their saws ; and the mor

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 53

song their cold chisels, and their trowels ; and the shoemakers their awls, and their cutting knives ; and the turners their gouges ; and the bell-hangers their borers ; and the watch- makers their drills ; and the apothecaries their spatulas ; and the surgeons their lancets, and scalpels, and trephines ; and the bankers the files on which they kept their papers ; and the gardeners their spades, and their hoes, and their rakes ; and the farmers registered their ploughshares, and their scythes, and their bill- hooks, and the horns of their goats, and of their rams, and of their cows, and the spurs of their cocks ; and many of the people of Can- ton registered their noses, and many of them registered their chins, and some registered both ; and every thing that had a sharp point or a sharp edge, in the whole city of Canton, was registered. And the registry office filled the whole of one of the wards of the city, and there were five hundred clerks in it, always writing ; and there were fifty inspectors over the clerks, and two overseers over the inspec- tors ; and the clerks, and the inspectors, and the overseers, were under the command of Mr. Commissioner Vin, and were paid out of

54 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

the tax for the support of the government me- tropoHtan police; and the registry was begun in the sixth year of the metropoHtan pohce, and in that year the tax was doubled for the second time, and amounted to two shillings in the pound of British money, or one-tenth of the rental of the city of Canton.

And there was great rejoicing among the thieves and robbers of the city of Canton at the registration of the arms of the burghers ; and they marked all those houses which were not registered, and they robbed them ; and then the burghers complained to the chief com- missioner, and said, " Give us back even our knives and our forks, that we may protect our- selves and our houses ; for the robbers say we have not so much as a knife or a fork, and that we cannot hurt them with our chopsticks." And the chief commissioner said, " I cannot give you back your knives and your forks, for they are forfeited to the em- peror, but I will do what is better for you : I will give you two policemen for every one you have, and they will protect you and your houses from the thieves and robbers." And the chief commissioner did as he had said ; and the num-

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 55

ber of policemen was again doubled, and so was the tax; but still the houses of the burghers were robbed, for there was only one policeman for every six houses ; and when the policeman was watching one house, the robbers robbed the next. And when the ribbonmen wanted arms they had no occasion to go about searching what houses had arms, and what houses had not ; but they went straight to the registered houses and showed the list taken from the registry, and demanded the arms, one by one, according to the list, just as if they were their own, which they had lent, and which they were receiving back again upon an inventory.

And at the end of five years the registration of arms was completed, and a return of all the arms registered was sent to the imperial go- vernment at Pekin ; and immediately there came an order from the imperial government, superseding Mr. Commissioner Vin, because he had made an imperfect registration of the city of Canton, and had registered only the fire-arms, and the arms with sharp points and edges, and had not registered also the mis- siles.

And Mr. Long Twang was appointed chief

56 PHOCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

commissioner of police in the place of Commis- sioner Vin ; and lie built a new re^istiy office, whicli was twice as large as the old one, and he appointed double the number of writing clerks, and double the number of superinten- dants and overseers, and the government me- tropolitan police tax was doubled again. And it was in the twelfth year of the command of the government metropolitan police that Mr. Com- missioner Long Twang commenced the registry of the missiles of the people of Canton; and he made them register ail their missiles, both their pots and their pans of delph and iron, and all the cups and the saucers out of which they drank their tea ; and their stools, and their chairs, and their tables ; and the tiles and slates on their houses ; and the bricks and stones in their walls, and the stones in their streets. And the registry of the missiles was not completed for twenty years, or until the thirty- second year of the command of the metropohtan police over the people of Canton.

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 5?

CHAPTER X.

Flavins. •' I'll about,

And drive away the vulgar from the streets; So do you too, where you perceive them thick."

Julius C^sar,

And Mr. Commissioner Long Twang said, "I will make the streets of Canton so regular, that those who remember the days of Mr. Commissioner Vin, will say the streets of Can- ton were nothing but disorder and confusion in his day." And he issued an order, that if any burgher stopped to read a placard, or to look in at a shop window, the police should order him to move on ; and that if any shopkeeper exhibited in his windows any pictures or figures, or any wares, calculated to attract the passers- by, and to cause them to stop and look in, he should be summoned before the magistrates and fined. And then the shopkeepers finding the lower hsvlyes of their shop windows useleSf?,

58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

built them up ; but they kept the upper halves open in order to admit the light. And when the shopkeepers built up the lower halves of their windows, the policemen were no longer able to see what was doing behind the coun- ters. And then there came an order from the chief commissioner's office that every shop- keeper should fix a ladder, at least three feet high, on the ground immediately outside his window, in order to enable the government po- lice to look in at the upper part of the window; and the shopkeepers put up the ladders, and they are to be seen in Canton until this day.

And Mr. Commissioner Long Twang said, ' There is no use in all that I and my prede- cessor have done for the order and regularity of the streets, and for the convenience of the burghers of Canton, if the burghers are allowed to obstruct the footways by stopping and con- versing with each other when they meet in the streets." And he gave orders that if a police- man saw two burghers standing talking toge- ther in the streets, he should order them to move on ; and if he saw two walking arm in arm he should order them to separate and walk in file ; and a programme was posted up

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 59

at all the police offices, stating in what order all the burghers and their wives, and their children should walk. And the programme de- clared that if a man and his wife walked arm in arm in the streets of Canton, the line should be for the first offence so much, for the second offence so much, and for the third offence so much ; and if a man walked with a child in his hand the fine should be so much. And the programme declared that the wife should walk after her husband, and the child after its mother or its father, as the case might be. And it was found that the children, when they walked behind, strayed away, and were run over by the horses and carriages of the man- darins ; and then there came a new order from the office of the government metropolitan police, that in future no children should be allowed to go out into the streets at all; and this order was productive of great good, for the children being kept at home escaped danger of cold, and wet, and various accidents to which they were sometimes exposed from the carriages and horses of the mandarins. And it was found that notwithstanding all this care there was still some irregularity in the streets of

60 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

Canton, for the biirgliers did not all walk at one pace, but some quicker and some slower ; and then a policeman was stationed at the corner of every street to play the hurdygurdy. And the other policemen watched to see that every burgher, as he walked, kept time to the policeman's playing ; and those who did not W'ere taken to the station house and brought before the magistrates and fined; and this happened to all that had no ear for music, or were deaf, or were lame ; and when it ap- peared that there were a great many who were deaf, and who had no ear for music, ano- ther policeman was placed on an elevated platform beside the one who played the hur- dygurdy, so that he could be seen from all parts of the street ; and he beat time with his hand. And when this was done there was no excuse either for the blind or the deaf, for the deaf saw the policeman beating time, and the blind heard the hurdygurdy. But the lame were obliged to stay at home with the children, unless they were mandarins who could go in their carriages. And the policemen said to the inspectors, " We have now had great ex- perience in the art of keeping the streets re-

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 61

gular and orderly, and in facilitating the inter- course through every part of the city of Can- ton, and we think a great improvement might yet be made." And the inspectors said, " What is it ? For if it is good we will re- port favourably of it to the superintendant, and the superintendant will recommend it to the chief commissioner." And the policemen said, " All the burghers walk with their faces turned forwards and shoulders square, would it not be better if they walked sideways, with only one shoulder forward." And the inspec- tors approved greatly of the suggestion of the policemen, and reported it to the superinten- dant. And the superintendant asked the chief commissioner, would he listen to a sug- gestion for facilitating intercourse in the streets of Canton? And the chief commis- sioner said, " Does the suggestion come fvm any of the burghers of Canton ; for if it dues, I will not listen to it." And the superinten- dant said " No, but from the pc^licemen." Then the chief commissioner said, " Let me hear it." And when he heard what it was, he approved of it. And the next day there was an order of the chief commissioner, that every

D

62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

one should walk sideways in the streets of Can- ton. And the first day that the order was put into execution, the chief commissioner mounted his horse and rode out; and he saw all the people of Canton walking sideways to the tune which the pohcemen were playing upon the hurdygurdies. And the first man he saw walk- ing sideways was a bishop. And he perceived that there was no room gained by his walking sideways. And he took out his memorandum book and wrote in it, " Bishops to be excused walking sideways, because they are smaller from side to side than from before backwards." Then he went a little farther and saw a Chief Justice, and he made the same observation upon him ; and he wrote in his memorandum book, " Item, Chief Justices." And he had not gone far when he saw a woman with child. And he wrote in his memorandum book, Item, " women with child." And when he re- turned to his office he gave orders to the effect of the notes which he had made in his memo- randum book.

And it was now the fortieth year of the command of the government metropolitan po- lice, and many of the people of Canton said.

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 63

" We will remove out of Canton and buikl houses in Emperorstown, and we will livo there, and then we will neither be under the command of the government metropolitan po- lice, nor have to pay the tax for their sup- port.'' And when the imperial government at Pekin found that many of the people of Canton were living at Emperorstown, and that they were walking in the streets without regu- larity and order, and not sideways to the tune of hurdygurdies, they had a decree passed by the imperial legislature to extend the district of the government metropolitan police to Em- perorstown. And then those who had re- moved to Emperorstown were obliged to pay tlie tax, and to walk sideways to the tune of hurdygurdies in the streets of Emperorstown, just as they had done in the streets of Canton. And then those of the burghers of Canton who were able to afford it, left China and took ship for Europe. And when they came to Rome, and Naples, and Vienna, and Paris, they began to walk sideways in the streets, and the people of those cities said, " Are these Chi- nese mad,or do they always walk sideways when they are at home V And then those who had

64* PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

come from Canton told tliem how it was ; and they tried to walk straight forward ; and at first they were not able, but by degrees they learned to do so. And they were astonished when the saw that the burghers of Rome, and of Naples, and of Vienna, and of Paris, walked whatever way they pleased, and that they had public gardens and promenades, and that there were shady trees along the sides of their streets, and that they had chairs and tables under the trees, and that they used to sit and talk to each other and take their coffee in the open air, and that some of them wrote their letters and transacted their business in the street before their doors, and that they were cheerful, and noisy, and merry, and that they carried burthens on the footways, and that they stopped to look in at the shop windows and were not taken up ; and they said *' Where are your government police, for we heard in China that you had them before us, and that ours were formed upon the model of yours V And the people of Kome, and of Naples, and of Vienna, and of Paris, showed them their gendarmes, and said these are our government police ; and they are but too like the Chinese

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 65

metropolitan police which you have described to us, for they are nothing but government agents placed in command over us ; but still as they have not yet begun to interfere vexa- tiously with us at every turn, nor to drill us, nor to make us walk sideways in the streets, we are rather inclined to think that it was not our gendarmes, but either the Turkish janis- saries or the police of the emperor of Japan, which served as the model for your Chinese metropolitan police.

66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XL

King. ^— "'Lady mine, proceed."

Queen. — " I am solicited, not by a few,

And those of true condition, that your subjects

Are in great grievance. There have been commissions

Sent down among them, which have flawed the heart

Of all their loyalties." — -

King Henry VIIL

And when all those who were able to afford it had left Canton, those who remained behind became poorer and poorer every day ; and many of them went into the work-houses, and some of them were appointed metropolitan po- licemen, and others of them were appointed tax collectors ; and all such were well fed and clothed, and became fat and plump; but the rest became bankrupts and insolvents, and had fevers, and choleras, and influenzas ; and many

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 67

of tliem died, and those who recovered and survived said we will memorial the Great Lieu- tenant Mandarin ; and they memorialed the Great Lieutenant Mandarin; and the Great Lieutenant Mandarin received them most graciously, and said that nothing in the world would give him so much pleasure as to oblige either them or any other respectable persons, if it v/ere in his power ; but that really it was not in his power, for his business was only to govern them and execute the laws upon them; and that for his part he thought that they must have mistaken him for some body else, or they would not have applied to him, for that he belonged to Pekin and knew something of the people of that city, but was a stranger to Canton, and knew nothing at all about them, and that all they said might be either true or false for aught he knew ; and he recommended them, if they were labouring under any griev- ance, to apply to the Grand Secretary of the imperial government at Pekin, who would no doubt set every thing right for them.

And the people of Canton did as the Great Lieutenant Mandarin had recommended them, and applied to the Grand Secretary of the im-

6S PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

perial government at Pekin. And the Grand Secretary of the imperial government at Pekin told them that it was all a mistake on the part of the people of Canton, and that, although they were not aware of it themselves, they were in reality much more happy, and much more prosperous, and much more free under the present government than they had ever been under any previous one; and that it was impossible that it could be otherwise, be- cause the true happiness, and prosperity, and liberty of a people consisted altogether in their having the greatest possible number of govern- ment commissioners placed over them. That the present government had given the people of Canton, within the space of a very few years, a greater number of commissioners vested with absolute power and authority, than all the preceding governments taken together. That it was not necessar}^, at the present mo- ment, to enumerate all those commissioners, as they must be fresh in their recollection ; but he could not refrain from mentioning a few of them. There were, for instance, the Educa- tion Commissioners, who had entirely relieved them from that weighty charge, the religious,

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 69

moral and political education of their children. That it was the duty of those commissioners to root out and exterminate all opinions and prin- ciples opposed to those of the government, and to inculcate the precise views of the govern- ment itself upon every subject. There could not, as he conceived, be a greater boon to the people of Canton, or one more calculated to produce unanimity between a government and a people ; and he begged to say, without meaning any offence to the people of Canton, that if they had had the good fortune to be educated in the same way themselves, there would have been fewer misunderstandings between them and the government, and they would most pro- bably have been ruled by one and the same government during their whole lives. Then there were the Ecclesiastical Commissioners under whom the government had placed the whole of their ecclesiastical property, and all their ecclesiastical affairs, in order that the people of Canton, being freed from all care and anxiety about such matters, might have the more leisure to attend to their secular concerns. And then that they might not be- stow too much attention upon the latter, and

70 PSOCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

become quite worldly minded, the government had made a new valuation of their property by valuation commissioners, and transferred it all to Poor Law Commissioners, who would make a new and more equitable distri- bution of it, on the just and humane principle so frequently urged by the people of Canton themselves and now almost universally recog- nised ; that in the first instance all the ex- penses of building work-houses, and of outfit, and of salaries to officers, should be paid ; that then all the aged and infirm should be provided for ; and lastly, all the able bodied paupers ; care being taken that in every in- stance the residue of the property, if any, should revert to the original owners. That besides all these boons, which they had thus freely bestowed upon the people of Canton, the government had felt the necessity of mark- ing a provision for their personal liberty, that dearest of all possessions, and without which all other possessions were valueless. They had, therefore, given them the commissioners of metropolitan police, who, while they would en- force the orders of all the other commission- ers, would at the same time watch the liberties

ilETROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 71

of the people of Canton as it were the apple of their eye. The people of Canton might, there- fore, discharge from their minds all uneasiness on this subject also, and confide their liberties to the tender care of the police commissioners; and the government could assure them that the surveillance of the police would prove a more effectual protection to them than even jails and imprisonment ; because the emperor''s judges, by their writ of Habeas Corpus, could take a man out of jail and imprisonment, but no writ of Habeas Corpus could take a man from under the surveillance of the police. The present government, who had been always the tried and well known friends of the liberty of the subject, claimed the exclusive merit of the introduction of this new agent into Can- ton, and they were not without hopes that at no very distant period they would be enabled, through its instrumentality, utterly to extir- pate and banish out of the land the writ of Habeas Corpus, that greatest stumbling block and worst enemy to all good and liberal and efficient government. The Grand Secretary had only to add, that the government having

72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

thus provided for all tlielr wants, both spiritual and temporal, and having left them no room for care or anxiety, either about the education of their children or the management of their property, or the protection of their liberties, had hoped that they would be content and happy as the people of Pekin were ; but as they were not so, and wished for further con- cessions, the government had the pleasure to inform them, that although they had never before mentioned it publicly, they had for a considerable period had it in contemplation to appoint a new board of Commissioners for the purpose of co-operating with the existing com- missioners of police, and with their assistance establishing a well organized system of domi- ciliary visits, including a censorship of the press. That it was quite evident that this measure was all that was wanting to render their system of governing by police surveillance as perfect as any thing human could be ; and they were happy to say, that as they had ori- ginally constituted and continually trained the present police force with a view to this measure, they had now ready to their hands in that force

METKOPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTOX. 73

almost the whole of the machinery requisite for carrying it into effect. And still further, that the people of Canton might not have even the shadow of a ground for complaint, he would take upon himself the responsibility of stating, that it was the intention of the impe- rial government to appoint six of the most deserving and best conducted of them, as writing clerks to the new commissioners, at salaries equivalent to fifty pounds per annum of British money, to be paid quarterly out of the new tax, which it would be necessary to lay on the city of Canton, for the purpose of defray- ing the expense of the new commission.

%

74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XII.

" Have patience, good people !''

As YOU LIKE IT.

-And the people of Canton said, " We have no resource but in the imperial legislature at Pekin." And they drew up a petition, and sent the Mayor of Canton with it to Pekin, to pre- sent it to the imperial legislature ; and it was the forty-fifth year of the command of the go- vernment metropolitan police. And when the Mayor of Canton came into the great hall, where the imperial legislature were sitting, he took the petition and began to read it. And some one told the president that there was a man at the far end of the hall, who held a paper in his hand, as if he were reading it ; and the president took his telescope and looked through it, and said, *' I see a man far off, but I cannot hear what he is saying.*" And when

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 75

the Mayor of Canton perceived that he was not heard, he took a brazen trumpet out of his pocket, and blew a blast upon it. And all the members of the imperial legislature, when they heard the blast, started ; and some of them dropped their hats, and those who were talk- ing to each other became silent, and those who were sleeping on the benches jumped up ;, and they looked towards the man with the brazen trumpet ; and he blew upon his trum- pet, and said, " I have come here with a petition." And they said, " Throw the peti- tion under the table, where all the petitions are thrown."" And they showed him the basket, under the table, where waste paper was kept for the use of the members of the imperial legislature. But he would not. And he blew again upon his trumpet, and said, " The peti- tion of the people of the city of Canton." And they interrupted him again, and said, " What city of Canton? Is it in China?" And he was a cunning man, and he knew that if he • said it was in China they would not hear him, and he said, " No, it is in Europe, at the antipodes." And then they said, " Good ! Let us hear him." And they asked him again,

76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT

" Are the people of that city yellow, like us and you, or are they black ?" And he knew that they would have no sympathy with them unless he said they were black : and he said, " They are black." And then they said, "Tell us what is in the petition, for it is contrary to constitution and to privilege, to read petitions in this house ; and if petitions were read in this house, nothing else could be done, and they would fill the whole house, and the whole city of Pekin; and besides so great is the hall, that the petitions could not be heard, unless every man had a brazen trumpet, as you have.'" And the Mayor of Canton spoke through the brazen trumpet, and said, " Your petitioners say that they are loyal and dutiful to the great emperor at Pekin, and that they are ready to spill the last drop of their blood in his service." And an old man, who seemed by his accent to be a Tartar, said, " Do they pay us taxes l and if they do, what is the " tottle o' the 'hoP o"* them?" And the Mayor of Canton said, "They pay taxes from the time they get up in the morning, until the time they go to bed at night. And the taxes which they pay are both gene- ral and local; and the general taxes are upon

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 77

every thing they eat, and upon every thing they drink, and upon all their clothes, and upon all their furniture ; and the local taxes are upon every thing else. And they have a whole army of tax collectors, whom they feed and clothe, and who call upon them every hour of the day to collect the taxes, and to serve the notices, and to distrain for the arrears. And when they go out into the streets to avoid the tax collectors, the beggars beg from them, and the metropolitan police drill them, and make them walk sideways in file to the tune of hurdygurdies. And when they return liome, the police commissioners send collec- tors to collect the police tax, and policemen to search for unregistered arms, and the va- luation commissioners send valuators, and the commissioners of poor rates send collec- tors to collect the rate, and the beggars send deputies to beg from them ; and the depu- ties of the beggars are worse than the beg- gars themselves, for the beggars only beg from them when they meet them in the streets and at their doors, but the deputies of the beggars come into their warerooms, and their offices, and their parlours, and into the

78 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GOVERNMENT

drawing-rooms and bed -rooms of their wives and children. And they have given up every thing they have in the world to the tax collectors, and the commissioners and the beggars. And they have neither trade nor manufactures ; and they are dying of fevers and choleras, and influenzas ; and the prayer

of their petition is" But before the Mayor

of Canton could finish his sentence, the Grand Secretary of the imperial government fell sick, and coughed, and spat, and sneezed, and cried *'0h! Oh!" And then all the other members of the imperial legislature, except the president, fell sick Hkewise; and they coughed, and spat, and sneezed, and hawked, and rubbed their feet against the ground, and cried "Oh ! Oh !" And when the Mayor of Canton perceived that the sound of the trumpet could not be heard, he took the trumpet from his mouth; and as soon as he did so, the sickness of all the mem- bers of the imperial legislature ceased, and they all became well. And then the Mayor of Canton blew another blast upon his trumpet, and said, " This is the prayer of their peti- tion." And suddenly they fell sick again, and became worse than they were before. And

METROPOLITAN POLICE IN CANTON. 79

he stopped again and they became well. And when he blew again upon his trumpet they became ill again. And every time that he blew upon his trumpet, so often did they be- come ill, and each time they were worse than before. Then the Grand Secretary of the im- perial government stood up, and said, " This man has given us the influenza, and we have had six relapses of it. If he blows again upon his trumpet we shall have another relapse, and many of us shall die. Let us give him into the custody of our sergeant-at-arms for breach of privilege.'' And they all cried out, "Pie is guilty of breach of privilege; let us give him into the custody of the serjeant-at-arms.'' And they gave him into the custody of the sergeant-at- arms. And then the Grand Secretary of the imperial government asked whether there was any motion before the chair. And the presi- dent said that there was not, but that any member might move upon the petition which they had just heard. But they all said that they had nothing to move. And then the president declared that there was no motion before the chair, and the house adjourned.

Dublin : Printed by P. DixoN Habdy, 3, Cecilia-street

COUNT WAY LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

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