The able politician, Lin-Tseh-Hsu, was appointed
Governor-General of the Kwang provinces with
orders to bring the foreign devils to reason.
It so happened when the new ruler, who was " a
thoroughly orthodox Chinaman," arrived at Canton,
there were British ships in port with some twenty
thousand chests of opium on board. Lin at once
ordered these to be given up for destruction, and as
no notice was taken of his demand, he commanded
all the Chinese in the service of the foreigners to
leave them at once. They dared not disobey, and
when they were gone a cordon of troops was
posted round the British quarters, and a manifesto
was issued to the effect that unless the opium was
surrendered all the merchants would be slain.
Captain Eliot, who was Secretary to Sir J. F. Davis,
seeing no hope of rescue, gave up the opium, which
was flung with quantities of quick-lime, salt and
water into deep trenches at Chunhow, near the
mouth of the river, "where it quickly became
decomposed, and the mixture ran into the sea."

This and other high-handed measures of the
energetic Governor of Kwang led to the war which
resulted in the ceding of Hong-Kong to the English



THE PEKIN CONVENTION 115

and the opening to British trade of Canton, Amoy,
Fuchan, Ningpo, and Shanghai. The spell was in
fact finally broken, Chinese isolation was at an
end for ever, and the first chapter was written of
the history of modern China. China is a land
doomed to partition amongst the hated "foreign
devils," who are eager to divide the spoil, and are
preparing to intersect the once sacred interior of
the flowery land with the relentless iron roads,
before the advance of which all privacy and
seclusion disappear.
