CHAPTER XLI

_MÆANDER_--HONG KONG

[Sidenote: 1849. Hong Kong, April to May.]

Nothing unusual took place during our stay here. Various acts of piracy, attended by cruel murders, occurred between Hong Kong and the entrance to the Canton River; but this could not be called unusual.

Some of the rogues were taken by the _Inflexible_, and six of them hanged at West Point; but so little effect had this example that a fresh act of piracy was committed within sight of the suspended sinners and the sentry’s musket.

The Admiral returned in the _Fury_ on the 20th May, much benefited by his trip to the northern ports.

He sailed again on the 26th, leaving us to await the arrival of the _Amazon_, 26, from England. She came in the following day, and we prepared to return to our old station in the Eastern Archipelago; but before our departure an event occurred which gave an unanticipated notoriety to our short sojourn.

Were I to pass it unnoticed, my motive might be mistaken; but as the narrative must unavoidably be egotistical, those of my readers who have no inclination to discuss a point of international law, nor to see how it was decided, on this occasion at least, by a British boat’s crew and a party of marines, may pass to the next chapter.

Just before the arrival of the _Amazon_, I received an invitation, through my young friend, Mr. Robert Ellice (Honorary Secretary on the occasion), to act as joint umpire with Commodore Geisinger, United States Navy, at a regatta which had been got up, chiefly by Mr. Bush, the American Consul at Hong Kong--he kindly giving a cup to be sailed for.

[Sidenote: June.]

The event was to come off, weather permitting, on the 8th June. To this proposal I cheerfully acceded.

As the _Medea_, Commander Lockyer, was cruising outside for the suppression of piracy, and the _Columbine_, Commander John Dalrymple Hay, was coming down from Whampoa about that time for provisions, I wrote to each of these officers, inviting them to meet me; and as I had to give up the charge of the station to Captain Troubridge of the _Amazon_ (which could be done as well at Macao), we agreed to meet there on the 7th.

[Sidenote: Macao, June 7.]

The American squadron, consisting of the _Plymouth_, the _Peebles_, and the _Dolphin_, added to our own, made a gay show in the roads; the Hong Kong steamers were also called into requisition, and brought nearly all those who had not found their way in the men-of-war.

Having fired the usual salute on arrival, I proceeded with Captain Troubridge on the following morning to pay our respects to the Governor, Don Joao Maria Farriera do Amaral.

I may here mention he was a captain in the Portuguese Navy--a gallant and distinguished officer.

He lost his right arm by a cannon shot, when eighteen years of age, leading a storming party at Itaparica in Brazil.

He had served also in the fleet of Don Pedro under Sir Charles Napier, and spoke and understood English as well as we did.

Don Joao received us most cordially, and in the course of conversation said he had broken through a rule, by accepting an invitation to dine with Mr. Forbes (an American gentleman to whom we were likewise engaged), as he would not forego the pleasure of meeting his brother officers.

Taking our leave, we proceeded to the room in which we were to arrange the starting of the vessels for the cup.

At the door I was met by Captain Staveley, Military Secretary to his father, General Staveley, C.B., commanding at Hong Kong, who requested my assistance in getting a gentleman released, who had been imprisoned the previous evening, he believed, for not saluting the “Host,” during a procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

I immediately expressed my willingness to apply to the Governor, remarking that he was a very good fellow, and I was sure would not hesitate to comply with my request.

Accordingly, Troubridge and myself, accompanied by Captain Staveley, returned to the Government House.

Without waiting to be announced, we proceeded at once to the apartment in which we had just before left Señor Amaral, and we found him seated with the French Chargé d’Affaires, M. le Baron de Forth Rouen.

I apologised for the intrusion; His Excellency, rising, accompanied me to one of the windows.

I then stated that I was come to ask a favour--that he would be so kind as to give an order for the release of a Mr. Summers, who, it appeared, had been confined in the common prison all night for not saluting the “Host.”

I concluded by remarking that, in all probability, His Excellency had heard nothing of the business.

To this he sharply replied, that not only did he know all about it, but that the person in question had been confined by his order.

I then remarked to His Excellency that the punishment (Mr. Summers had been confined in the common jail, without food, since five o’clock the previous afternoon) had surely been equal to the offence; and I again expressed a hope that the Governor would order his release.

On this he stated that Mr. Summers was sent to prison, not for any disrespect to the “Host,” “for which he (the Governor) cared, perhaps, as little as I did,” but for disobeying his order.

I inquired, “What order?”

He replied, “The order I gave him to take his hat off.”

I then said, “Do I understand your Excellency rightly, that you could order any person you chose to take off his hat in the open streets?”

To this he replied, “Exactly so.”

I then said that this altered the case, and that I must now request the immediate liberation of Mr. Summers, as I could not consider that the alleged offence for which he was imprisoned was any crime at all.

I further added that I could hardly believe that I had heard now, in the nineteenth century, the Governor of a Portuguese settlement assert that he had imprisoned a British subject for refusing to take his hat off in the open streets, when ordered by him, through a soldier, to do so.

The Governor replied that I was not acquainted with Portuguese law.

I said, “Very likely not, but I know what common justice is”; and, having bowed, retired.

When I had got halfway down the steps, the Governor, calling me by name, asked if I came to demand Mr. Summers’s liberation as a right, or to ask it as a favour.

I replied, that while I believed Mr. Summers had neglected to take off his hat, as was customary, on the passing of one of the religious ceremonies of the country, I had asked it as a personal favour; but since His Excellency had explained that Mr. Summers was confined for what I conceived to be no crime at all, I really could not, in the position I then occupied, ask for his liberation as a favour.

After this unexpected termination to our interview, we retired to the residence of my friend, Mr. Patrick Stewart, situated within a few doors of Government House, to consider with Captain Troubridge what steps should next be taken.

I felt it my duty to demand in writing the immediate release of Mr. Summers; considering, however, the warm temperament of Señor do Amaral, and the bearing towards me which he had already assumed, I could scarcely augur for the more formal application that success which had been denied to my friendly intercession.

[Sidenote: June 8.]

I thought it advisable, therefore, to make the necessary arrangements in anticipation of denial.

Owing to the shoalness of the water, no ship of any size could anchor within three miles of the landing place. The boats of the squadron were preparing to pull at the regatta.

I sent a gig off to the First Lieutenant of the _Mæander_, with an order to him to make the signal, “Prepare to land boats for service.”

Captain Staveley, in the meantime, undertook to make himself acquainted, without exciting suspicion, with the position and state of the prison, the route to it, and how it was guarded, etc.

To effect this he assumed a white jacket, the usual costume of mercantile gentlemen; and, taking with him a basket of fruit, he walked up and obtained an interview with the prisoner, returning with the information we required.

I wrote and sent off by Captain Troubridge an official letter to the Governor, demanding, as senior naval officer, the immediate release of Summers.

To which he replied, saying he considered himself within his right in ordering the man to take his hat off, and waiving the religious aspect of the offence.

To dance attendance beyond this point on Portuguese justice at Macao seemed to me unworthy of my position and hopeless as to the object.

I was referred to the Judge, who, in his turn, would have referred me back to the Governor, whose tool he was, and with whom alone I could properly hold official intercourse; in the meantime Mr. Summers must lie in prison awaiting the “course of law,” which had before now left British subjects to die incarcerated in this very prison.

I decided on liberating him at once.

To do so with the least possible risk of a disastrous incident was now the great object.

A second boat being despatched to the _Mæander_, with directions that the signal should be made “Boats to land immediately,” I went on board the _Canton_ steamer, which was moored off the town, and took my place as umpire at the regatta, which was about to commence.

We started the sailing-boats, and, shortly afterwards observing some of the boats on their way to the shore in obedience to signal, I excused myself for a few minutes and again landed.

The first boat to arrive was the _Mæander’s_ barge, commanded by Mr. Burnaby, with a crew of twelve blue-jackets and six marines. I asked Staveley whether he thought he could, by a _coup-de-main_, release Mr. Summers with that one boat’s crew?

To this he gallantly replied that he had no objection to try, stipulating only, like a good general, that I should secure his retreat.

Upon this I requested Burnaby, who had charge of the barge’s crew, to attend to his wishes.

Passing quickly through a house which had a back entrance to the Senate Square, and so to the street in which the prison stood, Staveley and his party immediately proceeded.

The cutter from the _Mæander_ arriving next, I directed its crew to take charge of the house through which Captain Staveley had passed, placing sentries at each door.

The third boat had just arrived, when my attention was attracted towards Senate Square by the report of musketry.

Leaving orders with the officer in charge of the landing-place to pay _every attention_ to His Excellency should he land before my return (which was not improbable, since he must have seen all that was going on from on board the _Plymouth_), I was hastening to the scene of action, when I met Captain Staveley walking down, arm-in-arm, with Mr. Summers, the rear brought up by the barge’s crew.

I immediately sent to stop the disembarkation of any more men.

The whole business from the landing of the barge’s crew until their return to the boat with Mr. Summers did not occupy a quarter of an hour.

The arms from the launch and barge were transferred to the pinnace, and the boats, with the exception of those which were to pull for the prizes, were ordered back to their respective ships.

I returned to the _Canton_, and had the pleasure of seeing the two best prizes won by the launch and barge of the _Mæander_.

I learned from Staveley that his party had to cross the Square to get to the street in which the prison was situated. On the left side of the Square was the entrance to the arsenal, near which was a battery of four field-pieces with a guard.

When abreast of this battery, Staveley directed Burnaby, with the blue-jackets, to possess themselves of the guns and remain there until his return, he proceeding with the marines to the prison.

The sentry at the prison presented his musket at Staveley, upon which the corporal of marines wounded him in the arm, causing him to drop his musket. This proved to be superfluous, as the musket was found to be unloaded.

The jailer dropping his bunch of keys, and the guard having vanished, the liberation of Mr. Summers was the work of a few seconds.

I am sorry, however, to add that this object was not effected without one serious casualty: a Portuguese soldier was killed by a musket-shot, whether from the weapon of his countrymen we could not determine; the victim was said to have been unarmed.

Captain Staveley in his official report stated that some shots were exchanged between our men and the Portuguese, the latter firing into the Square from the windows of the barracks, in which way they probably killed their own comrade; but the point is not worth discussing, as it could neither lessen nor increase my responsibility.

For this I was reprimanded by the Admiralty, and thanked by Lord Palmerston.

[Illustration: _A Spanish Galleon_]