passengers and crew of a Boston vessel, "altho," he writes the department, "I did not consider them prisoners of war, they having been taken under the Chinese flag and in neutral waters."
This action of the Doris, in cruising off the port of Canton and seizing American ships in Chinese waters, gave great offense to the local authorities, who ordered the man-of-war to leave, saying that if the English and Americans "had any petty squabbles," they must settle them between themselves and not bring them to China. Upon a refusal of the Doris to depart, all trade with the British merchants was temporarily suspended. The American consul not only complained of the bad conduct of the commander of the Doris, but he reports that it was "equaled by the pusillanimous conduct of the governor of Macao," who allowed that port to be made a base of operations for the British to prey upon American commerce.[1]
After the war was over the commerce soon revived, and nothing occurred to disturb it until the event in 1821 known as the "Terranova affair," which attracted general attention on the part of foreigners. An Italian sailor of the crew of an American vessel anchored in the river dropped or threw an earthen jar overboard, by which a Chinese woman in a boat was killed. It was contended that the deed was accidental. The authorities demanded his surrender for trial. The captain of the vessel stoutly refused to deliver him, but agreed to his trial by the authorities on the ship, in order to insure
- ↑ 1 The Chinese, Davis, 93; Williams's Hist. China, 105; Consular Archives, 1812–15.
