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crossing from headland to headland, were compelled to possess, in order to escape greater exactions when under weigh.
"Not a small part of the wrongs, perpetrated by these boats were by natives, under the cover and protection of foreign habiliments. In such great fear are foreigners held, that few possess the courage to withstand even their effigies. A bold and unscrupulous man may do almost anything with impunity. In illustration of this, I shall be excused in briefly adverting to an incident, the particulars of which I made public, at the time of the occurrence. At the mouth of the Ningpo river is a small village of saltmakers, at which the salt commissioner stations a deputy. This officer, after being beaten and compelled to swallow excrement, was driven away by Portuguese, who came and collected the salt gabel in the name of his Consul. A copy of the proclamation, issued by the miscreant, I myself copied, and sent to that Consul at Ningpo.
"About nine-tenths of these sanguinary harpies were Portuguese. The balance consisted of vagabonds from every maritime state under heaven, representing almost every class in Society. I have known a Cossack, from the Lena, rob a Chusan fisherman of the leavings of one of my piratical townsmen, a former member of the New York bar, at that time in the Portuguese service. …
"What course, it will be asked, did the local authorities pursue towards the invaders? They simply remonstrated. When, for a brief period, the duties of U. S. Consul at this port were imposed on me, I was frequently applied to, by H. E., the
