and placarded the walls of Macao again with inflammatory denunciations directed against the English residents at that place. The Rev. V. Stanton, officiating as British Chaplain at Macao, was kidnapped on the shore (August 5, 1840) and kept under close confinement in a common prison in Canton, until he was released by Kishen (December 12, 1840). Owing to Lin's interference with the supply of provisions at Macao, four British gunboats shelled and captured the Chinese barrier fort near Macao (August 19, 1840); otherwise no serious movement of any importance took place near Canton until the conclusion of the truce.
When the news of the Chusan truce reached Macao, disappointment, doubt and anxiety prevailed among the British community. As soon as the two Plenipotentiaries arrived, five British firms (Dent, Bell, Mcvicar, Gribble Hughes and Dirom) sent a joint address to Captain Elliot, inquiring, whether the truce of Chusan implied a suspension of the Canton blockade, whether it had been determined that British trade should in future be carried on outside the Bogue, or whether it be contemplated that English ships should enter the Bogue and trade be carried on, temporarily, at Macao. To this inquiry Captain Elliot replied from Tungku (November 27, 1840), declining to answer these questions on the ground that he was ignorant of the intentions of the Chinese Government. But, as Admiral Elliot, suffering under a severe illness, had to resign his post and to return to England (December 1, 1840), leaving to Captain Elliot the conduct of the negotiations as sole Plenipotentiary, it was generally assumed that Elliot would press for British trade to be conducted thenceforth outside the Bogue, business being conducted exclusively at Macao. Sir H. S. Fleming Senhouse partially succeeded Admiral Elliot in the command of the fleet, the command of the whole expedition remaining in the hands of Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer.
At Canton, the Chinese officials and people were in a similar state of uncertainty and misgiving, until Kishen's arrival (November 29, 1840). When Elliot sent the steamer Queen,
