Page:Europe in China.djvu/138

under a flag of truce, to the Bogue (November 20, 1840), to announce his arrival and to deliver a dispatch by Eleepoo addressed to Kishen, she was fired upon by the Bogue forts, and the solid shot which the Queen dropped into the forts in return for the discourtesy were presented to Lin in great triumph, but an apology was tendered subsequently. In sending this apology the Chinese officials, for the first time, addressed Elliot in terms of proper respect. As soon as Kishen arrived in Canton, he was entreated by the officials, literati and gentry of Canton, not to give up a stone of their fortresses nor an inch of their territory, but to resume hostile operations at once. Kishen, however, had formed a better estimate of the power of foreign arms, strategy and discipline, and was honestly determined to make peace, yielding, however, as little as possible. But as he by this policy ran counter to popular feeling and lost the confidence and hearty co-operation of all his local subordinates, his position was extremely difficult. Negotiations were accordingly protracted from day to day and from week to week without any ground being gained. Elliot having asked for a port outside the Bogue, where British ships might load and unload their cargoes, Kishen thought of offering to Elliot either Amoy or Hongkong. But having been directed to consult Lin and Tang, the latter, a man of keen statesman-like foresight, urged 'that Amoy was the key of Fohkien, and that Hongkong, occupying a central position in Cantonese waters, would be a perpetual menace to the Cantonese Authorities if the English were to fortify the Island of Kwantailou (Hongkong) and the peninsula of Kowloon.' Thus Kishen found himself hemmed in at every step. Lin and Tang secretly counteracted his policy by their influence upon Kishen's local subordinates and Kishen noticed a mutinous spirit all around himself. Lin's intelligence department also would not serve Kishen with a good will and the latter was driven to confide all interpretation work to a man, Pao Pang, who was looked upon by the Chinese as a traitor and by Elliot as a menial, having been formerly Mr. Dent's favourite butler in the old factory days.