late in the evening and far from the main body, by masses of Chinese volunteers. Seeing that the muskets of the company (none of which had percussion locks), being soaked with the rain, persistently missed fire, these volunteers attacked our men with long spears and pruning hooks, against which the bayonets were at a fearful disadvantage. But there this little company of sepoys, between fifty and sixty strong, stood undaunted for several hours, formed in square, unable to fire their muskets, but bravely repelling the continued attacks of some two thousand Chinese until at last two companies of Royal Marines came to the rescue and scattered the volunteers. Yet the rescued company lost only one man killed (hacked to pieces in their sight) and fifteen (including Ensign Berkeley) wounded. This rencontre, between that one company of Madras Native Infantry and a few thousand volunteers near the village of Samyuenli, was vastly exaggerated by the Chinese officials and reported to the Emperor in glowing colours as 'the Battle of Samyuen Village,' whereupon the Emperor sarcastically remarked that the Canton yokels appeared to have accomplished more than the whole of the regular armies of China. These remarks of the Emperor gave subsequently an immense impetus to the Fatshan-Canton volunteer movement.
Five months later (October 30, 1841), Her Majesty the Queen expressed her entire approbation of the operations against Canton, but Captain Elliot, to whom the credit of the conclusion of the Treaty is due, appears to have received neither approbation nor thanks at the hands of his country. His Treaty of Chuenpi, by which he gained the territory of Hongkong for Her Majesty's possession, remained ignored by both Governments. The six million dollars which he recovered by his Canton Treaty 'in diminution of the just claims of Her Majesty's Government,' and which covered the amount of the bills drawn by him on Her Majesty's Treasury in payment of the opium surrendered to Lin, was not applied to that purpose, but his bills were left dishonoured and the opium compensation question allowed to stand over for some years longer, while Her Majesty immediately
